The impact of the lack of chips in production and the global Covid-19 crisis on operational business in the automotive industry

Predmet istraživanja u ovom radu je nedostatak čipova uslijed globalne Covid-19 krize i utjecaj nedostatka na operativno poslovanje u automobilskoj industriji. Rad daje teorijski uvid u osnovne karakteristike operativnog poslovanja i specifičnosti suvremenog operativnog poslovanja automobilske industrije. Empirijski dio rada temelji se na istraživanju utjecaja nedostatak čipova na operativno poslovanje odabranih proizvođača automobila. Za analizu su odabrana poduzeća Volkswagen, Toyota i Chrysler. Odabir je temeljen na geografskom položaju, odnosno odabrana su poduzeća sa sjedištem u Europi (Volkswagen), Japanu (Toyota) i SAD-u (Chrysler) kako bi se pokazao globalni utjecaj nedostatka čipova. Cilj rada je prikazati kako globalna nestašica čipova utječe na operativno poslovanje u automobilskoj industriji. Analizom odabranih poduzeća vidljivo je kako je nedostatak čipova negativno utjecao na sva poduzeća bez obzira na različite lokacije sjedišta i glavnih tvornica. Operativni odgovori poduzeća bili su različiti, a detektirano je kako odgovori ovise o ranijim strategijama poduzeća po pitanju lanca opskrbe. Iz analize je vidljivo kako se automobilski sektor oporavlja, u skladu s ranijim predviđanjima rješavanja problema nestašice čipova. Brzina oporavka ovisi o više faktora, a naglasak se može staviti na raniju politiku opskrbnog lanca i mogućnost brze prilagodbe novonastaloj situaciji, bez obzira na geografski položaj poduzeća.The subject of research in this paper is the shortage of chips due to the global Covid-19 crisis and the impact of the shortage on operational business in the automotive industry. The paper provides a theoretical insight into the basic characteristics of operational business and the specifics of modern operational business of the automotive industry. The empirical part of the work is based on research into the impact of the lack of chips on the operational business of selected car manufacturers. The companies Volkswagen, Toyota and Chrysler were selected for analysis. The selection is based on geographic location, i.e., companies based in Europe (Volkswagen), Japan (Toyota) and the USA (Chrysler) were selected to demonstrate the global impact of the chip shortage. The aim of the paper is to show how the global shortage of chips affects operational business in the automotive industry. The analysis of the selected companies shows how the lack of chips negatively affected all companies, regardless of the different locations of headquarters and main factories. The operational responses of the companies were different, and it was detected that the responses depended on the earlier strategies of the companies regarding the supply chain. The analysis shows that the automotive sector is recovering, in line with earlier predictions of solving the chip shortage problem. The speed of recovery depends on several factors, and the emphasis can be placed on the earlier supply chain policy and the ability to quickly adapt to the new situation, regardless of the company's geographical location