The structure and organization of international manufacturing has changed over the past twenty years. It seems as if manufacturing is moving towards emerging countries e.g. China or India, often to take advantage of lower labour costs. Whilst production cost is an important consideration in...

After a steady growth in global offshoring activities, it appears now a marked flow in the opposite direction with both a partial and full reversal of offshoring decisions. Research on reshoring put less stresses on the operation of dispersed facilities of an intra-firm network manufacturing....

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new, empirically derived typology of plants in the international manufacturing network of multinational companies. This typology is based on the knowledge flows between the plants. In our research, network analysis has been used as a methodology for...

Fast product innovation and creativity is driving the development strategies of most nations enjoying high economic growth. The diverse range of technological possibilities creates unprecedented change bringing both product and market uncertainty and as a consequence new challenges for...

The strategic role of plants is an important decision variable in the design of international plant networks. The framework introduced by Ferdows in the 1990s offers an interesting typology, classifying plants according to their strategic role. Empirical research testing the framework showed its...

Attracted by the easier access to local markets, many foreign companies have formed manufacturing joint ventures in China. One of the key elements of successful international joint venture (IJV) manufacturing in China is the management of suppliers, since the supply chain plays an essential role...

Presents a design method aimed at supporting managers in decisions regarding the (re)design of international manufacturing and logistics structures. The heart of this method consists of analyses to determine the combined impact of changes in the location and annual capacity of a...