International Planning Studies, Vol. 7, No. 4, 283–302, 2002 Supply Networks in the Car Industry. Do Peripheral Economies Perform Specic Tasks? Lessons from the Turkish Car Industry Y. EVREN Yildiz Teknik Universitesi, Mimarlik Fak. Sehir ve Bolge Pl. Bolumu, Yildiz Kampusu Besiktas, Istanbul, Turkey ABSTRACT This paper investigates the organizational and locational features of supply networks in the car industry. Its primary theoretical concern is to distinguish mainstream theoretical approaches to this topic and critically discuss them in the context of peripheral economies. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to shed light on the Turkish car industry and focus on the local supply chain of Tofas, one of the most important carmakers in Turkey. Introduction Since the rediscovery of economic location theories in the 1950s, geographic linkage studies have attracted considerable interest. In particular, the organiza- tional and locational structure of supplier–customer relationships (SCRs) has been among the most popular and central themes in the literature of economic geography and management. At the risk of caricaturing the relevant literature it can be said that, over the past three decades, supply chain theorists have developed two main theoretical frameworks for explaining SCRs. The rst framework takes a traditional approach to SCRs. It incorporates theoretical concerns derived mainly from Friedman’s dual economy thesis (Friedman, 1977). Briey, dualism explains economic activity through a frame- work of winners and losers. Its theoretical origin is based on inequalities in different segments of the economy. These segments can be internal or external labour markets, core or peripheral economies, or primary or secondary sectors (Averitt, 1968). With its particular reference to SCRs, dualism basically high- lights the unequal power balance in inter-rm relations and focuses mostly on industrial subcontracting. The notion of subcontracting is placed into a frame- work of large and small rm opposition (Taylor & Thrift, 1982). According to this view, subcontractors are usually small rms and they exist merely to serve large multinational corporations (MNCs). This is a situation of the “small rm in the shadow of the large” as Brusco & Sabel (1981, p. 101) dene it, implying that subcontractors are perceived as second-class elements of value-added chains and are highly vulnerable to the decisions of their customers (Michalet, 1980). The second approach to SCRs has emerged mainly under the umbrella of post-Fordism. Briey, post-Fordism argues that the world economy since the 1970s has been experiencing a turning point called the second industrial divide, 1356-3475 Print/1469-9265 Online/02/040283-20 Ó 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/135634702200002772 9