Impact of Brexit on the supply and production structure in the automotive industry and its application to the Nissan case

Details

Supervisors

Jean-Cristophe Defraigne

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

Brexit, Great Britain’s vote to leave the EU, has had a tremendous influence on many business activities across the EU. The car industry, which is intertwined in a complicated supply chain with European Union countries, is one of the most sensitive fields in terms of Brexit, to a large extent. Having Nissan as a particular case and the general automotive sector as a background, this study attempts to clarify how Brexit affects the operations of corporations within the EU. Nissan is an automotive industry leader in Europe, and its Sunderland Factory is indeed a great manufacturing base, one of the biggest. This research tries to give a general concept of what businesses might envisage in the Brexit year by explaining the Nissan Europe and Sunderland operations that are specially affected by Brexit. In brief, the purpose of this research is to examine how Brexit may affect companies conducting trade within the European Union, with the auto sector serving as an illustration via an investigation of Nissan Europe's role at the Sunderland Plant. While Brexit is dramatically shaking up the trade and economic environment, enterprises that were making plans to skip ahead to the next day post-Brexit will have to know how Nissan and similar organizations are already dealing with their changes. Through the examination of the effects of Brexit on Nissan's activities, this research would contribute to a body of knowledge concerning the opportunities and risks for businesses operating within the European Union in the aftermath of Brexit.