Globalization, restructuring, and e-commerce: a north american view

摘要

The North American automotive industry faced two fundamental challenges during the 1990s, as it pursued more integrated global strategies and sought to restructure itself, reallocating a range of technical and business activities from manufacturers to suppliers. Now the Internet has broadened information technology to e-commerce, posing another substantial challenge, one that promises a more tightly coupled industry value chain, including closer links to its retail outlets and customers. Moreover, e-commerce may sharply change, and perhaps even reverse some trends in the industry's globalization and restructuring efforts, as it fosters alternative models for these initiatives.