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In manufacturing, the use of computer simulation has led to significant benefits: risk reduction, greater understanding, operating cost reduction, lead time reduction, faster plant changes, and capital cost reduction. However, these benefits are rarely attained, since only a few manufacturing managers are aware of the technology. Discusses simulation, its benefits and the range of manufacturing issues to which it can be applied. A case study describes how simulation was used at the Ford Motor Company to improve work organization and determine human resource requirements.

Business model innovations (BMIs), their drivers and outcomes are attracting increasing attention in academic literature. However, previous studies have mainly focused on large companies, while knowledge of BMI in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to add new insights into how related BMI drivers, practices and outcomes are in relation to SMEs.

An extensive review of the existing literature was performed. Consequently, the relationships between BMI drivers, BMI practices and outcomes of BMI were developed as a conceptual framework. An empirical study was carried out. A structural equation modeling (SEM) procedure was used to empirically test the model using a quantitative data set of Lithuanian SMEs (n=73).

The study provides insights into the relations between BMI drivers, BMI practices and outcomes of BMI in SMEs. The findings of SEM, four drivers (innovation activities, strategic orientation, market and technology turbulence, respectively) are indicated to contribute to BMI of SMEs. In addition, the results proved that the implementation of BMI practices leads to strategic and architectural changes in firms and has a positive impact on SMEs performance and innovativeness.

Empirical research is focused on a limited number of internal and external BMI drivers, which have an influence on BMI in SMEs from one geographical region. Consequently, there are many external and internal BMI drivers which also may have an influence on BMI in SMEs, such as industry life cycle, organizational inertia and leadership. Meanwhile, SMEs possess multiple characteristics, i.e. a phase of maturity, gender of CEO, firm size and industry; therefore, the aforesaid aspects are considered to be significant limitations. In addition, the importance of SMEs characteristics as mediators for the effects on a firm’s performance and innovativeness should be considered in future research avenues.

Findings of this research can be used by SME managers to better understand how firms might actively engage in BMI practices, what drivers lead to BMI and, in turn, affect their firm’s performance and innovativeness. SME managers should be encouraged to pay attention to strategic and architectural changes of BM that can contribute to enterprise performance and innovativeness.

This paper adds to the stream of BMI research by empirically exploring drivers and outcomes of BMI in SMEs. In addition, this paper fulfills research gaps proposed by Bouwman et al. (2018), Foss and Saebi (2017), Heikkilä, Bouwman and Heikkilä (2018) and Lambert and Davidson (2013), and enhances the current overall understanding of BMIs.

This paper aims to explore and explain following a generational change, the latter generation in Chinese family firm is seen to apply different innovation strategies to thrive in a competitive environment. The Chandlerian perspective on management, marketing and manufacturing techniques (3Ms), derived from American business historian, Alfred Chandler has shown conclusively that one of a small yet established enterprises in Malaysia, London Biscuits Berhad (LBB) was able to capture a larger market by focusing on strategy and structure. This case study analytically and empirically describes the insights surrounding enterprise development among family small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia.

By using the longitudinal way to compare the development of family business through time, the historical profiles that were obtained from Malaysia’s companies commission house (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia) shows how organizational characteristic is often formulated by capitalizing tacit knowledge as a controlled input in the production process while promoting organization capabilities, as generations change. Secondly, findings from the interviews will show how the latter generation of this family firm innovates and adds value in product manufacturing by upgrading its quality, using resources and revitalizing the stages of business cycle.

Findings show that enterprise development is influenced by objective setting during generational change. As time goes by, the next generations have a tendency of minimizing risk and maintaining harmony in the family enterprise. The next generation starts to recruit and retain professional staff while contributing innovative ideas toward the enterprise development, in comparison to the founding generation. The findings also show that diversification activities (manufacturing), improvement in domestic and international networking (marketing) and professional management adoption (management) can clearly be seen in the development of LBB.

This case study traces how organizational and administrative characteristics of a firm are crucial if the enterprise is to capitalize on tacit knowledge and commercialize it through product development. It also clearly indicates that family enterprises may last several generations if the Chandlerian perspective on 3Ms is successfully transferred and practiced among family members.

The selected case study focuses on the Chandlerian concept, which is the contribution of organization capabilities that foster strategic competition. This is done by investigating a successful enterprise run by a prominent Chinese family in Malaysia, which has gone through generational change. This paper proves that strategizing a family enterprise through the Chandlerian concept of 3Ms can transform a small business into a large and successful multinational enterprise.

The study aims to show the influence of selected mechanical parameters of the rotor on the maximum speed and parameters of the electric motor.

A simplified mechanical analysis of the rotor of the electric motor was conducted, determining the safety factor of the motor. An analysis of the impact of key rotor parameters (significant from the mechanical strength perspective) on the electromagnetic parameters and the safety factor of the selected high-speed electric motor was carried out. The influence of changes in the rotor’s geometrical dimensions (centrifugal force) on the electromagnetic parameters of the electric motor was shown.

The study shows the impact of changes in selected rotor parameters on electromagnetic parameters and the safety factor of a high-speed electric motor (at its required operating point of 45,000 rpm). The dependence of the safety factor as a function of the maximum motor speed was determined for the proposed rotor modifications.

The proposed modifications can be used in larger drive systems. They have practically no impact on increasing the value of the motor’s moment of inertia (they do not degrade the dynamics of the motor’s operation).

It was proposed to use a new design coefficient which is in relation to the motor’s safety coefficient. It has been shown that a minimal modification of the motor rotor allows to increase its maximum speed by several dozen per cent (while maintaining the safety factor). It has also been shown that when operating at maximum speed within the safe range, the change in the geometrical dimensions of the rotor hardly influences the change in the value of the centrifugal force.

We study disability duration and two aspects of disability timing (simultaneous vs. gradual onset; childhood vs. adulthood onset) for U.S. community-dwelling adults. The data set is the National Health Interview Survey Disability Supplement. Disabilities in personal care, household management, and physical tasks are analyzed. Results show that most adults with disability are older and have recent onsets. But up to a third of those whose disability started in childhood have entered middle and older ages. For most people, disabilities in a domain usually all start at the same time; gradual accumulation is less common. The mixing of simultaneous and gradual onsets, and of childhood-onset and adulthood-onset, produces great heterogeneity in the population of disabled adults. Our results give demographic support to the contemporary movement in local and state jurisdictions to combine aging services and disability services.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and analyze a model to obtain a total factor productivity of an industry through quantitative empirical analysis in order to determine the joint contribution of the production and technology function, and the change and technical progress. The case of the Peruvian large shipbuilding industry between the years 1969 and 1990 was considered for the analysis of the proposed model. The large shipbuilding in Peru finished in 1992 and has restarted in 2014. The importance of the study lies in the fact that the analysis is focused on an industry which is resurfacing, and in this regards, the study of the first production period will yield more and accurate information to make decisions regarding its future development.

One way of considering the several effects of technical progress, in line with Sato (1970) such as growth and bias, is to specify a production function maintaining the linear homogeneity property, such as: Y(t)=F [A(t)K(t), B(t)L(t)], where Y(t) is the aggregate product over a period of time (t); K(t) is the capital; L(t) is the labor; and A(t) and B(t) are the efficiencies or augmentations of K(t) and L(t), respectively. Based on the regression analysis data, the value of σ can be estimated to a residual growth rate (Kennedy and Thirlwall, 1972) that allows assessing the technical knowledge that is not attributable to the factors’ efficiency grains: TCTR = T ˙ / T − ( α ( A ˙ / A ) + β ( B ˙ / B ) ) . This last expression measures the residual technological growth rate (TCTR, by its Spanish acronym).

The results of the analysis of the large shipbuilding at SIMA-Callao during the given period (22 years of operation, between 1969 and 1990) show that the necessary installed capacity and the technological knowledge was available in order to develop a complex industrial process in the South Pacific region, thus, contributing to the sector’s growth in the country. The evolution of the shipbuilding activities coincides with the GDP expansion and decline periods in Peru. According to the results, the total factor productivity increased during 1969-1976, 1979-1982, and 1986-1987 periods and it has been confirmed that the contribution of the efficiencies of the production factors were inversely related to the economies of scale and output growth.

The analysis is based on the activities carried out throughout 22 years of operations in SIMA-Callao shipyards (1969-1990). The data regarding the product, labor, imported materials costs, local material costs, direct expenses, wages, and man-day costs was obtained from several sources within the shipyard. Direct expenses correspond to classification, inspections, administrative expenses (dock, quality control, equipment rental, etc.), drawings, technical data, insurance, and materials freight. Additionally, the sources of information are project construction contracts, annual expenses reports, and man-day cost quarterly reports of the shipbuilding area. The man-day cost includes salary, social benefits, and the company’s functional cost.

There are different ways to obtain productivity index. In this case, the authors used the stated model. In addition, based on this experience, this can be applied to other industries.