تجزیه و تحلیل تجربی از اجرای استراتژی تولید

The purpose of the paper is to close the gap between theoretical approaches concerning manufacturing strategy and empirical analysis. This is accomplished by using data from the “High-Performance Manufacturing” project. In order to distinguish plants with a high implementation of a manufacturing strategy from the rest of the sample, the plants are grouped by a cluster analysis. Furthermore, two different views of manufacturing strategy, i.e. a market-based view and a resource-based view, are identified within the sample. The analyses show that the general implementation of a manufacturing strategy leads to better performance and fosters the implementation of special manufacturing strategies, i.e. a resource-based, a market-based, or an integrated manufacturing strategy. These special manufacturing strategies result in superior performance. Finally, the results reveal that the intensity of competitiveness has an impact on the choice of manufacturing strategy and that the ignorance of a special manufacturing strategy has more severe consequences in a highly competitive environment.

Since Skinner (1969) has addressed the importance of a strategic alignment of the manufacturing function, manufacturing strategy has become one of the most discussed issues in the field of operations management. Many publications offer conceptual frameworks, give empirical evidence, etc. concerning the use of a manufacturing strategy. While extensive literature on manufacturing strategy has been written since the 1960s, still some research questions remain unanswered. In this paper, we concentrate on the questions whether companies implement different kinds of manufacturing strategy and how these strategies are related to performance and to the competitive intensity. Today, manufacturing companies are forced to stand up to competitors in the light of a highly competitive environment. This can be achieved by a specific alignment of the manufacturing function. Through the formulation of a manufacturing strategy, the strategic potential of the manufacturing function can be realized, leading to superior competitiveness. Despite the fact that manufacturing strategy is commonly accepted as an important approach, there is still a lack of empirical work, especially regarding the use of manufacturing strategies in a broad international context. Concerning manufacturing strategy implementation, there is potential for further research, especially concerning different types of manufacturing strategies. Are manufacturing strategies predominantly focused on market requirements and do they follow the equivalent business strategy accordingly, are they formulated based on the underlying manufacturing resources in the light of the resource-based view, or is an integration of both types in manufacturing strategy reasonable, considering market requirements as well as resources simultaneously? Furthermore, the question arises if the competitive intensity of the environment has an impact on the choice of manufacturing strategy. These are the key research question of the paper. The paper is organized as follows. Firstly, we review the relevant literature on the topic. Then, the main hypotheses for the empirical analysis are developed. A presentation of the underlying research project, the research design, and the key variables is done in Section 4, before the findings of the empirical analyses of the study are discussed in the consecutive sections. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the results and give hints for further research.

The results show that there are differences between the plants in terms of manufacturing strategies. By the separation of the plants using a cluster analysis, it can be observed that a manufacturing strategy is not used by all plants to a satisfying degree. The mean values between the clusters differ on a very high significant level. This indicates that some companies do not stress the strategic relevance of manufacturing, whereas others consider a strategic alignment of manufacturing as important. Furthermore, a comparison of means leads to the result that those companies with a high implementation degree of a general manufacturing strategy have a higher performance in terms of several criteria, contrary to those with a low implementation degree. Accordingly, the strategic alignment of manufacturing seems to be an important issue for performance and, hence, for competitiveness. A second analysis allows a more specific view on manufacturing strategies. The comparison of two factors shows differences in terms of a market-based manufacturing strategy and a resource-based manufacturing strategy. This indicates that some plants focus on market-relevant aspects whereas others concentrate on their manufacturing competences like proprietary equipment or unique practices. A third group tries to integrate both aspects into their manufacturing strategy. The rest of the sample does not concentrate on a specific alignment of their manufacturing function. Two linear regression analyses show that the general implementation of manufacturing strategy supports the implementation of a specific manufacturing strategy, i.e. a resource-based or a market-based manufacturing strategy. Also in terms of specific manufacturing strategies differences concerning several performance criteria can be observed. It seems to be indispensable with respect to performance regarding manufacturing as a strategic issue. A separation of the plants with respect to the competitiveness of the environment they are working in reveals that plants tend to pursue a market-based manufacturing strategy or an integrated manufacturing strategy in a highly competitive environment. Contrary to that, plants in an environment characterized by low competitive intensity predominantly neglect special manufacturing strategies which consider market-based elements and prefer resource-based strategies instead. With respect to the competitive intensity, an investigation of the average performance values of the groups with a special manufacturing strategy contrary to those without such a strategy leads to the supposition that the ignorance in terms of a special manufacturing strategy has more severe consequences in a highly competitive environment. The findings imply that companies should regard manufacturing as a strategically highly relevant issue, especially in the light of the analyses concerning performance measurements. Furthermore, the intensity of competition plays an important role in terms of manufacturing strategy. Here, the question is interesting, what kind of special manufacturing strategy companies should choose, i.e. a resource-based, a market-based, or a hybrid approach integrating both of them. Yet some limitations apply to our research. First, a generalization of the results might be critical since other industries not covered by our study may be influenced by different impact factors. This may exhibit an effect on the identified relationships. Second, only respondents closely related to the production area are asked for their estimations. A comparison of these estimations with the ones of respondents from other hierarchies, e.g. show-floor workers, or other functional areas such as marketing, finance, etc. would be interesting. Furthermore, it would be favorable to include companies from other countries in the analyses. Additionally, a comparison of manufacturing objectives in the countries and in the industries would be interesting. Finally, longitudinal studies might have great potential identifying certain developments in the field of manufacturing strategy. In this regard, projects with many iterations over many years such as the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (Taylor and Webster, 2006) build a good basis for such a kind of research (see for further research approaches on manufacturing strategy Hallgren and Olhager, 2006).