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This paper is aimed at overcoming the contrast between the paradigmatic views and the strategic approaches to manufacturing. It challenges the idea that the paradigmatic perspective actually narrows the strategic space for manufacturers to build their own competitive advantages, because it drives them to conform to emerging best practice. The empirical evidence is drawn from a global sample of 79 production units in the engineering industry that revealed consistent orientation to the strategically flexible production, an emerging manufacturing paradigm characterised by three generic principles to organise and manage production systems, namely: multi‐focusedness and strategic flexibility; integration of business processes across functions and firms' boundaries; and process ownership, i.e. delegation, involvement and harnessing of intellectual capabilities of the workers. The purpose of the article is twofold: first, to verify the existence of different manufacturing strategies within strategically flexible production, in terms of improvement goals and innovative programs; and, second, to build an empirically‐based taxonomy of such strategies.

The adoption and effectiveness of advanced management practices by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is becoming an emerging issue since the literature has recognised that a pure entrepreneurial attitude is no longer enough for the competitive success of these firms. This paper explores this issue by comparing the practice‐performance links for two types of SMEs ‐‐ i.e. subcontractors and small manufacturers ‐‐ through the investigation of the management practices pertaining to the following three functional areas: general management, production management and product innovation management (only for manufacturers). Despite the fact that subcontracting is generally considered less appealing and profitable than manufacturing, empirical evidence shows that subcontractors are more effective in implementing advanced practices of production management whilst most small manufacturers ‐‐ although quite advanced in developing practices of general management ‐‐ experience difficulties in exploiting the potential of good product innovation practice.

Explores the implementation process of the customer‐supplier partnership in the machinery industry. Aims to assess the dynamic impacts on performance of various practices that are generally regarded as typical of a customer‐supplier partnership. Also, investigates internal consistency of various practices and possible path dependencies. Shows, in the case of single sourcing, the complementarity and the synergistic effects of co‐design, sharing production plans, dedicating up‐stream capacity and assuring down‐stream demand. Finds the key role of a complete performance control system to monitor delivery, quality and cost performance, even when tight control over suppliers might be regarded as less crucial due to trust and long‐termism. Discusses the issue of dedicated EDI assets and shows that, at least in some cases, delaying investments might significantly reduce risks of sunk cost for both partners. Shows that, while some players on both sides of the relationship perceive the relationship as a "win‐win" situation, others play a "zero sum game".

The study of internal and external consistency of manufacturing choices is a central theme in the literature of manufacturing strategy. However, most empirical studies lack dynamic perspective in facing this problem. This paper explores on an empirical, longitudinal basis the role of strategic priorities and past experience in driving the selection of manufacturing improvement programmes. A completely aligned selection is expected when the choice of the improvement programme is coherent with both the change in manufacturing priorities and the past experience of the programme implementation. Partially aligned and misaligned choices derive from the coherence with only one or none of the two driving factors. Different patterns of selection have been detected that depend both on the programme and on company‐specific factors. Starting from the level of strategic alignment of company's choices, guidelines are provided in order to manage effectively the process of manufacturing strategy formulation.

PurposeWhile the attention of most OM scholars has shifted to supply chain management, there is still a need to understand how supply chain strategies are linked with internal manufacturing strategies. The literature shows some studies in this field, but a deep investigation of the linkages between these two areas is still missing. The purpose of this study is to investigate on an empirical basis the relationship between two supply chain integration dimensions – the integration of information flows and the integration of physical flows – and two manufacturing improvement programmes – lean production and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.Design/methodology/approachEvidence is drawn from a sample of 297 European companies from the third edition of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey. Data are analysed using exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression.FindingsResults show that the adoption of the lean production model has a strong influence on the integration of both information and physical flows along the supply chain, while no significant influence emerged from the adoption of ERP.Research limitations/implicationsFindings open up new research questions about the missing link between ERP and information integration along the supply chain. Further developments concern the investigation of the impact of consistent adoption of internal and external practices on performance.Practical implicationsThe paper provides managers with clear evidence of the need for consistency between internal and external integration.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to research by providing empirical evidence of the link between manufacturing and supply chain integration practices.

PurposeSeeks to review the results of a paper originally published in 2003 and to evaluate what can be considered still valid and what needs to be revisited.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is a general review and observations about the earlier work.FindingsThe focus of the earlier paper was on integration and collaboration tools, while internet B2B tools can be used also for the opposite purpose. E‐sourcing and e‐procurement tools are aimed at increasing purchasing efficiency, rather than integrating inter‐firm business processes. In general, statistics and predictions such as those discussed focus on the value of exchanges, not on the purpose of internet applications.Originality/valueThe paper provides relevance at the present stage of B2B internet applications.

The interest of both researchers and practitioners around the use of Internet‐based tools to support business processes has been quite high in the last few years. However, despite the initial enthusiastic expectations, it is still not completely clear whether these expectations have been translated into business reality. This paper explores the actual adoption of Internet technologies in supply chain processes by a large sample of European manufacturing firms participating in the IMSS survey. Four e‐business strategies are identified and their relationship with contingent factors and supply chain integration mechanisms is investigated. Results show a close link between the use of Internet tools and the level of integration with customers and suppliers, thus suggesting the need to define e‐business strategies in coherence with the use of traditional integration mechanisms.

As customers ask for increasing levels of performance, functionality and customisation, firms rely on suppliers not only as a source of components, but also as a source of innovation. Several researchers have investigated the adoption of co‐design, its potential benefits and its costs. Recently, scholars have increasingly underlined the need for bringing this rich stream of studies within a contingency framework, taking into account context variables and internal characteristics of the firm. This paper contributes to this contingency theory of co‐design adoption. We investigate the role of three factors that might influence the intensity of supplier involvement in product development: structural characteristics (industry, size and degree of vertical integration), strategic priorities (strategic fit) and internal consistency with purchasing and new product development practices. An empirical analysis of 67 Italian manufacturers demonstrates that co‐design adoption is actually related to most of these factors.

In recent years, time‐based competition (TBC) has drawn the attention of
several practitioners and academicians. Much evidence has been put
forward from case studies in order to show the benefits that derive from
time compression. Nevertheless, there is a lack of conceptual models and
operating tools to support lead‐time reduction. Provides a conceptual
framework for modelling the lead time of business processes in order to
design effective re‐engineering. Two levels of lead‐time modelling have
been identified: an aggregate level, which accounts for the
relationships between lead times of different phases of a process, and a
detailed one, which allows the mechanisms of lead‐time making to be
clearly understood. Reviews existing time models and proposes two new
detailed models in order to cope with the growing need for process
re‐engineering. Presents these models in terms of time components and
composition laws. Suggests a process taxonomy to select the suitable
lead‐time models depending on the process characteristics at both the
aggregate and detailed level. Finally, shows how detailed models could
be used to link lead time to process performances on the one hand and to
managerial levers on the other. Thirteen time‐drivers, affecting the
lead time of a given process and its basic components, have been
identified.

Gives results of a survey on the application of the just‐in‐time
(JIT) approach in Italy, based on a sample of 173 industrial companies.
The methodological framework used to evaluate JIT application was
described in a previous article (International Journal of Operations
& Production Management, Vol. 9 No. 8, 1989). Interest in JIT is
wide and is growing. The evidence shows the compatibility and
complementarity of JIT with different classes of innovation; the need
for an integrative approach emerges. Pull‐controlled flow, supply
quality certification, preventive maintenance, job
enlargement/enrichment and product modularization emerge as the core
features of JIT, even though most are widely adopted in JIT
implementation. In terms of operating conditions, the most significant
improvements obtained by those who adopt JIT are: a speed‐up in
production flow and synchronization between production and market and
between the different productive and logistic phases. Consequently,
major benefits in production system performance are achieved in terms of
mix flexibility, working‐capital productivity and productivity of both
direct and clerical labour. Success in JIT adoption seem not to be
related to certain exogenous factors, such as company size and type and
the nationality of ownership. As the strategic profile of a firm also
seems irrelevant to the aims of JIT adoption JIT confirms itself as an
instrument suitable for different application contexts and diverse
strategic objectives.

Notes that supporting small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in their process towards the adoption of business process re‐engineering (BPR) may be essential as the tools and methodologies of BPR were designed for larger companies. Presents a methodology for the design of support services, developed within the context of a European Union (EU) project. The methodology consists of four major steps. The first step consists of an analysis of users' needs. Since BPR support needs are differentiated and often implicit, an "ad hoc" methodology was developed to make demand explicit and split the potential market into homogeneous segments. The second step identifies the proper services to meet the needs of SMEs. The third step explores current supply of services and the critical success factors of a BPR support centre. Finally, the fourth step defines guidelines for the design of both the support centre and the specific support services. The methodology was developed also on the basis of the case of the Lombard machinery industry. Finally, the paper discusses the transferability of the methodology to other regions and industries.

The book is a 'Liber Amicorum' for the late Gianluca Spina, Professor at Politecnico di Milano, Italy, who was well-known and respected in the European Operations Management research community. It consists of reprints of 7 of his most important cited and representative papers, spanning his research career from the early 90s and presenting his research trajectory. Each paper has original comments by one or two relevant international scholars in the field, who were also his close friends. These offer a critical discussion of the papers' content, as well as a discussion of their contribution to the academic debate since publication.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretically sound and empirically tested classification system composed of purchasing strategic categories as a basis for purchasing portfolio models.Design/methodology/approachAn international, cross‐industry survey has been designed to assess the characteristics and corresponding strategies of the purchasing categories.FindingsThe paper operationalises the constructs derived from previous scientific contributions related to purchasing portfolio management and transaction cost economics (TCE) to empirically test the purchasing portfolio. In total, four different types of strategic categories have been identified, and distinctive competitive priorities have been found.Research limitations/implicationsManagers might be able to identify different types of purchasing strategic categories, whose characteristics drive specific purchasing strategies. Longitudinal data and more extensive tests of the characteristics of each category might contribute to improving the proposed research framework.Originality/valueThe research overcomes some of the classical limits of purchasing portfolio models, including the absence of a theoretical and empirical basis. In particular, TCE is used to support and expand traditional purchasing portfolio approaches, and a broad empirical base is used to test such an approach.

PurposeIn 2003 the authors investigated the level of adoption of e‐business by manufacturing firms in Europe. Four company strategies were identified based on different extents of adoption of internet‐based tools for interaction with customers and/or suppliers. The purpose of this paper is to replicate, those analyses using the new release of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) IV. These new results are compared with previous ones in order to determine whether modeling previously described in the literature remains valid.Design/methodology/approachData collected in Europe through IMSS III and IV are used. In particular, companies are clustered according to e‐business practices adopted in supply chain management (SCM) and the degree of adoption of e‐business between the two editions of the research is compared. A longitudinal analysis is also conducted using data from companies participating in both editions of the survey.FindingsIt is shown that the fundamental aspects of the modeling approach earlier proposed in the literature remain valid, with a higher average level of adoption of e‐business tools in the more recent edition of the study. However, the four‐cluster model is shown to be no longer valid. In the more recent dataset, three clusters emerge. They are characterized by different levels of adoption of e‐business, balanced between e‐commerce and e‐procurement. The longitudinal analysis shows that the firms participating in both editions of the research have changed their strategy, coherently to what the overall sample does.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is focused on the assembly industry and only part of the sample is strictly longitudinal. Further research is needed to relate e‐business strategy with performance and to distinguish among the various tools available.Practical implicationsThis paper also shows that the adoption of e‐business is increasing among small and medium firms, even if the practices adopted by any individual company remain limited. Results show that a cautious adoption is preferable to more radical implementation, since some firms have actually reduced their initial efforts to adopt e‐business.Originality/valueThe literature currently lacks extensive, longitudinal studies on e‐business strategies in SCM. The paper shows how the concept has rapidly evolved recently, and it modifies models that are proposed only a few years ago in the face of new data.

Defines a new manufacturing paradigm and investigates its adoption and performances, within the assembly industry on a global basis. The definition of the paradigm is based on a set of basic principles to design and manage production systems which discard the traditional way of organizing manufacturing activities, and pool companies which pursue different manufacturing strategies and implement different innovative techniques. The paradigm is characterized by the simultaneous implementation of three principles: strategic multi‐focusedness, integration of business processes across functions, and process ownership. Starting from an operationalization based on fuzzy logic, explores the hypotheses about the adoption and the performance improvements of the multi‐focused manufacturing paradigm using a sample from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) database. The paradigm has been adopted widely across countries and industries involved in the IMSS survey. Shows that process ownership is poorly implemented by most of the companies at the moment, while multi‐focusedness and integration are more on hand. Companies which have adopted the paradigm are improving their performance significantly better and quicker than partial or non‐adopters. Highlights different possible patterns that the companies can follow to reach core adoption of the multi‐focused manufacturing paradigm.