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Many firms today operate international manufacturing networks (IMN) of plants, which may serve different purposes and have different levels of competences. This diversity influences the effectiveness of different manufacturing practices, which has not yet been explored in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between plant role and the “goodness” of its manufacturing practices.

Data are used from a sample of 471 plants from the sixth edition of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey.

The findings show that plants with higher competences use more practices successfully than less competent plants. Furthermore, more competent plants tend to strengthen their differentiation performance, while less competent plants focus on and achieve cost performance improvements instead.

The associations between plant role, manufacturing practices and performance provide important input for the global design of a firm’s IMN as a whole, and the development of local plants within the network.

The “goodness” of manufacturing practices has not been investigated in the plant role literature; the effect of plant role on the “goodness” of manufacturing practices has not been studied in the OM contingency literature. This paper shows that while the role of a plant in a firm’s IMN hardly affects the efforts it puts into implementing different manufacturing practices, it has an important moderating influence on the performance implications of these practices.

The literature on global manufacturing strategy contains few models that help managers to design and manage their global plant network. An interesting model is the one developed by Ferdows, describing the strategic role of plants. This paper discusses and tests this model. The data provide strong empirical support for the model and add some new insights. It is shown that the role of the “center of excellence” in a manufacturing network is not restricted to plants with know‐how as the primary location advantage, but is also a common role for plants with market proximity as the primary advantage. Also, the model proves to be useful for the description and assessment of today’s network of plants, but it is too limited to serve as a typology for new plants that might be added to the network. Finally, the research shows that the perception of headquarters and of plant management concerning the plants’ strategic role may be very different.

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.

This paper aims to investigate the moderating effects of the role a plant plays in a manufacturing network on the relationships between its level of integration with other plants in the same manufacturing network (referred as “internal manufacturing network integration” in this paper), its interactions with suppliers/customers (referred as “external supply chain integration” in this paper), and its operational performance.

This paper is based on the data from the sixth version of International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI). Specifically, this paper uses a subset of the IMSS VI data set from the 606 plants that identified themselves as one of the plants in a manufacturing network.

The results demonstrate plant role has a moderating effect on the relationship between internal manufacturing network integration and external supply chain integration, but not on the relationship between external supply chain integration and operational performance. Our research also highlights that plant role moderates the mediating effect of external supply chain integration on the relationship between internal manufacturing network integration and operational performance. More importantly, it indicates that if a plant wants to significantly increase its operational performance, it will have to strengthen its linkages with supply chain partners, no matter which role it plays in manufacturing network.

This paper supplements the existing research by developing further understandings on the relationship between internal manufacturing network integration, external supply chain integration and operational performance. Specifically, it examines the influence of plant role on such relationship and reveals the essence about in what context (in terms of plant characteristics) internal manufacturing network integration influences the operational performance of a plant in a manufacturing network through external supply chain integration.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strategic role of plants, in terms of the type and level of site competence, the relationship with the strategic reason for location, and the impact on operational performance.

The authors use a survey of 103 Swedish manufacturing plants that belong to global production networks and analyze patterns within this context to identify potential archetypes of plants with respect to plant roles, based on factor analysis and cluster analysis.

It is found that the areas of site competence can be grouped into three bundles, characterized thematically as production‐related, supply chain‐related and development‐related. The plants fall into three categories: some plants have only production‐related competences, some have competences concerning both production and supply chain, and the third group of plants possesses all three bundles of competences.

The results provide empirical evidence that site competences come in bundles in three steps according to themes rather than individually. No significant relationship was found between the level of site competence and the strategic reason for site location.

The results provide empirical support for the co‐location of product development and production, since plants with full responsibility for all competence bundles significantly outperform plants having only production‐related competences on cost efficiency, quality, and new product introductions.

The authors research patterns of site competence at a more detailed level than before in the related literature, as well as study the impact on performance, which has not been done before.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the role of the plant in a manufacturing network (MN) affects the configurations of the flows of goods among plants, suppliers and customers and how these configurations, in turn, affect the extent of adoption and effectiveness of supply chain (SC) integration.

Three research questions are developed at the plant level and then tested using an international survey (IMSS 6) featuring 364 plants which are part of an intra-company MN from 18 countries.

Five configurations of flows of goods emerge from the analysis. These configurations appear to be related to the role of the plant in the network and to the effectiveness of SC integration practices, but not to their extent of adoption.

Research limitations include the focus on specific industries (assembly industries) and limited size of the clusters which did not allow for a deep investigation of each single cluster.

The paper creates a bridge between two literature streams (MNs and SC management) by means of an innovative flow-based perspective that can help researchers and practitioners to disentangle the two interwoven perspectives.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of changes at the manufacturing plant level on other plants in the manufacturing network and also investigate the role of manufacturing plants on the evolution of a manufacturing network.

The research questions are developed by identifying the gaps in the reviewed literature. The paper is based on three case studies undertaken in Danish manufacturing companies to explore in detail their manufacturing plants and networks. The cases provide a sound basis for developing the research questions and explaining the interaction between different manufacturing plants in the network and their impact on network transformation.

The paper highlights the dominant role of manufacturing plants in the continuously changing shape of a manufacturing network. The paper demonstrates that a product or process change at one manufacturing plant affects the other plants in the same network by altering their strategic roles, which leads to the subsequent transformation of the manufacturing network.

A review of the existing literature investigated different elements of a manufacturing network independently. In this paper, the complex phenomenon of a manufacturing network evolution is observed by combining the analysis of a manufacturing plant and network level. The historical trajectories of manufacturing networks that are presented in the case studies are examined in order to understand and determine the future shape of the networks. This study will help industrial managers make more knowledgeable decisions regarding manufacturing network management.

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.

The “robust networks” concept of Ferdows is examined and related to other key theories from the manufacturing strategy literature, resource‐based and other conceptualisations of the organisation of innovation in international networks, and the international business debates on “operational flexibility”. The cases of seven international automotive assemblers with operations in Brazil are then considered in the light of Ferdows’ framework and the external factors bearing on the country and the sector within it. It is evident that, among the global assemblers, the “world” car strategy is dominant, leading to a concentration on the “source” and “lead” roles for individual plants, often combined with radical logistical arrangements. This seems in turn to support the argument for “robustness” rather than “operational flexibility”. Suggestions are made for further work to study the luxury car assemblers and other sectors where economies of scale are less important and where there is a greater degree of global dispersion of production facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to evidence the emergence of new forms of work organisation which if observed could be seen as consistent with the concept of the “learning factory”. This is attempted through reporting the views of those workers engaged in team based operations and reflects upon the emerging role of first‐line and team‐based supervisors. The implications of such developments are then considered from the perspective of the current HR plant managers.

This paper reports on a study of 18 US and UK automotive component suppliers. The information gathered included questionnaire data detailing management practices and giving plant level performance measures. The paper draws primarily on data gathered from interviews conducted with workers, team leaders and managers, including HR managers.

While the majority of plants may be some way from a “learning factory” model there is evidence of changing practices, structures and expectations in each that are in varying ways broadly consistent with elements of this approach. As a consequence of the prioritisation for increases in devolution of responsibility to other employees, the traditional role of the HR manager was seen to be evolving which to a number of managers was creating difficulties.

This paper contributes to the growing evidence of the devolvement of traditional “managerial” responsibilities to lower levels within increasingly “lean” manufacturing organisations. It also comments on the evolving role of HR managers in contemporary manufacturing.