Search results

The purpose of this paper is to show that time‐based competition (TBC) strategies aligned to logistics and to multicultural awareness can help organisations respond appropriately and more quickly to the different needs and expectations of customers located around the globe. In a globalised market, where organisations are located in many different countries, establishing competitive advantages that result in sustainable leadership has become a goal to be reached.

TBC was studied in furniture companies in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Brazil by conducting case studies. The research presented here is part of a larger study that focuses on TBC strategies and multiculturalism in the furniture industry.

Data were collected from various furniture companies located in countries targeted in this study in order to gauge the extent to which TBC in a multicultural and logistic‐oriented approach has been taken on board, and how important it seems to be perceived in national contexts.

The paper presents some comparison on logistics management practices between the countries and suggests managerial implication for development and discusses about connection between cultural aspects and time based management.

The strategic aim of this paper is to investigate whether time‐based competition (TBC) strategies are related to cultural aspects. In addition, the influences of company decision‐making and the success of competitive strategies in diverse globalised markets will be examined. Based on a multicultural perspective, the way time is considered depends on different assumptions among countries and cultures, as well as organisational patterns of decision‐making for a variety of business areas and services. TBC and its relationship to logistics and multiculturalism through the international benchmarking of furniture companies are then explored.

TBC and cultural perceptions in furniture manufacturing companies located in Brazil and Scandinavia were investigated. Data were collected from furniture companies by questionnaires and were analysed through descriptive statistics and multivariate techniques. The research presented here is part of a larger study that focuses on TBC strategies and multiculturalism in the furniture industry.

Data were collected from furniture companies located in different countries. The findings illustrate that there is a correlation between TBC strategies and cultural variables, as well as between TBC and seeking for local partnerships.

The originality of the paper lies in addressing relationships between TBC strategies, cultural aspects and the role of partnerships to improve logistics management competitiveness. To date, this area has received little attention in the literature. Likewise, the results point to partnerships being necessary to improve TBC and logistics strategies.

This study aims to identify and recognize the interrelationship between green supply chain practices (GSCPs) and analyze the effect of GSCPs on green supply chain management (GSCM) implementation on the premise of driving and dependence power of GSCPs.

This research identifies twenty GSCPs with the consultation of the team of industry practitioners and academicians. Interpretative structural modelling (ISM) is applied to develop the relationship between GSCPs, which gives the direct and indirect effects of each GSCPs. The result obtained from ISM is used as an input for Fuzzy matriced impacts croises multiplication appliquee a un classement (Fuzzy MICMAC) to identify the driving and dependence power of GSCPs.

An integrated model has been established using ISM and the Fuzzy MICMAC method to categorize the GSCPs. It reveals the direct and indirect effect of each GSCPs on the execution of GSCM. The result shows that driver GSCPs have deliberate importance because of their driving power and dependent GSCPs are more performance-oriented.

ISM model and fuzzy MICMAC analysis depends on the judgment of the professional's team from a single industry. These opinions may be subjective judgments of the experts and any biasing may influence the final result.

This study gives significant guidance to industry practitioners and academicians. Industry practitioners need to concentrate on these most significant GSCPs for the successful implementation of GSCM. They must also plan for the growth of GSCM by concentrating on all GSCPs. On the other side, academicians may be motivated to categorize other issues which are essential for GSCPs.

In this research, an effort has been made to identify the significant GSCPs for GSCM implementation on a single platform. A huge literature is available on GSCPs, but none of the researchers paid attention to model these GSCPs using ISM and fuzzy MICMAC.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between customer order lead time (COLT) and the price sensitivity of an electrical equipment manufacturer company. In consequence, it examines two research questions in terms of COLT, price and profitability level and to ensure the validity and practical justification of these research questions.

In this research the authors have used a case study approach where three business measures, namely COLT, price and the profitability level of a case company were investigated and analyzed critically. These measures were implemented through four different customer segments with two production lines of the case company. Data were collected from the company's order delivery database from the period 2006 to 2008. In addition, different experimental data were collected through interviewing and reviewing the results of the data analysis with the unit managers.

In this paper the authors have observed the correlation between the price, profit and COLT with all four customer segments in both the production lines of the case company. From the case data, the authors concluded that the customer did not pay more when the COLT is shorter than with the average time. It is also noticeable that the profit margin is higher for the case company to handle COLT with shorter lead time than the average order delivery lead time.

More case examples might be helpful to motivate the managers to accept the research outcomes.

The concept of the company's COLT in relation to the price and profitability level supports organizational managers in their decision‐making process in terms of productivity level and the company's growth. It will motivate the managers to make tradeoffs among various developmental measures.

This paper implemented a unique approach for measuring the significant level of price and profitability level over COLT. From the outcomes of this study, it is observed that the price correlated positively with the COLT and has a direct and significant impact on it. When the price is increased the COLT is also increased. It is also noticed that the products of the case company which offered shorter lead times were on average also more profitable, even though there were no significant differences in average pricing between the customer segments.

This study examines the mediation effects of time-based competitiveness, cost-based competitiveness and customer performance between logistics outsourcing and financial performance.

The study relied on a questionnaire as the primary data collection instrument and further employed partial least squares structural equation modelling technique to test all formulated hypotheses.

The results demonstrate that logistics outsourcing has a significant positive impact on time-based competitiveness, cost-based competitiveness, customer performance and financial performance. Time-based competitiveness and cost-based competitiveness were both found to have a significant positive impact on financial performance; however, customer performance had no significant impact on financial performance. The mediation analysis further indicates that while both time-based competitiveness and cost-based competitiveness play mediation effects between logistics outsourcing and financial performance, customer performance plays no mediation effect between logistics outsourcing and financial performance.

The sampled firms for this study came from a single emerging country; hence, the results cannot be generalized or imported to reflect the results that may be obtained from other emerging geographical settings.

The results provide sufficient evidence for managers to turn their attention to logistics outsourcing, as a transformative business initiative, to gain time-based and cost-based competitiveness so as to improve financial performance.

The study provides significant insight and makes an additional contribution to literature in the area of logistics outsourcing, especially by collecting data from an emerging country. Modelling time-based competitiveness, cost-based competitiveness and customer performance as mediating variables between logistics outsourcing and financial performance make this work relatively different from other studies.

This paper aims to provide new evidence regarding the firm performance implications of using temporal orientation (time pacing) and information technology (IT) to align an organization with its task environment.

Using questionnaire data provided by top management team members, the results indicate that time‐based strategies (i.e. time pacing) and IT mediate the effects of environmental disruptions on performance. To validate the scales and to test the hypothesized model of relationships, the study employs structural equation modeling through LISREL 8.52, as it is able to examine both the measurement and structural model simultaneously while including individual errors for the respective parameters.

The results suggest that time pacing should be used in association with IT, as time pacing had a much stronger relationship to environmental disruptions than did IT. This finding supports that a time pacing orientation is effective at helping managers react to disruptions in their task environment. In relation to firm performance, IT was directly linked to firm performance; whereas time pacing was only indirectly associated with firm performance.

The findings suggest that the application of time pacing strategies enables managers to increase firm performance via IT. The results therefore suggest that managers should not assess their use of temporally‐based mechanisms (e.g. time pacing, IT temporality) and IT in isolation, but rather consider them in conjunction. This recommendation is consistent with findings elsewhere that components of strategy may need to be cohesive and integrative and require a supportive firm structure if they are to have their greatest effects on firm performance.

The study extends the research on temporal strategies and IT as mechanisms for offsetting environmental pressures and improving firm performance. It alerts managers to the notion that time pacing will enable them to generate improved firm performance and competitive advantage, through the synchronistic use of IT.

The purpose of this study is to perform an international comparison of logistics/port operations with a main focus on India.

Using data from the transportation and freight service industry during 2000‐2005, this study first conducts revealed comparative advantage (RCA) analysis to investigate India's logistics competitiveness and then uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to analyze the efficiency of India's container port operations.

The study's findings suggest that in terms of India's logistics competitiveness, its freight industry is relatively competitive while its transportation industry is not. Overall, while the study indicates that India's largest container port (Jawaharlal Nehru) is not very efficient; the RCA analysis shows that India still has a relative comparative advantage over its industrialized counterparts except for Japan and France in the transportation service industry. Interestingly, the DEA results also indicate that the efficiency value of the container port in India is second only to the US port of Los Angeles among the ports examined in industrialized countries.

RCA indicators are only able to examine past and present industry conditions based on export results, and do not provide a detailed explanation of the reasons for changes in levels of competitiveness. As for DEA analysis, this study focused only on land and equipment as input variables primarily because of a lack of data on worker efficiency. It is suggested that there is an urgent need for an overhaul of port equipment if India wants to accommodate the growing volume of imports and exports in the future.

This paper provides a first step toward gaining insights into India's current logistics/port competitiveness position in comparison with other emerging markets and advanced economies. This paper also contributes to providing a better understanding of the competitiveness of emerging economies (BRICs & Next 11), which are viewed as rising stars and have not yet been fully investigated in the existing literature. Several recommendations are also provided.

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the current manufacturing strategies and practices of bus manufacturers in China, and to propose a framework of manufacturing strategies for time‐based competitive advantages.

The conceptual research framework is devised from a review of the literature, and case studies are used to investigate the manufacturing strategies and practices in place in the case companies. Data are collected through semi‐structured interviews and secondary documentation.

The results show that, with over‐capacity in the Chinese bus manufacturing industry, success is no longer determined by high productivity or low price; a quick response to the customers' tailored demands is essential in a climate of fierce competition. The suggested best practices for time‐based competitive advantages comprise building technical centers and post‐doctoral research stations, applying modularity logic, adopting radio frequency identification (RFID), and optimizing processes by, for example, involving customers and integrating inbound and outbound logistics.

The research results are limited within the context of the bus manufacturing industry in China.

The research results help both the practitioners and the researchers gain a better understanding of the practices of Chinese bus manufacturers from the perspective of time‐based competitive advantage. The proposed strategies and best practices have the potential to improve the manufacturing performance of this type of manufacturer.

This paper shows the big picture of manufacturing strategy and practice of bus manufacturers in the Chinese automobile industry. Furthermore, it presents a manufacturing strategy framework with best practice guidance to gain a time‐based competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper to address the challenges on “what should the management plan for organization development (OD) toward becoming an innovative organization?”

This study applies the concept of innovation management, maturity model and roadmapping. The confirmatory factor analysis and the multi-criteria decision analysis are applied as the methodologies to evaluate the relative importance of each influencing factor and to assess the areas needed for improvement, respectively. A case example is also included to demonstrate how the proposed approach can be applied.

Comparing the assessment result and the strategic target defined by the management, the gaps can be diagnosed and then a roadmap guiding OD can be proposed based on a firm’s strategy for improvement.

This study proposes the approach and assessment model. Different companies always have their unique focus, so the management team have to modify the assessment model by following the proposed approach. Future research should be conducted to assess the effectiveness of each activity in increasing the level of innovativeness.

Ineffective development could result from setting a strategic direction and resource allocation based on the intuitive decisions of the management team. Therefore, it would be much better if the management team can systematically assess the current status and diagnose the areas needed for improvement to set an appropriate strategic direction.

The analytical approach to develop a strategic roadmap guiding a firm to become an innovative organization has not been presented in the existing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to present a first proposal of a healthy dietary diversity index to evaluate meals in self-service restaurants.

This was a cross-sectional, descriptive pilot study in a Brazilian buffet-style restaurant. The study group was selected by systematic sampling and consisted of 678 individuals aged 16-81 years, who were regular diners at a selected restaurant during lunchtime. Photographs were used to assess food choices and a sociodemographic questionnaire was administered to the subjects. A healthy dietary diversity model was created following WHO recommendations and the Brazilian Food Guide. A consensus workshop was conducted with experts to discuss and classify certain dishes as more or less healthy (high/low energy density). The model attributed negative (−3.0-0.0) and positive (0.0-12.0) scores to different food groups. Higher scores meant greater diversity on the plate, and therefore a greater chance of a healthy meal (=9.0), while a lower score reflected a higher variety of energy-dense foods, such as fried dishes (=6.0).

Most diner’s plates (65.3 per cent) obtained low diversity score indexes (=6) and were considered inadequate, represented the dishes where intake should be controlled from a nutritional viewpoint (over caloric meal). There was a significant association between healthy diversity scores (=9.0) and low variety of high energy density dishes on the plates.

This method of assessing the healthy dietary diversity of a main meal could be tested as an innovative model for investigating the food choices of individuals who eat away from home.