Search results

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the impact of international outsourcing on manufacturing strategy and performance of apparel manufacturing firms. The authors aim to show how managers address the effects of international outsourcing on four dimensions of manufacturing strategy – cost, quality, flexibility and delivery.

The paper utilises a qualitative exploratory approach. The authors adopted a case study method, collecting data through face‐to‐face, semi‐structured interviews with managers of six apparel manufacturing firms, selected on the basis of a number of criteria, including their use of international outsourcing.

The findings show that international outsourcing generates both positive and negative effects on the firms' competencies in four manufacturing dimensions (cost, quality, flexibility and delivery). A conceptual framework is presented that shows how firms' managerial actions carried out to address the effects of outsourcing play a crucial role in determining their manufacturing performance.

Because the sample comprised small and medium‐sized apparel firms from New Zealand, the findings may lack generalisability. Further research could expand this work to large multinational companies and service providers in international outsourcing.

The findings suggest that managers of apparel firms which engage in international outsourcing of manufacturing need to consider the impacts on their manufacturing strategy, particularly with respect to the potential trade‐offs between the manufacturing priorities.

The paper addresses a research gap in the outsourcing and manufacturing literatures by exploring the effects of international outsourcing on manufacturing strategy, and the impact of managerial responses to these effects, on firm performance.

The role of industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies for organizations to achieve a competitive advantage and mitigate disruptive emergency situations are well exhibited in literature. However, more light needs to be thrown into implementing I4.0 technologies to digitally transform organizations. This paper introduces a novel framework for formulating manufacturing strategy 4.0 (MS 4.0) that guides organizations to implement I4.0 successfully.

The experts working in I4.0 and technology management domains were interviewed to determine the definition, role and process for formulating MS 4.0. Text mining using VOSViewer© is performed on the experts' opinions to determine the key terms from the opinions through keyword analysis. The identified key terms are mapped together using the existing traditional manufacturing strategy formulation framework to develop the MS 4.0 framework. Finally, the proposed MS 4.0 framework is validated through a triangulation approach.

This study captured the role, definition and process to formulate MS 4.0 and proposed a framework to help practitioners implement I4.0 at manufacturing organizations to achieve competitiveness during normal and emergency situations.

The proposed MS 4.0 framework can assist industry practitioners in formulating the strategy for implementing the I4.0 technology/gies to digitally transform their manufacturing firm to retain the maximum manufacturing output and become market competent in normal and emergency situations.

This study is the first of its kind in the body of knowledge to formulate a digital transformation strategy, i.e. MS 4.0, to implement I4.0 technologies through a manufacturing strategic lens.

Introduces a practical tool ‐ an international manufacturing configuration “map” ‐ for the identification of international manufacturing network patterns and assessment of related strategic capabilities. Describes the research work and its application‐oriented research method. Builds on the frameworks developed in different industries in the first stage of the project and explains how a “map” can represent typical international manufacturing network configurations and relationships. Introduces a practical process for using the map, involving the identification of current network configurations of main product lines and the strategic capabilities of the configurations. Presents an industrial example and describes its practical industrial application. Draws conclusions about the applicability of the technique and its potential as part of an understanding of international manufacturing system analysis and design.

This study examines the entry mode and ownership strategies in China, South‐East Asia and Western Europe made by manufacturing firms in Taiwan. The results find that when the larger, high R&D and high advertising intensive Taiwanese manufacturing firms invest in China, South‐East Asia and Western Europe, they would be likely to choose the greenfield‐WFOE entry. On the other hand, when these firms have the most foreign investing experiences and the longest investing history in China, South‐East Asia and Western Europe, the acquisition‐WFOE entry would tend to be preferred. Finally, this study proposes relevant implications for practice in the conclusion.

Based on both the observations of case studies during the last few years and on action research work on the global manufacturing strategy development, this paper introduces another type of evolutionary process that looks at the internationalisation of manufacturing systems. The paper seeks to explore the new driving forces and responses of manufacturing systems in terms of their static architectures, dynamic mechanisms, and strategic capabilities in the evolutionary process. Reviews those internationalization models developed during the last 25 years, as well as reviewing manufacturing globalisation over the last 15 years, to gain a comprehensive picture about the international manufacturing system (IMS). Based on the empirical observations of industrial issues and the difficulties faced, a new research framework is proposed that will tackle the wider issues in international manufacturing, covering the manufacturing value creation process, internationalisation process, and inter‐firm collaboration formation process. Argues that it is important for future research to develop the strategy process to synthesise the three dimensions of the IMS.

This paper examines the mediating role of manufacturing strategies in the relationship between competitive strategies and firm performance.

This study gathered 250 responses from firms in a developing country's key manufacturing sectors, including mechanical, electronics, automotive, textile and food. First, descriptive statistics were applied to fix outliers like respondent biases, missing values and normality issues. Second, exploratory factors analysis (EFA) ensured data adequacy and homogeneity through Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett tests. Finally, confirmatory factors analysis (CFA) was used to identify the interactions (direct, indirect and total effects) between latent variables representing manufacturing strategies (quality, cost, delivery and flexibility), competitive strategies (cost-leadership and differentiation) and firms' performance (sales growth and profitability). In total, two structural equation modelling (SEM) models (SEM-I, SEM-II) were created to test the hypotheses.

Of the 40 items identified by the literature review, four were outliers, and three could not satisfy the EFA criteria (eigenvalue >1). Only 33 items could therefore reach CFA. SEM–I and SEM-II study results found no direct relationship between competitive strategies and firm performance (−0.03 = β = 0.08; p > 0.05). However, the findings revealed that cost-leadership could be an appropriate strategic choice and improved firms' performance if the quality and delivery are focussed (0.20 = β = 0.87; p < 0.001). While competitive strategies impact manufacturing strategies positively, the latter is only a mediator between the cost-leadership strategy and the firms' performance.

This research shows that the cost-leadership approach currently seems viable; however, flexibility and cost requirements were not satisfied due to infeasible product differentiation. These results will be beneficial to executives interested in investing in India's industries.

Manufacturing strategy has attracted serious research attention in the recent past. In this paper, an attempt is made to review the status of literature in manufacturing strategy. A literature classification scheme is suggested. A total of 260 articles from 31 referred journals and international conferences are classified into content (manufacturing capabilities, strategic choices, best practices, trans‐national comparison, literature survey, and performance measurement) and process‐related issues. We have categorized the methodology used in the literature into conceptual, descriptive, empirical, exploratory cross‐sectional and exploratory longitudinal approaches. Based on this, some possible research issues are also identified, viz., resource‐based operations strategy, sector specific manufacturing strategy, relevance of manufacturing strategy to small and medium enterprises, manufacturing strategy in the context of green manufacturing, effect of organizational culture on formulation of manufacturing strategy, and performance measurement.

Questions on configuration and co‐ordination are seldom integrated in research on international manufacturing and location decisions. Suggests a way in which these two aspects can be linked by combining concepts from international business and manufacturing strategy. Elaborates the practical relevance of this integration in the experiences of Dutch investors locating plants in Thailand. Simultaneous attention to configuration and co‐ordination enhances the understanding of the functioning of foreign plants in international networks and yields some important implications for managers responsible for international location issues.

The purpose of this paper is to examine, and present a comprehensive review of, the existing literature on the international manufacturing network (IMN).

The original data set used for reviewing the IMN literature consisted of 107 articles selected from 21 journals: more specifically, 40 articles are concerned with plant-level analysis, and 67 articles are related to IMN-level analysis. The literature is simultaneously reviewed by two researchers. The relevance and contribution of each reviewed paper is discussed and mutually agreed upon.

The paper highlights the different concepts related to IMN and traces the evolution of IMN-related research. Based on two levels of analysis (i.e. plant and network), this paper further reviews and discusses the IMN-specific literature in detail to determine the number of IMN articles published across the journals, the dominant methodologies employed, and the research focus reflected in IMN studies. A research trajectory is finally developed to provide an integrated and intuitional view on the development of IMN research.

This is the first effort that has been made towards thoroughly investigating the existing literature on IMN, aiming to trace different concepts related to IMN from a historical perspective, to review and discuss the IMN-specific literature in detail, to provide an overview of the evolution trajectory of different existing IMN research themes, and to propose future research directions. Keeping in mind the growing importance of IMN for practitioners as well as the academic community, this study provides a timely overview of existing and emerging IMN research themes.