Abraham Y. Nahm

The impact of organizational structure on time-based manufacturing and plant performance

The innovation and organizational theory literatures argue that implementing radical innovation can be facilitated or hindered by the organization’s structural design. As firms attempt to cope with an external environment that is changing from industrial to post-industrial, how do they implement change? This study develops a research framework that examines relationships among various structural dimensions (i.e. number of layers in the hierarchy, level of horizontal integration, locus of decision-making, nature of formalization, and level of communication), time-based manufacturing practices, and plant performance. Based on 224 responses from manufacturing firms, this study develops instruments to measure these organizational sub-dimensions using part of this sample (N = 104), and it tests the structural relationships with the remaining responses ( N = 120). Results indicate that the nature of formalization, the number of layers in the hierarchy, and the level of horizontal integration have significant, direct, and positive effects on the locus of decision-making and level of communication. Locus of decision-making and the level of communication, in turn, have significant, direct, and positive effects on time-based manufacturing practices. Finally, time-based manufacturing practices have a significant, direct, and positive impact on plant performance.

The Impact of Organizational Culture on Time-Based Manufacturing and Performance

Firms are utilizing an array of manufacturing practices in their quest for survival and success in the marketplace. The implementation of those practices has not always resulted in success stories as the focus had been mostly on technical issues, with little concern for “soft issues.” For example, the enabling role of organizational culture has often been ignored. Using Scheins conceptualization of culture as underlying assumptions, espoused values, and artifacts, we examine a framework that relates culture and manufacturing practices to performance. The underlying assumption of customer orientation is posited to affect espoused values such as beliefs on investing in facilities and equipment to leverage intellectual work and to promote creativity, beliefs on working with others, beliefs on making decisions that are global, beliefs on management control, and beliefs on integrating with suppliers. The espoused values are hypothesized to affect visible attributes of culture (behaviors) such as time-based manufacturing practices, which firms are employing for competitive advantage. A sample of 224 firms is used for developing research instruments and testing the hypothesized relationships advanced. Results indicate that high levels of customer orientation lead to a set of managerial beliefs that are collaborative and integrative. In turn, certain espoused values support a high level of time-based manufacturing practice, which leads to high performance.

Knowledge sharing in integrated product development

Although product development is recognized as knowledge‐intensive work, we have limited understanding of its impact on product development performance. The mechanisms by which knowledge sharing contributes to strategic imperatives such as time to market and value to customers are also not well understood. Despite increased interest in knowledge sharing in cross‐functional teams, there have been few large‐scale empirical studies of its efficacy. This paper develops a model that explains how shared knowledge, defined in three types – shared knowledge of customers, suppliers, and internal capabilities – enhances process performance, as well as downstream strategic imperatives of time to market and value to customers. The model is tested using 205 responses on product development projects by US automotive engineers. The results show that shared knowledge of customers, suppliers, and internal capabilities positively affect product development performance, as well as indirectly affect downstream strategic imperatives via enhanced process performance.

The role of project target clarity in an uncertain project environment

Product development is recognized as cross‐functional teamwork that has become important in the fast‐paced, globally competitive environment. Despite an extant body of knowledge on the importance of fuzzy front‐end planning and functions of goals in the management literature, the impact of uncertain project environment and goal setting mechanisms in front‐end planning is not fully understood. Product development literature presents numerous case studies or conceptual papers that emphasize the importance of upfront planning and a need for team building; however, large‐scale empirical studies are rare. This paper presents a model linking uncertain project environment, project target clarity, teamwork and its outcome measures (i.e. a products value to customer and time to market). The data were analyzed from 205 product development projects of firms from the USA and Canada. Valid and reliable instruments were developed to assess the nature and impact of inter‐relationships of these variables. Results from structural model tests indicate that uncertain project environment influences the nature of project targets which in turn affects the level of teamwork. Teamwork is an important process outcome for enhancing value to customer and time to market. Management implications are discussed as well.

Antecedents and outcomes of manufacturability in integrated product development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a model linking the role of design engineers to shared team knowledge, enhanced manufacturability, and product development outcomes. New product manufacturability is a quality of the product design that indicates the ease and reliability by which an organization develops products by using its manufacturing and supply chain resources.Design/methodology/approach – The model is tested using a sample of 205 product development projects from firms in the USA and Canada.Findings – The findings of the large‐scale empirical study suggest that by facilitating informing practices among functional specialists, design engineers help translate a functional portrayal of the product in terms of customer attributes, to a form description in terms of engineering characteristics, and then to a fabrication view in terms of manufacturing processes.Practical implications – New product manufacturability can be a distinctive competency that provides competitive advantage by lowe...

Supply chain partnerships and supply chain integration: the mediating role of information quality and sharing

Supply chain integration is a key strategic priority for firms striving to achieve efficiency and responsiveness in their supply chain. This paper discusses how the supply chain integration is affected by supply chain partnerships, information quality and information sharing. This paper presents and tests a research model using a sample of 60 Korean firms that are involved in the supply chain activities. The results suggest that the supply chain partnership directly affects the quality of information being shared but not necessarily the scope and frequency of it. Rather, supply chain partnership indirectly affects information sharing, via information quality. Management implications of this research and future research issues are presented, as well.

The role of workers’ trust and perceived benefits in lean implementation success

Both the academic and practitioner literature agree upon the importance of employees’ perceived job security in order for lean implementation to succeed. However, anecdotal evidences seem to indicate that too many organisations embark on a lean journey with the implicit and/or explicit goal of reducing labour costs, laying off people when lean implementation success leads to enhanced productivity and efficiency. Such practices would only decrease the level of perceived job security of workers, leading to decreased level of employees’ trust in management and their perception on personal benefits of lean. This research investigates, through a survey of 180 production workers in the Midwest USA, the critical role of perceived job security, trust in management, and lean training in enhancing the perception of personal benefits of lean, which leads to lean implementation success. The results support the notion that lean implementation success depends upon conducive mindset for lean among production workers.

political connections and resource acquisition in Chinese publicly listed private sector firms

Abstract In this study, we examined the role of guanxi as entrepreneurs’ resource-obtaining mechanism in private sector firms, using a data-set of 184 publicly listed firms in China. We found that guanxi indeed played a positive role that helped private sector firms gain easier access to resources. We also found that guanxi exerted even a greater positive effect on private sector firms’ resource obtaining compared to entrepreneurs’ political participation, due to being the lifeblood of business conduct and social interaction in Chinese culture.

Partial State Ownership, Political Connection, and Financing: Evidence from Chinese Publicly Listed Private Sector Enterprises

ABSTRACT The government of China plays an important role in the external environment of private sector enterprises (PSEs), having a significant effect on their survival and development. Therefore, managing their relationship with the government becomes a key aspect of strategic decision-making and operating actions of PSEs. We extend the evidence of this by introducing a new dimension of political connection: partial state ownership of PSEs. Using a data set of 262 publically listed PSEs in China, we empirically investigate the effects of partial state ownership of PSEs on the access to bank loans.

Attitudes toward supplier integration: the USA vs China

Purpose Studies show the benefits of supplier integration, yet negative attitudes toward supplier integration exist that research fails to explain. The purpose of this paper is to investigate managerial attitudes toward supplier integration and how intra-firm processes and culture affect the formation of such attitudes. In particular, the paper aims to examine the differing influences between the USA and China. Design/methodology/approach Using multi-group structural equation modeling, the authors re-analyzed the data collected by Nahm et al. (2004) and Li et al. (2014) comprised of responses from 224 US and 117 Chinese manufacturing managers. Findings The study finds that managerial attitudes toward supplier integration depend on the degree to which a collaborative organizational culture and synchronous manufacturing practices exist within a firm. Moreover, in the Chinese context, the influence of a collaborative organizational culture is lower than the influence of synchronous manufacturing practices. The opposite is found in the US context. Practical implications The results suggest that overcoming negative attitudes of supplier integration requires more than simply espousing the benefits of supplier integration; looking deeper into an organization’s internal characteristics and situational context is required. In particular, if the country context already emphasizes the collaborative culture, the organization should focus on synchronous manufacturing practices in order to form a positive attitude toward supplier integration. Originality/value This paper is the first to examine how managerial attitudes toward supplier integration are formed. The work is novel because the authors suggest that the formation of managerial attitudes toward supplier integration inter-firm management can be affected by intra-firm management in the minds of managers, which are influenced by country contexts.