Exploring Sustainability Implications for Manufacturing Strategy Decision Areas-A New Model with a Case Study

Abstract

There is a growing need for the firms to factor the sustainability concerns in developing their manufacturing strategy (MS). MS content comprises of competitive priorities and decision areas (DAs) of manufacturing and MS process generally revolves around two approaches to strategic reconciliation: an inside-out approach (resource based) and the outside-in approach (stakeholder requirements). There is only a handful of models in MS incorporating sustainability concerns. Few models that consider sustainability do not factor the resource-based view. This paper proposes a new model to include both resources-based view and stakeholder requirements of strategic reconciliation in MS while incorporating sustainability. A case study is conducted to validate the relationships depicted in the proposed MS model and also to derive insights on sustainability implications of MS DAs.