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The Profit Impact of Marketing Strategy (PIMS) database was used to test the relationship between production process type (small batch, large batch/assembly, and continuous) and eight organizational policy decisions (new products, new plant and equipment, finished goods inventory, raw materials/work‐in‐process inventory, capacity utilization, fixed capital assets, manufacturing costs, gross margin). In addition, the effect of six broad industry types on the proposed relationships was also investigated. Overall industries, raw materials/work‐in‐progress, capacity utilization, manufacturing costs, fixed assets, and gross margin varied with production process type while new products, new plant and equipment, and finished goods inventory did not vary. Within each industry, the findings showed less support for the relationships between production process type and the eight organizational policy decisions. Further analysis showed that most of the industries are dominated by a production process type. Suggests a movement away from the traditional differentiation of production process technologies and a shift of research emphasis to the differing uses of a particular production process technology within an industry.

The objective of the paper is to get a better understanding of capacity utilisation (CU) in Indian public bus companies. More specifically, this paper would be measuring CU and identifying the drivers of the same. Finally, the influence of CU on the financial performance of Indian bus companies is examined.

The study adopted data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the CU in Indian public bus companies. Truncated regression was used to identify the drivers of CU. Subsequently, the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to analyse the influence of CU on Indian bus companies' financial performance. The period of study was from 2013 to 17.

The significant drivers of CU were fleet age, passenger lead and fleet utilisation. Additionally, it was found that CU had a significant positive influence on the financial performance of Indian public bus companies and a unit increase in unused capacity has led to an increase of 7% in the operating ratio of the bus companies.

Getting insights into CU, apart from technical efficiency, is of immense use to both public transport researchers and practitioners. Managers of public bus companies should be mindful of CU as it has a significant bearing on their financial performance.

This is the first study in public transport, which establishes the linkage between CU and financial performance. Besides, a modified measure of cost-efficiency has also been conceptualised in this study.

The unseen benefit of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria is that it presented an insight into the contributions of the manufacturing industry to the socio-economic development of the nation. During the pandemic, the unavailability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) have demonstrated the low production capability of the Nigerian manufacturing industry to provide essential materials and equipment required by the health sector. This availability of these facilities is vital for the sustenance of public health and lives of frontline health workers. Consequently, this challenge resulted in an increase in infection and deaths of frontline health workers which could have minimized if there were adequate provision of PPE local production. Hence, this study postulates that the COVID-19 pandemic is an entrepreneurial opportunity in Nigeria, especially for the mass production of PPE to service the health sector of Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. The study therefore investigated the challenges of entrepreneurship in Nigeria's manufacturing industry and examined how the strategic partnership between educational institutions, corporate bodies and the government can be optimized. Utilizing a qualitative research methodology based on scholarly journals and interview sessions, the study revealed that Nigeria's manufacturing capability is low due to Nigeria's age-long protectionist tendency, lack of integration of entrepreneurship skill in the industry, inadequate knowledge of financial knowledge, lack of synergy in the industry, among others. The study recommended a strategic framework for Nigeria's manufacturing industry for the production of PPE in form of a helix model after an overhauling of the production process of the industry.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the performance of manufacturing firms in Nigeria.

Methodology – Annual data of aggregate foreign direct investment, manufacturing foreign direct investment, manufacturing index, manufacturing capacity utilization, manufacturing value added, and manufacturing turnovers were used. In the analysis, we tested for stationarity using augmented Dickey–Fuller test, and the test for long-run relationship was conducted using Johansen cointegration test. Vector error correction model was used for causality test.

Findings – The data satisfied the stationarity test and that there is a long-run relationship between FDI and the performance of manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The study also found that causality runs from FDI to the performance of manufacturing firms.

Practical implications – Since there is a long-run relationship among the variables, policies to attract FDI into the manufacturing sector should have a long range view and should be sustainable. The policy direction should focus on improving productivity and innovative capabilities of the manufacturing sectors and strengthening the supporting industries and institutions. Specifically, policies like provision of tax relief to manufacturers on importation of new technology and expatriate that will bring about efficiency and effectiveness in productions.

Originality/Value of paper – This is one of the few attempts at studying the impact of FDI on manufacturing firms. The study draws attention of policy makers in Nigeria to the fact that diversification of the economy can be achieved through a viable manufacturing sector.

This paper aims to investigate firm‐level interactions between productivity and exporting in Uganda's manufacturing sector.

The paper empirically tested two hypotheses that relate to the dynamic gains from trade and also have tended to dominate the literature; self‐selection and learning‐by‐exporting hypotheses. It employs proxies of self‐selection and learning‐by‐exporting obtained from indices of path dependence to fit maximum likelihood estimates of export behavior.

The results provide support for both hypotheses and it is also found that more experienced exporters reap more productivity gains from learning effects which is in line with the view that knowledge spillovers to exporting firms increase with the level of interaction in the global market place. Thus, learning‐by‐exporting is not a “short term” occurrence which takes place only in the first few years of entry in export markets after which it would fizzle out as a firm's exporting experience increases but rather, it is a cumulative process.

This paper generates a number of insights that can guide policy makers in designing policies to promote firm productivity growth that is an engine of growth in the private sector and by extension, would fuel up overall economic growth and poverty reduction.

Previous studies on exports and growth in Uganda have been basically focused on macro‐data analysis; yet, promoting rapid expansion of manufactured exports may require more than just a good macroeconomic policy environment. This study fills the research gap by relating firm‐level productivity performance to the microeconomic environment in which manufacturing firms operate.

Though production rates for construction materials are generally available, potential capacity on a global scale is poorly understood. Commencement of infrastructure projects to address climate change, such as dikes and levees, could increase demand making critical resources scarce. Since increasing production capacity of scarce products can be a challenge, understanding current potential capacity is an imperative. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new method to assess capacity and to create one such global estimate for cement.

The proposed global hybrid method creates a global estimate of cement production capacity in four steps: collect capacity and production data from existing reports; select top regional capacity holders; compute regional utilisation; back‐calculate capacity from production.

The method overcomes shortfalls of other methods, but – like all estimating methods – is inherently limited by the amount of data available. It nonetheless provides economists, climate change scientists, government officials, investors, and other researchers a better understanding of current maximum global cement capacity.

Most studies only focus on industry demand and actual production, because these forces drive commodity pricing. Capacity is generally estimated either through surveying goods‐producing industries at the plant level or examining economic data. Methods that employ these types of analysis are useful for regional estimates of production, but are ineffective at the global scale.

The purpose of this paper is twofold; first, to investigate whether the manufacturing specializations of network plants fulfilling similar strategic plant roles (Ferdows, 1997) are common in type. Second, to examine current strategic manufacturing network management practice and develop a map of this process.

Three multisite manufacturing businesses participated in this case research. The first phase of the study consisted of an initial visit made to the headquarters of each firm to be briefed on its manufacturing network strategy and to collect company manufacturing performance data. Visits were then made to 11 network plants to collect site manufacturing performance data and to research the manufacturing specialization of each site and the degree of autonomy of its management team. The second phase of the research comprised a number of additional visits to the headquarters of one of the three case study firms to investigate the process employed to downsize its existing manufacturing network capacity in response to a significant decline in customer demand.

Three common types of manufacturing specialization have been identified in the networks of plants studied and the case research findings have enabled the development of a process for manufacturing network strategy deployment.

The proposed process for the strategic management of a manufacturing network is based upon the findings of a single case study and thus the generalizability of the findings is limited.

Auditing the manufacturing specialization of network sites is an essential preparatory procedure for determining a manufacturing network strategy. How this information is used to facilitate the management of manufacturing network configuration and coordination and for manufacturing network strategy deployment is detailed in the paper.

A process map has been developed that includes a review of current network configuration and coordination policies, in combination, as these underpin manufacturing network strategy deployment. Such a process map has not been detailed previously in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework of integrated supply chain model that can be used to measure, evaluate and monitor operational performance under dynamic and uncertain conditions.

The research methodology consists of two stages: configuration of a conceptual framework of integrated supply chain model linked with performance measures and illustration of the integrated supply chain model and delivery performance using a case of dairy industry. The integrated supply chain model is based on a unitary structuring technique and forms the basis for measuring and evaluating supply chain performance. Delivery performance with variation of demand (forecast and actual) is monitored using a fuzzy-based decision support system, based on three inputs: capacity utilization (influenced by production disruption), raw materials shortage and quality of dairy products.

Integration of supply chain components (materials, resources, operations, activities, suppliers, etc.) of key processes using unitary structuring approach enables information integration in real time for performance evaluation and monitoring in complex supply chain situations. In addition, real-time performance monitoring is recognized as being of great importance for supply chain management in responding to uncertainties inherent in the operational environment.

Implementation of an integrated model requires maintenance of supply chain components with all necessary data and information in a system environment such as enterprise resource planning.

The integrated model provides decision-makers with an overall view of supply chain components and direct links that need to be maintained for supply chain performance evaluation and monitoring. Wider adaptation and diffusion of the proposed model require further validation of the model and feasibility of implementation, using real-time data and information on selected performance measures.

Integration of supply chain components across supply chain processes directly linked with performance measures is a novel approach for effective supply chain performance evaluation and monitoring in complex supply chains under dynamic and uncertain conditions.

It is of concern that several attempts at making Nigeria an automobile producing country have not yielded much success. This paper aims to re-examine the history of automobile manufacturing and the consequences of auto policies of successive governments towards having a viable automotive industry in Nigeria and the lessons therefrom.

Dispersed data were assembled from both primary and secondary sources on the automobile industry activities in Nigeria. The historic data cover Nigeria’s vehicles need, production levels, importations and local content developments. Time series data on Nigeria’s crude oil prices and the devaluation of the local currency were obtained and analyzed to elucidate effects and provide the trajectory. A comparative analysis of the policies of successful countries with initial status with Nigeria was carried out to elucidate the policy pitfalls in Nigeria’s industrial policies.

The automotive policies in Nigeria are not self-sustaining. It has been curiously observed that the automotive policy on import substitution and local content development approach did not include the key components in automobile manufacturing, making it a footloose industry. Nigeria’s crude petroleum mono-economy affects the manufacturing sector negatively. A fall in international crude oil price causes free fall of the country’s currency in the international market, the cost of imported new vehicles and parts become prohibitively high, consequently, individuals, as well as corporate organizations, resorted to imported fairly used vehicles and parts for their transportation needs. Capacity utilization dropped abysmally.

Nigeria’s experience has demonstrated the critical role the government can play in safeguarding the automobile industry in the developing economies. Apart from diversification of the economy, there is a need, therefore, for a more refined and pragmatic approach in the formulation of policies to enable only genuine investors to operate in the automobile industry which hitherto has been an all-comers affair with many taking advantage of unguarded and unguided government incentives.

Existing conceptual, empirical and case studies evidence suggests that manufacturing industries find the joint implementation of Kaizen philosophy initiatives. However, the existing practices rarely demonstrated in a single framework and implementation procedure in a structure nature. This paper, therefore, aims to develop, validate and practically test a framework and implementation procedure for the implementation of integrated Kaizen in manufacturing industries to attain long-term improvement of operational, innovation, business (financial and marketing) processes, performance and competitiveness.

The study primarily described the problem, extensively reviewed the current state-of-the-art literature and then identified a gap. Based on it, generic and comprehensive integrated framework and implementation procedure is developed. Besides, the study used managers, consultants and academics from various fields to validate a framework and implementation procedure for addressing business concerns. In this case, the primary data was collected through self-administered questionnaire, and 244 valid questionnaires were received and were analyzed. Furthermore, the research verified the practicability of the framework by empirically exploring the current scenario of selected manufacturing companies.

The research discovered innovative framework and six-phase implementation procedure to fill the existing conceptual gap. Furthermore, the survey-based and exploratory empirical analysis of the research demonstrated that the practice of the proposed framework based on structured procedure is valued and companies attain the middling improvements of productivity, delivery time, quality, 5S practice, waste and accident rate by 61.03, 44, 52.53, 95.19, 80.12, and 70.55% respectively. Additionally, the companies saved a total of 14933446 ETH Birr and 5,658 M² free spaces. Even though, the practices and improvements vary from company to company, and even companies unable to practice some of the unique techniques of the identified CI initiatives considered in the proposed framework.

All data collected in the survey came from professionals working for Ethiopian manufacturing companies, universities and government. It is important to highlight that n = 244 is high sample size, which is adequate for a preliminary survey but reinforcing still needs further survey in terms of generalization of the results since there are hundreds of manufacturing companies, consultants and academicians implementing and consulting Kaizen. Therefore, a further study on a wider Ethiopian manufacturing companies, consultants and academic scale would be informative.

This work is very important for Kaizen professionals in the manufacturing industry, academic and government but in particular for senior management and leadership teams. Aside from the main findings on framework development, there is some strong evidence that practice of Kaizen resulted in achieving quantitative (monetary and non-monetary) and qualitative results. Thus, senior management teams should use this research out to practice and analyze the effect of Kaizen on their own organizations. Within the academic community, this study is one of the first focusing on development, validating and practically testing and should aid further study, research and understanding of Kaizen in manufacturing industries.

So far, it is rare to find preceding studies proposed, validated and practically test an integrated Kaizen framework with the context of manufacturing industries. Thus, authors understand that this is the very first research focused on the development of the framework for manufacturing industries continuously to be competitive and could help managers, institutions, practitioners and academicians in Kaizen practice.