The manufacturing keiretsu : a changing inter-company network ? The case of the car industry

International audienceManufacturing keiretsu are vertical inter-company groups structured around a company. These networks, in principle representative of long-lasting and stable relationships, especially in the Japanese car industry, are undergoing unprecedented change. This chapter aims to define the keiretsu within the existing strategic management literature on company networks and also to address the structural changes of vertical manufacturing keiretsu in particular with respect to ongoing changes in the European car industry. On the one hand, the prime manufacturers within the manufacturing keiretsu seek to introduce more transactional cooperation modes within social networks that historically rely on vertical cooperation based on trust, durability, and mutual exchanges. On the other hand, Western car manufacturers seek to establish "win-win" partnerships, more relational in their nature, that aim to replace classic subcontracting relationships