Domestic Supplier Integration in the Chinese Automotive Industry: The Buyer's Perspective (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Research has shown that collaborative approaches involving suppliers significantly contribute to improved product quality, shorter lead times and a higher responsiveness of the supply chain at lower costs and increased customer satisfaction levels (Bennett and O'Kane 2006; Tummala, Phillips and Johnson 2006; Humphreys, Huang et al. 2007). In the automotive industry, which is characterized by a high degree of value added by suppliers in manufacturing as well as in the engineering of car components (Tiemann, Scholz and Thies 2000; Quesada, Syamil and Doll 2006; Wagner, Bode and Koziol 2009), suppliers are integrated in both joint production planning (Fawcett, Osterhaus et al. 2003; Bennett and O'Kane 2006) and joint product development processes (Takeishi 2001; Bates, Holweg, et al. 2007; Binder, Gust and Clegg 2007; Holweg and Pil 2007). These practices aim at realizing competitiveness at the company and supply chain levels in terms of costs, quality, innovation, and product development as well as production lead times (Becker and Zirpoli 2003; Doran 2003, 2004; Binder et al. 2007).