Thawatchai Jitpaiboon

A meta‐analysis of quality measures in manufacturing system

Purpose – The manufacturing community has embraced the concept of total quality management (TQM) but little research has been published on how each aspect of quality is measured. This paper provides a deeper understanding of current quality measures and recommendations for appropriate TQM practices. This article adopts meta‐analysis approach to study issues concerning reliability of TQM measures and find consensus on the relationship between TQM practices and organizational performance across studies. The research findings and managerial implications are discussed.Design/methodology/approach – A meta‐analysis approach was used to study 421 items relating to TQM practices in 50 refereed articles.Findings – Items were categorized according to Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) categories. A total of 77 items were not matched and eliminated. Findings reveal that the mean value of reliability coefficients (α) is 0.84 in TQM research compared to 0.77 in marketing and 0.81 in MIS. The mean values o...

Unpacking IT use and integration for mass customisation: a service-dominant logic view

Significant changes in customer demands for individualised offerings are causing firms to move away from mass production strategies toward customisation. Many firms struggle in this migration because the requirements for mass customisation (MC) differ greatly from those needed for mass production. As firms strive to optimise their interactions with customers and suppliers to produce highly customised offerings at near mass production prices, IT use along with customer and supply integration are important organisational competencies. Research studies explore many facets of MC but, in regard to IT use for customer and supplier integration, most focus on specific activities within the product design and development process. This study extends the IT-enabled organisational capabilities line of research, using data collected from 220 manufacturers, to explore IT use in a comprehensive sense for planning, infrastructural, and operational activities in various business processes intended to achieve MC. These findings suggest that comprehensive IT use can enhance a firms integration efforts with customers and suppliers. These factors, in turn, drive operational performance and MC, which lead to firm performance. Grounded in service-dominant logic (SDL) theory, these findings provide theoretical and empirical support to explain why customer integration may be a driving force in MC.

How IT Purchasing Preparedness Facilitates E-Marketplace Usage

Purpose – This research aims to examine the extent of e‐marketplace usage from the buyer perspective. Three types of e‐marketplace – third party exchange, consortium exchange, and private exchange – are compared and the impact of the buyers information technology (IT) purchasing preparedness on the extent of e‐marketplace usage is evaluated.Design/methodology/approach – A web‐based survey of 359 purchasing professionals in the USA is used in the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare the extent of e‐marketplace usage among the three e‐marketplace types. Multiple regression methodology is also used to test the impact of IT purchasing preparedness on the extent of e‐marketplace usage.Findings – The results indicate that there is no significant difference among the three types of e‐marketplaces in regard to the extent of current e‐marketplace usage and planned e‐marketplace usage. Additionally, IT purchasing preparedness appears to have a positive impact on e‐marketplace usage.Research limitations/implicat...

The study of cooperative relationships and mass customization

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the interrelationships among cooperative relationships (CRs), mass customization (MC), and organizational performance using structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology.Design/methodology/approach – The research framework investigates the mediating roles of MC in enhancing organizational performance. The CRs are the drivers in the model. CRs can be measured using two sub‐constructs – customer integration (CI) and supplier integration (SI). The surveyed data are collected from 220 manufacturing firms. The SEM methodology is used to develop valid and reliable instruments to measure these constructs and test the hypothesized relationships described in the framework.Findings – The results reveal that firms with high levels of CI were more successful at MC compared to those with low levels of integration. Firms that involve customers in the creation of goods and services might have the ability to understand and respond to customer needs quickly, thereby enabling them to r...

Evolution of competitive priorities towards performance improvement: a meta-analysis

Competitive priorities are critical operational dimensions that a business process must possess to satisfy its internal and external customers. The process of defining competitive priorities is evolving and changing over time according to a new business paradigm. Therefore, it is the right time to revisit the critical dimensions of competitive priority. The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to identify and revise the critical dimensions of competitive priority; (2) to assess the quality of competitive priority measures across studies based on different criteria; (3) to confirm the relationship between several competitive priorities and organisational performance. The results show the different effects that competitive priorities have on organisational performance. Cost and quality priorities show evidence of strong effect size compared to the others.

Impacts of IS dependency on IS strategy formulation

The traditional view of Strategic Information Systems (SIS) study focuses on the linkage between information system strategies with its relevant strategies (e.g. business strategy, organisational strategy and IT objectives). This study extends this conventional notion by introducing a new perspective on SIS. Adopting McFarlan and McKenneys strategic grid framework, the purpose of this study is to empirically test the relationship between IS dependency and IS strategies using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). We hypothesise that IS dependency practices will have a positive direct impact on IS strategies. The findings from this research will contribute to both practitioners who make information system decisions and IS researchers. The development of measurement, hypothesis and implications will be discussed.

Effects of information technology on supplier-customer cooperative relationships

The benefits a firm can realise from establishing cooperative relationships with suppliers and customers have been documented, extensively. However, very little is known about what happens when a firm uses information technology to facilitate a cooperative relationship (IT-mode) with suppliers and customers, and when it uses face-to-face (socialisation). Results of this study suggest that a firms decision to either use IT or socialisation to facilitate its cooperative relationships with suppliers and buyers is contingent on the type of knowledge exchanged between cooperating partners. A firm uses IT to facilitate cooperative relationships when exchanging codified information, whereas tacit knowledge is exchanged through face-to-face interactions. This study suggests that the use of IT or socialisation to facilitate cooperative relationships is contingent on type of knowledge being exchanged.

The Influence of Information Technology Utilization ITU on Supply Chain Integration SCI

The key to competitiveness in most industries has moved beyond the traditionally confined single organization. In todays global competitive business environment, competitiveness is heavily influenced by the ability of the multiple organizations in a supply chain to synchronize and integrate their business activities and processes. Supply chain integration, SCI which links the activities, functions, processes, and systems of a firm with its customers and suppliers, can reduce uncertainty, enhance responsiveness, reduce costs, and improve customer service. Empirical studies have explored SCI and reported that information technology IT is a key ingredient for the success of the integrated supply chain. While the research on SCI has been reported in OM literature, empirical studies that investigate the impact of different levels of IT utilization ITU-strategic, operational, and infrastructural-on SCI are not available. This research also explores the impact of top management support TMS on the relationship between ITU and SCI. Based on data collected from 220 manufacturing firms, this study indicates that ITU will have a positive impact on the success of an integrated supply chain when top management is personally involved in the technology implementation process.