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This paper examines the effect of R&D investments on the market value of firms in the U.S., Germany, and Japan. Specially, this paper investigates the empirical validity of the widely‐held economic views that suggest that the stock‐market oriented U.S. financial system leads to more corporate myopia and hence to less longer‐term investments such as R&D than the bank‐oriented German and Japanese firms. Findings include that U.S. firms invest in R&D as much as their counterparts in Japan and Germany; the market places a significant and positive value on R&D investments by U.S. firms, though lower than German and Japanese firms; and there are notable differences among the three nations with respect to several other variables. The overall evidence lends little support to the corporate myopia view on U.S. firms.

Logistics and supply chain management has been elevated to a strategic level whereby firms can simultaneously achieve differentiation and low cost for sustained competitive advantage. Empirical studies have often concentrated on logistics management in developed Western countries, displaying a bias towards the USA. This study applies the competency approach to explore logistics in Taiwan. A survey of 1,200 manufacturing firms was undertaken in order to examine the relationships between logistics competency, logistics performance, and financial performance, using exploratory factor analysis and the structural equation modelling technique. Four logistics competencies, namely, integration and knowledge competency, customer focused logistics competency, measurement competency, and agility competency were identified. The research findings revealed that (1) logistics competency was significantly related to logistics performance but not significantly associated with financial performance, and (2) logistics performance was positively associated with financial performance. These findings also implied that logistics competency has an indirect effect on financial performance through logistics performance. This finding confirmed the “world-class” logistics competencies (i.e. positioning, integration, agility, and measurement) as identified by MSUGLRT (1995). In addition, it suggests that logistics competency in a huge geographic area such as America can have the same effect in a smaller geographic area such as Taiwan.

The study aims to assess and prioritise the enablers of manufacturing flexibility by evaluating the degree of environmental uncertainty and manufacturing flexibility in an uncertain environment.

The study proposes a methodological approach based on fuzzy quality function deployment (FQFD), fuzzy analytical hierarchical process (FAHP) and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) to assess and prioritise enablers of manufacturing flexibility in an uncertain environment.

The study proposes a methodological approach that can facilitate firms to concentrate on preferred enablers and assist them in formulating a strategy to develop manufacturing flexibility. The empirical case study analysis of an Indian auto-air conditioning manufacturing firm was done to illustrate the effectiveness, flexibility and feasibility of the proposed approach.

The proposed approach is limited to manufacturing flexibility. This study does not consider inter-dependencies among environmental uncertainties.

The proposed methodological approach can assist practitioners in the identification and development of the preferred enablers to improve manufacturing flexibility. Thus, practitioners can invest strategically in the right resources to improve manufacturing flexibility.

The study proposes and validates a methodological approach that simultaneously addresses drivers and enablers of manufacturing flexibility; therefore, it aims to fill the gaps of earlier studies that have majorly studied flexibility concept in an isolated way.

Service profit chain is a well‐received model to explain the sustainable competitiveness of many service organizations. The model attributes a service organization’s financial and market performance to its relationships with its customers and employees. According to the service profit chain, internal service quality serves the foundation of the model and it ignites a chain effect leading to an organization’s growth and profitability in the end. The purpose of this study is to provide an ad hoc analysis of two key elements of the service profit chain. Specifically, this research explores the direct linkage between performance in growth and profitability and quality of work life, which is a proxy for internal service quality in the service profit chain model. The performance of companies with a reputation of high quality of work life were contrasted to a control group of S&P 500 companies using COMPUSTAT data.

This paper presents an integrated conceptual model of supply chain flexibility. It examines flexibility classification schemes and the commonalities of flexibility typologies published in the literature to create a theoretical foundation for analyzing the components of supply chain flexibility. Even though there has been a tremendous amount of research on the topic of flexibility, most of it has been confined to intra‐firm flexibility concerns. As supply chain management goes beyond a firm’s boundaries, the flexibility strategies must also extend beyond the firm. This paper identifies the cross‐enterprise nature of supply chain flexibility and the need to improve flexibility measures across firms. Opportunities are identified for future cross‐functional research that builds on this theoretical foundation and leads to more effective formulation of supply chain strategies.

The process of identifying and ranking the competitive factors is critical to management for formulating manufacturing strategy because it prioritizes criteria by which manufacturing performance will eventually be evaluated. An empirical study of 382 US computer and electronics firms shows that higher product quality and lower production cost are the most important competitive factors. However, the correlations of these two competitive factors and sales growth and profitability performance measures are not statistically significant. The results suggest that achieving high quality or low cost alone is not enough to improve or sustain a firm’s competitive position and there is a need to explore the emerging role of innovation and advanced manufacturing technology for achieving sustainable competitive advantage.

This study aims to examine the mediating effect of four antecedents of competitive advantage on the linkage of risky strategy to firm performance, measured by revenue dynamics. It considers the roots of competitive advantage to highlight different patterns and foundations of achieving superior performance. It investigates whether pursuing a risky strategy fosters revenue dynamics growth and whether different mediators are included in that relationship.

Path analysis (structural equation modeling) method is used to analyze data from 122 companies of various sizes and industries. All respondents were responsible for executing strategic management processes. The paper used the subjective perspective, which is based on the individual opinion of senior company managers and owners.

The authors find a positive relationship between risky strategy and firm performance, but no evidence of a mediating role of competitive advantage and dynamic growth in this relationship. Competitive advantage should be perceived as a set of integrated factors that can be analyzed from an aggregated perspective. Integrating all antecedents requires a holistic and systematic approach and the development of a particular mindset. Aggregated competitive advantage is related to setting dynamic growth as a priority. However, no relationship between risky strategy and achieving competitive advantage, or between implementing a risky strategy and setting dynamic growth as a priority, is observed, which was assumed to explain the revenue dynamics growth.

Secondary data should be analyzed to explore how risky strategies are manifested, and which managerial decisions are reflected in high-level risk. A multidimensional scale could be developed to check how risk shapes the constructs’ interdependence. Therefore, the dynamic capabilities approach could be further expanded.

This research offers insights into the short-term relationship between risky strategy and revenue dynamics, although competitive advantage does not mediate that relationship. Special attention should be paid to the selected antecedents of competitive advantage, as they influence dynamic growth.

This work provides insights into different antecedents of competitive advantage, which is not necessarily based on making risky decisions, and into factors that facilitate firm performance measured by revenue dynamics.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of total quality management (TQM) implementation in Libyan manufacturing companies (LMCs), and evaluates the impact of ISO 9000, and company size on its implementation.

A framework, comprised of six TQM elements is proposed. Data was collected by means of a survey questionnaire distributed to those companies which agreed to participate.

The results are the responses of a comprehensive survey which showed that Libyan companies are still struggling to effectively embark on TQM. The correlations among the six investigated TQM elements were positive and significant. This study also investigated whether the level of TQM implementation is influenced by contextual factors, including company size and ISO 9000 certification. It was found that there were no differences between TQM elements across ISO and non‐ISO certified companies. The findings also revealed that there is no significant difference between small and medium (S&M)‐sized companies (on each of the TQM elements) and those of large companies.

A longitudinal and wider research is required to investigate TQM implementation across private manufacturing and other companies.

This analytical study is the first to determine the degree to which TQM has been adopted in the Libyan industrial sector (LIS). The results will contribute to the literature by examining the relationship between the proposed TQM elements, and investigating the impact of contextual factors (ISO 9000, company size) on each element of TQM. This research should prove valuable for the Libyan Government in its stated efforts to motivate companies to embark on a TQM program and improve their business performance which, in turn, will improve the Libyan economy.

In this empirical study of 382 US computer and electronics companies, the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and its five infrastructural scales was examined. These infrastructural scales include workforce autonomy, communication, inter‐departmental relationships, supplier flexibility and technology. The results suggested that all infrastructural scales, except workforce autonomy, have a direct and positive effect on a firm’s manufacturing flexibility. Discussion and managerial implications of the results were also presented in this paper.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the underlying characteristics that influence quality management implementation at manufacturing companies operating in China.

The data of this study were based on 199 manufacturing companies collected from a cross‐sectional survey in China. The cultural profiles of these companies were identified through cluster analysis. Multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to identify the effects of operating characteristics and cultural profile on the implementation level of quality management practices.

The results show that in general, there is no significant difference in implementing quality management practices among companies of different operating characteristics in terms of company size, industry, ownership, and production process. This study reveals that cultural profile is a distinguishing factor to explain the difference in quality management implementation among the companies.

As China is becoming an important supplier of products to the global market, it is necessary to understand how product quality is controlled and managed in China. This study examines the effects of operating and cultural characteristics of companies in China on their implementation of quality management practices. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of how to build an effective quality system at companies in China.