The strategic process in operations (SPO) is influenced by the increasing environmental dynamism in the marketplace. Considering organizational knowledge as the support of the whole strategic process, managers may choose their objectives based on previous experiences. Manufacturing strategic...

Organisations lack clear guidance on how they can become more innovative at the operational level. The operations strategy literature shows that organisations compete on four generic capabilities: cost efficiency, quality of products or services, speed of delivery, and flexibility of operations....

Recent cases of product adulteration by foreign suppliers have compelled many manufacturers to rethink approaches to deterring suppliers from cutting corners, especially when manufacturers cannot fully monitor and control the suppliers' actions. In this paper, we study three mechanisms for...

Consider a set of manufacturers, all of which can subcontract part of their workload to a third party. For simplicity, we assume that every manufacturer as well as the third party each possess a single production facility. Each manufacturer has to decide the amount of workload to be...

This case based research paper examines the stabilisation strategies used within seven supply chains and presents a framework to help practitioners stabilise their chains. The findings show that organisations should first select a cushioning strategy and then reduce demand uncertainty to lower...

This paper examines the relationship between one form of manufacturing flexibility---process range---and structure, infrastructure, and managerial policy at the plant level. The paper provides evidence of the strength of the links between manufacturing flexibility and such factors as scale,...

We consider the impact of variable production costs on competitive behavior in a duopoly where manufacturers compete on quality and price in a two-stage game. In the pricing stage, we make no assumptions regarding these costs--other than that they are positive and increasing in quality--and no...

Over the past three decades scholars have developed comprehensive insights into the operational and strategic aspect of designing and managing the supply chain. Reviewing this ample body of knowledge however one cannot help but notice a persistent disunion between the “value chain” view that...

Competitive pressures and advances in product and process technologies challenge performance management systems in terms of their design and their strategic and operational use. Understanding the roles of such systems is a first step in developing and employing the appropriate system...

The use of electronic money transfer through cellular networks ("mobile money") is rapidly increasing in the developing world. The resulting electronic currency ecosystem could improve the lives of the estimated 2 billion people who live on less than $2 a day by facilitating more secure,...