Global Competitive Pressures Research Articles

Application of concurrent engineering in manufacturing industry

Companies in either manufacturing or servicing have to be restructured or re-organised in order to overcome challenges of the 21st century in which customers are not only satisfied but also delighted. In this competitive environment, organisations should use a flexible, adaptive and responsive paradigm. Concurrent Engineering (CE) is a management philosophy and is not restricted to manufacturing companies only. It involves systematic and simultaneous approach in developing a product or process while bringing up all the people who need to be involved in the first place. Global competitive pressure has motivated many companies to change to a more rapid form of product development such as concurrent engineering (CE). By executing design in parallel, improvements occur in many areas such as communication, quality, production processes, cash flows, and profitability. Manufacturing enterprise today has become a matter of effective and efficient application of information technology and knowledge-based engineering. On the one hand, this will increase the competitiveness of a firm in terms of quickly meeting dynamic changes in the market. Concurrent engineering (CE) is undertaken to improve the product design process with the intention of improving organisation performance. The study presented in this paper conducted an analysis of existing solutions to the problem of concurrent optimisation of the design, and the process planning stages when a new product is developed is addressed. This paper describes an object-oriented manufacturing process information model in the Unified Modelling Language. The model comprises classes on the necessary manufacturing information, such as artefact, manufacturing activities, workpiece, manufacturing equipment, estimated cost and time, and manufacturing process sequences. The paper advocates for a simultaneous approach rather than the traditional sequential one.

A structural model of supply chain management on firm performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among supply chain management (SCM) practices and their impacts on firm financial and non‐financial performance. This paper contributes to SCM literature by exploring a structural model connecting the relationships among external customer‐firm‐supplier integration, internal SCM contextual factors, and various dimensions of firm performance.Design/methodology/approachIn order to understand the interactions between SCM practices and firm performance, this paper considers four internal contextual factors, namely: human resource management, quality data and reporting, design management, and process management. Three levels of firm performance are also examined in this paper, including internal operational performance, external customer satisfaction, and firm financial performance. A structural model was further constructed by integrating external SCM, internal SCM contextual factors, and firm performance. The sample data were collected from Taiwan information‐related industries, where firms are facing increased global competitive pressure and heavily utilize SCM to retain their competitive advantages.FindingsThe results presented in this paper show that external customer‐firm‐supplier relation management positively impacts firm internal contextual factors, which in turn have positive effects on firm performance. This finding suggests that a successful implementation of SCM not only directly improves operational performance, but also indirectly enhances customer satisfaction and financial performance. In addition, higher financial performance is also attributable to better customer value resulting from the achievement of better customer satisfaction.Originality/valueThis paper provides empirical evidence on the relationships among SCM practices and how they affect various levels of firm performance, which in turn, provides strategic insights on the relationship between SCM practices and firm performance.

JOB CENTERS: ARE FINDERS KEEPERS? A NOTE FROM JAPAN

Do job centers help unemployed people to find and keep jobs? Using the results of a unique survey by the Japanese government, this note examines the employment success of job center clients. Success in finding and keeping jobs varies systematically across distinct subgroups. Moreover, job center clients were not particularly successful in finding work that fit their qualifications. (JEL J60, J68, J40)

Rescaling Regional Identities: Communicating Thick and Thin Regional Identities

AbstractNovel forms of regional identities emerge in response to global competitive pressures and challenges to the nation‐state. Regions have to react and position their identity in relation to the rescaling of statehood. Especially, the growing autonomy of regional administrations makes support from local stakeholders more important. Communicating a specific regional identity is one of the instruments regional administrations use for mobilising support. However, at the same time old, traditional regional identities become more fluid. Regional identity traditionally focuses on shared past and specific social and cultural characteristics. Especially globalisation and individualisation undermine this traditional thick regional identity. Regional administrations have to adjust their communicated regional identity. By communicating the image of a future oriented region that can face the challenges of global competition, they increasingly use a thin regional identity. This paper analyses different case studies from the Netherlands and Germany.

Global Competitiveness of Powder Metallurgy Part Manufacturing in North Central Pennsylvania

Provided in this report is information summarizing the global competitive dynamics and pressures on the PM part manufacturing industry in north central Pennsylvania. Information is provided about the geographic/economic region in which the industry operates. A brief description of PM manufacturing materials and processes is presented. Then, an analysis is reported of the economic and workforce structure of PM part manufacturing industry in north central Pennsylvania. Last, evidence of competitive forces affecting the industry is drawn from structured face-to-face and telephone meetings, gleaned during plant tours and over informal lunches, linked by following trends and themes in documents, and captured in confidences revealed in unstructured personal conversations. These competitive forces are summarized around five themes: the threat of entry of new competitors; bargaining power of customers; bargaining power of suppliers; the threat (and opportunity) posed by substitute products; and the nature of competitive rivalry within the PM part manufacturing industry. The kernel of competition in the PM part manufacturing industry is summarized in the following simple statements:• The north central region of Pennsylvania is an economic region that is the locus of PM part manufacturing industry activity in the United States. It generates much economic good in the region for individuals and institutions. The industry is both a jewel and a bellwether for the Pennsylvania economy. The competitiveness of the PM part industry is a lynchpin economic driver in Pennsylvania, in general, and the north central region, in particular.• The PM part manufacturing industry brings unique and specialized manufacturing know–how from Pennsylvania to the world through its economic and technological contribution and potential.• New competitors can enter the industry at the low end with modest capital and knowledge of PM parts manufacturing. However, to play at the high end, new market entrants require deeper pockets. • Foreign involvement and ownership are diffusing around the world the specialized knowledge and human capital that formerly was localized to north central Pennsylvania. Competition is not local any more. It is global.• PM part manufacturers compete aggressively and almost solely on the basis of price.• Poor understanding and inaccurate perceptions held by customers about the materials, processes, and end-products of PM part manufacturing affect the competitive position of the industry.• The PM industry deals with a small number of large suppliers and customers who have the power to dictate the ability of PM part manufacturing firms to cover their costs and make a profit. • The PM part manufacturing industry is small relative to the entire manufacturing sector and, in particular, within the fabricated metal product manufacturing subsector. Just on these scale factors alone, opportunities probably are large for capturing metal fabrication opportunities from other industries or for finding ways to create complementary products with other metal fabrication industries.• Competition among firms in the fabricated metal products industry for PM part markets is intense. The struggle for the connecting rod market between the PM part manufacturing industry and the steel forging industry is a case in point.• The automotive market is a dominant force in the PM part manufacturing industry. The culture of supplier discipline followed by the automobile industry guarantees a cost–frugal, price–competitive environment for PM part manufacturing.• Metal commodity prices are volatile and rising, adding risk, uncertainty, and rising costs to metal powder inputs to PM part manufacturing. • Mistakes made in the past by incorrectly specifying PM for parts for which PM is not suited led to credibility problems which still affect the competitive stance of the industry.• The PM part manufacturing industry has difficulty recruiting workers with skills adaptable to the industry. Part of this problem is due to deficiencies in the pipeline for skill creation; some of this problem lies with the relative geographic isolation of the industry in north central Pennsylvania.• PM part manufacturing firms compete vigorously with each other, almost entirely on the basis of price, but rarely against other processes.

Classification knowledge discovery in mold tooling test using decision tree algorithm

The scale of Taiwan's mold industry was ranked the sixth in the world. But, under the global competitive pressure, Taiwan has lost its competitive advantage gradually. The only chance of Taiwan's mold industry lies in improving the competitive abilities in product research, development and design. In mold manufacturing cycle, mold tooling test plays a very important role at accelerating the speed of production. An experienced engineer can minimize the error rate of mold tooling test according to his rich experiences in parameter adjustment. However, this experience is mostly implicit without theoretical basis and its knowledge is difficult to be transmitted. Benefiting from the well development of data mining technologies, this study aimed at constructing an intelligent classification knowledge discovery system for mold tooling test based on decision tree algorithm, so as to explore and accumulate the experimental knowledge for the use of Taiwan's mold industry. This study took the only high-alloy steel manufacturer in Taiwan for case study, and performed system validation with 66 record data. The results showed the accuracy rates of prediction of training data and testing data are 97.6 and 86.9%, respectively. In addition, this study explored two classification knowledge rules and proposed concrete proposals for tooling test parameter adjustment. Moreover, this study provided two ways, rule verification and effectiveness comparison of four mining algorithms, to conduct model verification. The experimental results showed the decision tree algorithm has an excellent discriminatory power of classification and is able to provide clear and simple reference rules for decisions.

Powdered Metals in North Central Pennsylvania

Powdered metallurgy manufacturing processes form green metal parts from particulate powders which, then, are sintered to produce complex, near-shape parts with high dimensional controls, low scrap, and desirable metallurgical properties. Pennsylvania, especially the North Central WIA, has captured the dominant share of the U.S powdered metallurgy manufacturing. Threats to the powdered metallurgy manufacturing industry in the North Central WIA include global competition and the possibility that the industry might begin reaching a growth ceiling associated with maturing industries.Opportunities exist for the powdered metallurgy manufacturing industry in the North Central WIA to yield cost and flexibility advantage relative to more traditional metal forming industries. Additional opportunities are available for improving the impact of the powdered metallurgy manufacturing industry on employment and earnings in the North Central WIA through substitution of local supply for imports and through increasing the competitiveness of manufacturing industry is subject to global competitive pressures. Porter's Five Forces Analysis provides a framework for benchmarking the global competitive position of the powdered metallurgy manufacturing industry. The five forces underlying Porter's model include: threat of new entrants; threat of substitute products; bargaining power of customers; bargaining power of suppliers, and competitive rivalry within an industry. The Penn State WED Initiative is designing a study of the global competitive position of the powdered metal part manufacturing industry around Porter's framework as an aid to strategic planning for the stability and growth of the industry.

A study on the improvements of new product development procedure performance–an application of design for Six Sigma in a semi-conductor equipment manufacturer

With the pressure of intensive global competition and the trend of shortening product life-cycle, the procedure for new product development (NPD) has become the focus of business concerns and investment of large corporations and the key strategy to upgrade competitiveness of corporations. An effective NPD procedure can meet the demands on quality, time-to-delivery and cost limitations of a corporation. Measuring and analysing the performance of the existing NPD procedure and pinpointing and resolving the problems of the existing NPD procedure is the key to improve the NPD performance to meet a corporation's demands. Six Sigma is a systemic procedure commonly used to improve product quality. This paper proposes a model to evaluate and improve the performance of NPD procedures by following the systemic procedure of Six Sigma and applying criteria defined by application of performance matrix, factor analysis, and theory of constraints. The resulting model is then verified with real life NPD procedures from a certain semi-conductor equipment manufacturer such that corporative competitiveness can be enhanced through the elevating cycle of performance evaluation, problem excavation, causes analysis, and countermeasure determination and execution proposed by this paper.

Production planning for a supply chain in a low-volume and make-to-order manufacturing environment

Under the pressure of global competition, manufacturing firms are forced to continually improve production efficiency, product quality and delivery responsiveness. This study aims to develop a better understanding of the production planning problems for a supply chain for low- volume production in make-to-order environment. The objectives of this paper are to develop a generic framework for describing the strategic planning process for a supply chain and to model the propagation of uncertainty and variability in it. Focu s is on the benchmarking of the performance of a supply chain, understanding the impact of different characteristics (including the sources of uncertainty and variability) to the planning of it and on possibilities of improving the performance of a supply chain.

Reduced tillage systems as economical dust mitigation strategies

Arizona is one of the first states in the nation to regulate agricultural practices in order to reduce dust emissions near urban areas. This best management practice program requires dust mitigation actions in some combination of tillage and harvest, cropland, and noncropland activities. Single pass multiple operation equipment represents a viable best management practice to reduce dust emissions from agricultural tillage operations. Partial budgeting and contingent valuation methods were used to estimate the potential profitability and willingness-to-adopt reduced tillage equipment, respectively. At $39 to $64 ha^-1 ($16 to $26 ac^-1) in long-term net benefits associated with single pass multiple operation equipment, we estimate that adoption will occur on approximately 10% to 35% of the cotton hectares. However, uncertainty over operating costs and yield variability associated with single pass multiple operation equipment may reduce this rate of adoption. As a result, most dust mitigation may occur through the reduction of the number of conventional tillage operations due to global competitive pressures and the urbanization of agricultural lands.

The Crisis of “Social Democratic” Unionism

This article defines and explores the crisis of social democratic trade unionism in three countries in western Europe. The authors contend that a particularized form of postwar trade union orientation was socially constructed in Britain, Germany, and France in which a party union nexus gave special privileges to unions in return for compliance with state policies in the national interest. This arrangement has broken down in recent years under the pressure of global product market competition. As a result, trade unions are being forced to adopt alternative strategic orientations, involving both a fracture in the party union nexus and a willingness to work within wider civil society.

Identifying the cause and effect factors of agile NPD process with fuzzy DEMATEL method: the case of Iranian companies

Although the New Product Development (NPD) process is dynamic in nature, with the dawning of the new millennium the rate of the changes in this process has been increased. Individual customer needs, pressure of global competition, fragmentation of markets into smaller segments, rapid and never ending changes in technological aspects and flexible production, force the NPD teams to introduce new products to the markets as rapidly as possible. In response to these dynamic and unanticipated changes agile NPD is a focus to manufacturing enterprises. Identifying the cause and effect factors of this kind of system can help the NPD managers to show a good view of this process and improve their decision making quality. In this paper first among 32 main items related to agile NPD process, 6 critical success factors are extracted by using the explanatory factor analysis method done on the NPD projects in Iranian companies and then to compensate the vagueness in the complex and dynamic environment of agile NPD and also the uncertain human judgment about the factors affecting this process, Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is proposed to divide these critical success factors into cause and effect groups.

Managing knowledge sharing networks in global supply chains

As firms face the pressure of global competition and increase their participation in a global economy, developing an in-depth understanding of supply chain networking issues becomes increasingly important. This study synthesises the findings in the literature with a multiple-case research design and identifies several potential opportunities, motivations as well as dilemmas that exist in a global strategic network. It proposes a framework to explore several factors that could contribute to the sustainability of a knowledge sharing network in global supply chains. These factors include: management fit, market-related fit, resource fit, shared identity, relational capital, and flexibility.

High‐Performance Work System and Organizational Turnover in East and Southeast Asian Countries1

In this paper, we examine the impact of high‐performance work systems (HPWSs) on both voluntary and involuntary organizational turnover rates. Most research on this topic has been done in the United States. Given the global competitive pressures confronting many of the countries of East and Southeast Asia, companies in this region are seeking to become more flexible and often adapt HPWSs practices. We explore the impact of HPWSs in both locally owned companies and subsidiaries of multinational corporations in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand. These countries have significantly different national cultures from the United States and most other Western countries and HPWSs effects in relation to turnover might vary from the studies based in the United States. Our findings are, however, somewhat consistent with U.S.‐based studies. In fact, HPWSs were found to be more effective in reducing turnover in locally owned companies than in subsidiaries of Western and Japanese multinational companies.

Uncovering competitive and institutional drivers of HRM practices in multinational corporations

Current international human resource management (IHRM) literature focusing on multinational corporations (MNCs) presents evidence of both similarities and differences in the HR practices adopted in different global locations. However, the drivers behind this duality require more detailed investigation. This article focuses on exploring why MNCs position themselves within global markets as they do, exploring how extant theory can help explain the drivers behind both global and national HR practices. Based on a worldwide sample of in‐depth interview‐based case studies of well‐known MNCs, we explore the ways in which different firms react to both institutional and competitive pressures in selecting their approach to HRM. The findings uncover a differentiation between external global competitive isomorphic pressures, external national institutional isomorphic pressures, and internal processes of strategic choice and competitive differentiation. It is suggested that MNCs face all three drivers of HRM simultaneously, leading to different patterns of practice adoption, adaptation and innovation.

The (changing?) idea of labour law

Regulations of employment relations are constantly under threat from governments favouring free markets and from the pressures of global competition. The aim of this short essay is to defend the enterprise known as labour law by examining its justifications. I start by describing the traditional justification, which is based on the concept of unequal bargaining power, and on the understanding that there is a trade-off between equity and efficiency. I then describe the updated story, a more sophisticated view put forward by a number of scholars, which explains that labour laws could also be useful in correcting market failures. Finally, I critically consider some new challenges, recently mounted by labour law scholars, which renounce redistribution as one of labour law's major goals. I argue that the old ideas of labour laws are still relevant and should be defended. Indeed, workers need the protection of the law even more than before. We should be wary of any attempt to undermine this enterprise, including (and perhaps especially) attempts from within.

Raw material procurement with fluctuating prices

Increasing global competition and cost pressure force enterprises and supply chains to discover undetected cost-saving potentials. In particular, interfaces to the raw materials’ market are a promising field for improvement. This paper presents a deterministic optimal control approach optimizing the procurement and inventory policy of an enterprise that is processing a raw material when the purchasing price, holding cost, and the demand rate fluctuate over time. Applying Pontryagin's maximum principle, the optimal policy turns out to be of a bang-bang type involving impulse and just-in-time procurement. Numerical examples illustrate the solutions obtained and compare the optimal policy with simple replenishment strategies.

Effect of privatization on firm competitiveness a game theory model with application in the automotive industry

This paper develops and proposes a game theory model that illustrates the effect of privatization on firm competitiveness using cases from the automotive industry. We first provide the mathematical derivation of the model for a competitive industry then address the special case of a duopoly. We chose the automotive industry as it is a relevant illustration of global competitive pressures pushing firms to develop strategic alliances or consolidate. The model shows that privatization has (1) a positive effect on firm performance given that managerial incentives are well defined, and (2) facilitates the firmʼs entry into strategic alliances. We then turn to discuss Renaultʼs empirically observed success factors in the European - and gradually global - markets over the last three decades despite the economic cycles.

India as the Global Outsourcing Destination

The Practice of outsourcing has been prevalent in the automobile industry for a very long time. Vehicle brand owners (VBO), also known as assemblers, have developed preferred relationships like Keiretsu with their suppliers to capture the complexities of outsourcing as also to reflect their regional idiosyncrasies. Against the backdrop of the Indian automobile industry becoming increasingly global, a field study conducted on suppliers of automobile components to vehicle manufacturers, captured patterns of outsourcing prevalent and provided interesting insights. Indian auto component suppliers, although aware of global opportunities, are left with little choice in transacting with their clients partly because of their own risk averse, status quo preferences and remaining for want of an efficient mechanism for horizontal cooperation among firms with complementary capabilities to form clusters/groups of globally competitive suppliers. On the other hand, such clusters often lack necessary institutional support leaving individual suppliers dependent on clients for business and growth. While this article investigates the existing relationship between auto assemblers and their suppliers to suggest a not so encouraging picture of global opportunity for the suppliers with pressures of global competition and sourcing, it also highlights areas in which to expect changes before the global opportunity can be leveraged.

Management of change: Lessons learned from staff reductions in the chemical process industry

Increasing global competition and shareholder pressure are causing major changes in the chemical industry. Over the last decade companies have been continuously improving staff efficiency. As a result, most modern chemical plants can be regarded as lean. Plans to further reduce the number of staff have come under increasing criticism by personnel for safety reasons, and there is strong resistance to further staff reductions. It is clear that management and workers often have conflicting viewpoints for more than just safety reasons; technologists and safety engineers also have different points of view. This results in complex decision-making processes and makes it difficult to realize changes. What can the chemical industries learn from their experiences of decision-making and management with regard to staff reductions? In our exploratory research that used four case studies, we were able to identify and analyse three distinct patterns, with some variations: • Fragmented and incomplete decision-making. • Unintended and undesirable side effects generated by the decision-making and management of change. • Development of difficult dilemmas and ambiguous issues. In this paper, we present a conceptual model that includes factors important for optimizing shifts. This model can serve as a common frame of reference for all agents involved in the decision-making and management process with regard to staffing. The present study was based on four cases, which means our findings serve to form rather than test hypotheses. At this early stage it is not yet possible to generalize from or validate the results, but we plan to go beyond these preliminary results in future research.