Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between firms’ entrepreneurial orientations (EOs) and the adoption of quality management (QM) practices. The role of environmental uncertainty as the moderator of the former relationship is considered.

Using theories and related empirical evidences, two research hypotheses were argued and proposed. These hypotheses were tested using data collected from a unique sample of 301 Uruguayan and Argentinean manufacturing companies with more than 20 workers assessed through personal interviews. The empirical methodology includes statistic treatment for scale validation, statistic descriptive techniques and regression analysis.

Firms’ EO is determinant for the adoption of QM practices. The environmental uncertainty strengthens the positive impact of EO on the adoption of QM practices, mainly human resource management practices.

The data come from a particular geographical context and refer to manufacturing plants. It would be interesting to extend the scope of this study to services. The collection of data from only one individual in each organization can generate a potential problem with using single-source information.

Innovative manufacturing companies that try to adopt advanced QM practices will benefit from hiring managers who are able to take risks, and to seek a long-term orientation toward being aggressive with their environment, especially in highly competitive contexts. Mustering these features may ensure perseverance in the adoption of advanced manufacturing practices, even in the presence of complex and uncertain environments.

The principal contribution of this paper is that it advances the study of the intersection between operations management and entrepreneurship, analyzing how firms’ EO affects the adoption of new methods and practices in manufacturing. Furthermore, it is important to highlight the fact that the authors use data from a unique survey of manufacturing companies from Argentina and Uruguay in the southern cone of Latin America. The authors also contribute to the open debate about the universality of QM practices.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the link between manufacturing strategy formalization and manufacturing strategy implementation, considering the potential moderating role of shop-floor communication.

Multiple linear regression models considering main and interaction effects of strategy formulation and shop-floor communication on strategy implementation were performed using data from the fourth round of the international HPM Project. This includes plants with more than 100 employees in the automotive, machinery and electronics industries from 10 different countries. Unlike other research studies, this research takes into account plant management’s and plant supervisors’ perceptions.

The findings show that formal strategic planning positively influences manufacturing strategy implementation. Furthermore, both feedback and instructive communication practices moderate the manufacturing strategy process, resulting in successful manufacturing strategy embeddedness, and prompt adaptation to change.

This study provides a better understanding of the manufacturing strategy process for scholars and practitioners. In addition, the results suggest that the adoption of some shop-floor communication practices can benefit firms through the strengthening of strategy implementation.

This paper provides empirical evidence to the emerging discussion on whether formal strategic planning helps to adopt a strategy or on the contrary make decision making inflexible.

This paper aims to analyze the impact of team rewards (TR) on quality performance of new product development (NPD). In particular, the authors analyze whether the use of TR affects the performance of NPD team projects in not only accomplishing their work as a team and the outcomes of their performance but also considering the enhancement of the involvement of both internal functions and external actors (suppliers and customers) in the early stages of NPD.

The association of TRs on quality performances of new products is theoretically approached. Seven research hypotheses are proposed to be tested with an international database from the high performance manufacturing project. Empirical strategy includes structural equation modeling.

The authors observed that TR does not produce a direct effect on quality performance of NPD, but does so mediated through the involvement of SC members in the early stages of NPD. This paper highlights that, without involvement of external and internal supply chain actors, it is not possible to obtain desired performance of new products.

This study advances the study of TR on quality performance of NPD by considering TR as a tool for in-group work involving different and distant actors in the process of NPD. The analysis considers different dimensions of quality performance of NPD, distinguishing between time to market, technical issues and cost of manufacturing, which have usually been considered in an aggregated way. Empirical evidence using an ample database including manufacturing companies from fourteen countries

Using data collected from a sample of 661 Spanish manufacturing plants, each with a minimum workforce of 50 employees, and representing all the manufacturing industries, this paper examines the factors that determine the level of investment made by firms in training. Investment in total training was found to be positively influenced by the degree of internationalization, the degree of technical change, the adoption of quality assurance systems, and the implementation of advanced work organization practices. The analysis of different types of training shows that, except for basic training, the determinants are quite similar to the ones found for total training.

This paper aims at providing new evidence on the relationship between advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) and quality management (QM) practices on manufacturing performance.

The expected relationship between both AMTs and QM practices on manufacturing performance are tested using a unique sample of 301 manufacturing companies from Argentina (151) and Uruguay (150), employing at least 20 workers, which have been assessed through personal interviews to plant managers and engineers.

Findings evidence the complementarities between QM practices and AMTs to explain enhanced manufacturing performance. Although QM practices have a direct effect on manufacturing performance, the effects of AMTs are significant only in the presence of QM practices.

First limitation of the paper is the cross-sectional character of the data analysis. Secondly, the paper cannot avoid the disadvantages inherent in research based on surveys, especially when the answers are of a subjective nature. In addition, the information used is based on the perceptions of managers.

Industry practitioners should focus on the implementation of innovation policies that promote long-term economic growth, creating more favorable and better technological and infrastructure institutional conditions to lead to substantial improvements in this economic growth.

The paper provides evidence on the interdependence between QM practices and AMTs’ adoption to improve performance of manufacturing companies in the south of Latin America, something that has received very little attention up today. Thus, the paper contributes also to the international debate on differences observed in the implementation of manufacturing innovations in different regions.

This paper attempts to analyze the effects that shopfloor participation has on firm performance and examine if cooperatives show better results than capitalist firms. Moreover, it tries to study if the impact of participation on performance is different in cooperatives and capitalist firms. To fulfill these objectives information about 965 Spanish manufacturing plants with at least fifty employees is used. The results indicate that there are not significant differences in the performance of cooperatives and the rest of companies. Our findings also show that the introduction of participatory practices generates positive outcomes both for capitalist firms and cooperatives, without differences in the magnitude of the impact.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between 5S use, contextual factors and performance. The contextual factors comprise structural features of the firm, environment, human resources and technology and quality management. The performance measures refer to improvements in productivity, quality, employee satisfaction, lead time and new product design.

A questionnaire survey was conducted in 203 Spanish manufacturing plants, with personnel interviewees. The hypotheses proposed were verified using correlation analysis and analysis of variance.

The results show the existence of a positive relationship between the use of 5S and some contextual factors such as size, the integration of the plant in a multinational group, the type of product manufactured, the technology used and the quality programmes in the plant. Moreover, 5S is positively related to some operational performance measures, especially those referring to quality and productivity.

This paper contributes to the scarce empirical literature analysing the factors related to the use of 5S and its association with manufacturing performance.

The gradual implementation by firms of the ideas and techniques associated with the concept of “quality management” is perhaps the clearest sign of the change and innovation that has taken place in firms in recent times. The quality department plays an important role in making these schemes succeed. The aim of this article is to determine the status of this department in Spanish industrial firms by focusing on its position within the hierarchical structure and on the proportion of the workforce involved, while at the same time analysing the influence of the department on the implementation of quality management practices throughout the firm. The study is based on data from a broad sample of Spanish industrial plants employing 50 workers or more and representing all the different manufacturing sectors in the country. Results show that in two‐thirds of these firms the quality department is highly placed in the management structure, a tendency that is stronger in medium to large firms and in the multinational companies. The relative size of the department increases in small‐scale companies, in multinational groups and in certain sectors, such as chemicals. Departments positioned high in the hierarchy and those that are relatively large in size are both associated with more extensive quality management practices.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze which factors determine the use of just‐in‐time (JIT) in companies. More precisely, the paper aims to study the role played by two variables of organizational context (size and age) and three infrastructure practices (advanced manufacturing technologies – AMT, quality management, and work organization).

The hypotheses were tested using data collected from 203 manufacturing plants with at least 20 employees. Data were collected by means of personal interviews with plant managers. Regression analyses have been performed to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal the existence of diversity in the factors that affect the use of the different components of JIT. Infrastructure practices are shown to be more determining than contextual factors. This happens in particular with AMT, basic quality tools and the management of the relationships with suppliers and customers.

The main limitations of the research are those derived from the cross‐sectional character of the data and from information coming from surveys, especially when the measures are subjective.

The paper stresses the need to develop adequate infrastructures in technology management, quality management and work organization to obtain all the benefits of JIT implementation.

The paper highlights the role of organizational context and, especially, infrastructure practices in the incidence of JIT in the manufacturing industry. Moreover, the identification of different dimensions of JIT systems makes it possible to conclude that the influence of the different factors considered is not uniform across all JIT elements.

Attempts to discover any possible links between company size and the handling of human resource management (HRM) in the case of Spanish industrial production workers. The data used as a basis for this study were obtained by means of a survey carried out on 965 Spanish industrial firms covering such aspects as compensation policy, job design and training. The results provide evidence of significant differences in the majority of the practices included in the survey, with a tendency towards their fuller development in larger sized firms. Some areas of human resource management, however, such as job description, promotion within the firm and the use of incentive schemes, do not differ.