مدیریت ورای موانع کارخانه: اثر چهار نوع ادغام استراتژیک بر عملکرد کارخانه

In this paper we focus on the integration of strategic objectives and process knowledge that a manufacturing factory collects from its external interfaces. Using data from a variety of manufacturing industries, this study examines four different types of strategic integration at the manufacturing plant level. We use a path analytic approach to simultaneously assess the contributions of the various types of integration to manufacturing-based competitive capabilities and business level performance. In addition, we examine the intervening roles that manufacturing-based competitive capabilities play in mediating the relationships between strategic integration and business performance. We find that each type of integration activity has unique benefits and detriments. These findings extend prior studies of manufacturing and supply chain integration by broadening the theory relating to strategic integration. The results also provide implications for manufacturing managers who seek to design integration policies and associated resource deployments.

Various integration concepts have received attention from operations management researchers in recent years. In this paper we focus on manufacturing strategic integration, the integration of strategic and technical knowledge that a manufacturing factory collects from external interfacing sources. We view strategic integration as a process, rather than an outcome. An integration process includes activities that acquire, share, and consolidate strategic knowledge and information with parties outside the immediate organization. We argue that factories which engage in such activities will outperform their less-integrated peers, because they achieve better alignment of objectives and business processes, coordination, and fit. Our research takes the perspective that manufacturing is part of an overall value chain of activities, which include product supply and distribution, as well as corporate strategy and technology development activities. Research studies of integration have tended to focus on vertical supply chain activities, technology related activities, or strategy formulation activities (Hayes and Wheelwright, 1984, Hill, 1994, Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001, Rosenzweig et al., 2003, Vickery et al., 2003 and Swink and Calantone, 2004). Our study is one of the first to simultaneously examine the relative influences of strategic integration in each of these areas on manufacturing-based competitive capabilities. Evaluating and comparing a more complete set of integration aspects than has been done in prior studies is important given that manufacturing managers have limited resources and must choose the most effective deployment of these resources. Further, where other researchers have focused on tactical or operational integration of supply chain activities (Frohlich, 2002, Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001 and Sahin and Robinson, 2002), we investigate integration of strategic information and knowledge. This focus places our research in the realm of manufacturing strategy. Like most foregoing manufacturing strategy research, our unit of analysis is the manufacturing plant. Plant level studies are important since optimal deployment of resources must eventually be made at the plant. The findings thus provide extensions to prior manufacturing strategy studies in this stream. The results also provide implications for manufacturing managers who seek to design strategic integration policies and associated resource deployments. For researchers, the study extends existing supply chain integration theories to develop a more comprehensive strategic value chain integration theory. We use a path analytic approach to simultaneously assess the relative contributions of various types of strategic integration to manufacturing competitive capabilities and business performance. In addition, we examine the intervening roles that manufacturing competitive capabilities play in mediating the relationships between integration and business performance. Prior studies indicate that mediation effects are important, but they have not been tested comprehensively or holistically (Rosenzweig et al., 2003 and Vickery et al., 2003). A multivariate approach is important given the typically high correlations among integration activities and among manufacturing competitive capabilities. The multivariate analysis clarifies the unique influences of each integration type on various dimensions of capability and performance, controlling for spurious associations. Furthermore, path analysis affords the ability to test mediation hypotheses directly, rather than inferring them from associations in methods such as regression. In addition, our study employs measures of practice implementations as reflective indicators of types of strategic integration, rather than simply asking informants “are you integrated?” This approach reduces the threat of common method variance. More importantly, the results suggest how strategic integration might be achieved, as well as what the relative importance of various integration types might be. The sample data for the study are drawn from multiple manufacturing industries, providing an extension to other studies that have focused on consumer, automotive, or other industries. The objectives of the study can be summarized in the following research questions: 1. What are the specific effects on performance of various types of strategic integration activities in which manufacturing plants engage? 2. Do strategic integration activities foster manufacturing-based competitive capabilities, or are they mainly direct drivers of business performance? These questions have been unaddressed in prior research. However, there are substantial related studies that provide a theoretical grounding and basis for comparing our research findings. In the next section, we review these studies and develop the theoretical grounding for our hypotheses.

The limitations of this study should be considered along with the results. As noted earlier, our study focuses on strategic integration processes at the plant level, as opposed to more operational activities enacted at business unit levels. These differences should be considered when our results are compared to prior research. Another limitation stems from our reliance on sole respondents as sources of data. The positions of the respondents, as well as steps take in data collection and analyses argue against serious effects of bias and common method variance. However, the potential of these threats to validity cannot be completely ruled out. We also address a somewhat limited set of business performance measures. While our measures of market performance and customer satisfaction were correlated with more “objective” measures including market share, ROI, and ROA, the observations were insufficient to provide a more comprehensive set of measures of business performance. An important contribution of this study stems from its emphasis on studying detailed dimensions of strategic integration. Our findings point up the limitations of research which views integration as a monolithic concept. Aggregated measures of integration fail to surface the details and interactions of various integration types. Using data from a variety of manufacturing industries, this study examines four different types of strategic integration at the manufacturing plant level. The results show that each type of integration activity has differential and unique merits. Corporate strategy and product–process integration have greater impacts on manufacturing competitive capabilities at the plant level than strategic supplier and customer integration do. Nevertheless, each of the strategic integration types appears to be associated with benefits, and some types may involve detriments as well. Overall, the results of this study highlight the important competitive gains that can be obtained when manufacturing managers develop effective knowledge integration processes that extend beyond the factory's walls. Much of the past manufacturing strategy research has focused on internal manufacturing processes and technologies. Our study argues the need for additional study of external strategic integration processes as well.