Purpose: This study is focused on integrating a strategic perspective for bottleneck selection and exploitation according to the DBR methodology. The researchers developed a systematic process of four steps for the implementation of the first two steps of TOC-DBR in Make-to-Order production systems. This process was derived from the seminal work from Goldratt, introduced key insights from Resource Based View (RBV) and Practice Based View (PBV) strategic perspectives and included original contributions from the authors in understanding what purpose should be fulfilled, what decisions should be made and how the four steps should be applied.Design/methodology/approach: Given the practical nature of the research project, action research (AR) is an appropriate methodological approach, since AR aims to contribute to academic research while helping solve real-world problems.Findings: The proposed systematic process has been successfully tested in the field on a Make To Order case company. Thus, it has been answered the research question regarding systematically selecting a bottleneck and exploiting it to enhance the competitive advantage/firm performance. In fact, the new way of selecting and exploiting its bottleneck improved the results of the company, in particular business turnover and profitability. Additionally, the research process complied with the necessary criteria to assure the research quality required for AR.Originality/value: The key contributions within the systematic process (on Make-to-Order companies) are two: (1) the criteria to select the bottleneck, far beyond a load versus capacity perspective (i.e., providing a strategic perspective that was inspired by the main concepts from the Resource Based View regarding the contribution of strategic resources to sustain competitive position) and  (2) the detailed discussion on how to exploit the bottleneck, which was aligned with the Practice Based View and recognised that practices could also provide superior performance to organisations.

In the current global economy, with an increased international presence of all types of organisations, the design and management of global operations networks (GON) plays a vital role in organisational competitiveness. Whilst all types of organisations are facing significant challenges for managing increasingly complex global operations, current literature on GONs is still limited in its scope. The aim of this paper is to discuss the development and evaluation of a construct for assessing the strategic plant role and developing of an improvement roadmap in GONs. This research makes a contribution to current knowledge on global operations by extending the model proposed by Ferdows in ‘Making the Most of Foreign Factories’ (HBR, 1997) and operationalising it to enable its application for the design and optimisation of GONs

Abstract. Large corporations are increasingly implementing lasting corporate improvement programmes based on lean thinking in their global production networks. The aim is to improve operational efficiency by sharing best operational practices and foster continuous improvement among all subsidiaries. However, it remains an open question why implementation success differs substantially across cultures and sister plants for most companies. We review the existing literature on improvement programmes and culture, and compare the current state of the art with unique quantitative data from 80 factories belonging to two global manufacturing companies. We surprisingly find no explanatory power in national culture (measured with Hofstede's model) and propose that other factors such as the organisational culture and the strategic role of the plant matters far more.

Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) is a key element within the Theory-of-Constraints (TOC). It controls the launch of production orders to the system. Thus, the jobs are launched into the system according to the Bottleneck (Drum) schedule. Although the literature reflects the validity of the method when managing production, most of the works focus on analytical studies, neglecting empirical cases in make-to-order and versatile manufacturing plants. In this research, we present a systematic process to implement the first two steps of DBR. Based on a strategic perspective, we conclude that the resource that controls the launch of orders and the production rhythms must be decision of the Management.