Neither core nor periphery: The search for competitive advantage in the automotive semi-periphery

This article examines a heretofore underexplored category of automotive-producing nation known as the semi-periphery. These nations are neither "core" automotive nations whose power derives from hosting headquarters of major automakers, nor are they low-cost members of the automotive "integrated periphery" like Mexico or countries in Central and Eastern Europe or North Africa. Through a case study of one semi-periphery country, Canada, the paper assesses automotive semi-periphery countries' capacity to transition to knowledge-based activities more typically associated with "core" automotive nations. In so doing, it raises implications for other "semi-periphery" automotive-producing nations as well as those currently categorized as "core" or "integrated periphery."