Version 1
: Received: 8 May 2024 / Approved: 8 May 2024 / Online: 8 May 2024 (15:36:37 CEST)
How to cite:
Zhao, W.; Luethje, B. Manufacturing Competency: Roots of Competitive Advantage of Chinese Electric Vehicle Battery Industry. Preprints2024, 2024050502. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202405.0502.v1
Zhao, W.; Luethje, B. Manufacturing Competency: Roots of Competitive Advantage of Chinese Electric Vehicle Battery Industry. Preprints 2024, 2024050502. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202405.0502.v1
Zhao, W.; Luethje, B. Manufacturing Competency: Roots of Competitive Advantage of Chinese Electric Vehicle Battery Industry. Preprints2024, 2024050502. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202405.0502.v1
APA Style
Zhao, W., & Luethje, B. (2024). Manufacturing Competency: Roots of Competitive Advantage of Chinese Electric Vehicle Battery Industry. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202405.0502.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Zhao, W. and Boy Luethje. 2024 "Manufacturing Competency: Roots of Competitive Advantage of Chinese Electric Vehicle Battery Industry" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202405.0502.v1
Abstract
China’s leading development of a complete battery value chain for Electric Vehicles (EV) is restructuring the global automotive sector. The competitive advantage of China's EV battery industry lies on its firms’ core competency and political economic geography. Based on first-hand empirical material and data obtained from years of fieldwork in an EV battery cluster in South China, this paper identifies what the Chinese EV battery industry’s core competency is and details how it is built up from below. The current core competency of Chinese battery firms is their mass manufacturing capability to supply lithium-ion batteries vehicle manufacturers (OEMs) with stable and consistent quality as well as competitive prices. This competency is acquired by firms through technological learning at workshop level while taking use of their experiences accumulated in mass production of batteries for consumer electronics sectors. Furthermore, the rapid learning and accumulation of knowledge on battery manufacturing at large scale is also facilitated by the industrial cluster environment where firms are embedded. Supported and promoted by local government policies, Chinese EV battery clusters are composed of firms from different segments of a complete battery value chain. The findings illuminate the likely strategic strengths, weaknesses, and futures of the Chinese EV battery industry in global competition.
Keywords
Electric Vehicle (EV), Lithium-ion Battery, Core Competency, Industrial Cluster, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, China
Subject
Business, Economics and Management, Business and Management
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
