<p>The Chinese automobile industry has been experiencing some profound changes during the market transition and globalization. Regarding to the ownership structure and technological upgrading strategies of the domestic assemblers, there have emerged four major developmental models. Transitional theoretical perspectives have limitations in face of these differing models. In this study, a perspective of social construction is proposed to resolve this research question. This dissertation explores four representative cases including FAW, SAIC Group, Chery and Geely. The major argument is that the local political structure, developmental ideas and agencies as necessary components of local social construction have resulted in the divergent paths among these Chinese car makers.</p> / Dissertation

The Chinese automotive industry has evolved substantially over the last 55 years, in spite of multiple historical and economic hurdles. The change in the governmental policy during 1980s regarding ownership of private automobiles, from prohibition to encouragement, initiated rapid growth in the Chinese automobile industry. In the last two decades, China progressed from being nearly a truck-only producer to becoming a major producer of passenger and commercial cars. Economists consider the time between 2001 and 2007 to be a period of ‘blowout’ in the Chinese automobile industry. To date, little is known regarding this emerging automobile industry: What are the features of Chinese automobile industry? Has the Chinese automobile industry become a global player in its industry and reached economy of scale? How is the indigenous automobile sector different from international joint ventures in China? Have Chinese companies gained full transfer of technology and come to possess the capacity to develop their own designs? The subject is complicated, with many contradictory facts and interpretations. This thesis intends to address these questions by focusing on the Chinese indigenous automobile sector, through its three stages of development, using it as a model to examine the validity of various interpretations. I hope the historical appraisal of the industry’s initial development, its difficulty in transition and the internal-external factors affecting the later growth will help us understand the industrial and technological development of China’s emerging economy.

Before 1950, the Chinese automobile industry did not exist, let alone manufacturing passenger cars. Currently, the Chinese automobile market has become the largest market in the world. Chinese companies have launched their own brand of passenger cars to compete with other international companies in the world only in 30 years. In our research, we analysed the development of the Chinese automobile industry from the perspective of knowledge transfer. This study employed qualitative method to conduct the research and a Chinese automobile company was taken as an example. To analyse the process of knowledge transfer, we created an analytical model which is based on previous research. The primary data to test the model comes from three interviews, which were conducted with employees working as manager and engineer in the Chinese automobile industry. The secondary data was collected to complement the primary data. All data were used to present a holistic view of the process researched. Our results show that the rapid growth began with the attention of the Chinese government who set the Chinese automobile industry as the "pillar industry" of the Chinese economy. Then, the rapid development of the Chinese automobile industry greatly depends on the process of cross-border knowledge transfer, which is significantly influenced by the Chinese government. Our main contribution is that the process of knowledge transfer can work well within an environment controlled by the government, in spite of lacking the enablers examined in previous studies (e.g. trust). Another contribution is the analytical model we created to analyse the whole process of knowledge transfer.