An Exploratory Case Study on the Localization Activities of Automotive Components SMEs: Transplants of Hyundai/Kia suppliers in the US

자동차 부품 중소기업의 해외 현지화 활동에 대한 탐색적 사례연구: - 미국진출 현대차/기아차 협력업체를 중심으로 -

This study empirically investigates the differences of dominant management problems (hereafter, DMPs) among transplants in different degree of localization, based on the exploratory case study on the nine transplants of Hyundai/Kia suppliers in US using AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process) technique. On the results of the literature review, this study divides the DMPs of transplants into three main categories such as building human infrastructure, stabilizing manufacturing processes, and building learning network. Each categories is also divided into four subcategories. The degree of localization includes two variables such as the localization stage and the employee size of transplant. Main findings are as follows. First, 'Communication among Korean and local employees' is important DMP in all transplants examined. Second, 'Local adaptation of Korean manufacturing technology' and 'Education on the Korean culture and management practices' are more important DMPs for less-localized transplants than more-localized ones. On the contrary, 'Motivating local employees' is more important DMP for more-localized transplants than less-localized ones. Third, 'Education on the technology and quality' is more important DMP for transplants in post-production stage than in stabilization stage. On the contrary, 'Staffing local employees' is more important DMP for transplants in stabilization stage than in post-production stage. Fourth, 'Acquiring test and measurement equipments' is more important DMP for small-sized transplants than large-sized ones. On the contrary, 'adopting new technology' and 'Building local suppliers network' are more important DMPs for large-sized transplants than small-sized ones.