DYNA JOURNAL ENGINEERING

Key words:

redes virtuales de fabricación global, cultura interempresarial, industria aeronáutica, Global Manufacturing Virtual Networks, inter-firm culture, aeronautical industry.

Article type:

ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION / RESEARCH ARTICLE

Section:

VARIOUS

ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes the most relevant factors of organizational culture that appear in Global Manufacturing Virtual Networks (GMVNs). These organizations are formed by very dynamic companies that manufacture all types of products or services and establish horizontal and vertical relations among themselves, and may even be competitors: within these organizations, it is not necessary mantaining large internal manufacturing resources but managing and sharing efficiently them with the network. The study of organizational culture at the network level includes aspects such as the similarity of cultural practices among its actors, social “embeddedness”, tacit knowledge transfer or the importance of trust in the network. They are ultimately the “soft factors” of GMVNs and are one of the key aspects for their efficient operation. By applying the proposed theoretical model, all the relevant cultural factors within interfirm collaborations will be analyzed, as well as the possible existence of an organizational culture at the network level. The presence, under a systemic perspective, of homogeneous cultural values and practices, where actors an be identified, would strengthen the group membership and would facilitate the establishment of a social network that underlies the own GMVN and increases interactions among its members. The feasibility of this approach would facilitate the formation of new GMVNs by establishing, ex ante, a cultural prescriptive model at the network level.
KEY WORDS: Global Manufacturing Virtual Networks, inter-firm culture, aeronautical industry.