ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how participation in collaborative programs affects economic variables relating to the industrial firms that participate. Despite the many economic benefits of cooperative production, special challenges can potentially result in increased costs.
shared non-recurring costs of development and industrial start-up
longer production runs, resulting in lower average unit cost because of learning curve benefits
elimination of competition, resulting in longer production runs and greater shares of external markets
expanded technical and production capabilities of aggregated consortia
economies in establishing post-delivery support infrastructure of sufficient size and geographical dispersion to satisfy customers’ demands worldwide
interoperability cost reductions and enhanced effectiveness
the complication of diverging international exchange rates
