The evolution of productivity performance at an international electronics equipment manufacturer is analyzed in order to elucidate the cognitive and behavioral processes that are the root of the differences in the total productivity learning curve. Research was based on a field investigation...

A common mistake in assessing an organization's technological base is narrowing the review to matters of technical competence. Managers need a framework for assessing the much broader question of how well their organizations are positioned to derive competitive advantage from technology. A...

This paper explores the role of the chief technical officer (CTO) in orchestrating the large manufacturing corporation's product, process and information technologies. The data comes from a mail questionnaire survey of the 25 CTOs we identified among the ranks of Fortune 100 companies, and...

Using data from 2 manufacturing departments in an electronic equipment company, a model of productivity improvement as a function of cumulative output and 2 managerial variables - engineering changes and workforce training - is constructed. Two learning models are used: 1. the classic learning...

Previously, managers who wanted to assess the technical function's overall strategy have had to content themselves with fragmented, piecemeal approaches. This article provides general managers and technical function managers with a powerful, comprehensive framework encompassing the technical...

The Toyota-GM joint venture, NUMMI, and Volvo's Uddevalla plant represent two different ways of organizing the labor-intensive production of standardized products, in this case, auto assembly. NUMMI is based on the Japanese lean-production model, whereas Uddevalla has been called a...

Organization theory needs a framework that can elucidate the technological, economic, political and symbolic forces that are at work in and on organizations. Much organizational research can be seen as materialist, by virtue of its granting primary causal efficacy to technical-economic forces,...

California Management Review published a Special issue on health care in Fall 2000. We now follow up with a Forum on hospitals. The 2000 Special issue addressed the business aspects of health care. These are surely critical, given that health care expenditures in the U.S. are over $1 trillion...

Christian Berggren's response to our article is gratifying because, like him, we believe that the debate over the merits of different production systems is important. There is more at stake than the competitive success of auto companies. The outcome of this debate will also shape the future...

In contrast with the relative stability of interdepartmental coordination mechanisms in ongoing operations, coordination tasks and mechanisms typically change over the course of the product development project's life cycle. This article presents a taxonomy of these project coordination...