Alberto Grando

A quantitative investigation of the role of information and communication technologies in the implementation of a product-service system

This paper reports evidence from a survey, aimed at testing whether and how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), which enable the adoption of product-service systems, can contribute to value creation. This analysis builds on previous contributions, according to which companies that are enriching their product offering through value-added services (the so-called servitisation strategy) often report lower levels of profitability, owing to the poor performance of their operating process. A wide stream of research claims that companies that invest in ICTs can enjoy valuable outcomes, since the adoption of such technologies results in processes that are more efficient and more responsive. Our hypothesis concerns the possibility of leveraging ICTs at operating process level so as to pursue a servitisation strategy. The in-field analysis presented in this paper concerns a sample of 109 companies located in Italy; data collected through the survey have been analysed using the structural equation modelling approach. The evidence presented demonstrates that ICTs can have a relevant impact on value creation because they lead to superior responsiveness of operating processes and to sound improvements in the product offering. In particular, companies that are able to embed such superior responsiveness into their product offering can further boost value creation.

Supply risk and inventory outsourcing

This paper considers the ‘inventory outsourcing problem’ when the supplier is a leader having full information of the outsourcing firms demand distributions and parameters. This leads to a Stackleberg game which is solved under a number of cases. Both demand dependent and independent models are considered, the latter resulting from (statistical) risk aggregation of firms’ demands operating in correlated markets. A number of examples are also solved in order to highlight essential risk related and costs issues underlying inventory outsourcing. For practical purposes, a scenario-based linear programming problem is formulated to resolve the suppliers problem in any scenario set.

The responsiveness of Italian small-to-medium sized plants: dimensions and determinants

This paper presents a quantitative study carried out on more than 200 manufacturing plants located in Italy. The study aimed to explore whether small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Italy are more responsive than large enterprises and determine what the levers are that these enterprises would employ to achieve their responsiveness. Logistic responsiveness has been considered a key driver of competitiveness. Several studies have suggested that company size is a major determinant of responsiveness and that SMEs have both strengths and weaknesses that influence their ability to promptly react to customer needs. The evidence of this study indicates that SMEs are more responsive than large companies in terms of delivery. This performance advantage is mainly the result of a rather narrow product range and a simpler product structure that allows SMEs to enjoy shorter manufacturing and assembly lead times. On the other hand, this study also shows that SMEs perform worse than large enterprises with respect to longer set-up times.

Exploiting the balanced scorecard in the Operations Department: the Ducati Motor Holding case

The literature has widely discussed how to measure manufacturing performance. However, even though several indicators have been proposed, manufacturing reporting systems still suffer from a number of problems, which according to recent contributions, can be solved through the adoption of integrated performance measurement systems (PMSs). This article aims at understanding whether such integrated PMSs–namely the balanced scorecard–can actually solve the problems, which usually affect the reporting system of the Operations Department. The article presents a case-study developed in Ducati Motor Holding and then outlines the main conclusions and managerial implications. The empirical analysis demonstrates that the key benefits brought about by the balanced scorecard concern a higher responsiveness of the decision-making process and more intense cooperation among all units related to operations management (namely, manufacturing, logistics, quality management, procurement, maintenance).

Modelling capacity and productivity of multi-machine systems

This article introduces two real-life case studies respectively devoted to a parallel production system of a chemical company and to a production system made up of tightly interconnected machines. The objective is to highlight the most relevant features of a production system that determine the systems productivity. A calculation model that allows movement from machine-level to system-level indices is useful both during the production system design and during the performance measurement phase. The application of the presented framework provides useful results: (1) to improve analysis, and to make proper diagnosis of causes, of productivity loss and to track their evolution over the time; (2) to design and to implement specific improvement projects, aimed at removing loss causes, and thus increasing efficiency and productivity; (3) to establish proper production capacities, by focusing on bottleneck machines, to keep under control the actual system throughput; (4) to make comparisons and internal benchmarking aimed at defining machine management and productive maintenance best practices; (5) to design plant performance reporting systems and build appropriate tools to collect data from the field.

A systematic comparison of the manufacturing performance of engineering companies in Italy and the UK

A comparison of the performance of Italian and UK manufacturing plants from the Engineering industry is presented, based on data collected in both countries using the survey method. The comparison of the quantitative data indicates that in the areas of flexibility and quality there were no real differences between the performance of Italian and UK plants. However, in the area of people management, significant differences were found and these have implications for both researchers and managers in the engineering sector.

Sustainable operations and supply chain management

Sustainable Operations and Supply Chain Management addresses the most relevant topics of operations and supply chain management from the perspective of sustainability. The main focus is to provide a step by step guide for managerial decisions made along the product life-cycle, following a path made up of the following steps: product design, sourcing, manufacturing, packaging and physical distribution, reverses logistics and recovery.

Cognitive Biases, Heuristics, and Overdesign: An Investigation on the Unconscious Mistakes of Industrial Designers and on Their Effects on Product Offering

This chapter reports the preliminary findings of an empirical study aimed at understanding whether and to what extent cognitive biases determine overdesign. Overdesign occurs when designers develop product that exceed customers’ needs. This phenomenon—which results in higher costs and in some cases also in lower revenues—can be determined by some behavioral problems, as the willingness to develop the “best possible product”, regardless of customers’ needs. Thus, building on previous studies on cognitive biases, we have conducted a survey among industrial designers, in order to check whether overdesign is driven by cognitive biases. The preliminary evidence shows that this assumption is confirmed. However, the direction of the relationship is negative. This means that the higher the magnitude of the bias, the lower the overdesign. Thus we claim that, in the sample analyzed in this study, we are not in presence of “cognitive biases”, but of “heuristics” that can mitigate overdesign. We conclude that designers’ experience can be the condition that must occur in order to have a bias turned into a heuristic.

Innovation process in the automobile MNCs: implications for the role of the international subsidiaries

The scope of the present work is to provide insights into the emerging flows of innovation in the multinational corporations (MNCs) and to present some reflections for executives as how to leverage on the potential of the so called reverse innovation. Our study focuses on the automobile industry, and investigates the dynamics of innovation in three MNCs, whose focal subsidiaries are located in Brazil. According to our evidence, the reverse innovation phenomenon is accompanied by a radical transformation of the roles, responsibilities and activities located among the parent company and its subsidiaries. What clearly emerges is the fact that innovation flows are less and less parent-to-subsidiary. The subsidiary-to-parent flow of innovation is increasing, and a subsidiary-to-subsidiary stream is emerging. This phenomenon is redefining the relevance of the parent company in managing the innovation processes within an MNC.

Testing the EFQM model as a framework to measure a company’s procurement performance

This paper aims at checking whether the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Business Excellence Model (BEM) can be used as a reference framework for designing a multi-objective performance measurement system (PMS) for the procurement function. The procurement function is becoming increasingly relevant in the achievement of strategic and economic objectives. Thus, understanding the level of maturity of the practices implemented and identifying improvement opportunities are crucial. In this regard, it is necessary for companies to design a multi-objective PMS suitable for understanding whether and to what extent the procurement process contributes to the achievement of corporate objectives. This paper tests the validity of the EFQM BEM for the design of such functional PMS, building on the assumption that the overall rationale of this model is consistent with the need to jointly monitor the drivers and the outcomes of the procurement department, through a multi-objective approach. Using a data set that reports data from 118 companies and that is based on an international survey, our empirical analysis shows that the relationships among the constructs of the EFQM BEM hold also in the procurement function and that this model can be used as a reference framework suitable for measuring and managing the performance of this organisational unit.