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This case describes the challenges faced by Amul in organising dairy farmers into a co-operative and creating continuous opportunities for value addition. Participants in the case discussion are required to review the developments in the organisation and recommend a strategy for the future.

Simulation experiment was employed to investigate the schemes for coordinating JIT practices to promote performance upgrade in a job shop environment with the pull system.

The four related essential JIT practices (job shop JIT practices) investigated include: cellular manufacturing (CM), operations overlapping (OPOVR), reduction of set‐up/processing time variability (variability reduction) and set‐up time reduction (STR).

Experiment findings suggest that coordination of CM and STR should be given the priority. While the extent of STR effected by CM substantially influences the efficacy of adopting a cellular layout, the choice of adopting a functional layout (FL) is more likely to be affected by the STR resulted from improvement of set‐up operations (set‐up improvement). Variability reduction tends to be more effective for a cellular layout. For a cellular layout without OPOVR, the effectiveness of reducing set‐up time variability is prominent and almost impervious to the extent of set‐up improvement. For a FL, the effect of variability reduction is minor; reduction of set‐up time variability is effective in this case only for a set‐up to processing time ratio of 20 or larger. The findings of this study do not justify the implementation of OPOVR in the shop environment, even with the support of the other three job shop JIT practices.

This study is notable in integrating STR into the job shop JIT practices to achieve overall performance improvement. In addition, the resulting strategies for variability reduction are essential for adapting the pull system to job shop manufacturing. Therefore, the findings of this study form systematic guidelines enabling exercise of the job shop JIT practices coherently to promote reform of job shop manufacturing.

Cell formation design in cellular manufacturing systems (CMS) has been the focus of recent manufacturing research literature. A great amount of research has been published addressing either technical issues (e.g. part‐machine grouping algorithms) or operational issues (e.g. planning and scheduling in the CMS). Research addressing strategic issues in cell formation design has been minimal. Addresses strategic considerations in cell formation design, specifically, the linkage and relationships between specific cell design issues and the firm′s competitive advantage in the marketplace. It is demonstrated that cell formation design decisions must be addressed in alignment with the firm′s strategic plan and manufacturing competitive priorities.

The purpose of the research is to study the set‐up processes of formal networks in a multinational high‐tech corporation consisting of multiple business units. The aim is to learn more about what management can do in order to support the fragile process of setting up new knowledge networks.

The research project had a problem‐solving approach, which is why action research was selected as the method.

Based on the research the following findings are discussed: identify and support knowledge activists, put knowledge networks on the strategic agenda, formal networks being vulnerable to major organizational changes, create an understanding for how formal networks can coexist with the line organization.

Limitations of the study relate to the fact that the knowledge networks were set up within the same company. That the knowledge networks were set up during a turbulent time when cost reductions were a top priority may also limit the generalizability of the findings.

The findings of the research can help managers to set up a knowledge network successfully. If management is aware of the issues that could be encountered in a knowledge network set‐up, the chances for a successful knowledge network implementation will be enhanced.

Systematic research regarding the actual process of a knowledge network set‐up is lacking. This research fills this gap by the practical characteristics of the research project and its practical implications for management.

Proposes a virtual cellular manufacturing approach to implementing cellular manufacturing systems that combines the set‐up efficiency typically obtained by traditional cellular manufacturing or group technology systems with the flexibility of a job shop. Unlike traditional cellular systems in which the shop is physically designed as a series of cells, cells are formed within a shop utilizing a process layout using scheduling mechanisms. The result is the formation of cells that are temporary and logical (virtual) in nature, allowing them to be more responsive to changes in demand patterns. Simulation runs comparing this approach to production using traditional cellular and job shop approaches indicate that this new approach yields significantly better shop performance over a range of operating conditions.

There is considerable interest in the Just‐in‐Time production method and the potential benefits that can be realised, particularly in a reduction in the work‐in‐progress inventory. The article reviews some of the salient prerequisites necessary for successful implementation of the JIT system. Two major factors are examined using a simulation model. Results indicated that contrary to widespread conjecture it is not necessary to maintain a balance in the process times between work stations. With the choice of a suitable scheduling rule, such as SPT/LATE, the system performance can be superior to that for constant process times. It is also found that the pull system is relatively unresponsive to a heavy imposed loading and process utilisation is generally low. Finally, smaller batches give better system effectiveness but the improvement is less significant than for the conventional push system.

This paper presents Quick Changeover Design (QCD), which is a structured methodological approach for Original Equipment Manufacturers to drive and support the design of machines in terms of rapid changeover capability.

To improve the performance in terms of set up time, QCD addresses machine design from a single-minute digit exchange of die (SMED). Although conceived to aid the design of completely new machines, QCD can be adapted to support for simple design upgrades on pre-existing machines. The QCD is structured in three consecutive steps, each supported by specific tools and analysis forms to facilitate and better structure the designers' activities.

QCD helps equipment manufacturers to understand the current and future needs of the manufacturers' customers to: (1) anticipate the requirements for new and different set-up process; (2) prioritize the possible technical solutions; (3) build machines and equipment that are easy and fast to set-up under variable contexts. When applied to a production system consisting of machines subject to frequent or time-consuming set-up processes, QCD enhances both responsiveness to external market demands and internal control of factory operations.

The QCD approach is a support system for the development of completely new machines and is also particularly effective in upgrading existing ones. QCD's practical application is demonstrated using a case study concerning a vertical spindle machine.

Contrasts functional layouts and cellular layouts with regard to the effects of set‐up time reduction and lot size on flow time and through‐put. The structural environment for the functional analysis is an efficient functional system with a staged sequence of four machine centers with unidirectional flow and no backtracking. The structural environment for the cellular analysis is a partitioned cell consisting of one machine from each of the four machine types with unidirectional flow and no backtracking. Simulation models produce robust results for eight lot size levels and one (functional model) and seven (cellular model) set‐up time reduction levels. The results contrast the effectiveness of the two manufacturing approaches under differing input conditions. Shows that the choice between the functional structure and the cellular structure significantly affects through‐put at lot sizes up to 55, while for lot sizes of 60 and above there is no significant effect. The study also confirms previous results regarding the effect of manufacturing structure choice on flow time.

This paper aims to address how organizational routines paradoxically affect the process of organizational innovation based on a new construct of routines or to investigate the coexistence of both hindering and promoting effects from routines and their differentiated affecting paths.

This paper adopts an interpretive and exploratory case study on the business model innovation of Yimu Technology Company Limited (Yimu Tech) from product standardization to customization. Considering that this innovation reflects a successful down-up rather than traditional up-down innovation, this paper focuses on it to explore how the most micro routines affect the whole process of innovation. Almost two years were spent in collecting data from Yimu Tech and in following the innovation through approaches of semi-structured interviews, archival data and observation; the data were analyzed through a five-step process before a framework showing the paradoxical effects was finally set up.

This research specifies the construct of organizational routines and promotes a five-dimensional concept covering the organizational, collective and individual levels of an organization. It confirms the interaction between the performative and ostensive aspects of routines, by showing that the ostensive aspect may not only guide tasks performing but also allow multiple changes, and the performative aspect may affect the ostensive aspect through the down-up or up-down path. Also, it finds that routines may paradoxically affect all three phases of innovation, with a strong up-down hindering effect but a weak down-up promoting effect in the preparation phase, a strong down-up promoting effect but a weak hindering effect in the emergence phase and both significant effects in the consolidation phase.

This research is constrained by several limitations. The set up framework of routines and their paradoxical effects on innovation need a further confirmation in more contexts or organizations; more elements should be considered in exploring the evolution of routines and their effects on innovations; little attention has been paid to the relationship between these two types of effects, conflicting with each other, joining together or working independently.

The findings offered some valuable insights for further research on organizational routines and organizational innovation and hold important implications for management practices. This research enriched the two-aspect view of routines by constructing a five-dimensional framework; further research studies on routine dynamics by showing the interaction between the performative and ostensive aspects can contribute to the study on effects of organizational routines on innovations by showing how routines promote and hinder innovation simultaneously throughout the whole process. It reminds managers of the strong power from the microlevel of an organization in innovation.

The traditional dualism view regards stability and change as opposites and separate, two essential but largely incompatible and mutually exclusive elements in an organization, and it advocates contingency theories to handle the paradox situation; more recent research has adopted the paradoxical lens to highlight both the contradiction and the interdependence between the two elements. This paper aims to address how an organization pursues stability and change simultaneously, i.e., how stability and change contradictorily enable each other to promote the development of an organization.

By adopting a case study on the strategic and structural change of Signcomplex in China, this paper attempts to explore the paradoxical relationship between stability and change, especially their interdependence. Multiple approaches were used during data collection to meet the criteria for trustworthiness, and the data analysis went through a five-step process. Through this analysis, the main mechanisms of stability and change were identified. An analysis was also conducted on how these stable and variable mechanisms enable each other, and finally, a framework was set up to show this paradoxical relationship.

The results confirm the paradox of stability and change: stability enables change by supplying security and consistency, offering reserved knowledge and skills and enabling commitment and the provision of resources for a better realization of the change. Change enables a firm to set up a new state of stability through variable mechanisms such as trial-and-error and exploration activities. The results also indicate that the nature of organizational change is to help an organization reach a new stable stage with higher efficiency and that organizational development relies on the paradoxical effects of both stability and change.

This research is constrained by several limitations. The findings need to be further confirmed through the investigation of more organizations; other stable mechanisms, such as habits, tight coupling, commitments, control and low variance, and variable mechanisms, such as search, mindfulness, redundancy and openness, should be considered. As an organization may experience many cross-level or cross-department changes which struggle with each other for resources and with stable mechanisms, to explore the paradox, future research may need to conduct a more in-depth examination of the system of change.

The findings offer some valuable insights for further research and hold important implications for management practices, especially management practices in a Chinese context. The findings extend the existing paradox theory by further revealing how stability and change enable each other and offer a paradoxical perspective to look into the nature of organizational change and organizational development. The results remind managers to rethink the relationship between stability and change, to factor these coexisting concepts into their decision-making and to accept, understand and use this paradoxical relationship to realize synergistic effects for the firm.