Multinational Corporations, Value Chains and Knowledge Spillovers in the Global Aircraft Industry

The commercial aircraft manufacturing industry is starting a process of delocalization from developed to developing countries. From its original strongholds in the United States, Western Europe and Canada, it is now moving towards the largest new industrial countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The technology transfer channels include investment by multinational corporations, participation in global value chains, and outsourcing by large prime contractors based in North America and Western Europe. The process through which technological learning occurs has been studied in economics as international knowledge spillovers. In management, similar processes have been studied under outsourcing and global value chains. Drawing hypotheses from theory, the paper analyzes the patterns of trade, foreign direct investment and outsourcing in the global aircraft manufacturing industry. The evidence amassed shows that through these mechanisms, North American and Western European aircraft industries risk now losing their dominance to the developing countries.