Institutional Investors and the Car Industry Geographic Focalisation and Industrial Strategies

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of institutional investors in the car industry using original data on their investments in the world's top 16 companies in this sector. It reveals the limitations of the notion of “globalised finance” in this industry and the permanence of national proximity in the context of capital markets. The paper then details the activities of institutional investors and a typology is proposed to measure their concentration and to characterise their dualistic nature. The importance of institutional investors in the ownership structure of car assemblers is then considered, along with a discussion of their possible impact on industrial strategies.