The establishment of supplier parks (i.e., the co-location of component suppliers in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle assembly plant), is a relatively recent phenomenon in the automotive industry. The first supplier park officially labeled as such was opened in Abrera, Spain, in 1992 to...

Mention the term value chain, and most managers will have visions of a neat sequence of value-enhancing activities. In the simplest form of a value chain, raw materials are formed into components that are assembled into final products, distributed, sold and serviced. Frequently, these activities...

Contrary to what some say, 3D printing is not going to revolutionize the manufacturing sector, rendering traditional factories obsolete. The simple fact of the matter is the economics of 3D printing now and for the foreseeable future make it an unfeasible way to produce the vast majority of...

General introductory statements of research papers commenting on the “increasingly global business environment”, “ever more demanding customers”, and “rises in complexity” that businesses have to operate in have become the norm in management research. The perception of an increasing...

Empirical work on order fulfillment strategies suggests that building products to customer order is an important driver of organizational value. Similarly, the experimental literature indicates that customers derive value from customization. The modeling literature provides a more equivocal...