A strategic framework for firm networks in manufacturing industry: An empirical survey E. Mazzola, M. Bruccoleri, G. Perrone (2)* Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale – Universita ` degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 8, 90128 Palermo, Italy 1. Introduction The increasing competitive pressure, know-how diffusion and market globalization are modifying the competitive pattern of manufacturing enterprises. Companies’ success depends on the capability of merging: (1) cost reduction needs, which represent the major response to the increasing competition pressure, (2) rising know-how which is the major response to the increasing demand of innovation, and (3) market localization which represents the major response to market globalization. The concrete answer to these competitive drivers seems to be the adoption of business network- ing models. Indeed, different evidences confirming such a trend for manufacturing companies exist into the literature; for instance, the case of ‘‘contract manufacturers’’ of the American semiconductor sector, the common product platform now largely adopted in the automotive industry [1], and the modular design of machining centers produced by the German machine tool producers are all cases evidencing such a trend. Thus, to remain competitive in the modern scenario, business networking strategy, i.e. creating inter- firm relationship (alliances, subcontracting, outsourcing, franchis- ing, etc.) represents the major key to respond to competitive drivers coming from globalization, technology quick advances and eco- nomic crisis [2]. Although, in such a context, one of the main drawback is the lack of structural fit among inter-firm networking forms and single company strategic objectives; such an issue is, from many sides, considered as the main source of business networking collapse, as well as the difficulty in managing the complexity of the relationship [3]. For such reasons, in this paper, a new framework for business networking analysis is proposed. The framework, based on a Strategic Managerial perspective, relies on strategic considerations regarding long-term goals of manufacturing networks. Scientific literature on business networking, although being copious and multi-disciplinary (economics, management, social science, etc.) lacks of research studies focusing on the strategic goal of the networks, being more focalised on network operations, aggrega- tions, constitution, contracting, negotiations, and partnership forms. Specifically, three basic manufacturing inter-firms networks have been identified according to three main strategic goals: achieving efficiency, entering new markets and developing new knowledge. Dependently on the strategic goal, different kinds of networks might arise. Also, different manufacturing industries ask for different inter- firm networking models and configurations given the obvious different strategic goals pursued by companies in different industries. The main objective of the paper is to assess the existence of such three kinds of networks and to identify how such typologies fit firms’ goals. Given the exploratory nature of the research, in this paper an empirical analysis on 93 case studies has been conducted. Scientific literature analysis has been used for defining research propositions, problem statement, and the proposed business networking framework. Then, a survey on a large number of case studies allowed testing at a first-cut manner the proposed model. This paper is structured as it follows. Section 2 reports a brief literature review on firm networking theories; Section 3 presents the proposed framework for firm networks in the manufacturing industry. The empirical analysis is reported in Section 4, while results and conclusions are presented in the last section. 2. Firm networking approaches A considerable body of research has interpreted and analysed inter-firm networks from different academic disciplines’ perspec- tives. Such different perspectives can be classified according to the following categories: Organisational Economics, Relational, Opera- tional, and Co-opetition. CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 387–390 ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Co-operative manufacturing Management Production ABSTRACT Firm networking is becoming more and more the most important competitive strength in nowadays competitive environment. Such an evidence is partially neglected by the classical strategic analysis of firms competitiveness which mainly looks at the firm strength and weakness not in relationship with its capacity to build competitive networks. For such a reason, in the last years, many theoretical approaches have stressed the importance of networks to gain competitive advantage. In this paper, the most significant theories on firm networking are reviewed and an innovative strategic framework that mainly underlies at firm networks organisation is proposed. Very briefly, it is argued that networks are differently organised according to three basic strategic objectives: to gain efficiency; to collect knowledge; to pursue globalization. The proposed framework has been tested within the manufacturing industry through an empirical survey conducted on 93 case studies. ß 2009 CIRP. * Corresponding author. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology journal homepage: http://ees.elsevier.com/cirp/default.asp 0007-8506/$ – see front matter ß 2009 CIRP. doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2009.03.024