Industrial networks of the future: review of research and practice

Academic researchers have followed closely the interest of companies in establishing industrial networks by studying aspects such as social interaction and contractual relationships. But what patterns underlie the emergence of industrial networks and what support should research provide for practitioners? First, it appears that manufacturing is becoming a commodity rather than a unique capability, which accounts especially for low-technology approaches in downstream parts of the network, for example, in assembly operations. Second, the increased tendency towards specialisation has forced other, upstream, parts of industrial networks to introduce advanced manufacturing technologies for niche markets. Third, the capital market for investments in capacity, and the trade in manufacturing as a commodity, dominates resource allocation to a larger extent than was previously the case. Fourth, there is becoming a continuous move towards more loosely connected entities that comprise manufacturing networks. Finally, in these networks, concepts for supply chain management should address collaboration and information technology that supports decentralised decision-making, in particular to address sustainable and green supply chains. More traditional concepts, such as the keiretsu and chaibol networks of some Asian economies, do not sufficiently support the demands now being placed on networks. Research should address these five fundamental challenges to prepare for the industrial networks of 2020 and beyond

Collaborations in industrial networks: the co-evolutionary perspective

Currently, collaborations in production industry are experiencing a failure rate of 50%, if not more, and control of outsourcing is proving difficult; both findings from earlier research express the difficulties for managing networked enterprises. The lack of a problem-oriented understanding of the required systems setup and underlying control mechanisms might cause this. So far, academic research in management science has expanded models based on the individual company as an entity to address challenges posed by networks. Complementary approaches are required to match the specific characteristics of industrial and enterprise networks. The application of principles of complex systems from natural sciences to collaborative enterprise networks as socio-technical systems might yield these complementary approaches. Five themes emerge from this point of view: dynamic description, coordination possibilities, integrative innovation, path dependency and information sharing. Interdisciplinary research should expand the available knowledge on the underlying mechanisms of collaborations by adopting models from the natural sciences (science of complex systems, network sciences, science of complexity, evolutionary models), and may possibly offer new perspectives to avoid traditional pitfalls (culture, leadership, trust) and to address the five themes