Digital Transformation in the German and Japanese Automotive Industry
| Project/Area Number |
23K01559
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 07080:Business administration-related
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| Research Institution | Ritsumeikan University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
青木 克生 明治大学, 経営学部, 専任教授 (20318893)
目代 武史 九州大学, 経済学研究院, 教授 (40346474)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2023-04-01 – 2026-03-31
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| Project Status |
Granted (Fiscal Year 2023)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,680,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,080,000)
Fiscal Year 2025: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2024: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000)
Fiscal Year 2023: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
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| Keywords | Digitalisation Strategy / Varieties of Capitalism / Production Systems / Lean Production / Path Dependency / Automotive industry / Digitalisation / Work organisation / Operations management / Firm strategy |
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| Outline of Research at the Start |
The purpose of the proposed research project is to gain an understanding how digital IoT technologies are used in the German and Japanese automotive industry, specifically how they impact production operations and work organization.
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The research results substantiate previous findings that German and Japanese automotive firms follow distinct strategies in the deployment of digital technologies. Specifically, German firms prioritise wholistic improvements via integration through digital technologies (horizontal and vertical (intra-firm); plus end-to-end (inter-firm; supply chain)). Japanese firms so far prioritise local (process) improvements. However, Japanese firms start to see limitations of this approach and consider more systematic approaches. Recently, a paper that proposes theoretical explanations for these differences has been published in collaboration with one Co-I and German colleagues.
The significance of this findings lies in the point that new technology is not having identical effects in different countries because while technology itself is neutral, its implementation is governed by social and economic conditions and conventions which differ between countries. Further, the research results can inform Japanese firms about potential other approaches to digital transformation.
Another result is that these findings are that other researchers have taken up interest in the social and economic aspects of digital technology implementation. The P-I has been asked to act as special guest editor for a special issue of the International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management on 'Varieties of Digitalisation'. This scheduled to be published in 2025.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The project progressed rather smoothly, probably due to publication of previous research findings that attracted some attention from firms. Further, the efforts of the team to communicate the findings in Japan and overseas seem to have been rather successful.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The research team plans the following activities to progress the research plan.
1. Our research results indicate that labour plays a significant part in the practical implementation of digtial technologies and organisational arrangements surrounding it in Germany and Japan. Thus, we hope to investigate the role of labour and labour-management cooperation in the digtial transformation of the automotive industry.
2. We plan to conduct follow-up field research in Japan and Germany to better understand dynamics and challenges of digital transformation. Further, this will allow to avoid issues related to static analysis.
3. The P-I will serve as special guest editor for a special issue on 'Varieties of Digitalisation', which is a topic that gained interest from overseas collagues. Hopefully, research findings of contriibutors will serve as an inspiration for refined theoretical explanations and maybe even a theoretical concept which could explain the social and economic factors that govern technical change.
4. German colleagues have approached the research team to potentially serve as a reference group in a large comparative analysis of national digitalisation strategies supported by the German government. If this linkage could be established, this would allow the team to interact with international colleagues and publicise our research findings more easily.
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Report
(1 results)
Research Products
(2 results)
