This paper aims to explore the process that dynamically links the whys, hows and whats of supply network internationalisation. Through a series of iterative cycles of data gathering, feedback, and analysis on a sample of nine Italian footwear and apparel companies involved in relocating some segments of their supply networks to Romania, we refine Johanson and Vahlne’s internationalisation model (1977), adding two more factors: the technological knowledge needed to be transferred to run the foreign operations, and the customer-supplier interaction context. We use the adjusted model to analyse the three paths of supply network internationalisation emerging from the cases analysed: traditional subcontracting, co-ordinated subcontracting, and supply system relocation. It is the different balance of technological knowledge and customer-supplier interaction context that explains why, moving from the first to the third internationalisation path, companies can make harder and harder for rivals the imitation of the whole set of managerial decisions underpinning their internationalisation strategies.
How Technological Knowledge and Customer-Supplier Interactions Shape the Process of Supply Network Internationalisation
ROMANO, Pietro;
2005-01-01
Abstract
This paper aims to explore the process that dynamically links the whys, hows and whats of supply network internationalisation. Through a series of iterative cycles of data gathering, feedback, and analysis on a sample of nine Italian footwear and apparel companies involved in relocating some segments of their supply networks to Romania, we refine Johanson and Vahlne’s internationalisation model (1977), adding two more factors: the technological knowledge needed to be transferred to run the foreign operations, and the customer-supplier interaction context. We use the adjusted model to analyse the three paths of supply network internationalisation emerging from the cases analysed: traditional subcontracting, co-ordinated subcontracting, and supply system relocation. It is the different balance of technological knowledge and customer-supplier interaction context that explains why, moving from the first to the third internationalisation path, companies can make harder and harder for rivals the imitation of the whole set of managerial decisions underpinning their internationalisation strategies.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.