Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how the bullwhip effect, as found in product supply chains, might also manifest itself in services, as well as what policies can be successful for mitigating it. Design/methodology/approach – A combination of analytic methods was...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a study investigating the limits of the applicability of the focused factory concept (FFC) in health care. The case setting comes from the Dutch obstetric care system, which is organised by principles in sync with the FFC; the organisation for...

Introduces the participative business modelling method (PBM), a management consulting method based on a synergetic mix of (system dynamics) modelling, group knowledge elicitation techniques and a process consultation attitude. PBM is a method well‐suited to support managers in their strategic...

States that determining the configuration of a company’s facilities has become a complex issue in today’s globalizing business environment. Existing allocation models often fail to address developments over time and “soft” issues. Therefore, an existing design method to support decision...

Quantitative modelling seems admirably suited to help managers in their strategic decision making on operations management issues, but in practice models are rarely used for this purpose. Investigates the reasons why, based on a detailed cross‐case analysis of six cases of...

An increasing number of companies claim to pursue international supply chain management (ISCM), but the empirical evidence of successful implementation programs is still scarce. This paper aims to contribute to theory‐building in this area by presenting an exploratory causal model of goals,...

Describes a case study in which a consultancy method based on participative business modelling was used to support strategic decision making in the field of operations. In this case study the Dutch client company faced serious logical and financial problems after an attempt to attain competitive...

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the relationship between aspects of aesthetics and the performance of organizations. It outlines a research agenda for studying the impact of aesthetic factors upon organizational design and change. Design/methodology/approach – In the paper, a set of...

Purpose – The relevance of “industry clockspeed” to supply chain co‐ordination (SCC) has recently been stressed but hardly been researched. Taking an information‐processing perspective, the purpose of this paper is to examine the development of SCC theory under varying clockspeed...