THE AUTOMOBILE-INDUSTRY AND EASTERN-EUROPE - NEW PRODUCTION STRATEGIES OR OLD SOLUTIONS

The world's major vehicle manufacturers led the way in investing in ea stern Europe following political liberalisation there in the late 1980 s. A search for new market opportunities and for lower-cost production locations characterised many investment decisions. This paper investi gates the ways in which eastern Europe has become integrated into a br oader geography of European automobile production and consumption. It makes a conceptual distinction between those plants which were intende d to become part of locally-embedded production networks, and those wh ich more closely resembled the classic branch plant syndrome. It also explores the new conditions of employment which emerged, setting these in the context of a European production system.