Manufacturing subnetworks in multinational companies: definition, categorization and management process

A wide literature about International Manufacturing Networks (IMNs) has been developed in the last decades, driven by the globalization of operations. Attention has typically been directed on plant and network level, while little emphasis was given to subgroups of plants within the same company. This paper aims at providing a definition of the “subnetwork” concept, as introduced by Ferdows et al. (2016). The research highlights the main characteristics of subnetworks, and the reasons why a subnetwork- based analysis can be useful for providing additional insights over three core topics of IMNs: the role of the plants, capabilities, and manufacturing strategy.