Ensuring the High Performance of Design and Engineering Firms in Mexico’s Aerospace Industry: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The aerospace industry is considered strategic for economic and national security reasons because it generates short- and long-term benefits for countries, such as new investments, technology transfers, and spillover. Therefore, this research aimed to identify the necessary and sufficient conditions for guaranteeing the high performance of design and engineering firms (DEFs) in Mexico’s aerospace industry. Taking a resource-based perspective enhanced by absorptive capacity and entrepreneurship approaches, this study contributes to understanding the causal ambiguity and social complexity characterizing the relationship between firms’ performance and resource allocation. Additionally, this research used a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to gain insight into the configurations (i.e., sets of resources) that lead firms to achieve high performance levels (HPLs) in Mexico’s aerospace industry. The results demonstrated that absorptive capacity, innovation capacity, entrepreneurial capacity, research and development activities, and specialized human resources are necessary conditions for achieving HPLs.

Keywords

• aerospace industry
• design and engineering firms
• fsqca
• high performance levels
• mexico