Dinámica de las Redes Virtuales de Fabricación Global en la Industria Aeronáutica

• Main Authors: José Ramón Vilana Arto, Carlos Rodríguez Monroy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU) 2011-11-01
• Series: Management Letters/Cuadernos de Gestión
• Subjects: Global Manufacturing Virtual Networks; structural holes; aeronautical industry
• Online Access: http://www.ehu.es/cuadernosdegestion/revista/index.php/en/numeros?a=da&y=2011&v=11&n=2&o=6
• ISSN: 1131-6837; 1988-2157

Global manufacturing virtual networks (GMVNs) constitute a new type of organization based on vertical and horizontal relations between independent companies or even competitors where it is not needed to maintain internal manufacturing resources but to manage and share the network resources. The result is a highly flexible system characterized by low barriers to entry and exit, geographic flexibility, low costs, rapid technological diffusion, high diversification through contract manufacturers and exceptional economies of scale and specialization. Within GMVNs, relations are established among Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), component suppliers performing at the same level as the OEMs under formulas such as Risk and Revenue Sharing Partnership (RRSP), or even manufacturers from another industrial sectors. However, the inherent risk of working with competitors is also very relevant. In order to avoid these problems, the OEMs use a variety of structural mechanisms like the utilization of central network positioning, structural holes or indirect links with peripheral actors, in order to be able to maintain a tacit power over other GMVN actors. This work will demonstrate how power is managed in these organizations and the importance of these mechanisms through a quantitative study in one of the sectors where GMVNs have more intensively grown, the manufacturing industry of aircraft engines. This study will permit to know, in a clear manner, how these networks work, to give perspective to one of the organization types that have grown to a great extend over the past years.