자동차산업 전환에 대한 부품업체의 대응 분석: 울산, 창원지역 부품업체를 중심으로*

This paper analyzes the response of Korean auto suppliers to industrial transition and the resulting changes in traditional supplier relations. To this end, we conducted an extensive survey of auto suppliers in Ulsan and Changwon, where the auto suppliers is concentrated. The main findings of the analysis are as follows. First, the response to the industry transition in terms of products differed depending on the hierarchy of auto suppliers. Tier 1 suppliers are responding to future vehicles in line with Hyundai Motor Group’s changes, while tier 2 suppliers are facing the issue of corporate survival without a clear response. Second, auto suppliers are not interested in the employment crisis or employment transition issue that will arise from the industrial transition. Instead, they are interested in the supply and demand of manpower. In the case of R&D workers, tier 1 suppliers try to secure excellent human resources through metropolitan research institutes, but local research institutes of tier 2 suppliers that cannot afford to operate metropolitan research institutes are treated as places where applicants go through to build their careers. In the case of production workers, both tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers are passive in hiring human resources due to uncertainties in the industrial transition, and are increasing their dependence on in-house subcontracts and migrant workers. Third, the extended quasi-vertical integration of the Korean automobile industry is likely to be consolidated rather than cracked during the industrial transition. While tier 1 suppliers are likely to continue to be integrated in a qausi- vertical relations, tier 2 suppliers are increasingly likely to be separated from this structure. These findings suggest that the actual process of industrial transitions is far from the image presented by the ‘just transition’ discourse, which is an alternative discourse for industrial transitions today.