Competitive priorities and capabilities: high-cost country case survey

IF 3.8 Q2 MANAGEMENT

Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing Pub Date : 2023-01-04 DOI:10.1108/jgoss-02-2022-0009

P. Hilletofth, O. Hilmola

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Purpose Globalization and the importance of emerging markets have increased the pressure of high-cost manufacturing locations to sustain operations. However, there are still some countries in which manufacturing is prospering despite high costs (like Germany, Sweden and Switzerland). This study examines seven competitive priorities through 24 different capabilities, using a case survey of four manufacturing companies located in Sweden. This study aims to develop a contemporary understanding from vital priorities and capabilities. Design/methodology/approach A case survey was conducted in four different-sized manufacturing companies in Sweden during the autumn of 2018. In total, the survey attracted 89 responses. Respondents were mainly middle managers and other management team members. Findings In general, companies assess the importance of manufacturing capabilities higher than performance and improvement. The authors’ analysis shows that quality priority through product and process capabilities is ranked highest in terms of importance, performance and improvement. In addition, delivery capability shows a similarity with quality. At the other end, being lowest ranked are typically different flexibility and advertising capabilities. This study demonstrates with correlation analysis that most often capabilities have a positive correlation in terms of their importance, performance and improvement needs. Some capabilities show potential correlations across importance, performance and improvement. Research limitations/implications This research is limited to one high-cost environment and to four companies within that environment. Further research should examine the impact of the pandemic era on manufacturing priorities and capabilities. Originality/value In general, case surveys have relatively rarely been used in management studies. This research offers an alternative and deeper perspective from high-cost country manufacturing, as the responses are from numerous persons in management positions.

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竞争重点和能力:高成本国家案例调查

全球化和新兴市场的重要性增加了高成本制造地点维持运营的压力。然而，仍有一些国家的制造业在高成本的情况下蓬勃发展(如德国、瑞典和瑞士)。本研究通过对位于瑞典的四家制造公司的案例调查，考察了24种不同能力的7个竞争重点。本研究旨在从重要的优先事项和能力发展当代的理解。设计/方法/方法2018年秋季，在瑞典的四家不同规模的制造公司进行了案例调查。调查共收到89份回复。受访者主要是中层管理人员和其他管理团队成员。一般来说，公司认为制造能力的重要性高于绩效和改进。作者的分析表明，通过产品和过程能力的质量优先级在重要性、性能和改进方面排名最高。此外，交付能力与质量表现出相似之处。另一方面，排名最低的通常是不同的灵活性和广告能力。本研究通过相关分析证明，在大多数情况下，能力在其重要性、绩效和改进需求方面具有正相关关系。一些能力显示了重要性、性能和改进之间的潜在相关性。研究局限/启示本研究仅限于一个高成本环境和该环境中的四家公司。进一步的研究应审查大流行时期对制造业优先事项和能力的影响。一般来说，案例调查在管理研究中很少使用。这项研究从高成本国家的制造业提供了另一种更深入的视角，因为这些回应来自许多管理职位的人。

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来源期刊

Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing MANAGEMENT-

CiteScore

9.40

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing aims to foster and lead the international debate on global operations and strategic sourcing. It provides a central, authoritative and independent forum for the critical evaluation and dissemination of research and development, applications, processes and current practices relating to sourcing strategically for products, services, competences and resources on a global scale and to designing, implementing and managing the resulting global operations. Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing places a strong emphasis on applied research with relevant implications for both knowledge and practice. Also, the journal aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas and opinions on research projects and issues. As such, on top of a standard section publishing scientific articles, there will be two additional sections: "The Industry ViewPoint": in this section, industrial practitioners from around the world will be invited (max 2 contributions per issue) to present their point of view on a relevant subject area. This is intended to give the journal not just an academic focus, but a practical focus as well. In this way, we intend to reflect a trend that has characterised the past few decades, where interests and initiatives in research, academia and industry have been more and more converging to the point of collaborative relationships being a common practice. "Research Updates - Executive Summaries". In this section, researchers around the world will be given the opportunity to present their research projects in the area of global sourcing and outsourcing by means of an executive summary of their project. This will increase awareness of the on-going research projects in the area and it will attract interest from industry.