S.G. Deshmukh

Vendor Selection Using Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM)

Vendor selection is one of the most important activities of a purchasing department. Traditionally, vendors are selected for their ability to meet the quality requirement, delivery performance and the price offered. However, as they are selected not only to meet the immediate requirement but also future needs, one needs to consider many other factors when selecting a reliable vendor. Analyses some of the most important criteria which have been classified into four categories: autonomous, dependent, linkage and driver depending on their driver power and dependence. Develops an interpretive structural model (ISM) to show the inter‐relationship of different criteria and their levels of importance in the vendor selection process. Reveals that “attitude and willingness for business” and “after sales service” are as important factors as quality, delivery and practice. These criteria are dependent on all the others. This analysis could provide a meaningful analytical base in the vendor selection process.

Manufacturing strategy: Literature review and some issues

Manufacturing strategy has attracted serious research attention in the recent past. In this paper, an attempt is made to review the status of literature in manufacturing strategy. A literature classification scheme is suggested. A total of 260 articles from 31 referred journals and international conferences are classified into content (manufacturing capabilities, strategic choices, best practices, trans‐national comparison, literature survey, and performance measurement) and process‐related issues. We have categorized the methodology used in the literature into conceptual, descriptive, empirical, exploratory cross‐sectional and exploratory longitudinal approaches. Based on this, some possible research issues are also identified, viz., resource‐based operations strategy, sector specific manufacturing strategy, relevance of manufacturing strategy to small and medium enterprises, manufacturing strategy in the context of green manufacturing, effect of organizational culture on formulation of manufacturing strategy, and performance measurement.

Maintenance management: literature review and directions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on maintenance management and suggest possible gaps from the point of view of researchers and practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – The paper systematically categorizes the published literature and then analyzes and reviews it methodically.Findings – The paper finds that important issues in maintenance management range from various optimization models, maintenance techniques, scheduling, and information systems etc. Within each category, gaps have been identified. A new shift in maintenance paradigm is also highlighted.Practical implications – Literature on classification of maintenance management has so far been very limited. This paper reviews a large number of papers in this field and suggests a classification in to various areas and sub areas. Subsequently, various emerging trends in the field of maintenance management are identified to help researchers specifying gaps in the literature and direct research efforts suitably.Originali...

Strategy development by SMEs for competitiveness: a review

Purpose – SMEs are considered as engine for economic growth all over the world. After the globalization of market, SMEs have got many opportunities to work in integration with large‐scale organizations. They cannot exploit these opportunities and sustain their competitiveness if they focus only on certain aspects of their functioning and work in isolation. This paper tries to identify the major areas of strategy development by SMEs for improving competitiveness of SMEs in globalised market.Design/methodology/approach – About 134 research papers, mainly from referred international journals are reviewed to identify thrust areas of research. On the basis of review, gaps are identified and research agenda is proposed.Findings – SMEs have not given due attention for developing their effective strategies in the past. They are localized in functioning. On export fronts SMEs face many constraints due to lack of resources and poor innovative capabilities. For sustaining their competitiveness, they have to benchmar...

Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) of IT‐enablers for Indian manufacturing SMEs

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the issue of information technology (IT) adoption and implementation in Indian manufacturing small‐ and medium‐scale enterprise (SMEs) towards enhancing the capabilities of their supply chain.Design/methodology/approach – Extracts of recently completed case‐based research for ten SME units are utilized for the identification of IT‐enablers. To support the logical deduction of the factors, diagnostic techniques like force‐field analysis, situation‐actor‐process and learning‐action‐performance are used. Further, key managerial insights were obtained by developing an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) model for the set of factors, specific to Indian context.Findings – ISM delivers interrelationships among the factors which were utilized for deriving managerial insights. Further, these factors are classified into four categories, namely, autonomous, driver, dependent, and linkage to understand their relative impact on the implementation of IT in Indian SMEs.Practic...

The competitiveness of SMEs in a globalized economy: Observations from China and India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze different challenges for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India and China following globalization. It aims to describe the status of these enterprises and examine the roles of government policies and strategy development for competitiveness.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire‐based survey was conducted, which produced 241 valid responses. Of these, 80 percent were from SMEs. Statistical analysis of the data acquired from survey used a reliability test, t‐test and correlation analysis. A relevant literature review pinpoints salient issues in the environment of the SMEs.Findings – The governments of China and India have launched various promotional schemes for SMEs. Various challenges for SMEs in these countries are similar; however, the rate of growth is different. Indian SMEs give more attention to supplier development, total productive maintenance and the organizations culture. Chinese SMEs pay more attention to relationship management an...

Advanced manufacturing technology implementation

Purpose – This research aims to report the findings of an exploratory survey on advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) administered in Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of automobile, electronics, machinery, and process sectors. The objective of the survey is to assess the status of AMT, identify AMTs relevant to Indian SMEs, identify competitive priorities, AMT implementation criteria, and assess the degree of investment in AMTs.Design/methodology/approach – Responses from 122 companies are analyzed and presented.Findings – It is observed that Indian SMEs are giving the highest priority to quality and the least priority to flexibility. “Post‐implementation evaluation” and “requirement analysis” AMT implementation steps have attracted least attention from Indian SMEs.Originality/value – This research report is useful to others implementing AMT..

Supply chain performance measurement framework for small and medium scale enterprises

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated supply chain performance measurement framework for the case of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) using set of qualitative and quantitative insights gained during the case study research.Design/methodology/approach – This paper develops the supply chain performance measurement framework using the facts revealed through case study analysis, secondary data specific to various SME clusters in India and detailed contemporary studies reported on supply chain management in SMEs. It integrates the salient features of balanced scorecard (BSC) and supply chain operation reference (SCOR) model to deliver a comprehensive performance measurement framework for SMEs.Findings – This paper reports set of performance indicators for the supply chain processes like “source,” “make,” and “deliver” in SMEs. It also relates the measures with various supply chain cycles like “procurement,” “manufacturing,” “replenishment,” and “customer order.” As a result, ...

Evidence of manufacturing strategies in Indian industry: a survey

Abstract This paper presents findings of an extensive survey of Indian manufacturing companies. The survey encompassed four sectors: automobile, electronics, machinery, and process industry. Various manufacturing strategy issues (such as competitive priorities, order winners, and activities of improvement) have been identified and assessed in Indian context. Sector wise comparison of competitive priorities, order winners, and activities of improvement (advanced manufacturing technology, integrated information systems, and advanced management systems) is provided. Our results showed that most of the Indian companies are still emphasizing on quality; however, automobile sector has set to compete globally with high innovation rate, faster new product development, and continuous improvement. Manufacturing competence index is also computed for each sector.

Advanced manufacturing technology selection:A strategic model for learning and evaluation

This paper proposes a framework for analysing a firms investment justification problem in advanced manufacturing technologies to take competitive advantages in the liberalized economy and global market. To analyse such a problem, the firm requires both tacit and explicit knowledge and effective processes for deploying such knowledge within and across the boundaries of the firm. It has been attempted in this paper to explain a strategic model, which has facilitated the process of effective management of knowledge as the unique resource for value creation and maintenance for an Indian electronics manufacturing enterprise.