A model for managing the transition to a global engineering network spanning industrialized and emerging economies

Purpose – Product development in most industries is often done today in a global engineering network (GEN). More recently, there has been a clear shift to using development resources from the so‐called “emerging countries” (ECs) that have growing domestic market, highly skilled workforce, and low labor cost base. The integration of resources from ECs, whether from the company's own businesses there or from external suppliers, poses a new challenge for collaborative work in a GEN. This paper aims to describe these challenges. Further, the process of transition to the use of resources from ECs is fraught with business risks. Further, seeks to discuss these risks and how they can be mitigated and to propose a model, derived from practice, to manage the transition process. The model comprises a set of foundation elements and location‐dependent transformation processes.Design/methodology/approach – Product development teams in three businesses were studied – an automotive supplier, a manufacturer of made‐to‐or...