Controlling and evaluation

Mr. Newton analyses the personnel strategy of Shell U.K. and describes how it is related to the corporate planning system. He then explains the measures which are taken to plan, control, and research the use of personnel. He deals in detail with the development of a computer based information system, attempts to determine the cost effectiveness of manpower, and the use of the Behavioural Sciences in a positive effort to shape personnel relations in the company. Finally, he mentions a number of changes which are likely to influence personnel strategy in the future.     

CIM implementation for job-shop environments

Abstract

Abstract. The small to medium-sized job-shop manufacturing industry can benefit most from the implementation of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) technology, to meet the increasing demand for high-quality and economically priced products. The injection mould making industry is a typical representative for this group, where a manufacturer would generally produce moulds which consist of parts that are standard to every mould type or very similar. Thus, manufacturing techniques, such as group technology (GT), and production planning and control (information) management systems could make significant contributions in improving the efficiency of design and production operations.

The objective of the project, presented in this paper, was the development of a GT-based classification and coding (C/C) system for injection mould parts especially for the design and process planning phases, and the development of a production planning and shop-floor control (SFC) information management system.

An extensive investigation was carried out on existing GT-based C/C systems. This investigation, followed by a thorough examination of many injection mould parts for determining geometric similarities, led to the development of part families (classes) required for GT implementation. An OPITZ-type GT system was developed, thereafter, for the C/C of the manufactured parts of the target company.

The production planning and control software that has been developed for the target company utilizes a relational data base management system. It consists of 13 application programs, which provide a tool of organizing information for efficient production planning and SFC. The programs are designed to cover all manufacturing operations of a job from the proposal to the final testing stage. Shop orders and dispatch lists are created using this software for effective and prioritized SFC. Shop status and job status reports are generated based on feedback information received through time card entries.     

Engineering manpower planning in an airline

Next to the crew on the flight deck of an aircraft, the engineers and technicians form the core of the manpower requirement of an airline. The aviation industry is a specialised one. There are mandatory requirements regarding the airworthiness of an aircraft and certification of engineers and technicians working on or inspecting an aircraft. The requirements of Engineers and Technicians cannot be directly met from the products available from Engineering Colleges and Technical Institutes. Furthermore, 3–4 years of experience in aviation industry is a prerequisite laid down by Civil Aviation Departments for obtaining their licence or approval to work as Engineers and Inspectors in Inspection Organisations. Hence planning of Engineering manpower requirements well in advance is a must for an Airline. The objective of this paper is to discuss the long term planning for engineering manpower resource, in an airline.     

Integrating the Content and Process of Strategic MIS Planning with Competitive Strategy*

This paper presents a framework that links strategic MIS planning and business strategy and relates it to competitive advantage and company performance. To achieve this objective, the paper first delineates the dimensions of strategic MIS planning, focusing on both content and process issues. The notion of fit within dimensions, between sets of dimensions (process and content), and between MIS planning and competitive strategy is also introduced. Next, employing the Miles-Snow typology of business strategy, the paper posits normative differences in the dimensions of strategic MIS planning along different business (or competitive) strategies. The implications of our study for both decision makers and scholars are discussed. Propositions that tie competitive strategy, strategic MIS planning, and company financial performance are then presented. The paper concludes by providing direction for future research.     

Integrating regional and functional plans at Henkel

The article describes the planning system of the Henkel KGaA. The company is completely family owned. It is the fourth largest chemical company in Germany with affiliated companies nearly all over the world. The product range consists of consumer good articles such as detergents, cosmetics, household cleaners and adhesives and a wide range of chemical specialities which are sold to industry. The turnover world-wide is nearly DM7bn. The planning system of the Henkel KGaA is constructed in such a way that despite the necessity of short-term control the longer-term perspective still remains the basis for decision making. The planning structure and process throughout the company are explained in detail. The authors show that this system is an investment in managerial information processing.     

Social impact: The Pharmaceutical Industry

Given the intensity, volatility and direction of social trends, the future of a pharmaceutical company can only be effectively appraised by evaluating the social context within which the contemporary pharmaceutical industry operates.There is an immediate need for pharmaceutical companies to regard the social environment as the key strategy issue in long range planning due to the pervasiveness of social influence. Through perceptions of need, society can influence resource allocation and exercise public control over most facets of innovation, production, distribution and marketing of drugs and in the funds available by controlling prices and profits. Unfortunately a recent attitude study on the future of the multinational pharmaceutical industry indicates that a low level of impact is accorded to the Social Environment.The Social Environment of the future can only be evaluated successfully by utilizing effective social forecasting techniques.Unless the Social Environment is regarded as the central strategy issue and effective social forecasting techniques are adopted there is a very real danger that a socially and economically valuable industry will be progressively less able to meet its commitment to contribute effectively to the future well-being of society.     

Corporate planning at Rolls-Royce Motors Limited

In this article the authors describe the introduction to date of a formal planning process at a British manufacturing company which, according to its recent performance, had no pressing need to implement radical change. Is Rolls-Royce Motors' decision the symptom of a new trend in industry to overhaul planning techniques while the going is good? How was company morale used to justify a new planning style? Why did an evidently capable organization choose to engage consultancy assistance? While the company's intentions are not yet fully achieved, its experience may be of benefit to others contemplating a similar decision.     

基于竞争能力理论的企业信息系统战略规划方法

在过去的20多年中,信息系统战略规划一直是学者和管理者关注的热点问题之一,动态多变的竞争环境使传统的信息系统战略规划方法的有效性和适应性面临着挑战.分析了信息系统战略与业务战略的动态关系,简要评述了现有信息系统战略规划方法,基于竞争能力理论提出一种新的信息系统战略规划方法,该方法从竞争能力利用和竞争能力构建视角出发,分为竞争环境分析、业务过程分析、比较等阶段,包括竞争能力的描述和竞争能力比较等分析工具.以某柴油机股份有限公司为例,展示了基于竞争能力理论的企业信息系统战略规划方法的过程和分析工具,讨论了该方法的有效性和适用性.结果表明,基于竞争能力理论的企业信息系统战略规划方法具有动态性、系统性、全面性和认知性等特点.     

Manufacturing resource planning: An information systems model

This paper presents Manufacturing Resource Planning, an information system that will enable the developing and monitoring of strategic plans. Incorporation proven material and capacity requirements planning techniques, strategic planners can determine readily the impact of their plans on the manufacturing resources of the company. Decision making is more coordinated because all managers work from a common data base. However, the attainment of this level of planning sophistication is costly not only in capital outlays for computer software and hardware but also in the time to train users. But those firms who have successfully incorporated this integrated approach to strategic planning feel strongly that the end results justify the expenditures.     

A New Kind of Case Study: Using Business Bestsellers in the Business Policy Course

The undergraduate Business Policy (Strategic Management) course is often taught by using the case method of instruction. Cases are generally regarded as especially good vehicles for giving students an understanding of the general management view of an organization. The authors believe that it is useful for students to learn much about the strategy of at least one corporation in-depth. They use a business bestseller about a particular company or industry each semester for this purpose. All undergraduate students prepare the same written assignments on this company or industry using the business bestseller as a starting point. Experience in using the business bestseller as the basis of a written assignment in the business policy course has been very positive. Students both enjoy and profit from an assignment that focuses in-depth on a major firm or industry that they can comprehend and the evolution of which they can follow. Alumni often indicate that they continue to track the company or industry after graduation. The authors believe that such written assignments help prepare students of business strategy for the real world. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Production planning in practice

The changes and pressures facing the manufacturing and engineering industries today are increasing the importance of effective aggregate manpower and production planning. Several different theoretical optimisation models to tackle this problem have been described in detail in the literature but there have been few applications of them in practice.The reasons for this are many but include: the difficulty in expressing managements' conflicting and mixed objectives in an objective function; the necessity to oversimplify real life systems to enable these methods to be used; the simplistic approach to manpower planning used in these models; the difficulty in gaining managements' acceptance and finally the fact that what management actually wants is a tool to assist them in planning and decision making.What is being used by many managements is a case-study deterministic simulation model. Many companies are adopting this type of model for all types of planning and twelve out of twenty-seven companies visited in a research project described in this paper were using this type of model for aggregate manpower and production planning. It is proving to be an effective management tool and is being readily accepted principally because modern specialised financial modelling languages are enabling these models to be built, understood and used by non-specialist managers.     

Design,reliability and validity of a computer ageing simulation technique

Details are given of a Computer Ageing Simulation Technique (CAST) which was developed for a large UK multinational company to diagnose age-related performance problems in its workforce. The technique involved a manpower simulation of 4295 people at a manufacturing plant over a ten year projection period, from 1981 to 1991. Reliability and validity were checked after a two year period, and found to be significant. The paper focusses on the design principles of a strategic human resource planning system, the benefits of using social and economic data to predict supply and demand for labour, and the importance of reliability and validity. It is concluded that CAST represents a valuable management tool. Age-related problems can be strategically assessed, and the effectiveness of a number of human resource flow policies tested out.     

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.     

Identifying and using critical success factors

This article focuses on defining and discussing the concept of critical success factors as input into the environment analysis, resource analysis, and strategy evaluation steps in the strategic planning/strategy development process. The reader is provided with eight possible sources of critical success factors including environmental analysis, analysis of industry structure, industry/business experts, analysis of competition, analysis of dominant firm in the industry, company assessment, temporal/intuitive factors and PIMS results. Examples of CSF's from various sources are provided and a scheme by which the reader can assess the relative importance of identified CSF's is presented.     

Organization for long range planning—A survey of German companies

Whilst much is written about the theory of long range planning it is a fact that unfortunately, the organization of long range planning of business strategy within companies, has not proved to be an attractive object of research for business theorists. This paper is the exception. By an examination of more than 200 companies residing in the Federal Republic of Germany, long range planning is shown to be gaining more importance as a tool for company management. The organizational design of the planning system and its integration into the overall company structure is, according to this analysis, shown to be one of the most central problems of the implementation of corporate planning systems. This paper presents a theoretical framework and the empirical findings on structural and procedural aspects of long range planning, systems. The empirical study was carried out by means of interviews and a questionnaire survey. The survey results show some interesting and important features of the problems engendered by corporate planning and some of the advantages accruing from its successful implementation. Additionally, the analysis provides an interesting backcloth against which to view the implementation of planning and the relationships between the different levels of planning.     

Systematic planning and re-organization

In the last decade wages and salaries have more than doubled in most industrial countries. The amount of capital behind each person in industry has in many countries increased even more, partly to rationalize and compensate for the higher manpower costs. This high rate of investment made discount rates increase 50 – 100 per cent in most industrialized countries in the same period. On the other hand low-cost countries have steadily been pushing more and better products into the international markets. This increases competition. The strongest competition and challenge, however, may come from new technology, new materials, new products and above all from better management.

This development leads to a profit-squeeze for the static company. It gives smaller margins for slow and wrong decisions, and demands a dynamic forward-looking management that understands how to organize, how to develop and involve individual human resources, and how to draw up and use objectives, goals, plans, and programmes, both for present and future growth and progress.

In this article, which is based on management and consultant experience, the focus is put on the need of developing and using as management tools systematic planning and reorganization.     

Manpower planning at national and company level

Discussions of manpower planning take place in the context either of national plans or of company plans. From time to time the view has been expressed that the coverage and the time scale of these two types of planning are so different that there is nothing in common between them. This paper considers whether, in practice, ‘manpower’ is really so different from ‘personnel’. After all, the individuals regarding whom both plans are made are the same people; in both cases the planners are concerned with the posts they are to fill, with their salaries and with their mobility.     

A Nuclear Utility's Views on the Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessment

Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) is a relatively new tool in the nuclear industry. The Reactor Safety Study started the present trend of conducting PRAs for nuclear power plants when it was published in 1975. Now, nine years later, those in the industry currently using PRA techniques are frequently asked the same question: Why should the nuclear utility industry, with so many accepted analytical tools already available, invest the time and manpower to develop a new technique with so many uncertainties?     

Planning in a German engineering business

Formalized corporate planning, particularly in its long-range aspects, often seems to be a privilege of the huge international firm. The following case is intended to show that, contrary to this belief, long-range planning is equally essential for the company evolving rapidly from a small into a medium-size company. In the company described, over a period of 3 years a basic system was developed with the participation of line management, and many of the procedures have become routine. Also, the firm's business objectives and long term strategy have been reviewed and the company has diversified outside the saturated traditional markets for agricultural machinery.