Identification of critical success factors for emerging market entry planning processes in the automotive industry

The sales potentials for automotive companies in Europe are decreasing and emerging markets, such as the BRIC-states or the ASEAN countries, are in the focus of European automobile manufacturer´s attention. However, the OEMs have to face different challenges in the market development process of these high potential markets. Car manufacturers and suppliers struggle with the decision of following a local manufacturing strategy and the related set up of regional supply chain networks or following complex knocked-down production strategies. But the decision finding process shows different deficits. Especially the heterogeneous market situations and differentially developed local industries require a deep market and manufacturing footprint analysis. This paper focuses on the identification of critical success factors of emerging market entry planning processes in the automotive industry. Through literature review and expert interviews the main critical success factors in this context were identified and operationalized through adequate key performance indicators.