Manufacturing Strategies and Decentralisation

Abstract

Background and Frame of Reference Investments and changes in manufacturing have become more extensive and complex during the last few decades. This has implied that even minor changes in manufacturing can result in long-term consequences for the organisation. The complexity has also implied that more functions and individuals, both in staff functions and in the line hierarchy, have to be involved in the decisionmaking processes. Furthermore, increased responsibility and authority, as a part of the job characteristics, have become essential for retaining the personnel. These changes are partly connected, and it is therefore of interest to investigate the strategic and managerial implications of this trend. Manufacturing StrategiesThe theories of manufacturing strategy focus on analyses of business goals and strategies, the congruence of these with manufacturing goals and plans formulated and implemented in manufacturing. Hence, a manufacturing strategy should reflect goals and strategies of the business and enable the manufacturing function to contribute to the competitiveness of the company (Skinner, 1978;Hayes and Wheelwright, 1984). The implementation process of these goals and strategies is often described as a top-down process, but Hayes and Wheelwright see a need for an interactive (top-down -bottom-up) development of manufacturing strategy. They also state that it is through the actual decisions made that the manufacturing capability is determined. The decisions are made within the structural and infrastructural elements of manufacturing. These elements are considered by Hayes and Wheelwright as consisting of a set of decision categories (see Figure 1). Decisions made in these categories should be consistent and support the manufacturing goals, as well as overall goals and strategies of the organisation.This strategic view of manufacturing has proved to be a good basis for discussions within manufacturing companies . The implementation process of these goals and strategies is, however, poorly described in the literature. Swamidass and Newell (1987) mean that the manufacturing strategy literature lacks some of the essential ingredients that can stimulate empirical research. One reason is the lack of integration of relevant literature from several disciplines. Social factors, such as behaviour and psychological factors, have partly been neglected. The result has been a quite normative view of the planning process, where, at the most, the manufacturing manager is involved. His obligations are reduced to formulating the right goals for manufacturing, and to explaining consequences of the terms in manufacturing for the competitive ability, and making the "right decisions".

Theoretical developments in empirical quantitative manufacturing strategy literature

“…In order to ground predictions in the empirical quantitative research in the MS discipline, a number of micro and macro theories (macro-level theories are properties of large-scale collectives (organizations, populations, societies), while micro-level theories are properties of individuals and small groups (Markus and Robey, 1988)) have been borrowed (Table IX 20102000-1990-1980-NA Europe Others 20102000-1990-1980-20102000-1990-1980-20102000-1990-1980…”

Strategic Manufacturing Planning Systems and Their Linkage to Planning System Success

“…They represent a wide range of the more resource-intensive and long-term decisions in an organization, such as location, facility, and human resource decisions (Hayes & Wheelwright, 1984;Hill, 1994;Skinner). An effective strategic manufacturing process will be more controlled, systematic, and comprehensive, ensuring that all such issues are identified, addressed, and thoroughly examined (Anderson et al, 1991;Dutton & Duncan, 1987;Marucheck et al;Tunalv, 1990). This would also ensure that the resulting decisions represent an integrated manufacturing strategy, similar to Hayes and Wheelwright's "internally supportive" approach.…”

“…Effective planning will also benefit from communication and coordination among a wide range of individuals with relevant information (Platts, 1994;Tunalv, 1990). This should be facilitated by planning done on a regular basis through more frequent and rich meetings (Marucheck et al, 1990), coupled with formality.…”

Examining the process R&D investment–performance chain in supply chain operations: The effect of centralization

“…While decentralization has been extensively studied in the strategic management literature, it has received far less attention in the supply chain management field. The effects of centralization have extended to areas such as production strategy (Tunälv, 1990;Huang et al, 2010), product customization (Vickery et al, 1999), quality management practices (Zhang et al 2012), global sourcing (Trautmann et al, 2009), offshore outsourcing (Tate and Ellram, 2012), and automatic replenishment programs (Sabath et al, 2001). Omitted from the literature is how centralization impacts resource management in a supply chain context.…”