The Internationalization of a Production Network and the Replication Dilemma: Building Supplier Networks in Mainland China

Replication can be a powerful strategy for firms, but the replication of organizational practices is not easy, and there exists a real tension between replication and adaptation. This paper looks at the sourcing strategies and supplier networks of three Taiwanese machine tool companies in mainland China to understand the conditions under which replication may be more or less likely to occur. In addition, by viewing the cases as examples of the production network internationalization and by considering the issue of convoy migration in such a context, this paper presents a new way of thinking about the internationalization of industrial networks. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005