Over the past ten years, intense global competition has forced many firms to examine their business practices and to evaluate how to meet the challenges economic globalization has presented. Underlying these efforts has been an examination of strategic priorities and in particular recognition of...

In recent years, numerous approaches have been proposed to improve operations performance. Three in particular, just in time, supply chain management, and quality management, have received considerable attention. While the three are sometimes viewed and implemented as if they were independent...