Agile Performers

Abstract

Agile, lean, and service-oriented templates of organizing constitute manufacturing companies’ most popular organizational forms. Companies that adhere to the agile template differentiate on flexibility or innovation competitive priorities, adopt a set of digital manufacturing innovations, and are characterized by superior flexibility or innovation performance. Despite huge attention, representative empirical studies of companies adhering to the agile template are rare. In this chapter, we use a representative sample of 500 manufacturing companies to reveal the diffusion of agile template-related characteristics. The results show that flexibility competitive priorities, and performance capabilities are far more prevalent than innovation-related ones. Our findings reveal that manufacturing companies use digital manufacturing innovations non-extensively. We also discover that large companies use digital innovations more extensively than SMEs. Our analysis reveals that engineering companies use more digital innovations than companies from other sectors. Finally, our models reveal that systems for automation and management of internal logistics, simulation for product design or product development, and remote monitoring of the operating status positively contribute to the flexibility performance. We cannot find any influence of digital innovations on innovation performance. Such findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of agile template diffusion among manufacturing firms.