Strategy Configurations of Automotive Industry Tier2 Firms: Applying QCA to the interview data

Abstract

The number of business establishments in the automobile parts industry located in the Central Japan area has reduced by nearly half over two decades. While the business situation was expected to intensify in the late-2010s, there are some exceptional companies having successful high performances. This paper focused on such high performers of Tier2 firms in the area, and then it described eight Tier2 firms' strategies as the case studies based on our interview with their top managers. Furthermore, organizing the results in order to extract a mid-range theory of the strategy, this paper applied QCA (qualitative comparative analysis) to the interview data. As a result, we identified the strategy configurations adopted by high-performing Tier2 firms and classified them into four types. This paper identifies the strategy combinations that are likely to be effective for small and medium-sized firms such as Tier2 firms.