ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the question of the extent to which changes in the Polish automotive sector may indicate a significant shift in core-periphery relationships. It discusses views on the nature of the periphery from the perspective of various theoretical concepts of production, transnational corporations and regional development. The automotive industry in Poland is explored on the basis of in-depth interviews at 75 large and medium-sized companies and a statistical analysis of some 800 business entities. The classic concept of a product life cycle suggests a movement of the manufacture of mature and standardised products from the economic core to the economic periphery. The division of economies into core and peripheral can be identified in several theoretical concepts. The conceptual discussion allows one to distinguish a list of features attributed to production in the periphery grouped into seven main categories: the product, the production process, labour, the market, suppliers, non-production competencies, and others.
