E-negotiations, supply networks and collaborative product development in aerospace manufacturing

Firms are turning their attention to global sourcing as a means to improve performance and enhance competitiveness. Some partnerships created with this strategy improve product development through collaborative design. With the advent of e-commerce, a new set of collaborative applications integrated to the firm´s IT infrastructure allow a direct interaction between the firm and its suppliers, having an impact on negotiation. The issue is particularly relevant for industries with highly engineered products and extensive supply networks. We provide insights on the impact of the adoption of collaborative design technologies by an aerospace manufacturing firm and how these relate to electronic negotiations. We provide a set of consequences of the adoption of this technology to add to the body of knowledge of the impacts of e-commerce in supply chains.