Strategic determiners and factors of business management related to the defence industry

the 21st century presents a scenario of challenges in matters of security and defence, in which the spanish armed forces (fas) and the defence systems (sde) both play a fundamental role. as a result, the spanish armed forces are immersed in professionalisation and modernisation, as derived from the european security and defence policy, from the objectives presented in the national defence directives, and the strategic defence review. this situation makes it necessary to count on companies related to the defence industry which favour the new model of fas and sde. the objectives set out in this study are: 1) the analysis of the determining factors for the modernisation and professionalisation of the fas and sde; as well as, 2) the analysis of the possible cooperation of the ministry of defence with external organisations. we seek to highlight the possible dependence between aspects linked to the variables of the ？focus for the organisation of defence (eod)？, and its results, the innovation and the measures of business excellence. we focussed the design of the investigation towards the study of the strategic determiners and the competitive changes which have occurred in the companies related to the defence industry.