Finally, Slovakia’s institutional features, at least in industrial organizations, do not seem fit within Wallerstein/Chase-Dunn & Hall’s fifth type of semi-periphery nations, as they appear more peripheral-like than intermediate-like. 38Evans P. Class, state and dependence in East Asia: Lessons for Latin Americanists. In: Deyo F, Ed. The political economy of the new Asian industrialism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 1987; pp. East Asia’s Newly Industrializing Economies (NIEs) in the 1980s (particularly South Korea), or today’s largest semi-periphery nations, China, India, and Russa, Slovakia has no native-owned or operated motor vehicle producers. With the exception of a handful of Tier-II suppliers, the same held true for its automotive supply base, and for that matter, for most of its other industrial sectors. Next, Slovakia has essentially failed to launch a credible import-substitution campaign in the automotive sector. Well over half of the parts installed in vehicles finished in Slovakia still were imported from core nations. Additionally, total new cars sales in the country have represented only a tiny percentage of production, and the vast majority of vehicles sold, either new or used, have been imports.
More specifically, automakers produced 906,393 complete passenger vehicles in Slovakia’s Bratislava-Zilina Corridor in 2013. One hundred percent of these vehicles were built by foreign automakers. In addition, of the 4.34 million vehicles manufactured in the nation between 2007 and 2013, nearly all (99 percent), were exported out of the country. However, the latter figure was misleading, as it represented all new car sales, irrespective of manufacturer. The foremost example of this unequal relationship was VW, which between 2008 and 2011 primarily built luxury SUV (Audi Q7 and VW Touareg) in Bratislava for export to Western Europe and America. In Audi’s case, it sold only 1,427 vehicles in Slovakia in 2013, irrespective of model, or the equivalent of only 2.25% of 63,543 vehicles VW produced under that marque in Slovakia in that year. VW’s Tier-I and Tier-II suppliers in Slovakia followed a similar strategy. As mentioned earlier, 93 percent of the gearboxes, chassis components, and other parts manufactured at VW Martin were exported out of the country.
45VW AG. Volkswagen Slovakia. Most of the other parts fabricated, such as INA (bearings) and Continental Tires, both of Germany, exported more than half of their output. Similarly, only 5.53% of the 1.93 million engines built at VW’s Audi plant in Gyor in 2013`were installed in Hungarian or Slovak-made Audi vehicles. 57Jacobs, A. J. Auto FDI in emerging Europe: Shifting production locales in the world auto industry. 19Pavlinek P, Domanski B, Guzik R. Industrial upgrading through foreign direct investment in central European automotive manufacturing. Related to this, among the 40 largest automotive suppliers in Slovakia, 29 were located within the four-city-regions in the Bratislava-Zilina Corridor. All 29 were foreign-owned, including 13 with 1,000 or more employees in 2013. With only a handful of domestic-owned firms even participating in the auto industry production chain, very little technology transfer has occurred between TNCs and native firms. 28Pavlinek P. The internationalization of corporate R&D and the automotive industry R&D of East-Central Europe.
71Lane D. Postsocialist states in the system of global capitalism: A comparative perspective. In: Boschi R, Santana C, Eds. Development and Semi-periphery: Post-neoliberal trajectories in South America and Central Eastern Europe. London: Anthem 2012; pp. 72Knox P, Agnew J, McCarthy L. The geography of the world economy. Finally, further evidence supporting the contention made in this article that Slovakia has not yet achieved semi-periphery status comes from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Transnationality Index (TNI). 71Lane D. Postsocialist states in the system of global capitalism: A comparative perspective. In: Boschi R, Santana C, Eds. Development and Semi-periphery: Post-neoliberal trajectories in South America and Central Eastern Europe. London: Anthem 2012; pp. A high index has connoted that that nation was significantly dependent upon foreign firms in that given year. Japan at one and the USA, at six, have had the lowest TNI. 71Lane D. Postsocialist states in the system of global capitalism: A comparative perspective. In: Boschi R, Santana C, Eds.
