Norma Harrison

An international study of quality improvement approach and firm performance

Investigates what approaches to quality lead to best quality and financial performance across different regions of the world. Reports a survey of 977 firms in Asia/South Pacific, Europe, and North America. Fifty‐two items that suggest how a firm might improve quality were factor analysed and grouped into 11 factors, each factor a broader approach to quality improvement than any one item. Actual quality was measured eight different ways. Each approach to quality improvement (factor) was correlated to each quality measure, as well as to several financial measures. The results suggest that a company’s approach to quality correlates to actual quality and to a lesser extent to financial performance. The major factors found to influence actual quality were the organization’s knowledge of quality management, its degree of customer focus, and management involvement. When the task was to predict performance outcomes in any region, the specific factors that best predict performance were found to vary from region to region. That is, there were specific models within a region that better predicted performance than the model which predicted performance across all regions.

A STUDY OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND PERFORMANCE IN ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC

This paper discusses the findings from a survey of 599 managers in five countries in the Asia/South Pacific region. We sought to discover how similar the practices were, based on opinions, and the resulting performance, based on 14 measures, in the region. We also sought to derive a profile of practices which was associated with performance. Results indicate that practices may show more variety than performance relative to the regional scores. Regression analysis found only one measure of performance was significantly related to practice factors.

Electronic supply-chain orientation and its competitive dimensions

Electronic business refers to the way of doing business electronically and has a great impact on business processes, particularly on integrated supply-chain management. However, most of these issues are descriptive and have often been mentioned without clearly indicating how the process can be implemented gradually and what this integration really requires. This study developed a framework to formulate electronic business capabilities and integrated supply-chain management capabilities, and then empirically tested a taxonomy that illustrated a firms strategic positioning along these two components. The results from the Australian manufacturing industry indicated there to be four general strategic options that firms adopted: the Lagger, the E-Bus player, the ISCM player and the Integrator. Furthermore, the manufacturers tended to compete on three competitive dimensions simultaneously: information integrity, networking and joint efficiency operations, and B2B applications.

Successful supplier integration in the Chinese automotive industry: A theoretical framework

This paper seeks to develop a supplier integration framework in a Chinese context based on existing theories and empirical insights from the Chinese automotive industry. The objective is to develop a framework and identify a number of factors that can potentially facilitate supplier integration and ultimately improve supply chain performance. The framework comprises a causal chain with four key constructs, starting with supply chain leadership as an antecedent to alliance readiness, which in turn is proposed to yield a higher degree of supplier integration. Eventually, a higher degree of supplier integration is proposed to positively influence supply chain performance. By building on prior research and 30 case studies, the framework provides a China-specific approach to supplier integration and offers insights into the current status in the Chinese automotive industry.

Managing innovation for competitive advantage: a global study

For innovation to be beneficial to the firm, it must lead to increased competitiveness. The 1996 Global Manufacturing Futures Survey conducted in over ten countries and/or regions examined the benefits from innovation, investment in innovation activities and manufacturing performance improvements. It was observed that organisations were applying innovation mainly to current product and process areas, suggesting that the majority of respondents were not presently adopting practices that are at the forefront of innovation for new products and new markets. Not all potential gains from innovation activities are being fully realised at this stage but those companies that are serious in implementing innovation management can identify significant operational improvements in performance.

Manufacturing Performance and Employee Involvement

This paper focuses on the improvement in performance of 106 New Zealand and 103 Australian manufacturing companies who were surveyed as part of the 1990 Manufacturing Futures Project. Four indicators, quality, inventory turnover, market share and profitability, are considered. These measures are cross-tabulated with the degree of understanding of the business unit’s goals, strategies and plans and the emphasis placed on workforce-related programs in the previous two years. Firms who had put emphasis on these programs (supervisor, worker, and management training, giving workers broader tasks and more responsibility and quality circles) performed better than the “no emphasis” firms. In both countries, improvement generally increased as a firm’s communication policies reached lower levels of the organisation, however in Australia the difference was more marked. The benefits of investing in the workforce are not being fully achieved in either country and more attention to follow-up programs may be necessary.

Implementation of CIM in Australian manufacturing

Abstract Investment in computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) often has to be justified on its operational benefits because they are easier to quantify than are the strategic benefits 1 . Bowin Designs, a Sydney manufacturer of gas space heaters, has developed its own range of software for the computer-integrated manufacture of sheet metal 2 . The initial objective was to reduce work-in-process inventory by being able to respond faster to the Kanban system used for shopfloor control in the assembly area. Subsequently, this development was viewed as an integral part of the companys strategic position, focusing on providing customers with quality products on short lead times using a just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing system. Allen-Bradley in the US 3 and AEG in Germany 4 are two other examples among many worldwide where initial operational benefits have initially justified the project, and then strategic benefits have in addition been realized. In Australia the National Industry Extension, an industry support group within the Federal Governments Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce, established a special interest group on CIM. Any company which was interested in CIM could join the group. All 12 members of the group in Sydney were visited in 1989 (a brief description of these companies is given in Table 1). In addition, they completed an extensive questionnaire that was designed for the 1989 Australian manufacturing futures survey 5 . This information is used to examine if the interest shown in CIM by these 12 companies is based on operational or strategic objectives.

Electronic supply chains: an empirical study of the Australian manufacturing industry

There has been a rapidly growing interest in electronic business (e-bus), although most of the issues surrounding e-business have been descriptive. Within supply chains, the integration process has often been mentioned without clearly indicating how this process can be implemented gradually and what this integration really requires. This study empirically tested a taxonomy that illustrated a firms strategic positioning along two axes: Electronic Business and Integrated Supply Chain Management (ISCM). A firms position in this taxonomy represents its Electronic Supply Chain Orientation (ESCO). The results from the Australian manufacturing industry indicated that there appeared to be four general strategic options that firms adopted: laggers, e-bus players, ISCM players, and integrators. The ISCM players tended to have the networking and joint efficiency operation in place, which reflected the ISCM capability of the ESCO; the e-bus players demonstrated the integrated applications and business to business (B2B) applications dimensions that illustrated the e-business capability in the ESCO model. The integrators had the most significant e-business and ISCM capabilities, which were joint efforts in the ESCO model. The laggers were those stuck in the middle without significant or developing capabilities in any of these dimensions of the ESCO. Supply chain performance measures also indicated that the integrators gained most significant benefits while the laggers were well behind.

The Role of Logistics in the Formulation and Deployment of Strategy: An Empirical Analysis of Australian Packaged Consumer Products Manufacturers

ABSTRACT For a number of organisations the practice of logistics management has changed from an operational concern with the elemental activities to a strategic interest in how effective logistics management can help achieve corporate objectives. A detailed investigation of six Australian packaged consumer goods manufacturers was carried out to test this link. First a framework was used to determine the level of sophistication of the logistics operations of these companies. This framework examines six process capabilities and five support capabilities. Sophisticated logistics operations employ advanced technology in the physical and communication activities, focus on effective interrelationships along the supply chain and use leading edge logistics management practices The characteristics of the logistics operations of these companies were then linked to logistics of strategy to external business environmental drivers and of change projects, that these companies hadnderway, to logistics strategy and to co...

Leveraging customer knowledge to enhance process innovation

Purpose Nowadays, companies compete and win based on the capabilities they can leverage across their supply chains. With unpredictable and turbulent business environment, supply chains are seeking to customer knowledge as sources of competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a conceptual framework to investigate the roles of customer leverage (CL) on process innovation and the relationships to performance. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon the knowledge-based view, this study argues that CL is the sources of firms’ process innovation. This study also posits that process innovation mediates the relationship between CL and performance based on transaction cost economics. This empirical study employed 650 manufacturers across different regions. Findings This study showed that strong association exists between a manufacturing firm’s CL capability and its process innovation and performances. Process innovation play critical mediating roles in absorbing and transforming customer knowledge in supply chains. In a more dynamic market, CL strengthens the positive impacts on process innovation. Research limitations/implications This study further highlights the need to emphasize both strategic and CL capability in dynamic environments as these may be needed to enable the firm to seize market niches that may open up in such environments. Similarly, managers should emphasize CL capability and process changes in competitive environments as they are more difficult to imitate from competitors in regards of new product or services. Practical implications These results extend the limited existing research on global manufacturing context that the customer knowledge are effective sources for increasing innovative processes. The higher the market turbulence, the stronger the pressures for CL demanded by process innovation. The findings also confirm that process innovation plays a mediating role in absorbing and transforming customer knowledge in improving costs and financial measures. This is an important result that highlights the mechanism by which customer knowledge can influence a firm’s bottom line. Originality/value This study examined the linkages between a marketing concept and operations and supply chain management.