In this paper, we explore how firms can manage their sourcing better by developing relationships not only with their suppliers but also with their suppliers' suppliers. We detail an empirical case study explaining how the firm developed relationships with its suppliers and raw material suppliers...

The large majority of modern production companies have at their disposal a multitude of computer systems. The immediate challenge for these companies consists of integrating these computer systems and databases. How will one arrive at this integration? On the basis of a questionnaire...

The 1990 European Manufacturing Futures survey shows that European manufacturers are doing well. Efforts in total quality management and improvement of deliveries are paying off; the factories have been cleaned up and reorganized. The creation of the post-1992 single market is not expected to...

An innovation cannot act in a vacuum, but should enlist the help of 'partners in innovation' in order to improve the productivity of the innovation process. In this paper, Arnoud De Meyer uses a number of case studies to show how this leverage of the innovation process can be used under...

Extrapolating from the results of a 10-year INSEAD Survey, Arnoud De Meyer offers some views on the future for manufacturing in Europe. The model on which the Survey was based indicates that competitive priorities and action plans in manufacturing changed over the 10-year period. Taking lessons...

Manufacturing has gained over the last years in attention as a tool to create competitive advantage. For fou years now a survey has been carried out by a research team at Insead to build a database on the manufacturing strategies as they are defined and implemented by large European companies....

Currently, there are three forces creating a more favourable background for western multinational companies to do new business in China by transferring new technology. First, growing overcapacity means China requires not traditional turnkey factories, but instead, technology which leads to...