Research Paper

DIW

The Innovation Cluster of the German Automotive Components Sector

Research and technology Organisations in the Service Economy (RISE) WP 1 Cluster Studies DIW - RISE Working Paper No.3

Brigitte Preissl

January 2000

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DIW RISE Workpackage 1 Cluster Studies DIW

The Innovation Cluster of the German Automotive Components Sector

Brigitte Preissl

In the following paper the innovation cluster of the German automotive components sector will be analysed. In the first part the conceptual and methodological framework adopted in this paper will be presented; the second part contains a short analysis of recent development of the component supplier sector in response to the fundamental changes in the car manufacturing industry in the 1990s. The third part will be dedicated to the innovation cluster, its configuration and operational dynamics.

1 The cluster approach: definitions and research procedure

1.1 Clusters, sectors and industries The term ‘cluster’ can been used in a regional perspective, in an industrial or a sector perspective and in a company perspective. Clusters can also be identified for individual innovation projects (for an overview see Roelandt/den Hertog 1998, see also Porter 1998 for a regional approach). In this paper, a sector approach will be used. This means that the core of the cluster analysis is the automotive components sector. Since the companies that supply automotive parts belong to many different industries, ‘supply of automotive components’ is not an industry, but a range of industries, which - in order to have a clear distinction between the single industry (production of pneumatic wires, car seat production) and the group of industries - is called a sector.

The cluster comprises all actors that contribute to the realisation of innovations in the sector. The criterion for inclusion in the cluster is that a company, an RTO, a KIBS or any other or2 c:\rise\wp1\parts.doc

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