Petr Pavlínek

This article draws on Harvey’s theory of uneven development and spatio-temporal fix to conceptualize the changing geography of the European automotive industry based on the spatial profit-seeking strategies of automotive firms. It employs the spatial concept of ntegrated peripheries, in order to explain the growth of the automotive industry in peri...

This article investigates the core-semiperiphery-periphery structure of the European automotive industry between 2003 and 2017 by drawing on the global value chains and global production networks perspectives and on the conceptual explanation of the spatial division of labor in transnational production networks in the automotive industry. It develo...

This article focuses on the long-term effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) in less developed regions (LDRs). It identifies different types and mechanisms of FDI in more developed regions (MDRs) and LDRs, which lead to different regional development outcomes. It critically evaluates the most important approaches to FDI in LDRs developed in eco...

This article analyzes the progress of the transition from the production of vehicles with internal combustion engines to the production of electric vehicles in eastern Europe. The transition is considered in the context of the development of the automotive industry in eastern Europe since the early 1990s and the relative position of the east Europe...

This article introduces the concept of geopolitical decoupling in global production networks (GPNs). Geopolitical decoupling is imposed on coupling participants by geopolitical forces that pressure transnational corporations to exit host regions/economies by cutting investment, production, and trade links with host country firms and industries. It...

Die Transition zur Elektromobilität verläuft in Mittelost-und Südosteuropa langsamer als in Deutschland; zugleich wachsen Länder wie Polen und Ungarn zu wichtigen Komponentenstandorten für Elektromobilität heran. Daher werden durch die Transition mittelfristig keine negativen Beschäftigungseffekte erwartet, allerdings bleiben die Handlungsbedingung...

This is an invited book review of the book written by Hyung Je Jo, Jun Ho Jeong and Chulsik Kim (2023) Agile Against Lean: An Inquiry into the Production System of Hyundai Motor.

This chapter aims to analyse progress in the transition to the production of electric vehicles (EVs) – battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles – in the automotive industry of Czechia and Slovakia. It considers this transition in the context of the position of Czechia and Slovakia in the integrated periphery of the European au...

Since the early 1990s, the automotive industry in east-central Europe (ECE) has experienced a complete transformation and integration into the European and global production networks (GPNs). This transformation has been driven by the investment strategies of transnational corporations (TNCs). Large inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) have le...

This article examines the regional development effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the integrated peripheries of the automotive industry by analyzing supplier linkages between foreign subsidiaries and domestic firms. It develops the spatial concept of integrated peripheries in core-based macroregional production networks. Conceptually, it...

Objectives: The automotive industry represents the most important industrial sector in Czechia. The objective of this study has been to analyze the occurrence of occupational diseases (OD) in the automotive industry during the period from 2001 till 2014. Material and methods: Data on OD cases was retrieved from the National Registry of OD. Furth...

This book offers a critical analysis of recent developments in the automotive industry of East-Central Europe (ECE). Economists, industry specialists and national governments have considered the rapid development of the automotive industry in ECE in the past twenty years an unqualified success. This rapid growth has been based on large inflows of f...

This chapter examines the development of corporate research and development (R&D) in the automotive industry of East-Central Europe (ECE) in the context of the internationalization of corporate R&D generally and the automotive industry R&D specifically. Driven by large inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) since the early 1990s, vehicle assemb...

This chapter analyzes foreign direct investment (FDI) in the automotive industry of East-Central Europe (ECE), examining trends and patterns since the 1990s with a focus on the 2000s and especially the period after the 2008–2009 economic crisis. I start with a discussion of the position of ECE in the global and European division of labor in the aut...

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the linkages between and spillovers from foreign-owned (foreign) to domestic-owned (domestic) firms in the Czech automotive industry. Theoretically and conceptually, this chapter draws on two strands of literature: spillovers, linkages and effects of foreign direct investment on domestic firms and regional econ...

This chapter briefly summarizes basic arguments of the book.

This chapter examines the impact of the 2008–2009 economic crisis on the automotive industry. The uneven nature of the crisis contributed to the gradual shift in production from traditional core areas of the global automobile industry to selected less developed economies. In this context, the chapter analyses the firm-level effects of the economic...

Drawing on the global value chains and global production networks perspectives and using financial indicators for individual firms, this chapter evaluates industrial upgrading of 490 Czech-based automotive firms during the period of significant inflows of foreign direct investment into the Czech automotive industry between 1998 and 2006. I consider...

Using a case study of Slovakia, this chapter considers the role of the state in the rapid growth of the automotive industry in East-Central Europe. Although this growth has been mainly driven by the investment strategies of automotive lead firms, the state has played an important role by accommodating the strategic needs of foreign capital through...

This working paper provides an overview of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the automotive industry in Eastern Europe and Spain, examining trends and patterns since the 1990s, with a focus on the 2000s and especially the period after the 2008- 2009 economic crisis. It draws on analyses prepared in the context of an ETUI project on developments in...

Using the case study of Slovakia, this article considers the role of the state in the rapid growth of the automotive industry in integrated peripheral markets of the global automotive industry. Although this growth has been mainly driven by the investment strategies of automotive lead firms, the state has played an important role by accommodating t...

This article investigates how distinct tiers of firms contribute to value creation and value capture in the automotive industry. We employ firm-level indicators to evaluate the value creation and capture of distinct supplier tiers in the Czech automotive industry, while considering differences between foreign-owned and domestic firms. Our analysis...

The aim of this article is to analyze the linkages between and spillovers from foreign-owned (foreign) to domestic-owned (domestic) firms in the Czech automotive industry. Theoretically and conceptually, our research draws on two strands of literature: spillovers, linkages and effects of foreign direct investment on domestic firms and regional econ...

This interdisciplinary volume provides a critical and multi-disciplinary review of current manufacturing processes, practices, and policies, and broadens our understanding of production and innovation in the world economy. Chapters highlight how firms and industries modify existing processes to produce for established and emerging markets through d...

This article examines the impact of the 2008–2009 economic crisis on the automotive industry. The uneven nature of the crisis contributed to the gradual shift in production from traditional core areas of the global automobile industry to selected less developed economies. In this context, the paper analyses the firm-level effects of the economic cr...

In this article, we draw on the global production networks (GPNs) and global value chains perspectives to examine regional development effects of economic upgrading in the Czech automotive industry between 1998 and 2008. We investigate how the position of Czech-based automotive firms in GPNs affects the intensity of upgrading and the amount of valu...

In this article, we draw on the global production networks (GPNs) and global value chains perspectives to examine the regional development effects of economic upgrading in the Czech automotive industry between 1998 and 2008. We investigate how the position of Czech-based automotive firms in GPNs affects the intensity of upgrading and the amount of...

Key words: research and development, internationalization, automotive industry, East-Central Europe, Czechia. Abstract: This article examines the development of corporate research ad development (R&D) in the automotive industry of East-Central Europe (ECE) in the context of the internationalization of corporate R&D gener-ally and the automotive in...

Drawing on the global value chains and global production networks perspectives and using financial indicators for individual firms, we evaluate industrial upgrading of 490 Czech-based automotive firms during the period of significant inflows of foreign direct investment into the Czech automotive industry between 1998 and 2006. We consider differenc...

This paper evaluates the influence of the broadly defined automotive industry on regional increases in unemployment in the Czech Republic (Czechia) during the 2008–2009 economic crisis. Drawing on a unique database of 490 firms with 20 or more employees each and a survey of 274 firms, we employ eight indicators to explain changes in the microregion...

This paper evaluates the influence of the broadly defined automotive industry on regional increases in unemployment in the Czech Republic (Czechia) during the 2008–2009 economic crisis. Drawing on a unique database of 490 firms with 20 or more employees each and a survey of 274 firms, we employ eight indicators to explain changes in the microregion...

Boland and Zhu offer a fascinating investigation of associational life in residential spaces in Guangzhou, China, where, as the state downsizes, it is turning to civil society as a new scale of governance. Here, the civic space–civil society dialectic is one produced with the state, rather than autonomously from it. Meanwhile, Daniere and NaRanong...

This article draws on the global value-chain approach to investigate industrial upgrading in the automotive industry of four Central European (CE) countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. We review post-1990 production trends and the associated changes in the geography of automobile production in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) bas...

Following the disintegration of the state socialist political economic system in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the region was gradually and selectively reintegrated into the periphery of the European economy. This reintegration first took the form of trade, which was liberalized and quickly redirected from the...

The chapter starts with a discussion of the effects of price and trade liberalization on the Czech automotive supplier industry and the survival strategies employed by component suppliers during the post-1989 economic crisis. The second section deals with supplier network transformation strategies in the 1990s, with a specific focus on Škoda’s supp...

This chapter reviews the development of the Czech automobile industry before 1990. It begins with a brief summary of pre-1945 developments followed by a discussion of the organization of the car industry and its centralized planning between 1945 and 1989. Next is an evaluation of international influences on the sector in terms of attempts at the di...

This book investigates the complex processes of the post-1990 transformation in the Czech automotive industry and its selective integration in the West European automobile manufacturing system. The post-1990 restructuring of the Czech automotive industry is analyzed in the context of its pre-1990 development and in the context of the Central and Ea...

This article examines the regional restructuring of the supplier base of SkodaAuto, a vehicle manufacturer in the Czech Republic (Czechia). We investigate the tiered structure of the Škoda suppliers in Czechia by classifying 232 Czech-based Škoda suppliers in three distinct tiers and comparing the differences in the distribution between the foreign...

Proceedings of the conference “Comparing International Competitiveness of Manufacturing Companies in the EU With Special Emphasis on Those in Central Eastern Europe” organized by Ritsumeikan University and the Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, 23-25 February, 2007, pp. 91-115.

A U.S.-based geographer discusses the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Polish passenger car industry. The paper illustrates the magnitude of enterprise restructuring and changes in a significant economic sector. Using the case study approach, the author focuses on three of the largest foreign-owned passenger car makers in Poland: F...

This contribution focuses on the limits of European Union programmes and accession practices on environmental policies and performance in Central and Eastern Europe. In particular, we document some of the ways in which state socialist and post-socialist environmental conditions, practices and policies are shaping, and in turn being shaped by, the p...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been accorded a central role in the post-communist economic transformation of Central and Eastern Europe. This paper examines the regional effects of FDI in Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in the 1990s. It challenges uncritical views of FDI and its role in regional economic transform...

This paper traces the profound restructuring of the Czech automotive components industry during the 1990s and early 2000s through foreign direct investment (FDI), and the integration of Czech-based suppliers into European and global automotive supplier networks. The magnitude of change is highlighted by an initial characterization of the Czechoslov...

The primary information presented in this article is based on in-depth interviews conducted by the author with directors or top managers of 20 Czech motor component firms in 2000 and 2001. While only 11 of these firms were 100% domestically owned at the time of interview, several others underwent a period of private Czech ownership before they form...

The Central and East European (CEE) passenger car industry underwent major transformations through foreign direct investment (FDI) in the 1990s. The author demonstrates that the effects of FDI on the passenger car industry have been profound, but geographically uneven. To understand the different regional and local strategies of foreign car produce...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been considered one of the crucial factors of a successful economic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe. This article investigates the role of FDI in the privatisation and restructuring of the Czech motor industry in the 1990s. In particular, it examines how governmental policies towards FDI affected FDI...

An American geographer investigates the course and outcome of major transfor-mations occurring in passenger car and truck manufacturing in the Central and Eastern Euro-pean countries, based on national-level statistical data. To illustrate the diverse "starting points" for each country's automobile industry in a new market environment, he outlines...

Post-communist transformations have been approached and interpreted differently by different academic disciplines and their respective subdisciplines. This paper provides a critical review of „traditional“ and „alternative“ views of changes in Central and Eastern Europe since the collapse of state socialism. In particular, it focuses on neoliberal...

This paper employs a case-study approach to examine changes in Czech truck and bus manufacturing in the 1990s. Three truck manufacturers (Tatra, Liaz, and Avia) and one bus producer (Karosa) are the focus of detailed analysis. In particular, the paper investigates enterprise behavior before privatization, privatization methods, enterprise restructu...

Two U.S. geographers analyze the effects of post-1989 economic and political transformations on the quality of the environment in the Czech Republic and Slovakia through 1998. Initially they examine the importance of environmental issues in Czechoslovakia's 1989 revolution and factors subsequently weakening the environmental movement in its two suc...

PAVLINEK P. and SMITH A. (1998) Internationalization and embeddedness in East-Central European transition: the contrasting geographies of inward investment in the Czech and Slovak Republics, Reg. Studies 32, 619-638. Inward investment has been accorded a central role in the internationalization and restructuring of East-Central European economies....

This paper evaluates foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Czech Republic and its regional development consequences after the collapse of state socialism. Two types of FDIs are identified: cross border export-oriented investments and market capture investments. The cross border export-oriented investments exploit low cost labor in the service of e...

The contemporary transition of capitalism is changing the nature of the capitalist economic and social system. This paper focuses on the debate around the alleged transition from Fordism to post-Fordism. It identifies and critically evaluates four Western schools of thought engaged in this debate: Schumpeterian and neo- Schumpeterian perspective, f...

The breakup of Czechoslovakia on 31 December 1992 resulted in the emergence of a newly independent Slovakia and Czech Republic. The split is often interpreted as the result of ethnic nationalism. In contrast, this paper attempts to assess the influence of regional inequalities and uneven economic development on the split. Pre-World War Two Czechosl...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kentucky, 1995. Abstract ([2] leaves) bound with copy. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 406-446).

The last decade witnessed important developments in the theory of geographical scale in Anglo-American geography. After a brief summary of scale issues in geography, this essay focuses on two theoretical debates around the question of geographical scale. The first theoretical approach is the political economy of scale developed by P. Taylor and is...

Global restructuring has affected many formerly prosperous industrial regions and the lives of entire communities. This paper explains the causes of restructuring and its regional economic and social impacts. The strategy of flexible specialisation is discussed as a way to overcome regional problems together with new regional policy approaches whic...

Postwar regional development in Czechoslovakia was influenced by four main factors: the expulsion of ethnic Ger-ans from Czechoslovakia, the excessive development of heavy industry in Czechoslovakia, the industrialization of Slovakia, and the urbanization process in Czechoslovakia. On the one hand, Czechoslovakia achieved a relatively balanced regi...