Purpose – The textiles, clothing, and footwear (TCF) industry has struggled in Australia since the government commenced dismantling tariffs. By sourcing from Asia, middlemen undercut established suppliers, and retail chains set benchmark low prices with their imported “house” labels. The...

Purpose – This study aims to understand how small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) can build a dynamic capability for new‐to‐market product development. Design/methodology/approach – Five innovative and ambitious case firms were selected and studied longitudinally over the course...

Purpose – Research on best practices suffers from some fundamental problems. The problem addressed in the article is that authors tend to postulate, rather than show, the practices they address to be best – whether these practices do indeed produce best performance is often not investigated....

Purpose – This paper reports the study of key success factors (KSFs) in the project management of the implementation of strategic manufacturing initiatives (SMIs). Design/methodology/approach – In order to gather the experience and knowledge of many industries, from different geographic...

Purpose – This paper describes research that has sought to create a formal and rational process that guides manufacturers through the strategic positioning decision. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on a series of case studies to develop and test the decision process....

Purpose – The article discusses the characteristics of the future industrial company, the so‐called interactive firm, and the challenges awaiting it down the road. To this end, a framework for the strategic positioning of tomorrow's industrial company is proposed. Design/methodology/approach...

To avoid finishing last in a competitive race which requires its participants to master a range of things all at one time, more and more corporations are deciding to outsource subordinate aspects or competencies, thereby focusing their strategic spotlight on aspects more central to their...

This paper is concerned with the issues of developing the competencies of the firm. The relevance of this work is based on the conclusion that competencies are dynamic, rather than stable, entities and that firms, thus, need to focus both on today’s and tomorrow’s competencies. A model for...