Seminar: Green cars―low wages? Changing value chains in the automotive indus

February 27, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Honolulu Campus, 1601 East-West Road, John A. Burns Hall, Room 3121/3125 (3rd floor)

China is a leading force in new-energy vehicles, digital cars, and shared mobility.

Driven by ambitious government policies and massive urban transformation, China has emerged as the world’s largest market and production site for electric vehicles. This process engenders deep changes in the automotive industry, shifting from traditional models of manufacturing (“Fordism”, “Toyotism”) to forms of network-based mass production as known from the information-technology industry. With this, large numbers of auto industry jobs are coming under threat, in industrialized countries as well as in China.

This talk will explore the changing structure of value chains in the Chinese car industry and explore implications for production models, work, and politics.

Boy Luethje’s research at the East-West Center focuses on global production networks, labor standards, and industrial relations in China and the global economy. He currently directs a number of local research projects on advanced manufacturing and on the emerging electric-vehicle industry in South China and contributes to a major report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) on the future of work in the automotive industry. His publications include “From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen: Global production and work in the IT industry” and “Beyond the iron rice bow: Regimes of production and industrial relations in China.” To contact Boy, email: luethje@mail.edu.sysu.com.


Ticket Information
Free, open to the public

Event Sponsor
East-West Center, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Laurel Pikcunas, (808) 944-7444, pikcunal@eastwestcenter.org, https://www.eastwestcenter.org/node/36513

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