Title: The transformation of the Slovak and Czech automotive industries: stakeholders' perspectives and barriers towards an ecological mobility industry

Authors: Patrik Gažo; Monika Martišková; Thomas S.J. Smith

Addresses: Department of Environmental Studies, Masaryk University, Czechia ' Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia; Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI), Bratislava, Slovakia ' Department of Environmental Studies, Masaryk University, Czechia

Abstract: The article identifies and critically discusses barriers for transforming the automotive industry into an ecological mobility industry in Slovakia and Czechia from the point of view of key stakeholders. The focus is on the actors in the transformation process and the obstacles they face in influencing the strategies and direction of such a shift. Furthermore, this study evaluates the structure of the automotive industry in these countries and points out the possible implications for changes in mobility patterns and the future of employment in the broader mobility sector. The exploratory research finds that transforming the Czech and Slovak automotive industries is currently constrained by the path-dependency of public institutions related to private transportation and by foreign ownership of the car companies, making it difficult for local actors to seize the initiative. Moreover, there is a lack of clarity amongst actors about the direction and aim of the mobility industry's transformation.

Keywords: automotive industry; social-ecological transformation; ecological mobility; integrated peripheries; central and Eastern Europe; just transition; mobility industry; Czechia; Slovakia; European semi-periphery; mobility patterns; public institutions; foreign ownership; barriers of transformation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJATM.2022.124360

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 2022 Vol.22 No.2, pp.202 - 221

Received: 09 Sep 2021
Accepted: 22 Dec 2021
Published online: 25 Jul 2022 *

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