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As soon as the words “planning” and “control” are mentioned, the word “forecasting” is sure to follow. Next come several important questions: Should forecasting be the special domain of experts, or become a management tool? Can management obtain accurate and mathematically valid projections without investing in special hardware or software? The answer is that the basic tools required to prepare sound forecasts are readily available in most companies today.

During recent years a number of techniques have been developed to aid in the forecasting of corporate sales, individual product demand, economic indicators, and other related series. These techniques have included classical time series analysis, multiple regression and adaptive forecasting procedures. As a result of these developments, the individual company and decision maker is faced with the task of selecting the forecasting technique that is most appropriate for his situation. This article reports research conducted at INSEAD on how simulation can be used to compare and evaluate alternative forecasting techniques for a specific application.

The purpose of this paper to investigate the major themes of operations management by analysing citations in IJOPM. It aims to discuss changes in the discipline's sub‐fields and identifies emerging topics.

The paper is an empirical analysis of citations and co‐citations from IJOPM. Network and factor analysis are used to analyse and group the data.

The study demonstrates that the persistent central ideas of operations management concern manufacturing strategy, with specific interests in strategy typologies, best practices, and the resource‐based view. Other central themes are performance measurement, the case study method, and process management. The plotting of subfield trajectories shows that recent studies are seeking a more subtle understanding of operations management by considering its practice in relation to strategy, context and resources. Emerging subjects within the field include supply chain management, lean management systems, theory building from quantitative data and sustainable resource limits to capability.

The study is unique in performing the analysis at the individual publication level rather than following the normal aggregated author co‐citation analysis (ACA) method. The potential problems with citation/co‐citation studies are discussed.

Time is the top priority. We now live in real time. It's no longer life in the fast lane because every lane is fast. The computer has changed the way we view time. We expect everything to occur at Pentium speed! A time lag causes stress since it is viewed as an unnecessary waste. This is not a matter of immediate gratification; rather delays—such as standing in line—are viewed as something being wrong with the system, and the company that allows it to happen is perceived as not being up to speed! (Graham, 1996, p. 4).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the productivity performance at the firm level from the perspective of manufacturing capability development at the process level. Moreover, it reveals how alignment of manufacturing capabilities with market requirements has influenced a firm’s productivity over a period that includes the 2008 global recession.

A conceptual framework was derived from established theories and employed as part of a case study design encompassing a multiple methods research approach. The case of a UK SME was selected to reflect some of the issues associated with the wider productivity stagnation experienced by the UK economy in recent years.

The firm’s manufacturing strategy had become incrementally misaligned with market requirements due to external changes in its business environment. The complex relationships between capabilities such as quality, speed and cost were characterised. Realigning the firm’s manufacturing strategy to regain productivity performance required a range of prioritised actions including capital investment and changes in management practices concerning bottom-up process improvement and regular, top-down strategy review.

The findings of the case study cannot be generalised and the outcomes are specific to just one firm. However, the approach lends itself to replication, particularly within SMEs.

Prior studies have focussed on capability development at higher levels of abstraction. The study operationalized established theoretical perspectives at the firm level to derive context-based outcomes that can be used to improve manufacturing strategy alignment and productivity. Furthermore, the study contributes empirical evidence from the SME sector to the ongoing debate regarding the UK’s productivity puzzle.

Elegance in economic modelling is one determinant of the professional acceptability of “scientific” contributions to the economics literature. Just what determines the profession′s definition of “elegance” is a question less frequently asked. Social economists commonly appeal to questions of teleology or the implicit philosophy underscoring mathematically rigorous and elegant models. The particular difficulty they face, however, is that the socialization process which occurs in graduate schools inculcates regard for mathematical technique to a much greater extent than it heightens awareness of philosophical issues.

Prior research of the influence of “upper echelon” managers has confirmed the importance of matching the characteristics of senior executives with the requirements of their organizations’ strategies. Firms that achieved higher levels of strategy‐manager alignment at both the corporate and business unit levels were found to have correspondingly higher levels of organizational performance. This study extends prior research of the strategy‐managerial characteristics relationship to the functional level of the organization. Specifically, based on a sample of 196 managers from 98 companies, this study investigates whether manufacturing units pursuing dissimilar strategies are led by manufacturing managers with dissimilar attributes, and whether the strategy‐manager alignment is related to the performance of the manufacturing unit. Results provide evidence to support these hypothesized relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and define the types of organizational alignment – vertical and horizontal; to examine the evidence for the alignment‐performance relationship, and propose research questions and practical implications to advance the theory and practice of managing alignment.

The study is a conceptual examination based on a thorough review of both theoretical and empirical research.

The paper finds that vertical alignment has received considerably more attention in the literature. Studies of horizontal alignment within organizations are less common. When horizontal alignment is studied, the focus tends to be dyadic – between two functional areas. The limitations posed by the dyadic approach suggest gaps in the research and opportunities for future research. As firms grow and diversify, becoming multi‐business organizations, the importance of horizontal alignment will be elevated.

Research on vertical alignment should focus on developing larger sets of moderating variables, such as the morale of the workforce, or the life cycle of the firm or industry. Research on horizontal alignment should explore multi‐point horizontal alignment.

Managers in organizations with multiple strategic business units could use the application questions in the study to assess the state of alignment in their respective units and the organization as a whole.

The paper documents existing literature on the concept of organizational alignment and identifies new opportunities to continue to build and expand the research stream. It also provides a list of application questions that may be used to assess organizational alignment in organizations.

In the competitive global market, firms have to keep profit from innovation activities. A firm makes profits by offering products or services at a lower cost than its competitors or by offering differentiated products at premium prices that more than compensate for the extra cost of differentiation. The IC Package and Testing technology industries were the first high technological industry to build in Taiwan. The Package and Testing industries in Taiwan adopted competitive innovation activities to become stronger. In our study, we want to know how innovation activities influence a firm operating in the IC Package and Testing industries. Our study used a questionnaire and Likert five‐point scale to survey the innovation activities, customer and feedback in innovation performance in the IC Package and Testing industry. The wafer level chip size packing technology in our study indicates the innovation activities. Because we need to compare the difference between the wafer level chip size packing technology and wire bonding technology to recognize innovation and how the innovator and customer were influenced. Our conclusions are described below: (1) When the innovator adopts innovation activities that can be maintained using experiments and knowledge, using machine and decision variables more quickly will produce success; (2) Innovators should adopt innovation activities that focus on customers that use knowledge and experimentation, training time and cost. If an innovation forces customers to spend much time and cost to learn new technology or applications, the innovation will not be adopted; (3) Innovators that create innovation performance higher than his customers must also consider the impact upon their customers. We have to remind innovator to focus on why their customers have a different level of evolution in the same innovation activities.

The idea of competitive advantage is not new. What is new is the growing acceptance of this planning concept as a general philosophy of management. In all likelihood, the notion of competitive advantage will provide the guiding philosophy for the predominant management practice of the 1980s: strategic management. As experience at Clark Equipment Company shows, the answers to eight key questions can spell out a winning strategy.