Information architecture for effective Workload Control: an insight from a successful implementation

The implementation of Workload Control (WLC), a Production Planning and Control concept uniquely designed for Make-To-Order companies, has been a constant challenge. Scholars argued that WLC is largely developed through simulations of well-defined environments while much more complex circumstances (e.g. information availability) have emerged in field research. A recent trend of WLC research is to improve the practical applicability of the concept, where empirical evidence is essential. However, success in WLC implementation remains impeded. The availability of data has been a significant area that frustrates the implementation process. While there is a tendency to simplify data requirements in recent WLC theory development, it is important to understand and maintain the information that is essential for the concept to be effective. For the first time in the field, this paper details the information architecture for WLC. Key informational entities of relevance to the input/output control functions in WLC as well as performance measurement are discussed based on evidence from a successful implementation. The paper not only sheds light for practitioners on how to construct an information system that facilitates successful WLC implementation but also has implications for future development of WLC mechanisms coping with information uncertainties in practice.     

To be or not to be corporate heritage oriented? A study of managers’ corporate heritage mindsets

Corporate heritage is a research topic in branding with managerial relevance to achieve competitive advantages. Research has mainly focussed on companies with a formal corporate heritage orientation, neglecting other companies. In this study, a novel framework has been developed for analysing managers' corporate heritage mindsets as a precondition for a corporate heritage orientation in a non-heritage-oriented company. Individual managers’ corporate image heritage depicts how managers perceive their company over time, hence revealing their corporate heritage mindset. This article proposes that two managerial mindset dimensions matter – corporate heritage recognition and stance. This abductive study combines theory and empirical findings from an industrial company with a long history, but no corporate heritage orientation. The proposed framework offers companies with a history a way to analyse whether corporate heritage could be recognised and employed. This article contributes to corporate heritage research by broadening the applicability of corporate heritage issues.     

Lean Control for Make‐to‐Order Companies: Integrating Customer Enquiry Management and Order Release

A lead time that is short, predictable, and reliable is an increasingly important criterion in supplier selection. Although many companies may achieve this through lean implementation, high‐variety manufacturers, for example, small and medium‐sized make‐to‐order companies, have found that lean's planning and control techniques do not apply. This article outlines a planning and control concept known as workload control (WLC) that integrates customer enquiry management, including a due‐date setting rule, with order release control. Simulation is then used to assess its impact on shop performance. Results demonstrate that an integrated WLC concept can reduce the percentage of tardy jobs—so short lead times can be realistically quoted—while also reducing and stabilizing workloads. WLC can level demand and production over time when work is not standardized and it is not possible to synchronize flows on the shop floor. Results are shown to be robust to changes in routing characteristics, the mix of orders with due dates specified by the customer and proposed internally, and the strike rate (or order‐winning probability). Hence, an integrated approach to WLC represents an important step toward achieving lean in make‐to‐order companies.     

Sustainable planning strategies in supply chain systems: proposal and applications with a real case study in fashion

Abstract

Pollution generated by the fashion industry drives people to pay attention to fashion companies’ sustainability practice. This increase in attention has induced vast literature studying the related area. Since the fashion apparel supply chain is complicated which involves a lot of interrelated steps and decisions, how fashion companies can identify the demand in sustainable fashion and make the right decision in resource allocation throughout the supply chain becomes a critical issue. As a result, this paper examines how a fashion company can develop a successful sustainable planning strategy throughout the sustainable fashion supply chain. The sustainability attributes and the sustainable planning strategy mechanism are also discussed. Based on the institutional theory and resource-based theory, we first analyse the external pressure and internal motivations for companies to adopt a sustainable planning strategy in the fashion supply chain. We then identify the core stakeholders related to the sustainable planning strategy and propose how the decision-making theory can help develop the sustainable supply chain management mechanism. Next, we establish a sustainable planning strategy framework. Finally, via a case study with public data on the fashion giant brand Nike, we explore the application of our proposed sustainable planning strategy framework. The finding suggests that the strategic planning of fashion companies on sustainability can improve the performance of the stakeholders throughout the whole sustainable fashion supply chain.     

An Empirical Taxonomy of SOE Governance in Transitional China

China’s State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) traditionally have been governed by the Communist Party. Privatization has brought greater numbers of investors who have a stake and demand a voice in how SOEs are managed. Three traditional governance perspectives are agency theory, resource dependence, and institutional theory, but China’s transition introduces several additional governance approaches. Are “capitalism with Chinese characteristics” and “bureaucratic entrepreneurialism” paradoxes? Based on initial interviews of SOE executives, a survey of top managers and board chairs of listed companies, and subsequent interviews and observations in select case companies, this paper develop a taxonomy of SOE governance that now exists in China. Two of the approaches represent the extremes of the old state-centered regimes and the new shareholder-centered regimes. Considering China’s historical and cultural contexts coupled with its current stage of economic transition, two additional approaches to corporate governance are to have a vacuum as neither the state nor shareholders dominate or – in unique contrast to other countries – a hybrid of both.     

Nurturing clients’ trust to encourage engagement success during the customization of ERP systems

Customization is a crucial, lengthy, and costly aspect in the successful implementation of ERP systems, and has, accordingly, become a major specialty of many vendors and consulting companies. This study examines how such companies can increase their clients’ perception of engagement success through increased client trust that is brought about through responsive and dependable customization.Survey data from ERP customization clients show that, as hypothesized, clients’ trust influenced their perception of engagement success with the company. The data also show that clients’ trust in the customization company was increased when the company behaved in accordance with client expectations by being responsive, and decreased when the company behaved in a manner that contradicted these expectations by not being dependable. Responses to an open-ended question addendum attached to the survey corroborated the importance of responsiveness and dependability. Implications for customization companies and research on trust are discussed.     

Fuzziness in Action: What Consequences Has the Linguistic Ambiguity of the Core Competence Concept for Organizational Usage?

Linguistic ambiguity is one of the most prominent characteristics of management fashions. Using the example of one of the most popular management concepts in the 1990s, the core competence approach, we analyse the consequences of linguistic ambiguity on the level of organizational usage. We pursue an in‐depth case study of a German corporation which can be seen as a ‘heavy adopter’ of the core competence concept. A central implication of our study is that the term ‘ambiguity’ itself has several meanings depending on the level of analysis. On a general level the managers interpreted the core competence concept relatively homogeneously. They simplified and generalized it to an organizational principle and perceived it as guiding action. At the same time, each manager defined his or her own set of core competences. Thus, underneath a seeming consensus, a large variety of practices may hide. This novel kind of ‘contextual ambiguity’ does not originate from the linguistic ambiguity of the management fashion but from the plurality of local contexts in which the concept is interpreted. The managers' pragmatic attitude to the core competence ‘principle’ contributed to the high contextual ambiguity and the – compared to the media discourse – high longevity of the fashion within the case company. Our findings urge management fashion scholars to pay more attention to the distributed and polyphonic character of organizations and the organizational nature of the ‘consumption’ of ambiguous management knowledge.     

The Relationship between Procedural Rationality and Political Behavior in Strategic Decision Making

Despite the central place of rationality and political behavior in the decision-making literature, we know little about the relationship between these two dimensions. Can decisions be made using both rational and political methods, or must managers use one approach or the other? These questions were addressed in a study of 61 strategic decisions in 24 companies using a multiple-informant, structured interview protocol. Results indicate that procedural rationality and political behavior are independent dimensions of the strategic decision-making process. The implications of our findings for future strategic decision-making research are discussed.     

On the integration of due date setting and order release control

This paper calls for a paradigm shift in the production control literature away from assuming due date setting and order release are two independent decision levels. When order release is controlled, jobs do not enter the shop floor directly but are retained in a pre-shop pool and released to meet certain performance targets. This makes the setting of accurate planned release dates – the point at which jobs transition from the pool to the shop floor – a key consideration when setting due dates. We develop a new approach to estimating planned release dates to be embedded in the Workload Control (WLC) concept. Our approach is unique as it anticipates the release decision as part of the due date setting procedure. This makes a second independent release decision superfluous and avoids a major cause of tardiness – deviations between (i) the planned release date used when calculating the delivery time allowance and (ii) the actual, realised release date. Simulation is used to compare the performance of WLC using two decision levels with the new single-level approach where the release decision is anticipated when setting the due date. Performance improvements are shown to be robust to uncertainty in processing time estimates.     

Globalization and its impact on global managers' decision processes

Globalization of business can have a profound impact on the decision-making processes of managers responsible for making these complex interrelated decisions. This paper explores the global decision-making processes of global managers. The first element examined is the multiple intelligences that global managers need to be able to address the issues associated with global decisions. These eight IQs are considered critical elements in the decision-making capabilities of global managers. Following this discussion, the composition of global groups and their impact on the decision-making process is explored to determine how the composition of the group inhibits/supports the global manager. The next step in the decision-making process discussed in the paper is that of the nature of the task(s). The type of task can have a direct impact on the effectiveness as well as the efficiency of global manager's decision-making. The crux of the issue is that a global orientation to decision-making is poised as being significantly different from decision processes use by managers in a multinational context.     

Strategic intent in the management of the green environment within SMEs: An analysis of the UK screen-printing sector

What drives the environmental behaviour of companies is an under-researched and under-developed area of study, particularly in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This article investigates to what extent the responses by UK screen-printing companies to pressures to improve their environmental performance represented a deliberate attempt by senior managers to provide their organisations with a strategic competitive advantage.Using both a quantitative and qualitative approach, the research shows that the environmental responses of this sector tended to be reactive, defensive and driven by – and frequently limited to – legislative compliance. Even though companies accepted that there were potential commercial benefits to be gained from environmental action, there was very little evidence to indicate that managerial decisions were motivated by strategic intent or that managerial mindsets were tuned to the notion that a proactive environmental response could offer a competitive edge. The article discusses the management implications of this lack of strategic orientation and highlights how a more innovative response by companies could provide both demand and supply side benefits.     

What innovation managers really do: a multiple-case investigation into the informal role profiles of innovation managers

Over the last fifteen years companies tended to formalise their innovation management activities and to establish formal jobs like the innovation officer, the network manager or the innovation manager. Knowledge of the informal role profiles of these formal roles is still rare. HR and R&D Managers do not know which informal role profile might suit them best, thus having difficulties to assign the best candidates for jobs in innovation management. Researchers cannot help to resolve the problem. Our research answers the question what innovation managers really do, by analysing their tasks, skills and traits, theoretically based on informal role theories. Furthermore, we will analyse how these characteristics change with company size. To provide answers to our research questions we choose a multiple-case study approach. We found, among others, that innovation managers fulfil the role of the relationship and process promotor or a combination of both with the champion, but we also found, that the innovation manager’s roles profile becomes fuzzier with shrinking company size. Our results have practical implications for top management and also HR and R&D managers, enabling them to better select and steer employees in innovation management. Researchers will be able to build on our results because we offer a comprehensive understanding of the informal role profiles of innovation managers based on informal role theories.     

我国上市公司高管人员过度自信与股利分配决策的理论和实证研究

在现有研究成果的基础上,在假设上市公司高管人员过度自信的条件下,建立恰当的数学模型从理论上研究上市公司高管人员的过度自信心理偏好对公司股利分配决策的影响机理。同时,以中国上市公司为样本对我国上市公司高管人员的过度自信心理偏好如何影响其股利分配决策进行实证研究。研究结果表明,当上市公司高管人员观察到的项目信号值大于项目质量均值时,股利分配水平与其过度自信负相关;当高管人员观察到的信号值小于项目质量均值时,股利分配水平与其过度自信正相关;在我国股票市场环境下,股利分配水平在过度自信高管人员经营的公司中更高。     

航运供应链上的品牌价值、公平关切与契约协调

航运供应链上的船公司提高企业品牌价值需要付出大量的投资成本,因此将会更加关注供应链上利润分配的公平。本文以单个船公司和单个货代公司构成的两级航运供应链为研究对象,运用博弈论分析船公司的公平关切行为和品牌投入意愿对航运供应链上各方利润的影响,探讨决策者非理性条件下航运供应链的合作模式和协调机制。研究表明：1）船公司的公平关切提高了其在供应链上利润分配占比,但降低了整个航运供应链的利润和效率;2）随着品牌投入意愿的提高,船公司的公平关切对航运供应链上各方决策的负作用就越明显;3）"收益共享成本共担"式契约能够消除公平关切的负作用,达到航运供应链纵向联盟的最优收益和整体效率。     

互动公平、委员会决策程序公平与员工决策承诺:基于公平启发理论与不确定管理理论的实证研究

借助层级团队形式制定决策,决策者能激发员工的决策承诺,确保决策的有效执行。以委员会作为决策者的层级团队为例,本文探讨了以下问题:当存在个体对自身胜任力的自信、专用性人力资本投资这两个因素的影响时,互动公平与委员会决策程序公平效应及它们之间的交互效应会发生什么变化?引入公平启发理论与不确定管理理论,本文假设并检验了上述四个因素如何交互作用于员工决策承诺。以两家大型商业银行信贷业务人员为研究对象,实证研究表明:(1)自信和专用性人力资本投资对委员会决策程序公平效应有着显著调节作用,但它们对互动公平效应的调节作用不显著;(2)当存在自信和专用性人力资本投资的影响时,较强的互动公平与委员会决策程序公平之间的交互效应更稳定一些,而较低的互动公平感知与程序公平之间的交互效应在方向上发生变化。本文有助于管理者理解"公平何时能引致员工合作"这一问题,帮助其更好地把握决策过程以获得员工对其决策的支持。本研究的假设完全基于公平启发理论(FHT)和不确定管理理论(UMT)的理论逻辑做出,实证结果与FHT和UMT的理论预测以及已有实证研究结果相一致,这意味着本研究具有较高可信性和可靠性,能为进一步理论探索提供了比较坚实的基础。     

国有企业内部收入分配公平性研究——基于M公司的案例研究

国有企业内部收入分配是否公平是一个客观现实问题,至今没有给出一个令人信服的答案。本文采用案例研究方法,通过调查和数据收集,分别从薪酬程序的制定、委托代理理论、企业公平理论和社会公平理论的角度,考察国有M公司内部收入分配的公平性问题。从研究结果来看,公司内部薪酬制定程序不公平,企业的收入分配集中于公司管理人员、特别是高层管理人员,管理人员的收入既与企业业绩无关,也与其投入不相称,并且这种分配差距已经到达了社会收入分配的警戒线。本案例研究为判断目前国有企业收入分配和社会收入分配是否公平提供了微观基础。     

Responding to community expectations on corporate environmental performance: How to develop effective citizen advisory panels

Corporations are facing increasing pressure to improve their environmental performance. Many are turning to citizen advisory panels (CAPs) as a way improve their decision- making and enhance their public accountability. CAPs are committee of citizens who meet regularly with managers to discuss environmental and other community issues associated with their companies. These panels allow organizations to recieve the type proactive environmental decisions. CAPs also can enble a company to communicate to and receive input from the community in a more controlled and confidential mannier than many other public processes.While CAPs offer many potential advantages, there are also a number of challenges that must be met before their benefits can be realized. This article describes a number of steps that companies should take to develop effective CAPs, including: forming the panels, selecting members, conducting meetings and communicating to citizen members. In addition, the authors discuss some of the lessons learned, including how to ensure that CAPs are operated in a manner that truly serves the interests of both the community and the company.     

Lust an der Macht – Frauen in Organisationen

Storyline and analysis of the film “The Devil Wears Prada” provide vivid scenes to derive reflections on organisational culture in globalised companies and women in chief positions. Women come into conflict with leading the company successfully, the dependence on efficient – female – staff and the image as a woman. The article illustrates, how influences of the company’s products fashion und fashion market have a normative effect, especially on female staff members. Theories of organisational culture, careers of women and findings of gender research are shown in connection with complex strategies of women in their determination to succeed, to self-realization and the pressure to adapt oneself. This involves reflected perspectives to leave clichés of gender and to reinforce organisational and personal potentials.     

市场化进程、产权配置与上市公司资产剥离业绩——基于同属管辖交易视角的研究

本文以2004-2005年沪深A股上市公司资产剥离事件为研究对象,基于同属管辖交易的独特视角,从市场化进程差异、资产剥离同属管辖交易以及企业产权配置三个方面探讨对上市公司资产剥离业绩改进的影响.研究发现,市场化程度越高、地方政府干预越少,上市公司资产剥离后的业绩越好.但是,如果资产剥离交易双方同属地方政府管辖,则对上市公司的业绩具有显著的负面影响.进一步的研究发现,地方政府控制的产权生质对上市公司资产剥离后业绩改进产生负面影响,非政府控制的产权性质则有显著的正面促进作用.     

Logistics systems engineering— solving the distribution planning problem

A growing familiarity by corporate planners and policy markers with the concept of integrated logistics management is becoming apparent on both sides of the Atlantic. With this conceptual familiarity however come the practical problems of implementation and many companies, whilst welcoming the benefits that this new approach can bring, are hesitant to introduce the radical changes to existing company structures that the concept demands. The focus of concern in this paper is with just how this concept may successfully be implemented within the modern corporation and what the systems engineering problems are likely to be.