A hierarchical approach to study supply chain conflicts between Airbus and Boeing

Supply chain conflicts between Airbus and Boeing, along with potential suppliers are investigated using a hierarchical approach to obtain the strategic resolutions for all stakeholders. Two giant commercial aircraft makers, Airbus and Boeing, complete for better deals by selecting components for their newly designed aircraft, incurring conflicts due to their rivalry and the clash of interests with suppliers. To control the costs of their next generation aircraft and shorten the production period, both manufacturers demand better deals from potential suppliers with lower prices and more output. A conflict arises among the manufacturers and potential suppliers in the negotiation of the contract in each supply chain. To investigate these conflicts comprehensively, a hierarchical approach is adopted by constructing a Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR) with a hierarchical structure. The stakeholders may obtain strategic resolutions according to possible outcomes indicated by stability results. These findings in the hierarchical graph model are further compared to those obtained when each conflict is investigated separately.