استراتژی تولید و قابلیت های پویای شرکت

From a system thinking perspective, competition/cooperation boundaries govern the evolution of a firm's adaptive strategic behaviour and drive it towards its desired objectives. By analyzing different scenarios using a system dynamic simulation approach and considering market competitive dynamics, this study explores the volume flexibility measure considering both the operating environment and the simultaneous strategic behaviour of the competing firm(s). The objective is to develop new macro measures for the enterprise manufacturing strategy and link the operations management theory on volume flexibility to the dynamic capability theory. The strategic effect of enterprise volume flexibility under three market scenarios is studied and reported.

The ultimate goal for industrial enterprises is to secure a long-term sustainable advantage over its rivals that contribute to wealth creation and growth over time. Manufacturing systems cannot be operated or managed if they are isolated from the rest of the organization. Skinner [1] introduced manufacturing strategy to exploit certain properties of the manufacturing function to achieve competitive advantages. Manufacturing strategy is defined as a pattern of decisions, both structural and infrastructural, which determine the capability of a manufacturing system in order to meet a set of manufacturing objectives that fit with the overall business objectives. The typical strategic planning process for industrial enterprises starts by defining the business strategy that the firm will utilize. According to the selected type of strategy, firms have to generate a portfolio of capabilities that will determine the contribution of the manufacturing function to overall business performance. The resources that any firm acquires are the raw material for developing these capabilities and also for the firm's available future strategic choices. The process between acquiring resources and making strategic choices involves transferring these resources into capabilities that adapt to the external environment with its challenging and shifting requirements. Also a firm's capabilities should adapt in a responsive manner, with respect to its industry benchmark, i.e. competition performance. To develop manufacturing capabilities, managers will have decisions in two categories: structural and infrastructural [2]. Structural decisions regarding capacity expansion are strategic and irreversible as they may or may not increase manufacturing flexibility as competitive capability to the enterprise. Thus exploring the effectiveness of volume flexibility gained from capacity adjustments considering the simultaneous strategic behaviour of competition and the operating environment is interesting to the decision makers.

This research has explored how operations management theory on volume flexibility can be linked to the dynamic capability theory to develop new macro measures for the enterprise manufacturing strategy. Model results show that there are differences in the resource options available to the firm, as suggested by the resource base view [3], and this may limit the implementation of volume flexibility capability as a competitive advantage. Short-term sources of flexibility such as inventory or capacity buffers may respond to small market fluctuations in demand, while large market fluctuations are more controlled by the irreversible type of strategy the firm may possess and accumulate over longer time periods regarding production capacity capability. Industrial enterprises will have to adapt their manufacturing capabilities to outperform the evolving industry benchmark. The benchmark evolution speed, either in market(s) or between industry members, is affected by the evolving customer preferences and the degree of allowed competition governed by policy makers. However, under different scenarios, given the universality of the uncertain environment, volume flexibility capability is commonly desirable by the enterprise to achieve a certain level of competitive advantage in its market(s). Finally, global manufacturing networks that coordinate outsourcing, enhance responsiveness and share information fairly are expected to dominate the next era of manufacturing practices on the strategic, tactical and operation levels.