ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analytical and methodological approach developed previously according to which only an analysis in terms of industrial systems can offer a full and correct understanding of inter-firm relationships within a given industrial sector. It explores the wide degree of freedom which vehicle manufacturer groups have retained in terms of strategic choices. The chapter focuses essentially on the relationships that are medium or long-term, that is to say the most strategic, rather than those which are short-term. It analytically links inter-firm relations to the four essential functions of the company–design, organise, produce, and sell–and bases its reasoning on four 'generic' organisational models: the craft system, the original Fordism, Sloanism and Toyotaism. As automobile systems have evolved from the craft model to Toyotaism, the organisation of inter-firm relationships has clearly tended to evolve towards a form of competition characterised by partnerships, both horizontal and vertical.
