Electric sports cars and their impact on the component sourcing process

The trend towards electric mobility is ongoing, and it possesses the potential to reshape the future of international motor vehicle production. Furthermore, it will replace conventional driving technologies and have a disruptive impact on the automobile industry market and the private consumer. By its transformational character, the electric mobility trend is already impacting on the nature and form of the component sourcing process between the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and its suppliers. Hence, the trend has brought in completely new industry participants, relationships and a reconfiguration of how goods and supplies are being sourced. Within this transformational environment, the incumbent automobile manufacturers need to rethink and redefine their business and sourcing strategy (in order to hold their market position within this rapidly emerging industrial and communication technology (ICT)-industrial framework). This paper explores how the sourcing process is changing with respect to competitive advantage, required capabilities and emerging opportunism. The changed supply conditions are requiring new sourcing strategies to be implemented. We make a contribution towards transactional and resources based theory by exploring asset and operational capability building within the context of the automotive sourcing process. Theoretically this paper suggests that sourcing is a key operational capability to build strategic assets and improve transactional efficiency. It is a critical ingredient in the automotive supply chain of the incumbents transforming itself. Furthermore, for our case firm, aligning its complete sourcing strategy to its business strategy will be crucial in order to have sufficient operational capability. A capability, that it will need not only to compete, but also to survive, the accelerating threat of new entrants moving into the electric sports car marketspace.