Global Manufacturing Firms Research Articles

Customer-driven innovation: examining the nexus of trust, IT, knowledge absorption, and involvement in NPD success

This paper explores the interplay among trust, IT utilization, knowledge absorption, and customer involvement in new product development and their impact on new product development performance. Based on an empirical analysis of 283 survey responses from global manufacturing firms, the study reveals key insights: (1) Trust and IT utilization positively influence knowledge absorption, with trust having a stronger impact; (2) Knowledge absorption directly enhances new product development performance; and (3) Customer involvement positively moderates the relationship between knowledge absorption and product new product development performance. This study enhances our understanding of new product development dynamics, illustrating how these factors collectively shape successful product development outcomes in the rapidly evolving business landscape.

Aligning production requirements with product and production maturities: enhancing production preparation during product development

AbstractProduct development is multidisciplinary with high uncertainties necessitating coordinated decision-making between design and production. This paper presents a method to work with production requirements to support production preparation during product development aligned with different product and production maturities. The work was conducted in collaboration with two global manufacturing firms. The method supports identification, definition, and structuring of production requirements and the collaboration between design and production engineers for requirement prioritization and follow-up.

Pandemic planning, sustainability practices, and organizational performance: An empirical investigation of global manufacturing firms

Disruption events like pandemic crises and natural disasters are unpredictable and therefore, most organizations are implementing an emergency plan to mitigate the unforeseen risks. This paper presents a research framework based on sustainability theory perspectives (i.e., crisis life cycle and management cycle). To test a research model that defines key variables, we assess and validate the hypothesized relationships using a large-scale survey. The respondents are from global food, pharmaceutical, and medical manufacturing companies (n = 301). We use a polynomial regression method coupled to response surface analysis. Results suggest that in the COVID-19 pandemic context, pandemic emergency planning dimensions are positively related to organizational performance metrics (e.g., sales, net profit, on-time orders, and quality) of the food, medical and pharmaceutical industries. The response surface analysis also shows that prudent firms implement triple sustainability practices--economic improvement practices, socially responsible practices, and environmental practices--to ensure their market competitiveness and corporate reputation during critical times. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented for future studies.

Internal and inter-organizational collaborations created by companies and standards that transcend national boundaries

As the world has become increasingly globalised, it is now commonplace for companies to have a head office in one country, but various outposts in other countries. Manufacturing is one of the prime examples of this, where the main driving force of an organisation is located in one place but production sites are located overseas. Indeed, the flexibility of a company's ability to relocate production sites overseas is seen as an effective strategy for global manufacturing firms. However, there is a traditional way of viewing such structures, where the main headquarters of a company are the lifeblood of that company, with the localised production sites seen as almost peripheral. Professor Nobuko Nishiwaki is based within the Nihon University College of Economics in Japan, and is the Principal Investigator of a project that seeks to qualify and establish the importance of local production sites; that they are far more than passive actors in the process by which production is relocated. She is working alongside colleagues Associate Professor Akitsu Oe from the Tokyo University of Science and Professor Takashi Shimizu from The University of Tokyo.

Constructing a Sustainable Collaborative Innovation Network for Global Manufacturing Firms: A Product Modularity View and a Case Study From China

An enduring challenge of soaring market complexity has significant impact on global manufacturing firms. The purpose of this paper is to explore a product modularity-based routine that enables global manufacturing firms to leverage product innovation, particularly in an open challenging environment through the collaborative innovation network. Based on an analysis of the effects of product modularity on collaborative innovation, this paper develops a collaborative innovation network model featuring customer-driven, module as innovation carrier and sustainability, in which the modular product architecture (MPA) plays a role in linking customers, the core firm, and heterogeneous external partners. Next, two kinds of generic partnership management mechanisms are designed. Results in conjunction with an explorative case study show that the positive impact of product modularity on collaborative innovation is verified, which not only facilitates interactions among participants in the collaborative innovation network, but also provides an effective way for the global manufacturing firm to manage external partners.

A taxonomy of international manufacturing networks

Manufacturing firms with multiple product groups do not need to involve all factories in the production of all product groups. Some factories may specialize on a small set of products, while others participate in the manufacturing of a broader set of products. However, current theories on international manufacturing networks do not explain in detail how organizations design international manufacturing networks for different products or product groups involving different sets of factories. This research investigates 20 product group networks at five global manufacturing firms. We distinguish between three types of factories: component manufacturing factories, assembly factories, and integrated factories (having both component manufacturing and assembly). Furthermore, we identify four network types: linear, divergent, convergent, and mixed structures. These four types exhibit distinctly different characteristics in terms of key characteristics, factory roles, product types, process types, market types, sourcing, and key managerial challenges. Most networks are relatively small – on an average consisting of four factories and some contain a number of subnetworks that are self-sufficient in terms of material flow and serve separate market regions. We identify two new types of factory roles related to component manufacturing competences, which we call ‘strategic feeder’ and ‘full lead’.

An empirical analysis of eco-design of electronic products on operational performance: does environmental performance play role as a mediator?

Eco-design has been used to support the upstream and downstream production processes in green supply chain management (GSCM). It is included in the product design and processes effectively starting from resources extraction, to remanufacturing, use and reuse, recycling, and finally, to dispose products in economic end-of-life. The constructs of this study were developed based on literature and verified using two cases of leading global manufacturing firms. A theoretical model was tested using a survey in Malaysia, and the results fulfil literature gaps on the effects of eco-design to environmental performance (EP) and operational performance (OP). The mediating effects of EP were indicated to have improved the positive link from eco-design to OP. This study provides new research opportunities for developing theoretical justification in building eco-efficient-based GSCM. Finally, the paper suggests that the operation managers should apply parsimony principles of eco-design measurements to foresee the imminent organisation outcome. Future researchers should therefore find a way to enlighten industry counterparts with a guidance to enhance further robust statistical modelling and constructs development.

Unraveling the Myth of Reshoring: Managers’ Strategic Decisions about Global Manufacturing Location

This paper investigates the industrial practices of production offshoring and reshoring — in particular, the role of strategy and natural hedging (i.e., co-locating sales and production activities). After analyzing the recent production sourcing decisions of 74 leading global manufacturing firms, we conclude that firms tend to hedge naturally by matching sales with production volume in most regions. We identify the six decision strategies most often followed: agility, supply, proximity, innovation, energy & fixed cost, and policy & risk. In choosing one of these as its dominant strategy, the firm trades off value creation against risk mitigation through natural hedging. Some of the firms in our sample deviate considerably from natural hedging by investing primarily where goods are produced and only secondarily where those goods are sold. We further observe an investment behavior that reflects biases favoring investment at home and in rapidly developing markets. Finally, we discover that firms committed to any one of the six strategies achieve significantly greater gains than do uncommitted firms; in particular, their rate of performance improvement doubles yet their risk exposure does not increase by more than 30%.

Selection and critical success factors in successful ERP implementation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that contribute to the successful implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative research method was used to study six diverse manufacturing firms in Virginia. A semi-structure method of data collection was used for the analysis. Findings – The ERP software has emerged as a key enabler of system integration in organizations to reduce redundancy, improve efficiency, productivity and performance. Firms implement ERP not only to improve operations efficiency but to be more responsive to the customer needs in the global economy. The findings provide insights on the factors that these large and global manufacturing firms consider to be important to the success of ERP implementation and utilization. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to large manufacturing firms and does not consider service industries or small and medium enterprises. Practical implications – A considerable amount of time and capital are required for the acquisition and implementation of ERP systems. The results are useful to managers of manufacturing companies who are interested in using, modifying or upgrading an integrative technology software system, such as ERP. Originality/value – This empirical study provides an in-depth analysis of factors that motivate firms to consider ERP systems, factors that are important when acquiring the system, key factors to implementation and cultural adjustments following implementation. To the best of our knowledge, no single study has examined all of these issues in one report.

Relative impact of different ERP forms on manufacturing organisations: an exploratory analysis of a global manufacturing survey

There are many types of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, ranging from very large and very functional vendor products such as those provided by SAP and Oracle, through in-house systems, and smaller vendor products. Thus, there is a substantial range of enterprise computing support available for manufacturing organisations and their manufacturing planning and control. The Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG) has collected a systematic survey of manufacturing organisations around the world, providing a picture of manufacturing operations. We have taken GMRG data and organised it around seven levels of ERP functionality, and analysed these data to determine effectiveness in terms of how ERP systems are used in global manufacturing firms, their role in accomplishing manufacturing planning and control, the relationship between ERP forms and data-management practices, the satisfaction firms have across ERP forms, and finally, relative perceived benefits and costs across ERP forms.

Organizational factors in sales forecasting management

Over the past three decades, significant advances have been made in developing sales forecasting techniques that more accurately reflect marketplace conditions. However, surveys of sales forecasting practice continue to report only marginal gains in sales forecasting performance. This gap between theory and practice has been identified as a significant issue for sales forecasting research. The forecasting literature suggests that the issue should be addressed by examining organizational factors in sales forecasting management. In this paper, we propose a theory-based framework of organizational factors in sales forecasting management that integrates research on organizational climate, organizational capabilities, organizational learning and sales forecasting. Empirical evidence of the fit between sales forecasting practice and the conceptual framework is provided by a content analysis of interview texts from an extensive field study of sales forecasting management that involved 516 practitioners at 18 global manufacturing firms.

Strategic modularisation and performance implications in the Brazilian automotive industry

This research revolves around strategy determinants and performance implications of modular production - a production method that has been increasingly adopted by global manufacturing firms. A conceptual framework is proposed and then tested using data from a large-scale survey of 103 automobile firms in Brazil. The conceptual framework examines the relationships between the strategic modularisation and its determinants on both the industry level and the firm level. Furthermore, the framework studies the impact of modularisation to firm performance as well as how the moderating effects of codesign, physical proximity, and face-to-face communication on the modularisation/performance relation.