Soo Wook Kim

Effect of supply chain integration on the relationship between diversification and performance: evidence from Japanese and Korean firms

Abstract Supply chain strategies and practices depend on not only the nature of the business, the competitive environment, and technological intensity of the product, but also on product and market characteristics. Consequently, supply chain integration (SCI) strategies should be evaluated in the light of a company’s market and product strategies. This paper examines the effect of SCI on the relationship between diversification and a firm’s competitive performance. The results of the study can be useful in integrating supply chain strategy into market and product diversification (PD) strategy. By comparing the main and interaction effects of SCI and diversification on performance, the paper shows that SCI strategy modifies the relationship between diversification and performance. Additionally, it is argued that coordinated use of SCI and diversification strategies has a significant effect on firm performance.

Effects of supply chain management practices, integration and competition capability on performance

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine the causal linkages among supply chain management (SCM) practice, competition capability, the level of supply chain (SC) integration, and firm performance.Design/methodology/approach – This is helpful in developing a framework for linking a firms SC integration strategy to its competitive strategy, and in identifying how such a linkage can be connected to the improvement of organizational performance. Such effort also should enable us to derive a set of recommended strategies of SCM practices for SC integration.Findings – From the results of LISREL analysis on small and large manufacturing firms, this paper finds that, in small firms, efficient SC integration may play a more critical role for sustainable performance improvement, while, in large firms, the close interrelationship between the level of SCM practices and competition capability may have more significant effect on performance improvement. It is concluded that, in early stage, the emphasis on...

Manufacturing Practices and Strategy Integration: Effects on Cost Efficiency, Flexibility, and Market-Based Performance

Manufacturing plant managers have sought performance improvements through implementing best practices discussed in World Class Manufacturing literature. However, our collective understanding of linkages between practices and performance remains incomplete. This study seeks a more complete theory, advancing the idea that strategy integration and enhanced manufacturing capabilities such as cost efficiency and flexibility serve as intermediaries by which practices affect performance. Hypotheses related to this thesis are tested using data from 57 North American manufacturing plants that are past winners and finalists in Industry Weeks“Americas Best” competition (Drickhamer, 2001). The results suggest that strategy integration plays a strong, central role in the creation of manufacturing cost efficiency and new product flexibility capabilities. Furthermore, strategy integration moderates the influences of product-process development, supplier relationship management, workforce development, just-in-time flow, and process quality management practices on certain manufacturing capabilities. In turn, manufacturing cost efficiency and new product flexibility capabilities mediate the influence of strategy integration on market-based performance. These findings have implications for practice and for future research.

An exploratory study of manufacturing practice and performance interrelationships: Implications for capability progression

PurposeThis paper is an exploratory investigation of manufacturing practices, dimensions of manufacturing performance, and their relationships via an empirical study, in an effort to develop new insights into operations strategy.Design/methodology/approachBy examining manufacturing data gathered from 58 of “Americas Best Plants”, we investigate an extended core set of manufacturing practices that we use to characterize the plants. Using cluster analysis, we classified each of the plants into one of four groups.FindingsThe analysis of the practices‐performance relationships for these clusters implies a progression of capabilities linked to specific performance gains.Research limitations/implicationsWe develop the notion of “strategic capability progression”, and discuss its implications for operations strategy. The results of this exploratory study accord well with existing studies in operations strategy.Practical implicationsThe findings have broad implications for manufacturing managers regarding effective deployments of resources aimed at improving operating capabilities and manufacturing plant performance.Originality/valueThe findings point to new and promising avenues for enriching and elaborating contemporary theories of operations strategy.

Information system utilization in supply chain integration efforts

This paper investigates a set of advisable strategies for information systems utilization in supply chain integration initiatives. Through an analysis of structural relationships among the ways in which information systems are utilized for supply chain integration--i.e. Infrastructural Support, Value Creation Management, Logistical Operations--and supply chain management performance, we argue that there might be a recommended sequence in using information systems for supply chain integration. Tests of hypotheses relating to information systems utilization using empirical data from manufacturing firms indicate that, as the stage of integration moves from independent operation to internal and on to external integration, the focus of information systems utilization should shift from infrastructural support to value creation management and logistical operations, and this change of IS utilization focus can lead to sustainable competitiveness.

An empirical investigation of supply chain strategy typologies and relationships to performance

We propose a typology of supply chain management strategies based on data from a large sample of US firms. The resulting typologies and their relationships with firm performance are tested. The result of set correlation analysis on the data revealed six distinct supply chain management typologies, and showed significant statistical relationships with performance. Additional analysis revealed that two of the typologies describe the ideas of velocity, variability, and visibility of supply chains. The paper also discusses the relationship between product life cycle and the supply chain management initiatives that comprise the strategy typologies.

Augmentation of cisplatin sensitivity in cisplatin-resistant human bladder cancer cells by modulating glutathione concentrations and glutathione-related enzyme activities

To investigate the roles of glutathione and glutathione‐S‐transferase (GST) in cisplatin‐resistance mechanisms in human bladder cancer, by using glutathione‐depleting or GST‐blocking agents.

Development of a three-echelon SC model to optimize coordination costs

Abstract The purpose of this study is to suggest a conceptual framework for aligning the strategic issues and the structural issues of supply chain management, and also to disclose the effect of E-business application on such an alignment. The number of suppliers , number of tiers , the level of SC integration , order penetration point , lead time , and safety stock are defined as supply chain structural issues, and the characteristics of traded products and buyer–supplier relationship are set as key strategic issues for efficient construction of supply chain structure. E-business application is designed as a moderate variable for the alignment between the strategic issues and the structural issues of supply chain management. Such effort suggests a conceptual framework required for developing an advisable set of E-business application strategies for the efficiency improvement of overall supply chain management. The empirical research model proposed in this work may be used to establish an E-supply chain progression paradigm and a new dimensional manufacturing strategy framework in the E-business era.

Opening the technological innovation black box: The case of the electronics industry in Korea

In this system dynamics simulation study we analyze a series of feedback causal relationships wherein R&D investments create new knowledge stocks, increasing technological knowledge “triggers” and interactions among entities of technological innovation, leading to firm profits through the commercialization process.

Influence of Detrusor Overactivity on Storage Symptoms Following Potassium-titanyl-phosphate Photoselective Vaporization of the Prostate

OBJECTIVES To investigate whether the presence of detrusor overactivity (DO) influences storage symptoms after photoselective laser vaporization of the prostate (PVP) for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). METHODS A total of 149 patients who underwent PVP were included in this retrospective study. All patients underwent a preoperative evaluation including multichannel video urodynamics. The efficacy of the PVP was assessed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), uroflowmetry, postvoid residual urine volume, and 3-day frequency-volume charts (FVC). The patients were stratified into 2 groups (DO group vs non-DO group). RESULTS The IPSS and FVC showed that the storage symptoms were reduced significantly after the PVP in both groups (P<.05). Starting from 6 months after the PVP, the DO group (n=39) showed a significantly greater reduction in the subtotal storage symptom score than the non-DO group (n=110). When the improvement of storage symptoms was defined as a reduction of >or=50% in the subtotal storage symptom scores, the percentage of patients with improvement in the storage symptoms at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the PVP was 13.9%, 25.9%, 47.8%, and 52.9% in the DO group, and 22.2%, 24.4%, 33.3%, and 33.3% in the non-DO group, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that storage and voiding symptoms significantly improved after the PVP. In addition, we found that men with DO might show more improvement of storage symptoms, after the PVP, than men without DO.