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Increased flexibility is discussed as the key to competitive advantage in the CIM factory. The treatment begins with the customer and works backwards to show how CIM technology affects competitive strategy – for example in economy of scope, truncated product life cycle, multi‐mission facilities, variety, as well as flexibility. Many of the CIM advantages can be best understood by considering it as an information system. Industrial examples are given to illustrate, and strategic principles for CIM are set out. The article concludes with a look at the future possible developments of CIM.

The transformation of US manufacturing, led by computer‐integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems, has already begun to take root. This article examines the potential benefits to firms which understand and can exploit CIM technology to its fullest extent. Because CIM simultaneously provides high product variety with low costs, conventional assumptions about competitive strategy and organisation design need reevaluation. As companies must work with increasingly scarce capital, human resources and time, CIM becomes an attractive option not only for highly capital‐intensive industries such as automobiles, but also for fast‐changing areas such as textiles, fashion design, and consumer appliances. CIM combines the benefits of economies of scope with the scale economies traditionally garnered only with large, rigid and dedicated factories. Success with CIM and other new manufacturing technologies depends on new organisational designs and incentives that foster fast innovation and cross‐functional integration. CIM′s promising role in transforming the manufacturing firm into a service business across many different industries will spur many US firms′ efforts to enter a global marketplace.

Time is a resource that all companies have. Using it to compete in the global market is now an essential strategy.

Recent advances in product design and manufacturing technologies allow for high levels of product variety at low cost, leading to economies of scope. Economies of scope allow for multiple product operations without the cost penalty of traditional economy‐of‐scale‐based technology. Examines the implications of flexible manufacturing for marketing strategy and organization. Shortening of product life cycles, re‐acceleration of product differentiation strategies and more customer involvement in the entire manufacturing‐to‐marketing process are some of the effects of advanced manufacturing technology on the marketplace.

The issue of competitiveness in US manufacturing industry is addressed. The reasons for the decline and lack of competitiveness of US manufacturing companies after the Second World War are summarised and the present situation – the application of new technologies and the globalisation of markets and competition – is described. These changes are placed in an operational context and it is concluded that the adoption of computer integrated manufacturing concepts and technology is essential as a driving force of corporate strategy to enable manufacturing industry to remain competitive or to regain competitiveness.

Justifying new manufacturing technology is usually very difficult since the most important benefits are often strategic and difficult to quantify. Traditional capital budgeting procedures that rely on return measures based on direct cost savings and incremental future cash flows do not normally capture the strategic benefits of higher quality, faster responses to wider ranges of customer needs, and the options for future growth made available by flexible manufacturing technology. Adding to these limitations is the difficulty of using traditional cost accounting systems to generate the information necessary for justifying new manufacturing investments. This paper reviews these problems and recommends procedures useful for assessing investments in flexible manufacturing technology.

In order to emphasize the universality of operations management concepts, this paper develops an integrative view of the similarities and continuities between “services products” and operations; and “goods products” and factory operations. The purpose of this paper is to move toward a better understanding of the impact of this convergence.

By reviewing the literature and trade press examples of evolution in both manufacturing and services businesses, it develop a model for understanding the observed phenomena.

This paper finds that services operations are continually adopting the characteristics of traditional manufacturing as they seek to grow and gain increased profitability through economies of scale. At the same time, traditional manufacturing/factory operations continually seek to differentiate themselves by offering more services such as customization, flexibility, and just‐in‐time; without giving up their economies of scale. As goods and services products become more integrated, these two distinct types of operating systems also converge. This paper also finds that information technology (IT) is pervasive, but used differently; and it develop new models to help us to understand the role and importance of IT in different operating systems and its impact upon the economics of innovation in operations.

This paper offers an integrative platform for future discussion and research on the convergence of factory and service operations, the integration of marketing and operations concepts and decisions, the design/management of operations processes, and the role of information systems and technology; in achieving sustained competitive advantage for any business.

There is significant anecdotal evidence of increasing global supply chain fragility; and, for this reason, robustness and operational sustainability are of notable concern to senior executives. Though the issues are myriad, four factors dominate these concerns: increasing complexity of products, processes, and technologies, increasing structural complexity of supply chains, increasing diversity and global nature of business systems, and the environmental costs and impacts of extended supply chains. This paper aims to focus on these factors.

This conceptual, theoretical paper differentiates corporate sustainability and operational robustness in terms of profitability and costs, then defines and develops internal, external, and uncontrollable fragility factors. A process that measures and integrates these factors is proposed for brainstorming and decision making. Additionally, methods to represent and compare alternatives, progress against internal or external targets, and industry goals or known competitor values are offered.

This study describes and demonstrates an easy‐to‐implement process to address the potentially disastrous consequences of supply chain fragility.

This study offers both academicians and practitioners a model to research, assess, and identify the risks and costs of current levels of supply chain fragility and to weigh various solutions.

Unfortunately, few research efforts define these issues or identify the associated risks. Further, little has been put forward to posit, model, and facilitate the practical decision process to address these factor relationships. To these ends, the paper proposes a “fragility index” to help supply chain managers assess sources and potential costs of fragility, sustainability, and the associated environmental stress in their supply chains.

Robotics will revolutionize American manufacturing. The unmanned factory of the future will bring with it a new systems orientation to strategic planning and will, at last, make operations a part of the top management team.

The chapter briefly reviews the eight volumes in my Legend series – organizational buying behavior, consumer behavior, product and new product management, marketing strategy, market segmentation, global marketing, marketing research and modeling, and the future of marketing. In addition, the chapter highlights the three driving forces of much of my research: (a) the real world challenges facing corporations and organizations, (b) the search for new methodological developments, and (c) the continuous challenge of the prevailing marketing concepts and approaches. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the evolution of marketing in the past five decades and my wish list for the discipline and my future activities.