Towards a systemic culture in global manufacturing virtual networks

Abstract

This paper analyzes the most relevant factors of organizational 
culture that appear in Global Manufacturing Virtual Networks 
(GMVNs). These organizations are formed by very dynamic 
companies that manufacture all types of products or services 
and establish horizontal and vertical relations among 
themselves, and may even be competitors: within these 
organizations, it is not necessary mantaining large internal 
manufacturing resources but managing and sharing effi ciently 
them with the network. 
The study of organizational culture at the network level 
includes aspects such as the similarity of cultural practices 
among its actors, social “embeddedness”, tacit knowledge 
transfer or the importance of trust in the network. They are 
ultimately the “soft factors” of GMVNs and are one of the key 
aspects for their effi cient operation. 
By applying the proposed theoretical model, all the relevant 
cultural factors within inter-fi rm collaborations will be analyzed, 
as well as the possible existence of an organizational culture at 
the network level. The presence, under a systemic perspective, 
of homogeneous cultural values and practices, where actors 
can be identifi ed, would strengthen the group membership 
and would facilitate the establishment of a social network that 
underlies the own GMVN and increases interactions among its 
members. The feasibility of this approach would facilitate the 
formation of new GMVNs by establishing, ex ante, a cultural 
prescriptive model at the network level.