Local Entrepreneurship within Global Value Chains: A Case Study in the Mexican Automotive Industry

SummarySince the 1980s, Mexico became an attractive location for global automobile assemblers. Geographical proximity and low production costs were associated with high productivity. As this industry became highly concentrated, benefits for the host localities turned into a controversial issue.Taking this controversy as a background, a case study was designed to gather evidence from new local knowledge-intensive firms within the supplier network in the automotive cluster led by Ford Motor Company in Hermosillo, Mexico. Our findings revealed that a new trend of knowledge-intensive small local companies emerged, providing higher value services and playing more important roles in the supply chain.