The service sector of the American economy is expanding very rapidly at a greater than 6 per cent annual growth rate during the 1984‐88 period. The extraordinary growth of the service sector in the last two decades has focused attention on the challenges of effective management of service...

The positive impact of just‐in‐time (JIT) programmes on production performance is well documented. JIT programmes consist of a number of different elements including change‐over reduction, kanban methods, and preventive maintenance programmes. Some researchers have proposed lists of...

Investigates empirically the impact of the different facets of manufacturing subsystems on just‐in‐time (JIT) success. Uses a sample of 130 large US manufacturing firms to test research hypotheses derived from an extensive literature review and a field study conducted by the authors....

Presents the result of a survey of US firms examining the effect of operations strategies on organizational performance. Seven commonly used operations strategies were considered. Eleven criteria were used to measure organizational performance. The results suggest that companies which are using...

Presents the findings of a comprehensive survey conducted among a wide variety of US machine shops. The objectives of the study were to develop the literature‐based just‐in‐time (JIT) machine shop model and to study empirically the changes taking place in the operation of machine shops in...

Reports that over the past several years, the concept of manufacturing strategy has been at the forefront of both managerial and academic thought, and that studies in the field lack a cohesive foundation that can guide researchers’ efforts in building a testing theory ‐ the research gap....

Advanced processing technologies, managerial practices, and information systems have merged as vital elements of modern day production. It has been argued that these changes in practice and technology have yielded a strategic manufacturing environ‐ment in the 1990s which is very different from...

Focuses on the implementation of forecasting systems and processes by large organizations. Reports the results of a survey of US firms which reveal that, despite advances in computer technology, judgemental forecasting continues to be the method managers prefer. Notes, however, that the...

Analyses, through a nationwide empirical survey of US companies, the effects of JIT and TQM strategies and offers important guidelines for JIT/TQM programme co‐ordinators that might be helpful during the implementation process. Shows that while companies can benefit from implementation of JIT...