Resilient Supply Chains and Robust Strategies for the Transformation of the Automotive Industry

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate how supply chains in the German au-tomotive industry are changing against the backdrop of short-term disrup-tions (using the Covid-19-pandemic as an example) and long-term changes due to the transformation to electric mobility, and how the global supply chains can be made more resilient in the future. For the first time, geomaps are used to depict and quantify the shift in value creation networks for con-ventional and electric vehicles from Germany to Asia. This can be shown exemplarily for different German manufacturers in the premium and volume segments. The paper highlights the international interdependencies of the au-tomotive industry with Baden-Württemberg as an example, the effects of the Covid-19-pandemic, corporate strategies including product and platform strategies in the transformation to electric mobility and their consequences for value creation networks, as well as recommendations for the design of resilient supply chains for companies and policymakers.