A firm chooses the production speed and amount of labor that maximizes profit in a perfectly competitive market. Faster production raises management expenses and the unit cost of production mistakes. Adding workers enhances the division of labor on the production line and raises work-in-process...

Purpose – To provide an update on a paper published in 1987 in IJOPM . Design/methodology/approach – Provides an assessment and update of “An agenda for research on the flexibility of manufacturing processes”. Findings – Gerwin's seminal work added welcome rigor to a concept,...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to document the extent to which the relative performance of plants varies over an extended period of time, with some plants performing persistently well and sister plants performing persistently poorly. It examines why this phenomenon occurs....