2018 Volume 2018 Issue 33 Pages 105-120
The automobile industry is currently facing the need for: 1) development of motorization technology for electric vehicles, and 2) new technologies and know-how, such as automatic driving, and the significant investment this requires in R&D. Considering this, automobile manufacturers are increasingly expecting suppliers to provide development proposals, in addition to traditional QCD requirements. However, there are limitations to the extent that medium and small suppliers can improve their development proposal capacity independently. Thus, this paper discusses the following three areas based on a case study of OVEC, which has been pursued primarily by public institutions within Okayama Prefecture. First, it outlines the industry-academia-government collaboration aimed for local supplier skills development. Second, it shows how there have been changes in the division of labor between automobile manufacturers and suppliers with regard to R&D. Finally, it indicates how industry-academiagovernment collaboration, with a focus on skills development, can act as a method for improving development proposal capacity of medium and small suppliers.
OVEC was an industry-academia-government collaboration model led by public institutions, which concentrated on generating leading suppliers within the prefecture. This paper focuses on two aspects of this model. The first is the way OVEC played the role of a “Ba” to generate the knowledge creation process. The second is the way OVEC played a complementary role with regard to R&D of the next generation automobiles at Mitsubishi Motors. Namely, within this Ba, local suppliers increased their development proposal capacity. In the future, this will allow suppliers to not only play a significant role in complementing automobile manufacturers’ R&D, but also to expand their dealings with industries outside their primary clients. This ultimately leads to the revitalization of local areas.
