Measuring Operations Performance Louis Brennan Alessandra Vecchi Editors International Manufacturing Strategy in a Time of Great Flux Measuring Operations Performance Editor-in-chief Andrea Chiarini, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy Series editors Alok Choudhary, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK Adrian E. Coronado Mondragon, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK Pauline Found, University of Buckingham, Buckingham, UK Sergio E. Gouvea da Costa, Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria, University of the Basque Country, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain Kerry Jacobs, University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia Adina Claudia Neamtu, Constantin Brâncuși University, Târgu Jiu, Romania Roberta S. Russell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, USA Martin Starr, Columbia Business School, New York, USA Emidia Vagnoni, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy Jahangir Yadollahi Farsi, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13500 Louis Brennan • Alessandra Vecchi Editors International Manufacturing Strategy in a Time of Great Flux 123 Editors Louis Brennan Alessandra Vecchi Trinity Business School London College of Fashion Trinity College Dublin University of the Arts London Dublin London Ireland UK ISSN 2363-9970 ISSN 2363-9989 (electronic) Measuring Operations Performance ISBN 978-3-319-25350-3 ISBN 978-3-319-25351-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-25351-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016946941 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland Contents Trends in Manufacturing Strategies: A Longitudinal Investigation of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey ................ 1 Torbjørn H. Netland and Jan Frick The Taxonomy of International Manufacturing Strategies ........... 17 Reza Aboutalebi International Manufacturing Strategy: The Impact of Misalignment Between National Culture and Organizational Structure................................... 43 Mouhcine Tallaki and Enrico Bracci Catch-Up Strategies of Emerging Market Firms: Lessons Learned from India and China .......................... 63 Wiboon Kittilaksanawong Best Strategic Decisions in Management of Complex Operations ...... 85 Thorvald F. Gundersen ICT and International Manufacturing Strategy .................... 105 Antonio Benzi Do Improvement Programs Complement Each Other? .............. 123 Phillip J. Lederer Practices and Performance in Constraints Management Production Planning and Control Systems ........................ 153 Roberto Panizzolo Exploring Critical Success Factors for Implementing Green Lean Six Sigma ........................................ 183 Anass Cherrafi, Said Elfezazi, Andrea Chiarini, Ahmed Mokhlis and Khalid Benhida v vi Contents S&OP Related Key Performance Measures with Integration of Sustainability: A Decoupling Point Based and Modularized View on Supply Chains ....................................... 197 Sayeh Noroozi and Joakim Wikner Trends in Manufacturing Strategies: A Longitudinal Investigation of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey Torbjørn H. Netland and Jan Frick Abstract How have the competitive priorities of European manufacturers changed over the last 20 years? We investigate this question by conducting a longitudinal analysis of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey database, holding datasets from 1992, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2013. We highlight five trends in the data. First, quality and dependability remain the highest competitive priorities. Second, cost appears to be the most fluctuating competitive priority, and companies seem more concerned with costs during times of economic decline. Third, in general, service seems to be on a decline, but an increase in delivery speed offsets this tendency. Fourth, flexibility and innovation is gaining relative importance. Fifth, sustainability is among the least important competitive priorities and dis- continues its growth trend in relative importance. We also comment on the long- standing debate between the trade-off model and cumulative models of competitive capabilities. Keywords Manufacturing strategy Á Competitive priorities Á IMSS 1 Introduction Manufacturing firms need to decide how they want to compete in the market. Should the firm offer the highest quality products, the lowest cost, the fastest deliveries, the highest degree of customisation, the best after-sales service, the most innovative products, the most environmental-friendly solutions, the best social T.H. Netland (&) ETH, Zürich, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] J. Frick University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 1 L. Brennan and A. Vecchi (eds.), International Manufacturing Strategy in a Time of Great Flux, Measuring Operations Performance, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-25351-0_1 2 T.H. Netland and J. Frick responsibility, or any combination of these? Being among the most important facets of manufacturing strategy, competitive priorities like these have been much debated in the operations management literature. Competitive priorities are the strategic preferences firms target to gain competitive advantage (Hayes and Wheelwright 1984; Leong et al. 1990). A limitation of the existing research is that the bulk of it focuses only on the four original competitive capabilities, namely cost, quality, delivery and flexibility. In the last 20 years, however, capabilities like customisa- tion, service, innovation, environmental performance and social responsibility have gained importance. Therefore, our main research question asks if and how the competitive priorities of European manufacturing firms have changed over the last decades. To the best of our knowledge, there has been little or no research on such trends. Investigating trends in the competitive priorities can also inform the long- standing debate between the trade-off and cumulative models of competitive capabilities; do companies see trade-offs between capabilities or do they believe that all be achieved cumulatively? The empirical evidences in the literature remain mixed. Although our data do not allow confirmation or falsification of either of the models, our second research question investigates which of the two models prac- titioners seem to prefer. The managers’ rating of relative importance of competitive priorities can provide indication whether they aim to follow the trade-off model or cumulative capabilities model. We analyse the changes of competitive capabilities using the European data from the six available datasets of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS). The IMSS is an international survey with research partners in more than 20 countries targeting manufacturing companies mainly in the machining, electronics, and automotive industries (Lindberg et al. 1998). Over the last decades, the IMSS has had a significant contribution to our understanding of manufacturing strategy and how it is practiced (e.g. Cagliano and Spina 2000; Gimenez et al. 2012; Laugen et al. 2005; Acur et al. 2003). After six rounds of data selection, the IMSS dataset is now a unique source for longitudinal research on operations strategy. It contains relative comparable data from more than 20 years, holding datasets from 1992, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2013. 2 Literature Review A manufacturing strategy can be defined as “a pattern of decisions, both structural and infrastructural, which determine the capability of a manufacturing system and specify how it will operate to meet a set of manufacturing objectives which are consistent with overall business objectives” (Platts et al. 1998, p. 517). This defi- nition highlights the central notion of competitive priorities and competitive ca- pabilities. Competitive priorities are the objectives of how firms want to compete, whereas competitive capabilities is the realised operative skills (Rosenzweig and Easton 2010). Our research focuses on competitive priorities. Trends in Manufacturing Strategies: A Longitudinal Investigation… 3 Competitive priorities have been much discussed in the literature (Ward et al. 1998). The word “priorities” is used because it is not practically possible to devote the same amount of attention