Supplier integration in the chinese automotive industry

Supplier integration has become an important concept for improving supply chain performance in networked industries, such as the automotive industry. The aim of this chapter is to identify factors that facilitate and inhibit supplier integration in the context of the Chinese automotive industry. An inductive approach, based on grounded theory, was chosen as the research methodology, where data was collected through 30 case interviews conducted with automotive companies in China and through which data was collected accordingly. The results suggest that buyer-side leadership is an important antecedent for building motivation, trust and commitment among suppliers and for shaping their mindsets. This, in turn, facilitates strategic alignment and enables suppliers to build collaborative capabilities, which are shown to be a key enabler for successful supplier integration.