P. Yli-Olli

Improving Productivity and Quality in Small and Medium Enterprises: Cases and Analysis

At The Time of Writing, All four authors, A. Gunasekaran, P. Okko, T. Martikainen, and p. Yli-oli were with the school of busines studes, University of Vaasa, Finland. In most cases small and medium enterprise prodcue their own product but at the same time they prodcue items for large-scale industries. These create certain interdependencies among SMEs and between them and large-scale industries in order to improve the competitiveness of SEMs in exporting. During recent year large-scale industries have undergone many changes in terms of prodcution concepts such as just-in-time and total-quality-managment and other technologies such as FMs, OPT and CIM with the objective of aligning their busienss, productivity and quality improvement strategies concepts and technologies which have not received adequate atention from SMEs. However, they can play an active role in the integration of various co-operating SMEs in the network and in improving prodcutivity and quality in SMEs. An attempt has been made in this paper to discuss the strategic for improving productivity and quality in SMEs, develop a suitable conceptual model for improving productivity and quality in two Finnish SMEs, taking into account advanced concepts and technologies and various forms of strategic alliances. in addition, a strategic framerwork is offered for improving productivity and quality in SMEs.

Improving productivity and quality in manufacturing organizations

Abstract Today most firms are interested in a strategic approach for improving productivity and quality in their organizations. Consistent with this thrust, this paper attempts to provide a strategic framework for such efforts. The main focus of this paper is on integrating various functional groups of a manufacturing organization and highlighting the role of new manufacturing concepts and technologies in such integrations. Comparison of earlier and present practices of production operations signifies the importance ofJIT, TQM, and FMS in improving the integration of various functional areas and alignment between business, manufacturing and quality improvement strategies. The role of knowledge workers and support services play a dominant role in improving productivity and quality in manufacturing organizations, especially in advanced manufacturing systems such as JIT, FMS and CIM.

Forecasting stock market prices in a thin security market

Stock market efficiency is a crucial concept when forecasting of future stock price behaviour is discussed. In the literature, a distinction is made between three potential levels of efficiency. Under a weak form of efficiency, information on historical price movements is of no value for predicting the future price development. Similarly, a semi-strong form of efficiency holds that no publicly available information can be successfully used in the prediction of prices. And finally, a strong form of efficiency means that the share prices fully reflect all relevant information including data not yet publicly available. Stock market efficiency has been extensively studied in different countries. On a thin security market, like in the Helsinki Stock Exchange, many anomalies and deviations from market efficiency have been obtained. This paper aims to contribute to that discussion. It is shown in the paper that both the monthly and quarterly stock market prices (the general stock market index) can be adequately forecasted using either univariate time-series analysis or multivariate econometric modelling. The univariate ARIMA-models seem to be slightly outperformed by the econometric models. It is further shown that the forecasting accuracy of the models can be improved when time-series and econometric forecasts are combined into a composite forecast. The empirical results obtained indicate an absence of efficiency on the Finnish security market.

Flexible manufacturing systems: An investigation for research and applications☆

Abstract Flexible Manufacturing Systems(s) (FMS) have already proved their great success in a large number of manufacturing industries. Realising the importance of FMS in increasing productivity and quality, an attempt has been made in this paper to review the literature available on FMS with the objective to identify the applications of existing FMS models and future research directions in the areas of FMS.

Stochastic modeling of security returns: Evidence from the Helsinki Stock Exchange

Abstract This paper documents the presence of linear and nonlinear dependencies in Finnish stock returns and models these dependencies using autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic methods. Three conditional distributions (normal, Student- t , and the power exponential) are explored. The statistical estimates and the corresponding diagnostic tests indicate that a GARCH (1, 1) model with a power exponential conditional distribution, which is characterized by an autoregressive mean, represents the data better than any of the other models examined.

Integrating production and quality control policies: A survey

Abstract The literature available on integrating the various aspects of production lot-sizing, inspection, and rework under suitable classification scheme is reviewed in this paper. It is important that functional aspects of production activities are well integrated for producing low cost and defect free items. A strategic framework is presented for developing an efficient production-design system for modern manufacturing. In addition, future research directions on integrating various production functions are indicated for improving the performance of the system.

On the long-term stability and cross-country invariance of financial ratio patterns

Abstract The purpose of this study is to develop empirically-based classification patterns for twelve commonly used financial ratios and to measure the long-term stability and structural invariance of these patterns. The data are based on annual reports of U.S. and Finnish industrial firms for the periods 1947–1975 and 1974–1984, respectively. The selected financial ratios are, according to a priori classification, the measures of short-term solvency, long term-solvency, profitability and efficiency. Classification patterns of the financial ratios are developed using factor analysis and the stability and invariance analyses are carried out using transformation analysis. The results show that empirically-based classifications are not fully equivalent to the a priori classification. The following factors are found: solvency, profitability, efficiency and dynamic liquidity. The empirical results are based both on the value- and equal-weighted indices of the ratios. Classification patterns are developed using ratio indices in the first-difference form. The use of the first differences becomes necessary because of the clear trend in the time series. Further, empirical results show that different aggregation methods lead to different results. The theoretically better value-weighted indices (in the first-difference form) give more accurate and easy-to-interpret empirical results. Factor patterns based on these indices display also very clear time-series stability and cross-sectional invariance. This result confirms the great importance of aggregation method in ratio analysis.

Total quality management: a new perspective for improving quality and productivity

This paper deals with total quality management (TQM) with an emphasis on developing suitable strategies for improving quality and productivity in manufacturing systems. In recent years, TQM has been seen as an important strategy for achieving success in business both in terms of quality and productivity. However, there seem to be no clear strategic framework and guide‐lines for implementing TQM in manufacturing in the light of available advanced production concepts and technologies. A review of previous implementation approaches of TQM in practice has been presented in order to gain further insights into the implementation aspects of TQM. The main objective of this paper is to present a general framework for the development of TQM in manufacturing organizations considering the recent developments in production concepts and technologies and competitiveness among firms to utilize quality as a competitive weapon.

Financial ratio distribution irregularities: Implications for ratio classification

Abstract This paper incorporates studies investigating the distributional characteristics of financial ratios to studies related to empirical classification of financial ratios. Even though the distributional properties of financial ratios have received some attention in prior research, the implications of observed results for financial decision making have not been researched in detail. The empirical analysis of this study is carried out for 10 ratios on Finnish listed firms. The results reveal that the observed distribution irregularities have a significant impact on the results obtained from the empirical classification of financial ratios. A large part of the time-series instability of financial ratio patterns is caused by financial ratio distribution irregularities. In addition, it is discovered that the interpretation of the underlying financial factors of firms may be affected if distribution irregularities are not paid due attention to.

Transformation Analysis Applied to Long-Term Stability and Structural Invariance of Financial Ratio Patterns: U.S. vs. Finnish Firms

SYNOPTIC ABSTRACTWe develop, on the economy-wide level, empirically-based classification patterns for twelve commonly used financial ratios and measure the long-term stability and structural invariance of these patterns. The data are based on annual reports of U.S. and Finnish industrial firms for the periods 1947-75 and 1974-84, respectively. The selected financial ratios are, according to a priori classification, the measures of short-term solvency, long-term solvency, profitability, and efficiency. Classification patterns are developed using factor analysis and the stability and invariance analyses are carried out via transformation analysis. The following factors are found: solvency, profitability, efficiency, and dynamic liquidity. Classification patterns are developed using ratio indices in first-difference form. This is necessary because of clear trend in the time series. Further, empirical results show that different aggregation methods lead to different results. The theoretically better value-wei...