Strategic Awareness of Manufacturing Managers in Six Taiwanese Plants

Abstract

The paper examines the involvement in the strategic decisions of their plants of the senior managers responsible for manufacturing in six Taiwanese factories. All the plants made electrical/electronic products, and had extensive activity in export markets. It considers three areas where manufacturing managers need to be involved in strategically significant decisions. It then examines areas where the managers identified strategically significant problems facing their plants. It also discusses actions taken by them that they considered strategically important. The first area concerned the presence of a clear, written or unwritten, manufacturing strategy This included having an understanding of the markets' needs, recognising how manufacturing could support these competitively, and whether peer level managers perceived manufacturing managers as contributors to strategic thinking. Second, did they have a clear understanding of the performance of competing organisations? Third, whether they were involved in the strategic dimensions of the manufacturing process choice, and with the role of suppliers. The final section reviews a series of issues that the managers nominated as strategically important to their plants and the type of actions they took which they perceived as strategically significant.