Angel Martínez Sánchez

Supply chain flexibility and firm performance

Purpose – To explore the relationship between the dimensions of supply chain flexibility and firm performance in a sample of automotive suppliers.Design/methodology/approach – Empirical survey of a representative sample of 126 Spanish automotive suppliers during the months of September and October 2003. Data gathered through a mail survey to purchasing managers by using a structured questionnaire. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to analyse the relationship between the different supply chain flexibility dimensions, between supply chain flexibility dimensions and firm performance dimensions, and between supply chain flexibility dimensions and environmental uncertainty dimensions. A multivariate analysis studied the determinants of supply chain flexibility.Findings – The research has found a positive relation between a superior performance in flexibility capabilities and firm performance, although flexibility dimensions are not equally important for firm performance. On the other hand, the result...

The development of university spin-offs: early dynamics of technology transfer and networking

Abstract Measuring the contributions of ‘hi-tech’ small firms by looking only at their product sales, innovation outputs and employment generation may understate their effectiveness. Another important contribution of entrepreneurship ‘hi-tech’ firms is their catalyzing role to knowledge creation and transfer in innovation networks. This paper addresses two exploratory research questions: how active in network development and technology transfer are university spin-offs during their early years to overcome initial disadvantages? Is there any relationship between early networks development and knowledge creation and technology transfer in university spin-offs? Using data from companies spun off from a Spanish university in the period 1990–2000, the empirical results suggest that technology transfer and networking at university spin-offs decreased after their early years but at the same time the relationships with customers increased.

Work‐family conflict in a southern European country

Shows the results of a survey about the antecedents of work‐family conflict in a sample of Spanish employees. Analyses and discusses the influence of job‐related and non‐related factors. The results indicate that both groups of factors are antecedents of work‐family conflict. Even though gender is not a significant variable to explain work‐family conflict, the empirical study found differences at the time to explain the antecedents of men and womens work‐family conflict. A few family‐domain and work‐domain perceptions had a strong influence on work‐family conflict such as the gender roles, importance of family, job flexibility and job mental and physical requirements. Some of these perceptions suggest the influence of a culture where traditional gender roles still prevail and family as an institution is very strong. Functional mobility and educational level are also antecedents of work‐family conflict. However, job category level, marital status, and social benefits do not have any influence on work‐family conflict in the multivariate analysis, but the bivariate analysis showed that they have indeed an influence on the work‐family conflict according to the hypotheses developed in the research framework.

Flexibility in new product development: a survey of practices and its relationship with the product's technological complexity

Abstract This paper shows the results of a survey of Spanish automotive suppliers on the use of individual practices and cooperation activities in new product development. Factor analysis and regression analysis indicate that some firm practices and cooperation activities explained the companies differences in new product time and cost development minimization abilities over competitors.

University-industry relationships in peripheral regions: the case of Aragon in Spain

Abstract This paper highlights the developing process of university-industry links in a peripheral region of Spain. The case studied indicates that most links were informally established without assistance from a liaison office. Larger firms collaborated with the university more than smaller firms, whichever formal link is analysed. The percentages of collaboration were also higher in the medium-technology firms group. Some legal changes and government strategies are discussed to explain the growth of links within the region.

Benefits and barriers of telework: perception differences of human resources managers according to company's operations strategy

Telework as an integration of Information and Telecommunication Technologies with Human Resources management, means a new job organisation paradigm for companies working in the New Economy. However there are very few empirical studies that have analysed the perception differences of telework benefits and barriers in industrial and service companies. This paper contributes with empirical data to the relationship between the use of telework techniques and the implementation of this new work organisation with the company’s operations strategy. The paper uses data from Spanish companies to test the relationship between innovation, employee training, and other production strategy performance parameters with the feasibility of telework adoption. uf6d9 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lean production and supplier relations: a survey of practices in the Aragonese automotive industry

Abstract This paper analyzes the main results of a survey to 28 automotive suppliers in the Spanish region of Aragon. It has been found in a regression analysis that the rotation of tasks and teamworking are positively correlated with the training and the use of modular components. Nearly half of the companies cooperate with customers, suppliers, and technological centers to improve their production processes but only two companies cooperate with their customers in component development and design which indicates an underinvolvement of the surveyed companies with the automotive manufacturers. The companies are much more integrated with the automakers in the delivery process, since more than half of the companies have daily deliveries and directly to the assembly line of the automaker.

R&D project efficiency management in the Spanish industry

Abstract This paper shows the results from a survey to Spanish manufacturing firms on the use of indicators and techniques to analyze the efficiency of their R&D projects. Factor analysis revealed that project’s profitability and time indicators were those which most explained the variance of company’s efficiency analysis. On the other hand, ratios and financial analysis are the most used project evaluation methods. The differences in the use of indicators and techniques were significative for the most R&D intensive companies. The use of some evaluation methods was related to the control mechanisms applied to R&D projects.

Regional innovation and small high technology firms in peripheral regions

This paper highlights the difficulty of developing HT firms in a peripheral region of Spain. Although the endogenous development of HT firms in these regions is possible, their evolution depends on more central regions. The firms geographical location and the type of HT production are the most important endogenous factors governing the firms success.

Early Warning Signals for R&D Projects: An Empirical Study

This paper shows the results from a survey of Spanish industrial companies on the use of early warning signals for the earliest possible identification of failing research and development (R&D) projects. Factor analysis indicates that project profitability and cooperation were the factors most responsible for the variance of early warning signals. On the other hand, checklists and ratios were the most used methods to organize early warning signals. The difference in the use of early warning signals depended on the companys R&D effort and the project size. There was also a dependent relationship between the use of early warning signals and the critical importance of success factors for R&D projects.