Order Winners Research Articles

Dimensions of manufacturing strength in the furniture industry

AbstractThis paper explores dimensions of manufacturing competitive strength in the furniture industry. A theoretically relevant set of manufacturing competitive priorities is identified from the operations literature and factor analyzed to determine the core dimensions of manufacturing performance. Relationships between these core dimensions of manufacturing strength and overall business performance are examined. The results identify four dimensions of manufacturing strength in the furniture industry: innovation, delivery, flexibility, and value, with the latter encompassing the combined effects of quality and cost. The study supports innovation as a key order winner in the furniture industry.

The firm’s and its customers’ views on order‐winning criteria

A firm’s ability to win orders on the market depends on its competitiveness. A competitive firm wins orders on the market, which has a positive impact on its sales performance. Order‐winning criteria are those criteria that make a difference to the customer when he decides between qualified offered products. The selling and the buying actors may have the same or different ideas about what constitute these order winners, and they may also differ in their evaluation of the competitive strengths of a firm. Analyses the selling and buying actors’ perceptions of order winners and competitive strengths as the degree of fit between these perceptions. A good fit means that the two actors agree on order‐winning criteria and the firm’s competitive strength on these criteria. It is expected that a good fit relates to a positive sales growth of the selling firm’s product. Analyses different situations of fit and misfit for the ten product families of four small manufacturing Swedish firms, and shows how these situations relate to the sales patterns of the product families. The results reveal that a good fit is related to a stable economic development of sales, while two different situations of misfit may lead to a decline in or an expansion of sales.

Manufacturing strategy ‐ keeping it relevant by addressing the needs of the market

The key role of operations in the success of a business is never in question. Its relevance and essential role in the continued success of companies in an increasingly competitive world is critically important as many of the order winners and qualifiers in markets are provided by the operations function. The need for the teaching and research agenda to reflect the strategic contribution by operations is an essential change in the mix of the academic portfolio.

The Impact of Quality Management Practices on Performance and Competitive Advantage

As decision makers become more involved in implementing Total Quality Management, questions are raised about which management practices should be emphasized. In this exploratory investigation of the relationship of specific quality management practices to quality performance, a framework was constructed. It focuses on both core quality management practices and on the infrastructure that creates an environment supportive of their use. In addition, it incorporates two measures of quality performance and their role in establishing and sustaining a competitive advantage.Path analysis was used to test the proposed model, with multiple regression analysis determining the path coefficients, which were decomposed into their various effects. Weak linkages were eliminated. The trimmed model indicated that perceived quality market outcomes were primarily related to statistical control/feedback and the product design process, while the internal measure of percent that passed final inspection without requiring rework was strongly related to process flow management and to statistical control/feedback, to a lesser extent. Both measures of quality performance were related to competitive advantage. Important infrastructure components included top management support and workforce management. Supplier relationships and work attitudes were also related to some of the core quality practices and quality performance measures.The results were interpreted in light of Hill's concept of order winners and order qualifiers and Garvin's eight dimensions of quality. They indicate that different core quality management practices lead to success in different dimensions of quality, and that those dimensions function differently as order winners and order qualifiers.

Millennium: Winners and Losers in the Coming World Order

Millennium: Winners and Losers in the Coming World Order

Quality in a Manufacturing Strategy

Examines quality strategies within the manufacturing strategy. Discusses how the difference and the relationship between order winning criteria and order qualifying criteria is crucial to the understanding of the role of quality in the manufacturing strategy. Asserts that a manufacturing strategy must fully support the market strategy. Emphasizes the need to sustain and improve quality. Concludes that as more companies achieve total quality, this moves them to strategies where quality is a qualifying criterion rather than an order winner. Asserts a strategy of using quality as a qualifying criterion can only be pursued when high levels of quality have been achieved. Contends the necessity to come to terms with this in order to meet the competitive challenges of the 1990s.

High grade purification of zinc

This chapter focuses on the contributions of several Nobel laureates in the advancement of chromatography techniques. The chapter puts together the international and national award winners in a chronological order from 13 professional societies and associations for 1900-2000. A number of national and international awards honor scientists active in the field of chromatography. The two principal chromatography awards are the National Award in Chromatography of the American Chemical Society and the A.J.E Martin Award of the (British) Chromatographic Society. A further major award is the National Award in Separations Science and Technology of the American Chemical Society. The organizers of the International Symposia on Advances in Chromatography instituted the M.S. Tswett Chromatography Award to honor scientists who significantly contributed to the advancement of chromatography.

Investigation on the composition of the residual gas in instruments fitted with multi-layer photo cathodes: N A Sobolevaet al,Izv Ak N SSSR Ser Fiz,28(9), 1964, 1454–1460 (in Russian)

This chapter focuses on the contributions of several Nobel laureates in the advancement of chromatography techniques. The chapter puts together the international and national award winners in a chronological order from 13 professional societies and associations for 1900-2000. A number of national and international awards honor scientists active in the field of chromatography. The two principal chromatography awards are the National Award in Chromatography of the American Chemical Society and the A.J.E Martin Award of the (British) Chromatographic Society. A further major award is the National Award in Separations Science and Technology of the American Chemical Society. The organizers of the International Symposia on Advances in Chromatography instituted the M.S. Tswett Chromatography Award to honor scientists who significantly contributed to the advancement of chromatography.