Managing Integrated Information Flow for Industrial Service Partnerships: A Case Study of Aerospace Firms

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore priorities of supply chain partners for the integrated flow of information during the provision of industrial services. We adopted a qualitative multi-case logic methodology and a research model of flow integration and partnership uncertainty which we applied in an exploratory study with five major companies that provide aerospace services. From the analysis, we found that in view of the challenges for reducing partnership uncertainty and for enhancing integrated flow, firms prioritised how historical service data was made available to authorised staff and how lessons were learnt from existing service projects. We also found that congruity of aircraft platforms and duologues during service phases are important priorities in decision making situations of firms towards their supply chains for industrial services; and that these priorities are often driven by unplugged communication gaps and obsolescence of technologies.