The paper describes, characterizes and analyses the effects of the transnational companies' global strategies on the evolution of the automotive industry's supply chain. In order to achieve this goal, it analyses the evolution of this chain with the help of statistic data provided by the Brazilian associations for vehicle manufacturers and for the auto-part industry under the theoretical frame of reference of supply chain management and taking into consideration the present state of the global production mechanism. It will be shown that this evolution embraces periods that the chain presented a high level of nationalization of its products and projects, while in other periods this level was only partial or almost null. In the context of the changes during the 90´s, the paper examines the ways global strategies, like global sourcing, follow sourcing, carry over, and the adoption of global platforms are acting on the operation of the automotive assemblers and the auto-parts industry in Brazil, and on the relevance of this country in the global supply chain.
automotive industry; supply chain; globalization
