A SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE ON MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS PLANNING*

For many companies, the implementation of material requirements planning systems has failed to produce the expected improvements in manufacturing efficiency. This paper shows that MRP failure can occur in the common situation in which MRP is installed in a manufacturing environment that has evolved around manual methods of material control. A system dynamics simulation model is used to interrelate decision functions (policies) of a manufacturing firm. Simulation runs of the model operating with manual methods of material control show six- to seven-year fluctuations in production, ordering, and labor. A modified version of the model, changed only by the introduction of a requirements explosion to represent MRP, shows that MRP can actually cause more severe production fluctuations, resulting in lower average labor productivity and higher manufacturing costs. The major practical implication of the analysis is that the organizational environment that suits MRP (and utilizes its inherent strengths) is different from the environment that is likely to prevail at the time of implementation.     

组织学习影响因素、学习能力与绩效关系的实证研究

回顾了国内外关于组织学习理论及组织学习与绩效关系方面的研究成果,基于中国201家企业调查数据,对采用定性方法提出的组织学习过程模型(6P-1B模型)进行了定量的实证研究.结果表明:6P-1B模型提出的7个方面的组织学习能力与组织绩效有紧密的正相关关系;各组织学习能力的机理要素与各组织学习能力之间有紧密的正相关关系;企业所感知的外界环境的变化程度不同、员工之间的目标正相关程度不同,使得企业在组织学习的机理要素方面的表现存在显著差异.这些研究结果对6P-1B模型的理论逻辑提供了一定的统计检验的支持,同时也给管理者提供了一些关于如何提高组织学习能力的方法和启示.     

冗余资源、企业网络位置与多元化战略

以875家上市公司的连锁董事网络为研究样本,讨论了冗余资源、企业网络位置和多元化战略的关系。将冗余资源区分为可用冗余、可恢复冗余和潜在冗余3类;将网络位置分为网络的中心位置和网络的中介位置2个维度,并采用中心度指标和结构洞指标对企业的网络位置进行测量。研究结果表明,不同类型的冗余资源均与企业多元化程度显著正相关,而网络位置所发挥的调节作用却因冗余资源的类型而有所区别。     

Strategic information management in global manufacturing

Responding to new forces on the competitive landscape, global manufacturing companies are restructuring corporate cultures, organizational cofigurations and management coordination channels and styles. The emergence of flexibility as a prime competitive parameter for manufacturing is paralleled by companies shifting toward flexible, adaptive structures. A major challenge is to develop and deploy information technologies linking organizational subgroups for a streamlines process of new product/service creation and delivery. This article describes the convergence of information management and manufacturing activities over the past 30 years and suggests what the future will hold.     

Strategies,management values,and outcomes in manufacturing companies

Popular literature on corporate cultures presents stories about the importance of management's values. This article reports statistical analyses based on data obtained from middle and top managers employed by manufacturing companies. Results show that companies pursuing a strategy of cost leadership possess cultures emphasizing pragmatic values and strong performance norms. Moreover, these values and norms relate significantly with managers' career satisfaction and their organizational commitment.     

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT,USER INVOLVEMENT,AND THE USEFULNESS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS*

This study investigates organizational factors related to user involvement in information system development and perceived system usefulness. Using a sample of 118 usermanagers in 34 companies, the results show that user involvement in design and implementation is related positively to users' perceptions of system usefulness. However, organizational factors were not found to be related significantly to user involvement, as had been originally hypothesized. Rather, organizational factors either had a direct relationship with perceived usefulness or moderated the relationship between involvement and usefulness. Two factors reflecting an MIS department's maturity (size and age) were found to reduce users' perceptions of system usefulness. Also, users at higher levels and those making more structured decisions found their systems more useful, although the user's level was found to moderate perceptions of system usefulness during the design stage. Three other organizational factors (level of MIS manager, MIS department scope, and decentralization of authority) also were found to have moderating effects.     

支持资源作用下的工作-家庭促进:情感倾向的调节作用

基于组织支持理论和资源保存理论,构建了支持资源作用下的工作-家庭促进模型,通过对40家制造业企业员工的问卷调查,采用多元调节回归的方法进行统计分析。研究结果表明,支持资源作用下的工作-家庭促进对员工组织情感承诺、工作满意度和离职意向有显著影响;情感倾向对支持资源作用下的工作-家庭促进与结果变量之间的关系有调节作用。当个体的情感倾向处于积极时,由组织支持资源带来的工作-家庭促进会显著提高员工的工作满意度、组织情感承诺,降低离职意向。     

面向创新的项目导向型企业体制与机制的集成模型与方法

本文通过对天津、河北和山东部分企业的研究发现,我国现有企业在自主创新方面存在企业组织体制和管理机制方面的问题.为解决这些问题,我国企业需要建设一种面向创新的项目导向型企业模式.国际最新的研究结果可以证明,这种新型企业是我国创新型国家建设和知识经济发展所需项目导向型社会的基本单元.本文全面讨论了这种面向创新的项目导向型企业组织体制和管理机制问题,以及建设这种自主创新企业所需的集成模型和方法.     

Cross-cultural influences on organizational learning in MNCS: The case of Japanese companies in China

This paper draws on the social construction perspective and on social learning theory to examine the cross-cultural influences on organizational learning in MNCs. Social learning theory suggests that constructive engagement and member solidarity are key constituents of organization-based collective learning. Literature suggests, however, that cross-cultural differences in assumptions about social participation by organization members may impair organizational learning. The paper also reports a qualitative study, conducted at five Japanese-invested manufacturing companies in the Pearl River Delta, China. The research found that managers perceived Chinese frontline workers as lacking constructive engagement and member solidarity as compared with their Japanese counterparts, thus limiting organizational learning, and attributed these perceived differences to deep-seated cultural values. Attempts in two of the companies to ‘Japanize’ the workforces were reported to have had some impact, but appeared not to have substantially changed this picture. Urging caution regarding cross-cultural stereotyping and home country bias, we consider the implications for organizations with international manufacturing operations.     

Adapting for Innovation: Including Divestitures in the Debate

Existing literature argues that divested units are unwanted and poor performers - yet evidence suggests that companies do divest well performing units, and often retain a relationship with them, especially in the quest for innovation. This article presents an exploratory case study to examine how a company structures the divestiture of an innovative unit and how it can benefit from the innovation the unit generates. The analysis focuses on how an established company can use divestiture as a strategy to enhance the innovation of its units, and capture its value, by structuring, maintaining and nurturing a special relationship with the unbundled unit. Under new organizational arrangement, resources can be transferred from the parent to the unit, while the parent retains access to the innovation developed within the unit. This study proposes a framework that offers corporate change agents and strategists a new perspective on how to integrate innovation and corporate strategy.     

BUSINESS STRATEGY,MANUFACTURING FLEXIBILITY,AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIPS: A PATH ANALYSIS APPROACH

It has been argued in the literature that business strategy and manufacturing flexibility independently affect the performance of an organization. However, no empirical examination of the interrelationship among these three constructs has been performed. In this paper, based on a field study of 269 firms in the manufacturing industry, the identified constructs have been used to test a theoretical model using path analysis techniques. Our results indicate that business strategy contributes both directly and indirectly to organizational performance. The findings provide evidence of direct effects of (i) business strategy on manufacturing flexibility and (ii) manufacturing flexibility on organizational performance.     

企业文化、组织学习、创新管理对组织创新能力影响的实证研究

通过文献探讨构建理论模型,运用江苏省103家的有效问卷调查数据,研究企业文化与组织学习对组织创新能力累计是否具有影响力,并以创新管理作为条件变量导入上述因果模式中,验证其对原有影响力是否有增强效果。研究表明,企业文化与组织学习均与创新能力显著正相关,而创新管理与创新能力微弱相关;在企业文化与创新能力关系中,导入创新管理3层面后,对原有影响力有增强作用;在组织学习与创新能力关系中,加入创新管理3层面后,对原有影响力有减弱作用。     

The Intervening Role of Innovative Climate: A Study of Middle Managers in Manufacturing Organizations in Iran

Based on a developed model, this study deals with an investigation on whether innovative climate is a variable that moderates the relationship among middle managers' technological innovation and organizational factors such as structure, strategic posture, and environment. We used path analysis framework to study this relationship. The respondents (N=158, n=96) were all the managers of large or medium manufacturing companies with headquarters in the province of Tehran in Iran. The study found that innovative climate has an intervening role in the relationship among organizational structure, strategic posture and environment, and middle managers' technological innovation. The results have implications for the executive and human resource management practices.     

Business model in IPO prospectuses: insights from Italian Innovation Companies

How do companies to be listed deal with the voluntary disclosure of their business model? Is it true that firms with greater intellectual capital resources and technological innovation endowments are less prone to full disclosure? This paper aims to examine the choices of voluntary disclosure of the business model made by three Italian manufacturing companies in initial public offering prospectuses. The objective is to explore whether any differences exist and may be related to the type of innovation underlying the firms’ business model. A series of interviews with the top management allows to deeply understand the business model of each company. A content analysis allows to measure the level of disclosure and identify the strategic concepts of the business model and their relevance. The study provides evidence that companies with a business model based on technology-push and design-driven innovation have a lower propensity to the full disclosure of their intangible resources, particularly of those based on knowledge as some could be also invisible. The paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of business and financial reporting.     

The Role of Culture as Driver of Quality Management and Performance: Infrastructure Versus Core Quality Practices*

Increasingly, scholars and practitioners recognize the importance of understanding organizational culture when implementing operations management practices. This study investigates the relationships among organizational culture, infrastructure and core quality management practices, and manufacturing performance using two alternative models. Understanding these relationships is important because culture can provide insight into the context dependence of quality management practices and shed light on the mixed results of past studies concerning the link between quality management and performance. Analysis of manufacturing plants from six countries indicates that organizational culture has a stronger influence on infrastructure quality management practices than on core quality management practices, regardless of whether the plants are located in Eastern or Western countries. In addition, infrastructure quality management practices have a significant effect on manufacturing performance. These results contribute to the quality management literature by emphasizing the importance of accounting for culture when making decisions to implement quality management practices to achieve a performance advantage. Finally, we also contribute to the literature on the culture–performance linkage by finding support for a direct link between culture and manufacturing performance.     

Risk, Trust, and Safety Culture in U.K. Train Operating Companies

Organizational safety culture reflects the attitudes and behaviors that individuals share in considering and reacting to hazards and risks. We first argue that trust is an underdeveloped and important concept in relation to theories of safety culture and high-reliability organizations. The article then reports findings from a two-year qualitative study of train operating companies (TOCs) in the United Kingdom, which sought to explore in detail the linkages between safety culture and the postprivatized railway industry. In-depth interviews and focus groups were carried out with a sample of over 500 employees, from four organizations, and representing all key functional levels. Our analysis suggests that the 1993 privatization, and subsequent organizational restructuring of the U.K. railway industry, has had important repercussions for both safety culture and trust relationships. We explore our findings in relation to three key constructs within "safe organizations" theories (namely, flexibility, commitment, and learning), and discuss how the safe organization model might be usefully supplemented by a consideration of trust issues.     

基于信息处理的复杂产品制造敏捷性研究:以沈飞公司为案例

本研究从信息处理理论视角,探讨复杂产品制造企业如何运用信息技术提升复杂产品制造敏捷性的课题.信息技术能否推动制造敏捷性在理论界存在两种截然不同的研究结论.本研究认为企业通过识别复杂产品制造的信息处理需求,构建网络层级与网络中心度高低不同的信息处理网络结构,并引入相应的管控方式,从而实现信息技术促进复杂产品敏捷制造的目标.信息处理网络与管控方式的相互适配可发展企业信息处理能力,它包含信息分解,信息加速与信息共享三类能力.信息处理能力是信息技术能否推动企业制造敏捷性的核心因素.本研究从动态的视角打开信息技术与复杂产品制造敏捷性的过程"黑箱",对发展信息处理理论与推动中国企业复杂产品的敏捷制造具有深远的指导意义.     

Transportation Approach to Locating Plants in Relation to Potential Markets and Raw Material Sources

Proximity to the market place has been considered the most important locational factor in the literature so far. However, the growing need for frequent deliveries of materials in smaller lot sizes for just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing prefers plants closer to the raw materials sources. Locating plants for JIT manufacturing is, therefore, a problem of finding the right balance between the requirements of procurement and distribution. A comprehensive model is proposed in this paper to solve this problem. The model is solved by using the transportation algorithm and produces simultaneous decisions on procurement, production, and distribution. The model does not require plant sizes to be known a priori, but it allows upper limits to be placed on the size of each plant and raw material source. As such, optimal plant capacities along with the corresponding procurement and distribution quantities are all determined by the model solution.     

Information Systems Adaptation and the Successful Implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies*

Few plants have initial success with advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs), and adaptations are commonly required after installing new technologies. We especially know little about the outcomes of adaptations that manufacturers regularly employ in the context of AMTs. Sociotechnical theory and the technology literature suggest that AMTs commonly require four types of adaptations including those to process technologies, human resources, operational structures, and information systems. This study investigates which of these four adaptations and their interactions lead to improved operational performance. Data were collected on 104 plants that implemented a single type of manufacturing AMT. Findings indicate that information systems (IS) adaptation during the course of AMT implementation was the most important action. Surprisingly, human resource and process technology adaptations were linked to lower performance, and no interactions had any clear effects. The results also show that practitioners underestimated the relevance of IS adaptations during contemporary or “second-generation” AMT implementation projects and overemphasized the need for shop floor changes.