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This paper aims to investigate the factors enabling or hindering the simultaneous pursuit of volume flexibility and mix flexibility within a supply chain through the lens of a manufacturing plant seeking to implement a build‐to‐order (BTO) strategy.

To accomplish this empirical investigation, an in‐depth case study involving a manufacturing plant and its supply chain was designed. Prior to primary and secondary data collection, this research setting had already decided to implement a BTO strategy and had, moreover, carefully assessed several practices for BTO strategy implementation, as well as their interactions.

The studied case suggests that a number of approaches typically used to increase volume flexibility, actually negatively affect mix flexibility and vice versa. The existence of such trade‐offs may ultimately inhibit the implementation of a BTO strategy and this was the case in the studied company. Nevertheless, empirical evidence also suggests that, to some extent, volume flexibility and mix flexibility may be achieved synergistically, as initiatives such as component standardization or component‐process interface standardization would improve both volume flexibility and mix flexibility.

The pursuit of volume flexibility and mix flexibility in implementing a BTO strategy in a specific setting and from primarily an operations management perspective was investigated. As such, the findings can be complemented by viewing the case study results through the lens of other established general management theories or by replicating the study in different research settings.

While past research informs us about how manufacturing firms can successfully achieve mix flexibility or volume flexibility, there are few insights for understanding how volume flexibility and mix flexibility can both be simultaneously achieved within a manufacturing plant and its supply chain. This research fills this gap in the literature and contributes to the development of a theory of BTO strategy implementation, especially in terms of volume flexibility, mix flexibility and their interactions.

This paper aims to incorporate a market wide buying and selling pressure cost component into a spread decomposition model as spread cost component.

The paper extends a commonly used trade indicator spread decomposition model to include a component common to all stocks of a specialist firm and a market wide component common to all stocks.

Strong evidence is found that specialists consider this common factor cost component when they set bid and ask quotes. Some specialist firms also take the next logical step and specifically manage their firm wide stock inventories. The common factor is in percentage terms largest for securities with the highest trade frequencies.

The relative importance of the common factor spread component decreases as the pricing grid becomes finer, but remains highly significant under the decimal trading regime.

This is the first study to document not‐security‐specific spread cost components that are common to all stocks for which a specialist firm makes markets and to all stocks in the market. Using the model it is shown that market wide uncertainty translates into spreads of individual securities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate effects of platforms on new product development (NPD) projects. Emphasis has been put on the following effect categories: project performance, process changes, and the use of performance measurements.

The paper is based on data collected in a survey of Swedish manufacturing firms. The survey collected data on platform characteristics and NPD characteristics. This paper reports correlations and regression analyses of the different variables.

The application of a platform strategy leads to a significant increase of component commonality on the product program level. However, it was observed that firms still have problems with sticking to project budgets in terms of cost and lead‐time restrictions. Moreover, platform implementation often involves significant process adaptations. Finally, it showed that firms are hardly applying measurements to follow up on their platform‐related activities.

It appears that predictions made in current literature regarding platform effects are not generally valid for all firms. Therefore, this study indicates that there may be contingencies affecting the applicability of a platform strategy for specific firms.

Owing to potential contingencies affecting the applicability of platforms, firms have to carefully consider if a platform strategy is promising in their specific situation. Moreover, product platform implementation does not only demand an adaptation of product structures but also involves significant process adaptations.

By statistically testing effects of platforms on product development performance, the tendency of the current literature towards case‐based research is overcome. Hereby, the findings of current literature are challenged in terms of their generalizability.

Use by some firms of a revolutionary new form of market research, here termed “real‐time market research”, has been observed in certain dynamic product markets where technologies and consumer preferences change rapidly. In real‐time product research, firms produce small lots of new product models and research consumer reaction by offering product model variations to consumers. This product research has been made economically feasible by the development of methods for shortening the time required for product development, by the adoption of flexible manufacturing systems, and by the rise of important new regimes for designing products. Documents the apparent use of real‐time market research by some firms and discusses the new product design regimes which make real‐time research feasible and economic.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the multi-faceted role of metaroutines in dealing with nested ambidexterity challenges experienced during new product introductions (NPIs) at Tata Motors, an Indian automotive giant.

This study utilizes an in-depth multi-level case study highlighting the ambidexterity dynamics across strategic, business unit and functional levels.

The authors visualize the NPI system found in the firm, including the interactions between structure, process and governance, as a metaroutine. Based on this visualization, the authors argue that certain ostensive (like voice of customer, commonality) and performative (role of leadership and creative recombination) aspects of the metaroutine aid exploratory and exploitative learning across levels at Tata Motors. Further, the authors argue that the role of embedded NPI metaroutine aspects in promoting multi-level ambidexterity offers a distinct form when compared with other academically established forms of structural, contextual and temporal ambidexterity.

This study focuses on the aspects of the NPI metaroutine that enable ambidexterity within the studied firm. The authors argue that apart from the structural, temporal and contextual mechanisms, managers also need to focus on the nuances of NPI metaroutines and their potential to promote ambidexterity across levels.

The authors visualize the interactions between the process, structure and governance mechanisms, related to NPI, as a metaroutine. The authors argue that metaroutine enabled approaches to ambidexterity offer a distinct form when compared with other academically established forms of structural, contextual and temporal ambidexterity. Also, metaroutine enabled ambidexterity explains a possible way through which multi-level ambidexterity can be promoted and managed within organizations.

This paper deals with the organizing of interactive product development. Developing products in interaction between firms may provide benefits in terms of specialization, increased innovation, and possibilities to perform development activities in parallel. However, the differentiation of product development among a number of firms also implies that various dependencies need to be dealt with across firm boundaries. How dependencies may be dealt with across firms is related to how product development is organized. The purpose of the paper is to explore dependencies and how interactive product development may be organized with regard to these dependencies.

The analytical framework is based on the industrial network approach, and deals with the development of products in terms of adaptation and combination of heterogeneous resources. There are dependencies between resources, that is, they are embedded, implying that no resource can be developed in isolation. The characteristics of and dependencies related to four main categories of resources (products, production facilities, business units and business relationships) provide a basis for analyzing the organizing of interactive product development.

Three in-depth case studies are used to explore the organizing of interactive product development with regard to dependencies. The first two cases are based on the development of the electrical system and the seats for Volvo’s large car platform (P2), performed in interaction with Delphi and Lear respectively. The third case is based on the interaction between Scania and Dayco/DFC Tech for the development of various pipes and hoses for a new truck model.

The analysis is focused on what different dependencies the firms considered and dealt with, and how product development was organized with regard to these dependencies. It is concluded that there is a complex and dynamic pattern of dependencies that reaches far beyond the developed product as well as beyond individual business units. To deal with these dependencies, development may be organized in teams where several business units are represented. This enables interaction between different business units’ resource collections, which is important for resource adaptation as well as for innovation. The delimiting and relating functions of the team boundary are elaborated upon and it is argued that also teams may be regarded as actors. It is also concluded that a modular product structure may entail a modular organization with regard to the teams, though, interaction between business units and teams is needed. A strong connection between the technical structure and the organizational structure is identified and it is concluded that policies regarding the technical structure (e.g. concerning “carry-over”) cannot be separated from the management of the organizational structure (e.g. the supplier structure). The organizing of product development is in itself a complex and dynamic task that needs to be subject to interaction between business units.

Many researchers have studied manufacturing flexibility, but supply chain flexibility is still an under‐investigated area. This paper aims to focus on supply flexibility, the aspects of flexibility related to the upstream supply chain. Its purpose is to investigate why and how firms increase supply flexibility.

An exploratory multiple case study was conducted. Seven Spanish manufacturers from various sectors (automotive, apparel, electronics and electrical equipment) were analysed.

The results show that firms need supply flexibility for a number of important reasons (manufacturing schedule fluctuations, JIT purchasing, manufacturer slack capacity, low level of parts commonality, demand volatility, demand seasonality and forecast accuracy), and that companies increase this type of flexibility by implementing two main strategies: “improved supplier responsiveness” and “flexible sourcing”. The results also suggest that the supply flexibility strategy selected depends on the type of uncertainty (mix, volume or delivery).

This paper has the limitations common to all case studies, such as the subjectivity of the analysis, and the questionable generality of the results. Moreover, there may be some sort of country bias because only Spanish firms have been analysed.

The study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating the main reasons for companies needing to increase supply flexibility and how they increase this flexibility, and suggesting some factors that could influence the selection of a particular supply flexibility strategy.

The platform strategy adopted by firms in a multi‐project context reduces lead‐time and development cost, enhances reliability, allows mass customization and increases manufacturing flexibility. While the major challenges of this strategy have been highlighted, the evolution of the platform and its management during its lifecycle is under studied. The paper address this missing point by considering the sustainability of the platform during its life cycle.

For that purpose, the paper has carried out a field methodology research at a car manufacturer six years after the successful setting of the platform strategy. It analyzes at a fine‐grained level the development of a second generation product on this existing platform.

Using a model that traces the design decisions taken during this development, it has identified that, in order to reuse the platform over two generations, the engineers implicitly apply, besides the design rules that correspond to the very definition of platform strategy as presented in the literature such as the carry‐over and the lean design, a learning routine that challenges these rules. It designates this routine by “smart reuse” because it enables the reuse of the platform from one generation to another. It highlights the interplay between the products and the platform that co‐evolve by pointing out the reciprocal prescription relationships. This co‐evolution operates through two levels: between the product planning and the platform on one hand and the product development and the platform on the other.

The paper has several implications, such as the central role of the platform director in the platform reuse and the platform architecture, mainly its modularity, and its impact on the platform progressive renewal. This research reveals ideas that need to be validated and tested through other methods and in other industrial contexts.

The paper offers insights into platform‐re‐use, focusing on the automotive industry.

The onset of global competition in the 1970s began to change the manufacturing environment drastically. The advent of the computer created an opportunity for the developers of material requirements planning (MRP) concepts to automate many of the manual practices employed in manufacturing for acquiring and tracking of materials. This resulted in more efficient manufacturing operations in terms of labor for planning activities and better material control. Technology was expanded to include capacity planning and production schedule control. The acceptance in industry for the new “tool” was monumental and soon a new industry was born. For some time MRP allowed manufacturers to perform at higher levels of proficiency. However, the demands and expectations of the customers have continued to change and manufacturers wishing to keep pace with competition are beginning to question if MRP is still a valid tool for production planning and control. As a result new concepts have begun to emerge. These new approaches call for an abandonment of some of the foundational components of MRP.