Conducting a process-based case study, we present the successful growth of the Airbus consortium over 20 years, answering the question ‘how do firms grow sustainably?’ in the context of a dynamic technology-intensive industry. The study magnifies the underlying role of (1) the incremental and piecemeal accumulation of assets plus (2) commonalities on the Airbus sustainable growth over the period. The growth is achieved through three cycles of new product development over the 20 years of Airbus’ life. In addition, our results show two primary periods of growth for Airbus: (1) consolidation, when Airbus was formed and became established as a consortium in parallel with its first aircraft, and (2) technological advance, when Airbus explored the technological capabilities of its partners and became a pioneer in the commercial aircraft industry in terms of technological advances.

通过进行基于过程的案例研究，我们展示了空中客车联盟20年来的成功成长，并回答了“企业如何可持续发展？”这一问题。在动态技术密集型产业的背景下。该研究将以下方面的潜在作用放大了：（1）资产的增量和零散积累加上（2）此期间空客可持续增长的共性。在空中客车公司20年的使用寿命中，通过三个新产品开发周期实现了这一增长。此外，我们的结果显示了空中客车的两个主要增长阶段：（1）合并，即空中客车公司成立并与首架飞机平行成立一个财团；（2）技术进步，