This article investigates the relationship between the functional areas of manufacturing and human resources by analysing the practices of human resource management associated with the competitive priorities of manufacturing strategy, e.g. quality, delivery performance, flexibility and cost....

Since the mid‐1980s, the subject of information systems (IS) integration and its role in business process improvement (BPI) has been of considerable interest to business managers and researchers. The present study examines the effects of IS integration on BPI. The moderating effects of...

Supply chain management (SCM) is conceived by academics and practitioners as either an extension of logistics or an all‐encompassing approach to business integration. From the authors’ point of view, SCM involves not only logistic activities but also other processes such as quality...

Many studies claim that when an organization interacts with suppliers and with customers across the supply chain, the organization would achieve improved time performances. This claim, however, has undergone limited theoretical development, as well as subsequent systematic empirical testing. As...

This paper contributes to, and links the areas of quality management and buyer‐supplier relationships. In doing so, we seek to address two broad research questions. To what extent do quality practices impact upon the various dimensions of quality performance, manufacturing performance and, in...

Major original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in the international automotive industry require their first‐tier suppliers to obtain QS‐9000 registration. One of the requirements included in the registration criteria is to have a process in place to evaluate all suppliers or subcontractors....

Quality management practices have recently flourished across the globe. In this research we review and integrate the literature by identifying and organizing significant research findings, and develop a conceptual model of the relationships between international environmental conditions (e.g....

The topic of this research focuses on firm's perceived implementation of quality management practices in the purchasing function. More specifically, this paper describes an exploratory research effort to analyze and classify quality management practices in purchasing and assesses the...

Self‐assessment is increasingly prevalent in many organizations. Although managers perceive self‐assessment as internally driven, the well‐known link between organizational activities and the external environment suggests that outside forces play a significant role. This investigation...

Purpose – Seeks to analyze changes in the perceived benefits and costs of ISO 9000 implementation over time. Design/methodology/approach – Results of two surveys, performed in 1998 and 2002, with 283 and 399 Catalonian companies participating, respectively, are presented, compared and...