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Globalization and outsourcing have rendered Indian automotive companies more vulnerable to supply chain (SC) risks. Consequently, companies adopt different supply chain risk management (SCRM) strategies to mitigate SC risks. The purpose of this paper is to explore SCRM strategies in Indian automobile industry and to classify automobile firms based on SCRM dimensions.

A survey instrument on SCRM dimensions was designed and data were collected from 79 automobile firms. Principle component analysis (PCA) was performed on the collected data to derive the factors underlying SCRM dimensions. Further, cluster analysis using extracted factors as a clustering variate was performed to identify strategic groups from the given set of firms.

PCA derived seven factors, namely: avoidance, supplier development, flexibility, risk pooling, redundancy, integration and control strategies. The surveyed firms were classified into two clusters as low and high SCRM level.

A limitation of this study is that data were collected from a single industry and in a single country.

Understanding of SCRM dimensions shall increase the use of these dimensions and firms can mitigate negative effects of SC risks. The detailed operationalization of SCRM strategies highlights the importance of three strategies: avoidance, integration and supplier development. Managers’ understanding of SCRM strategies will improve the firm's performance and business excellence.

This research empirically validates SCRM strategies and investigates how these create differences among firms.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how a graduate institute at National Chiayi University (NCYU), by using a model that integrates analytic hierarchy process, cluster analysis and correspondence analysis, can develop effective marketing strategies.

This is primarily a quantitative study aimed at developing a marketing mix for a graduate institute at NCYU in Taiwan. A survey using stratified random sampling was conducted, with 14 universities from four different areas in Taiwan randomly selected for the study. Two questionnaires were conducted: a Likert's five‐scale questionnaire regarding school images and an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) questionnaire regarding school selection factors were administered to 640 undergraduate students. Of the total number of questionnaires, 602 (94 percent) valid school image questionnaires and 570 (89 percent) valid school selection factors questionnaires were used.

The results of AHP revealed that the five most important factors for students' school selection were: employability, curriculum, academic reputation, faculty, and research environment. The results of clustering analysis identified five student groups for market segmentation, and they are the Prominence group, the Less aware group, the Pragmatic group, the Austerity group, and the Fastidious group. Finally, the results of correspondence analysis suggested that students of the Pragmatic Group are more likely to be attracted by NCYU, and also, students perceived NCYU to be strongly associated with lower tuition, fewer entrance‐exam subjects, lower entrance‐exam pass rates, and easier graduation requirements.

It would be better to conduct a factor analysis before using AHP.

Particularly, NCYU should establish new curricula relevant to internationalization, develop curricula in school finance and educational economics, and form study groups to enhance graduating student employment opportunities. Generally, higher educational institutions may adopt the research model developed in this study to develop their marketing mix for better results.

This paper documents research that was the first to integrate AHP, cluster analysis, and correspondence analysis in developing a marketing mix for higher educational institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to replicate the taxonomic study of Miller and Roth and to validate its applicability in a small newly industrialised country.

An empirical survey of manufacturing companies in Ireland was conducted using a research instrument that replicated the questions asked in the original 1994 study. Data was collected using mail questionnaires posted to 874 manufacturers. A total of 199 respondents were used for this study. The study tested two central hypotheses using advanced statistical data analysis techniques, such as canonical discriminant analysis.

The results of the research identified three clustered strategic groups (Best Value, Budget and Multi Focus) which were different from those of Miller and Roth: caretakers, marketeers and innovators. The study supported the dynamic nature of manufacturing strategy, and shows how new manufacturing strategies evolve over time and differ between regions.

Further research should replicate this study in other small newly industrialised countries. Given the recently changed nature of the economy within Ireland, a longitudinal study would provide useful insights into the dynamics of manufacturing capabilities.

The study provides important insights into manufacturing strategy within a small newly industrialised country. The results suggest that manufacturing strategies appear to change depending on the country of plant location. The manufacturing strategies may be attributed to the unique business environment, challenges and constraints of the country.

There is a scarcity of taxonomy studies in general, and there is a dearth of such studies in small newly industrialised countries such as Ireland. Through identifying a new taxonomy the study contributes to the existing literature on manufacturing strategy, and challenges the global applicability of taxonomies developed in the USA.

The purpose of this study is to utilize a configuration approach to examine the relationships between multiple contingent variables and management control systems (MCS) in service organizations from various industries. The contingent variables include service process type, cost leadership and differentiation strategies, environmental unpredictability, change and complexity and organizational life cycle stage.

Questionnaires were administered to the financial controllers of service organizations operating in Australia. Cluster analysis is utilized to reveal the MCSs fit.

The data reveals that high-performing service organizations are those firms that place high emphasis on a differentiation strategy. The lower performers, on the other hand, are firms with a lack of emphasis on both cost leadership and differentiation strategies. Overall, the data demonstrates that strategic orientation plays an important role in high-performing organizations and the ability to incorporate various contingent situations determines the effectiveness of an organization.

The potentially broad framework offered in this study allows managers from various service industries to relate the variations in the combination of situations to those of their firms. The service managers’ experience with certain type of combinations can assist them to identify the strategic position of their respective organizations. Consequently, service managers can estimate the prospect for further development to enhance the firm performance.

This study offers a holistic view of the multiple and simultaneous relationships between contingent factors and MCS design in service organizations using a configuration approach. This paper contributes to the literature on organizational configurations in particular by studying the systematic nature of effective MCSs in service organizations when adapting to the contextual settings of the organizations.

Professional work is becoming more specialized and diffused, with new specialties emerging on the boundaries of established professions. The purpose of this paper is to examine current specialties in academic librarianship in order to infer what strategies they employ.

This research uses a sample of 60 US research libraries to investigate current specialties in academic librarianship, in order to analyze and classify the specialties into groups based on similarities, and categorize academic libraries based on the staffing patterns identified, and illustrate the challenges and strategies of each classification. The sample was selected from the membership of the Association of Research Libraries, and designed to include both large and medium-sized research libraries. 888 different job titles were identified for 2,074 specialist positions extracted from staff directories containing information on 11,688 librarians. The positions were analyzed and classified using the framework provided by Cox and Corrall (2013), and the specialty composition of the libraries was investigated with Ward’s (1963) hierarchical method of cluster analysis, using 28 variables.

The cluster analysis identified subspecialties within the groups and revealed seven distinct staffing strategies of the libraries.

Describing specialties and strategies in academic libraries by cluster analysis based on huge data is a significantly novel and effective approach for capturing the concept of specialization.

The purpose of this paper is to explore maintenance strategies for manufacturing equipment in Chinese firms.

Data were collected from Chinese companies using a questionnaire administered during face‐to‐face interviews and two established methodologies in strategic management research, exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis, were used to analyze the data.

The results suggest that despite increasing competitive capabilities of Chinese firms, their maintenance strategies are often restricted to corrective maintenance. Only very few Chinese firms have already implemented predictive maintenance approach, total productive maintenance programs or the strategic outsourcing of maintenance activities.

The research limitations stem from typical issues related to the use of exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis (for example reliance on the subjective judgment of the researcher or the provision of clusters although no meaningful groups are embedded in the sample).

The findings highlight potential strategies for Chinese firms to improve their maintenance management.

This paper deals with a neglected area of operations management by exploring the maintenance approaches in fast growing Chinese manufacturing industries.

Strategic groups research has been hampered by the poor alignment between theory and methods. This has been due in large part to the lack of significance tests for cluster analysis. Now that significance tests are available, the theoretical and methodological implications are discussed. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The theory behind strategic groups is reframed to capitalize on the available significance tests. Subsequently, the significance tests are also modified to fit the proposed theory. Due to this integrative approach, this is both a theoretical and a methodological paper.

In lieu of significance tests, finding differences in performance emerged as the litmus test for the existence of discrete strategic groups. The concept of strategic groups gradually evolved to fit this requirement. Now that significance tests are available, these legacy effects of the structure-performance link can be removed. This reveals that three conflicting concepts have been sharing the label of strategic groups: strategic categories, interdependent strategic groups and strategic performance groups. The theory also reveals that the significance tests developed in ecological research need modifications for use in strategic groups research.

A theory is proposed for interdependent strategic groups and a significance test of external isolation is proposed as part of this integrative solution.

This integrative solution appears to resolve the historical mismatch between theory and methods that has plagued this field since its inception. This creates a variety of intriguing areas for future research.

This study aims to examine the nature and impact of information overload and related coping strategies in the context of apparel shopping. It also examines perceptions of overload and coping strategies as antecedents to consumer confidence, shopping orientation and leader/follower status.

Focus groups and previous literature are used to develop components for a survey of US consumer perceptions. The 205 valid responses were factor analyzed to identify components of information overload and coping strategies, and cluster analysis was used to identify groupings of consumers around those constructs.

Consumer segments that result from cluster analysis show meaningful descriptions regarding information flow, over‐choice and coping strategies. Segments also differ on confidence level, shopping orientation and fashion leadership in ways that appear logically related to their information and coping strategy perspectives.

The study does not explore the underlying psychological and intellectual processes that influence attitude toward information flow and coping strategies.

By categorizing consumer attitudes toward and strategies for coping with too much information, the study offers the industry insight into how modern marketing strategies may backfire rather than create knowledgeable consumers ready to adopt the latest products made available to them.

This study is the first to view information overload and coping strategies as antecedents to confidence, shopper orientation and fashion leadership.

The objective of this study is to analyse and propose alternatives to the lack of integration and cooperation of industrial firms in a Brazilian cluster of the jewelry sector. The relationships between the functional factors and the surrounding factors of the cluster are examined.

This research is based on a face‐to‐face survey that established relationships between the internal factor/variables of the companies, the cluster and the external environment's factor/variables.

It was found that integration and cooperation are essential for the development of a cluster since it stimulates the use of local resources. High levels of clusters' inter‐firm integration may represent high levels of operational efficiency.

This study has some limitations related to generalizations, but it can be said that the statistical tools applied to characterize the companies' subgroups in a cluster proved valid. In view of this, further research on other local productive systems is suggested in order to strengthen the propositions making use of the same tools described in this study.

The findings indicate the need for strategic actions by the companies in order to seize opportunities to promote local innovation.

The paper indicates an enterprise's classification according to the characteristics of the company's competitive strategy.

Product innovation is central to the success of most companies. The rewards of a successful innovation programme are highly visible in terms of sales, profits and growth. But not so apparent are the strategies that underlie these product innovation efforts. This monograph is about the ingredients of a winning new product strategy — about strategic decisions on markets, technologies, products — that result in a successful innovation programme.