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Distributed Manufacturing: A New Form of Localized Production
... Technology has always been and continues to act as an enabler of enhanced performance. Despite the scarcity of research, it is clear that emerging technologies can act as a coordination mechanism and flexible manufacturing tool when responding to emergencies (Queiroz & Fosso Wamba, 2021), supporting localised manufacturing close to the point of need (Srai et al., 2020). Recent advancements in digital technologies can enhance planning, mobilisation, and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 (Srai et al., 2020;Phillips et al., 2020). ...
... Despite the scarcity of research, it is clear that emerging technologies can act as a coordination mechanism and flexible manufacturing tool when responding to emergencies (Queiroz & Fosso Wamba, 2021), supporting localised manufacturing close to the point of need (Srai et al., 2020). Recent advancements in digital technologies can enhance planning, mobilisation, and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 (Srai et al., 2020;Phillips et al., 2020). Other recent cutting-edge technologies like Blockchain can improve information sharing during and after highly disruptive pandemic outbreaks and, consequently, enhance critical data visibility such as inventory levels throughout the supply network (Remko, 2020). ...
The world is witnessing an unprecedented upheaval in global operations and supply chains (Azadegan & Dooley, 2021; Scholten et al., 2020). Increasingly occurring natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic have plunged organisations into a state of emergency, with many fighting for their very survival (Ivanov, 2020; Queiroz et al., 2020; Schleper et al., 2021). Be they large or small, short-lived or sustaining for some time, emergency situations present a potential risk to an individual’s health and livelihood, organisational and societal welfare, and to the wider environment (van de Walle & Turoff, 2008; Sarkis, 2021). Emergency situations typically require urgent action to restore operations to the previous scenario or new strategies for survivability and adaptation to an entirely new context (Ivanov & Dolgui, 2020b; O’Flynn, 2020). Due to the scale and immediacy of these events, a range of actors is often involved, including governments, non-governmental organisations, and businesses, that need to work together to mitigate threats to life and property. To find a way out of today’s emergency situations, managers urgently require guidance on how to rapidly redeploy operational resources and build resilience (Ivanov & Dolgui, 2021; Remko, 2020). Emerging technologies such as those related to industry 4.0 are well-positioned to help organisations rebuild and reconfigure their resilience capabilities (Koh et al., 2019; Spieske & Birkel, 2021).
... Country leaders are taking note and recent efforts to organize manufacturing by region have emerged in both Africa and South America (Buckholtz 2021, Keenan 2021). However, building up regional manufacturing is admittedly a highly complex task that involves a disruption to existing supply chains and re-organization of manufacturing worldwide (Srai et al 2020). To mitigate the risks of devolving into nationalism in a crisis and increase long-term resilience, these regional hubs will require careful construction and both internal and external accountability mechanisms (Phillps et al 2022). ...
Background
During the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has cost millions of lives around the globe, caused major morbidity and provoked widespread economic and social disruption. In response, governments have enacted policies to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. This research focuses on policies aimed at increasing access to essential health products and services by comparing them to the global rules governing trade, investment and intellectual property. We have assessed whether these rules have- or could have- constrained countries in responding to this and future crises. The study identifies the nature and scope of the trade-related health sector policies implemented by a sample group of countries, selected because of their systemic significance: the United States, Germany, France, China, South Africa and India. Each policy is placed into one of five broad categories covered by trade and investment rules so that we could assess their consistency with those rules.
Results
We found that the types of trade-related health measures were quite diverse. The high-income countries in our study were the most active in the policy space and tended to rely on subsidies-based measures while the middle-income countries relied more heavily on export and import measures. Policies directly relevant to intellectual property protection were virtually non-existent. When evaluating the implemented policies against the global trade and investment rules, we found potential inconsistencies with five different types of rules: those governing subsidies, import and export trade barriers, investment measures, government procurement and trade-related intellectual property.
Conclusions
Given the tension between the global rules and the practices of policy making during the pandemic, we conclude that this tension must be resolved in favor of governments making policy rather than relying on existing exceptions or pushing national governments to comply more exactly with the rules. Although the pandemic itself does not respect national borders, governance still generally occurs at the national level because national governments are often the only entities with both the legal authority and the practical ability to respond.
... Platform applications can be deployed by local/regional networks, for example to facilitate building a circular economy (Silvestri, Spigarelli, & Tassinari, 2020 Changes in manufacturing processes also have consequences for the long-term configuration of supply networks. The rise of 3D printing and decentralized manufacturing (Singh et al., 2020) drives new patterns of procurement, either with more suppliers (printers) for lower volumes, or delegating sourcing activities to specialist intermediaries (Braziotis, Rogers, & Jimo, 2019;Kunovjanek & Reiner, 2020). Switching from labour-intensive to highly automated suppliers also places new demands on procurement to follow the changing emphases on technologies, cost structures and supplier location. ...
... 10 In essence, production is done close to the final customer and much of the material supply chain is replaced by information [70]. It looks unsuited to high production volume industries, such as commodity chemicals and automotive, but is more feasible for low-volume, higher added value products and value chains [71]. However, the biofoundry concept is suited to this model. ...
Abstract Currently, the world is faced with two fundamental issues of great importance, namely climate change and the coronavirus pandemic. These are intimately involved with the need to control climate change and the need to switch from high carbon, unsustainable economies to low carbon economies. Inherent in this approach are the concepts of the bioeconomy and the Green Industrial Revolution. The article addresses both issues, but it, principally, focusses on the development of the bioeconomy. It considers how nations are divided in relation to the use of biotechnology and synthetic biology in terms of their bioeconomy strategies. The article addresses, as a central theme, the nature and role of engineering biology in these developments. Engineering biology is addressed in terms of BioDesign, coupled with high levels of automation (including AI and machine learning) to increase reproducibility and reliability to meet industrial standards. This lends itself to distributed manufacturing of products in a range of fields. Engineering biology is a platform technology that can be applied in a range of sectors. The bioeconomy, as an engine for economic growth is addressed—in terms of moving from oil‐based economies to bio‐based economies—using biomass, for example, using selected lignocellulosic waste as a feedstock.
... Some authors have explored the interdependencies between manufacturing networks and units inside of them, such as factories (e.g., Colotla et al., 2003;Szász et al., 2016;Thomas et al., 2015). In contrast, relations between production networks and factors lying outside of their system boundaries, such as their organizational environment, have attracted less scholarly attention (see Rudberg and Olhager, 2003;Srai et al., 2020 for two pioneering exceptions). In line with this, Coe et al. (2008) assert that "[…] far too much of the production network literature pays little more than lip service to [network's] institutional and geographic environments" (p. ...
Purpose
In this paper, the authors empirically investigate under which conditions production network management is effective to improve manufacturers' financial performance. For this, the authors explore contingencies between production networks and the three key dimensions of organizational environment.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey with senior managers was conducted for this research. The authors used a hierarchical regression analysis to test interaction effects and draw on follow-up interviews with chief operating officers (COOs) and senior managers to elaborate and explain the found associations.
Findings
Results indicate that manufacturers' financial performance is only associated with their network capability level if they operate in hostile competitive environments. In moderate competitive environments, improvements in the network capability level are not associated with greater financial performance. In particularly munificent environments, such production network upgrades are even associated with the opposite effect.
Practical implications
Results highlight in which organizational contexts upgrading production networks has positive performance implications and under which circumstances it is ineffective or even counterproductive.
Originality/value
The authors draw on unique survey data to add quantitative evidence to the predominantly conceptual and qualitative literature on global production networks. This is also one of the first studies to connect the topics of production networks and organizational environment.
... o Fully outsourced (to an AM service provider) o Fully in-house o In-house but operated by the service provider In-depth case studies with simulation of the processes and optimization of the network can be done to address the above question. In this context, as demonstrated by Srai et al. (2020), the role of the supply network which consists of key supply units, operating across the supply chain, needs to be studied. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to (1) analyse the effect of customised on-demand 3DP on surgical flow time, its variability and clinical outcomes (2) provide a framework for hospitals to decide whether to invest in 3DP or to outsource.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design included interviews, workshops and field visits. Design science approach was used to analyse the impact of the 3D printing (3DP) interventions on specific outcomes and to develop frameworks for hospitals to invest in 3DP, which were validated through further interviews with stakeholders.
Findings
Evidence from this research shows that deploying customised on-demand 3DP can reduce surgical flow time and its variability while improving clinical outcomes. Such outcomes are obtained due to rapid development of the anatomical model and surgical guides along with precise cutting during surgery.
Research limitations/implications
We outline multiple opportunities for research on supply chain design and performance assessment for surgical 3DP. Further empirical research is needed to validate the results.
Practical implications
The decision to implement 3DP in hospitals or to engage service providers will require careful analysis of complexity, demand, lead-time criticality and a hospital's own objectives. Hospitals can follow different paths in adopting 3DP for surgeries depending on their context.
Originality/value
The operations and supply chain management community has researched on-demand distributed manufacturing for multiple industries. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper on customised on-demand 3DP for surgeries.
... The relevant research question is : o Fully outsourced (to an AM service provider) o Fully in-house o In-house but operated by the service provider In-depth case studies with simulation of the processes and optimization of the network can be done to address the above question. In this context, as demonstrated by Srai et al. (2020), the role of the supply network which consists of key supply units, operating across the supply chain, needs to be studied. ...
Methodology The research design included interviews, workshops, and field visits. Design Science approach was used to analyse the impact of the 3D Printing (3DP) interventions on specific outcomes and to develop frameworks for hospitals to invest in 3DP, which were validated through further interviews with stakeholders. Purpose The purpose of this research is to 1) analyse the effect of customised on-demand 3DP on surgical flow time, its variability, and clinical outcomes 2) provide a framework for hospitals to decide whether to invest in 3DP or to outsource. Findings Evidence from this research shows that deploying customised on-demand 3DP can reduce surgical flow time and its variability while improving clinical outcomes. Such outcomes are obtained due to rapid development of the anatomical model and surgical guides along with precise cutting during surgery. Research implications We outline multiple opportunities for research on supply chain design and performance assessment for surgical 3DP. Further empirical research is needed to validate the results. Practical implications The decision to implement 3DP in hospitals or to engage service providers will require careful analysis of complexity, demand, lead-time criticality and the hospital's own objectives. Hospitals can follow different paths in adopting 3DP for surgeries depending on their context. Originality value The operations and supply chain management community has researched on-demand distributed manufacturing for multiple industries. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper on customised on-demand 3DP for surgeries..
The disruptive event of the COVID-19 pandemic appearing in 2020 changed the rules of how international supply chains and businesses perform. The pandemic took most of the countries and organisations by surprise, with the tragic consequences of 203 million infections and almost 4,5 million deaths worldwide until August 2021. This paper deals with the consequences of the pandemic relating to international distributed manufacturing. Generally, the risks and challenges that arise in this crisis are manifold and range from immediate health risks, isolation risks to the disruptive changes in the supply chain and manufacturing setups.
Resilience, redundancy, and flexibility are the main factors of robustness that play an important role in this crisis management. Building up robustness and resilience is proposed by applying corrective and preparative action for a wide range of production factors (people, material, processes, supply chain etc.) and a variety of risk classes (health, isolation, lockdown).
Additive manufacturing offers great potential for both product and process innovation in manufacturing across a wide range of industry sectors. To date, most applications that have been reported use additive manufacturing to produce either customized parts or produce at small scale, while the volume manufacture of standard parts largely remains a conjecture. In this article, we report on a series of experiments designed to elucidate how quantity, quality and cost relate in additive manufacturing processes. Our findings show that traditional economies of scale only partially apply to additive manufacturing processes. We also identify four build failure modes and quantify their combined effect on unit cost, exposing an unusual property whereby the cost‐optimal operating point occurs below maximum machine capacity utilization. Furthermore, once additive manufacturing technology is used at full capacity utilization, we find no evidence of a positive effect of increased volume on unit cost. We do, however, identify learning curve effects related to process repetition and operator experience. Based on our findings we propose a set of general characteristics of the additive manufacturing process for further testing.
Redistributed manufacturing (RDM), together with additive layer manufacturing (ALM), enables a consumer-centric supply to be created and some of the challenges pertaining to traditional supply chains based on centralized manufacturing to be overcome. ALM technologies allow the cost-effective and fast fabrication of parts with an intricate/complex external and internal structure, via the addition of material layer-by-layer in a controlled environment. ALM technologies, together with RDM, have a significant potential to mitigate the spare parts related challenges that are central to offshore petroleum asset operations [i.e. in relation to maintenance, repair, overhaul and modifications (MRO&Ms)]. This manuscript provides a comprehensive investigation of how ALM enables the benefits of RDM to be taken up in offshore petroleum asset operations. It also provides an overview of the need for technology qualification and a methodology for designing parameter combinations to enhance RDM performance. The designing of a parameter combination is explained in relation to situations involving several ALM systems and those involving a single ALM system.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer empirical insights on emerging additive manufacturing (AM) processes, barriers to their adoption and a timeline of expected impacts on the supply chain in the manufacturing industry.
Design/methodology/approach: A multi-stage survey study was conducted with a panel of 16 experts from industry and academia.
Findings: Only five out of today’s seven AM processes are of future importance, as are two emerging key processes. In total, 15 barriers to their adoption are identified, all of which are expected to be gone within ten years. Eight propositions are derived postulating as to whether and when supply chain impacts can be expected in terms of changes to supply chain structure, customer centricity, logistics and supply chain capability.
Research limitations/implications: “Soft” barriers are new to the literature, which has traditionally focused on “technical” barriers. Often-discussed barriers such as production speed and costs do not reflect the true concerns of the research panel. Furthermore, some of the supply chain implications discussed in both the academic literature and the media are found to be unlikely to materialize.
Practical implications: The study summarizes AM processes, technologies, barriers and supply chain implications solicited from experts in the field.
Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to make empirical contributions to a vastly conceptual discussion. It is also the first study to give insights on a timeline for barriers and supply chain implications.
The recent advances in digital technologies and in additive manufacturing (AM) in particular are revolutionising our industrial landscape. These changes require new engineering and management skills to exploit fully and sustainably the benefits offered by these advanced technologies. The current talent shortage calls for new education programmes to deliver a skilled, capable and adaptable workforce. Existing courses on design, engineering and management related to production and manufacturing do not systematically deliver the necessary skills and knowledge for an effective deployment of AM technologies. Based on a literature review and evidence collected from multi-stakeholder workshops, this paper presents the key themes for education programmes to address the current skill gap and barriers to AM adoption and exploitation.
The future organizational landscape may change drastically by mid-century as a result of widespread implementation of 3D printing. This article argues that global will turn local; mega (factories, ships, malls) will become mini; long supply chains will shrink; many jobs will be broadened to combine design, consulting, sales, and production roles; and large organizations will make room for smaller ones. “A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.” [President Obama, State of the Union Address, 2013].
This discussion paper aims to set out the key challenges and opportunities emerging from distributed manufacturing (DM). We begin by describing the concept, available definitions and consider its evolution where recent production technology developments (such as additive and continuous production process technologies), digitization together with infrastructural developments (in terms of IoT and big-data) provide new opportunities. To further explore the evolving nature of DM, the authors, each of whom are involved in specific applications of DM research, examine through an expert panel workshop environment emerging DM applications involving new production and supporting infrastructural technologies. This paper presents these generalizable findings on DM challenges and opportunities in terms of products, enabling production technologies, and the impact on the wider production and industrial system. Industry structure and location of activities are examined in terms of the democratizing impact on participating network actors. The paper concludes with a discussion on the changing nature of manufacturing as a result of DM, from the traditional centralized, large scale, long lead-time forecast driven production operations, to a new DM paradigm where manufacturing is a decentralized, autonomous near end-user driven activity. A forward research agenda is proposed that considers the impact of DM on the industrial and urban landscape.
This paper outlines the evolution of additive manufacturing technology, culminating in 3D printing, and presents a vision of how this evolution is affecting existing global value chains in production. In particular, we bring up questions about how this new technology can affect the geographic span and density of global value chains. Potentially, wider adoption of this technology has the potential to partially reverse the trend towards global specialization of production systems into elements that may be geographically dispersed and closer to the end-users (localization). This leaves the question of whether in some industries diffusion of 3D printing technologies may change the role of multinational enterprises as coordinators of global value chains by inducing the engagement of a wider variety of firms, even households.
Using the example of jeans and the fast fashion sector, this critical review explores how systems of provision analysis can be used to understand geographical connections between spaces of production and places of consumption. The study of global commodity chains and production networks has proliferated in economic geography, yet the focus on transactions between places frequently omits to consider the material culture that surrounds processes of making and buying. In contrast, in cultural geography the meanings and transformations associated with ‘following things’ has explored the shifting meanings of commodities as well as personal experiences of shopping with a focus on signifying culture. Ben Fine’s systems of provision approach can offer a more comprehensive analysis. Fine considers how the role of the consumer has emerged as well as the economic processes through which value is established in goods and is an inclusive way of examining the activities that connect consumption and production. Through discussing some of the recent and emerging work on denim jeans this review shows how a systems of provision approach can effectively map a ‘fast fashion’ system and provides a framework that can be applied to other economic geographies.
As our discipline has matured, we have begun to develop theories of supply chain management. However, we submit that a major omission of theory development in the supply chain management discipline is that we have failed to develop a theory of what we are managing – a theory of the supply chain. Using a conceptual theory building approach we introduce foundational premises about the structure and boundary of the supply chain, which can serve as the basis for much needed, additional development of the theory of the supply chain.
Keywords: theory of the supply chain; conceptual theory building; networks; complex adaptive systems; boundaries
We explore the impact of geographically bounded, intra-firm linkages (internal agglomerations) and geographically bounded, inter-firm linkages (external agglomerations) on firms’ location strategies. Using data from the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Business Database, we analyze the locations of new establishments of biopharmaceutical firms in the U.S. in 1993–2005. We consider all activities in the value chain and allow location choices to vary by R&D, manufacturing, and sales. Our findings suggest that internal agglomerations have a positive impact on location. The effects of internal agglomerations
vary by activity, and they arise both within an activity (e.g. among plants) and across activities (e.g. between sales and manufacturing). Our results also suggest that previous estimates of the effect of external agglomerations may be overestimated because the existing literature abstracted from internal agglomerations.
Our study extends the emerging inter-firm-level theorization of dynamic capabilities by articulating how firms can develop and adapt their resource bases through supplier relations. Specifically, we aim to explore how different embedded relational aspects function together or separately to induce various inter-firm routines that presumably underpin the buying firm’s dynamic capabilities. The research design is a multiple case study involving 34 buyer-supplier dyad-level innovation events across six product groups of three multinational buying firms in the Pharmaceuticals, Aerospace, and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods sectors. Our inductive analysis suggests that the social, cognitive, and physical aspects of relational embeddedness play roles, in a cumulatively sequential fashion, in inducing three distinctive routine types—unilateral, quasi-unilateral, and bilateral—in the buyer-supplier dyads that underpin the three clusters of dynamic capabilities—sensing, seizing, and transforming, respectively. Furthermore, our study identifies two contingencies that explain variances in the observations and inferences. We therefore investigate the ‘black box’ of dynamic capabilities in inter-firm contexts, elucidating the roles and association of relational embeddedness and patterned activities (routines) in these relationships.
This research investigates the implications of supply chain strategies that manufacturing companies can use to minimise or overcome natural resource scarcity, and ultimately improve resource efficiency and achieve competitive advantage. The relationship between resource efficiency and competitive advantage is also explored.
The proposed research model draws on resource dependence theory. Data were collected from 183 logistics, purchasing, sustainability and supply chain managers from various manufacturing companies and analysed by applying the PLS (Partial Least Squares) structural equation modelling technique.
The results indicate that both buffering and bridging strategies improve resource efficiency; however, only bridging strategies seem to lead to firm’s competitive advantage in terms of ownership and accessibility to resources. The relationship between resource efficiency and competitive advantage is not supported.
Future research could confirm the robustness of these findings by using a larger sample size and taking into account other supply chain members.
This research provides guidance to managers faced with the growing risk of resource scarcity to achieve a resource efficient supply chain and an advantage over competitors.
Studies have explored the appropriate strategies for minimising dependencies caused by the scarcity of natural resources in the field of supply chain management; however, there is limited empirical work on investigating the impact of these strategies on resource efficiency and competitive advantage.
In emerging markets, there are data quality problems. In this paper, we establish theoretical models to explore how data quality problems affect sustainable fashion supply chain operations. We start with the decentralized supply chain and find that poor data quality lowers supply chain profit and social welfare. We consider the implementation of blockchain to help and identify the situation in which blockchain helps enhance social welfare but brings harm to supply chain profitability. We propose a government sponsor scheme as well as the environment taxation waiving scheme to help. We further extend the study to the centralized supply chain setting.
This research explores the development of local community-based ‘makerspaces’ as potential scalable forms of redistributed manufacturing (RDM). Makerspaces are rapidly emerging in post-industrial economies and have been identified as a catalyst of local regeneration in urban areas. However, their role in local production systems is limited. There is a gap in the literature, with respect to the evolution of makerspaces and their productive contribution. The purpose of this paper therefore is to identify, classify and examine the different types of makerspaces. Our focus is on the implementation characteristics that enable industrial production activity to take place. First, we used Leximancer (to identify from the literature) three types of makerspace. Second, we then identify five RDM implementation characteristics. The characteristics were integrated together to form the RDM-makerspace implementation model. Third, case studies were purposively selected to test and advance this model. They were subsequently classified as a Type 1 (educational), Type 2 (design) or Type 3 (production) makerspace. Only one of the case studies was classified as a fully evolved Type 3 production space. The findings concur with the literature that makerspaces tend to be primarily Type 1 or Type 2. Finally, the contribution to local production theory is emphasized.
The linear production of consumer goods is characterised by mass manufacture, multinational enterprises and globally dispersed supply chains. Redistributed manufacture (RDM) is an emerging topic, which seeks to enable a transition of the current linear model of production and consumption, by taking advantage of new technologies. This paper aims to explore the challenges, opportunities and further research questions to set a vision of Redistributed manufacturing for the UK’s consumer goods industry. To set this vision, a literature survey was conducted followed by a qualitative enquiry where PESTLE¹ aspects of RDM were analysed. This analysis was interpreted through a roadmap. As a result of this roadmap, four RDM characteristics (i.e. customisation, use of digital technologies, local production and the development of new business models) were identified. These characteristics helped to set the future vision of RDM in the UK’s consumer goods sector.
Constantly increasing wages and transportation costs with market uncertainty have initiated “re-shoring” programs and the establishment of low-scale localized production for advanced economies. For the purpose, Re-distributed Manufacturing (RdM) concept emerges as an essential component especially, in emerging economies. As one of the fastest growing countries of the major world economies, India faces numerous challenges of RdM as an emerging economy which includes monetary constraints, bureaucratic regulation, lack of coordination among supply chain members, a poor digital infrastructure and a lack of standards, etc. An extensive literature review reveals limited research and methodological approaches exist concerning the challenges and causal relationships between identified challenges needed to exploit these new opportunities. In this work, twenty-one challenges to RdM in emerging economies were identified from the literature and finalized by experts' inputs. Later, this study utilizes fuzzy- Decision Making-Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Analysis technique to quantify the cause-and-effect relationships between identified challenges. ‘‘Lack of developed standards’ and ‘Lack of government policies, poor regulatory frameworks and certification programs’ have been reported as the key challenges. This study suggests a series of recommendations necessary to efficiently support RdM implementation for corporate sustainability in emerging economies.
This paper extends operations strategy theory on efficiency and flexibility trade-offs to the emergent phenomenon of redistributed manufacturing (RDM). The study adopts a multiple-case design including five small and five large pharmaceutical firms. We propose that organizations can gain the efficiency benefits of centralized manufacturing and the flexibility advantages of RDM by building an ambidexterity capability. To build such a capability, large firms can structurally partition their manufacturing and supply management functions, with one sub-unit managing centralized production and the other RDM. Smaller enterprises can build an ambidexterity capability by creating the right organizational context, where multi-skilled workers switch between efficient and flexible tasks. This paper contributes to theory by explaining the emergence of RDM using an organizational ambidexterity lens, laying the groundwork for new theory development in the field. We provide managers with a practical example of how to build an ambidexterity capability to realize flexibility and efficiency advantages.
This research paper studies the Chinese technological system of production and innovation in the field of photovoltaics (PV). It contributes to a better understanding of the emergence and development of the system by utilizing three levels of analysis: the institutional framework of the system, the market dynamics of production and deployment, and the composition of innovation-related activities. The analysis demonstrates the interrelated roles of transnational factors, local government policies, and research and development (R&D) activities undertaken by the main actors in shaping the system dynamics. Tracking the relative position of China in the global PV manufacturing, installation and technological development, the analysis shows a gap between the growth of China's market share and its modest share of transnational patent applications. This suggests a puzzle, which the paper attempts to answer by inspecting the individual companies in the system against four aspects. First, the dynamic development of their size and performance. Second, the nature of their international involvement through foreign direct investment and mergers and acquisition deals. Third, their technological specialization within the PV value chain over time. Fourth, the spatial scope of their patenting protection endeavours. The analysis recognises four periods of system development driven jointly by market dynamics and government plans. Behind the continuous growth of the system, there were different driving and moderating factors in each period.
The linear production of consumer goods is characterised by mass manufacture by multinational enterprises and globally dispersed supply chains. The current centralised model has created a distance between the manufacturer and end user, limiting the opportunity for intelligent circular approaches for production and consumption. Through a mixed method approach, opportunities of circularity are explored for the consumer goods sector. The study presents four lenses to analyse three enterprises through a multi-case study approach to explore the potential of digital intelligence and redistributed manufacturing (RDM) as enablers of circular business models. In addition, the study examines whether Discrete Event Simulation can be used to evaluate the circular scenarios identified through quantifying flows of material that determine traditional economic value (cost/tonne). The mixed method approach demonstrates that, a qualitative systemic analysis can reveal opportunities for circularity, gained through implementing ‘digital intelligence’ and distributed models of production and consumption. Furthermore, simulations can provide a quantified evaluation on the effects of introducing circular activities across a supply chain.
Purpose
Flexibility is a fundamental performance objective for manufacturing operations, allowing them to respond to changing requirements in uncertain and competitive global markets. Additive manufacturing machines are often described as “flexible,” but there is no detailed understanding of such flexibility in an operations management context. The purpose of this paper is to examine flexibility from a manufacturing systems perspective, demonstrating the different competencies that can be achieved and the factors that can inhibit these in commercial practice.
Design/methodology/approach
This study extends existing flexibility theory in the context of an industrial additive manufacturing system through an investigation of 12 case studies, covering a range of sectors, product volumes, and technologies. Drawing upon multiple sources, this research takes a manufacturing systems perspective that recognizes the multitude of different resources that, together with individual industrial additive manufacturing machines, contribute to the satisfaction of demand.
Findings
The results show that the manufacturing system can achieve seven distinct internal flexibility competencies. This ability was shown to enable six out of seven external flexibility capabilities identified in the literature. Through a categorical assessment the extent to which each competency can be achieved is identified, supported by a detailed explanation of the enablers and inhibitors of flexibility for industrial additive manufacturing systems.
Originality/value
Additive manufacturing is widely expected to make an important contribution to future manufacturing, yet relevant management research is scant and the flexibility term is often ambiguously used. This research contributes the first detailed examination of flexibility for industrial additive manufacturing systems.
This paper develops an approach to evaluating designs for digitalisation interventions in purchasing and supply management (PSM), and identifies some fundamental design principles for such interventions. A set of advanced technologies for digitalisation and a theory-based set of seven value drivers for PSM are identified for the proposed grid to facilitate the design of applications and interventions for digitalising PSM. The grid relates the digital technologies to the PSM value drivers in a matrix-like manner, allowing the structured consideration of the space defined by these two dimensions. The proposed approach to the strategic evolution of digitalisation in PSM is tested and its utility is demonstrated in analyses of practitioner literature and multiple case-study-based perspectives on PSM digitalisation. Two fundamental design principles relating to the use of the grid, or to the filling of its space, are set out, thus the research provides new theoretical perspectives on the design of advanced forms of PSM digitalisation. The proposed grid may be used in application design, communicating current and future states of PSM digitalisation to stakeholders, and specifically in developing a future-oriented strategy with a digitalization element for the PSM function.
Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production' - Adam Smith Commodities are in love with money but the course of true love never did run smooth ' - Karl Marx For some theorists the consumer is king. The tastes and preferences of the individual, communicated through the magic mechanism of the market dictate what is produced and whether producers succeed or fail. For others comsumption traps the individual in a fetish like devotion to goods that can never satisfy real needs. Both positions have reached an apotheosis in the last decade, with the unequivocal arrival of the consumer society'. The World of Consumption presents a critical analysis of the major social theories of consumption before proceeding to develop new, more inclusive theory. The authors argue that individual commodities create their own distinct systems of provision', processes by which production, distribution, marketing and consumptioj are vertically integrated. Hence the function of marketing in the fashion industry is better explained by the function of other aspects of this industry. The book supports this argument with extensive case studies of the food and clothing systems.
Purpose
In response to calls for conceptual frameworks and generic theory building toward the advancement of sustainability in supply chain resource utilization and management, the purpose of this paper is to advance a circular framework for supply chain resource sustainability (SCRS), and a decision-support methodology for assessing SCRS against the backdrop of five foundational premises (FPs) deduced from the literature on resource sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking a conceptual theory-building approach, the paper advances a set of SCRS decision-support criteria for each of the theoretical premises advanced, and applies the theory of constraints to illustrate the conceptual and practical applications of the framework in SCRS decision making.
Findings
This study uses recent conceptualizations of supply chains as “complex adaptive systems” to provide a robust and novel frame and a set of decision rules with which to assess the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, and social capital of supply chain resources from pre-production to post-production.
Research limitations/implications
The paper contributes to theory building in sustainability research, and the SCRS decision framework developed could be applied in tandem with existing quantitative hybrid life-cycle and input-output approaches to facilitate targeted resource sustainability assessments, with implications for research and practice.
Originality/value
The novel SCRS framework proposed serves as a template for evaluating SCRS and provides a decision-support methodology for assessing SCRS against the five theorized FPs.
We examine the effects of home country institutional factors, namely, home country government support, domestic institutional weaknesses, and state ownership on the subsidiary-level strategy of global integration (I) and local responsiveness (R) of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). We draw upon the home country institution-based view and the I/R framework to develop our theoretical model. We empirically test our hypotheses using an original new survey data collected from Chinese multinational subsidiary managers supplemented with parent-level and country-level data. We find that home country government support and domestic institutional weaknesses have significant and negative effects on global integration strategy of Chinese multinational subsidiaries. On the other hand, domestic institutional weaknesses push foreign subsidiaries to pursue local responsiveness strategy. Nevertheless, those with greater degree of state ownership in their parent firms are neither willing to disintegrate from their parent firms nor motivated to pursue local responsiveness strategy in order to deal with home country institutional deficiencies and develop new sources of competitiveness in foreign markets. Our findings have advanced the literature on subsidiary strategy in the context of EMNEs, and provide important implications for subsidiary managers and policy makers.
Although knowledge assets provide multinational corporations (MNCs) with competitive advantages in foreign markets, it can be difficult for firms to protect their knowledge in foreign countries – especially countries with weak intellectual property (IP) protection. Building on and extending the knowledge management, institutional theory and expatriate literatures, this article explores whether home country expatriates can substitute for weak IP protection and drive an increase in more and more valuable knowledge transfers to foreign operations located in weak IP protection countries. Because of their ties to headquarters, knowledge of parent firm assets, priorities and routines, and activities in local operations, I argue that home country expatriates can transform the local operation to offer higher protection for parent firm knowledge in weak IP countries in ways that local managers cannot. The results from a comprehensive panel of US multinationals suggest that home country expatriates can substitute for weak IP protection, but that this effect is contingent on the manufacturing and knowledge capabilities of foreign operations for higher value parent firm knowledge transfers. Overall, this article extends our understanding of the global management and protection of knowledge by MNCs by exploring how organizational practices can buffer country-level institutional deficiencies for firm knowledge.
- This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.
In a 2000 article in Industrial Marketing Management, “Issues in Supply Chain Management,” Lambert and Cooper presented a framework for Supply Chain Management (SCM) as well as issues related to how it should be implemented and directions for future research. The framework was comprised of eight cross-functional, cross-firm business processes that could be used as a new way to manage relationships with suppliers and customers. It was based on research conducted by a team of academic researchers working with a group of executives from non-competing firms that had been meeting regularly since 1992 with the objective of improving SCM theory and practice. The research has continued for the past 16 years and now covers a total of 25 years. In this paper, we review the progress that has been made in the development and implementation of the proposed SCM framework since 2000 and identify opportunities for further research.
This paper is a first step to understand the role that a smart city with a distributed production system could have in changing the nature and form of supply chain design. Since the end of the Second World War, most supply chain systems for manufactured products have been based on ‘scale economies’ and ‘bigness’; in our paper we challenge this traditional view. Our fundamental research question is: how could a smart city production system change supply chain design? In answering this question, we develop an integrative framework for understanding the interplay between smart city technological initiatives (big data analytics, the industrial Internet of things) and distributed manufacturing on supply chain design. This framework illustrates synergies between manufacturing and integrative technologies within the smart city context and links with supply chain design. Considering that smart cities are based on the collaboration between firms, end-users and local stakeholders, we advance the present knowledge on production systems through case-study findings at the product level. In the conclusion, we stress there is a need for future research to empirically develop our work further and measure (beyond the product level) the extent to which new production technologies such as distributed manufacturing are indeed democratising supply chain design and transforming manufacturing from ‘global production’ to a future ‘city-oriented’ social materiality.
This research examines manufacturing reshoring from institutional, strategic and operations management perspectives. The multi-disciplinary approach is motivated by the active involvement of institutions in promoting reshoring activity, suggesting institutional factors can be significant in combination with the more traditional drivers of location decision considered in strategic and operations management. The synthesis of several literature domains enables a broader conceptualisation of the dynamics of reshoring. Anecdotal evidence of reshoring activity within industry has not been well evidenced in the extant literature. In this study, we consider emerging data-sets from the UK and France as they represent major developed-world manufacturing nations that have witnessed significant offshoring in recent decades, and where reshoring is now being actively promoted.
What does international competition mean for competitive strategy? While there is an ample literature on the problems of becoming a multinational, the specific strategic needs of established multinationals requires closer examination in light of the increasingly competitive international environment. We need to distinguish between multidomestic industries and global industries. If American firms are to catch up with the Japanese, they must strive to achieve global platforms rather than engage in competition on a country–by–country basis. A global strategy requires that a firm rebalance the configuration and coordination of its activities so that comparative as well as competitive advantage is achieved. The increasing globalization of international competition requires strategic responses that overcome country parochialism. © 1986, The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
International business literature has largely explained the international dispersion of firms’ activities as a choice based on trade-offs between cost minimisation, knowledge seeking, managing transaction costs and maintaining control. By incorporating insights from operations management, we propose a framework that explicitly takes into account products’ physical and knowledge attributes that constrain the viable international configuration options available to firms. Linking the characteristics of a product to the scope for horizontal and vertical decoupling in a value network allows us to re-frame recent discussions in the literature about fragmentation of activities vs tasks and to develop an overall picture of the way industry-specific peculiarities characterise (and also constrain) viable international configurations. We show how our framework can be used to interpret data on the scope for decoupling and dispersion collected from industry experts and elucidate the relationships between configuration options and measures of product characteristics. We then utilise this framework to predict how emerging technologies will reshape the international configuration options available to firms.
The concept of "embeddedness" is centred to industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) theories. This paper is concerned with one form of embeddedness, namely the political embeddedness of business networks. Existing IMP literature on political embeddedness is reviewed and four dimensions of political embeddedness identified: political institutions, political actors, the political activities of firms and political resources. Research into each of these dimensions of political embeddedness is extended in this paper by analysing the findings from a longitudinal case study of the networks of an exporting firm. The case contributes to a deeper understanding of the "political embeddedness" concept, and suggests that the interpenetration of marketing and policy exchange is a feature of networks in "politically salient" industries.
Managers of multinational companies (MNCs) are now faced with the task of optimizing efficiency, responsiveness, and learning simultaneously in their worldwide operations - which suggests new strategic and organizational challenges. This is the first of two articles that explore this new situation; they are based on a research project that involved extensive discussions with more than 250 managers in nine of the world's largest multinational companies. This article describes the strategic challenges these companies faced because of increasing complexity of environmental demands, and the ways in which they tried to respond to those challenges. The analysis suggests that, for most MNCs, limited organizational capability (rather than lack of analysis or insight) represents the most critical constraint in responding to new strategic demands.
This study investigates the conformance quality benefits of colocating manufacturing with research and development (R&D) activities. Findings from a panel data set of U.S.-based pharmaceutical plants over a 13-year period reveal that colocation of manufacturing and R&D relates to better conformance quality, on average, across the entire sample. We find that these benefits of colocation persist throughout the time period we study (1994–2007), which is surprising, given the rapid development of information and communication technologies during that time. These benefits are particularly enhanced for manufacturing plants operating with processes that involve a high level of tacit process knowledge and that belong to large firms. Our findings highlight the importance of matching organizational design with process and firm characteristics in settings involving knowledge interdependence. They also highlight the continued value of physical proximity through geographical colocation between manufacturing and R&D activities to achieve desired quality outcomes.
This paper was accepted by Serguei Netessine, operations management.
This paper examines a new paradigm in the world of manufacturing-distributed manufacturing based on desktop manufacturing (DM)(2). The evolution of (DM)(2) began in the last decade of the 20th century and its technological development is well underway, as is evidenced by a World Technology Evaluation Center study (www.wtec.org). However, as managers begin to assess the competitive advantages of moving to this manufacturing model it will be important to consider the social and environmental implications of this paradigm shift as well as issues related to materials and energy utilization. The factors that now appear to be driving the need for radical departures from the more traditional manufacturing paradigms have been broadly articulated but the longer-term future of this manufacturing model is less clear. Several scenarios are proposed and discussed that suggest how manufacturing will shift to a more distributed model via the concept of desktop manufacturing (DM), which will coexist with the centralized manufacturing model but likely take on a greater and greater share of the total manufacturing market worldwide. Spurred on by the rapid emergence of miniaturization technologies, the development and refinement of these desktop manufacturing scenarios needs to be examined in the context of a number of important socioeconomic, environmental, and materials and energy utilization issues as (DM) 2 continues to evolve as a transforming paradigm for the world of manufacturing. Scientific, technical, and economic barriers and challenges are identified and discussed. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4006095]
The effect of emerging market characteristics on supply network design is explored through case studies involving international food manufacturers entering emerging markets. Our findings suggest that institutions, and primary and supportive actors may often be considered as potential constraints, and appear to have a dominant role in determining the adjustment of supply network's structural attributes. A supply network adjustment categorisation emerges from the results, as emerging market characteristics may require adjustments in the company's supply network configuration, practices and policies in terms of: (1) network strategy and position; (2) changes to firm boundaries; (3) changes to product mobility; and (4) changes to geographical configuration. These adjustments may go through a life cycle of initial home country convergent practice as firms attempt to roll out established practices, later divergent strategies that adapt to emerging market contexts, and finally more convergence as contexts develop. From a managerial perspective, our findings suggest that a proactive network design approach is needed, requiring analysis of market characteristics and exploring potential supply network adjustments under four configuration dimensions. Our research also enables policy makers to better understand the implications of market characteristics to internationalising firms.
The factors responsible for the spatial reorganization of contemporary manufacturing are presented here and the predictive power of long-standing notions of comparative advantage revisited. While a growing number of commercial tasks and technologies are in principle mobile internationally, giving rise to the perception of evermore footloose manufacturing firms and greater job insecurity, there is much in the modern organization of manufacturing that is both viscid and involves location-specific competitive advantages. This calls for a more nuanced assessment of the impact of an open world trading system on the spatial division of labor and on living standards.
This paper summarizes the articles of the Special Issue on Government Policies to Support Entrepreneurship. All of them went through double-blind reviews and revisions. These articles contribute to various perspectives of government policies and entrepreneurship in different countries. The papers in this Special Issue cover a variety of topics encompassed within the area of government policies and entrepreneurship.
This research examines the relationship between strategy and structure in the highly complex services offshore outsourcing environment. The analysis uses data from the in‐depth case studies of six organizations that purchase services (primarily call center services) to assess how the strategy of offshore outsourcing of services affects organizational structure and to develop a better understanding of the offshore outsourcing of services phenomenon. While organizations often have local buying offices and very formal structures for buying materials globally, the same is not true for purchased services. The issue of proper organizational structure for effectively managing offshore outsourced services has not been assessed. This research also aims to add to the growing body of literature related to Service‐Dominant Logic, which recognizes that services cannot be effectively studied through the lens of manufacturing. This research applies case study findings to assess how the elements of structure, namely centralization, formalization and complexity, are affected by offshore outsourcing of services. All of the organizations studied here indicate that their processes evolved and that pursuing an offshore services purchasing strategy lead to structural adaptations in terms of more centralized, team‐based structures, more formalized processes and more complex structures. However, most of the cases tried to retain some level of flexibility to allow for continued adaptation and improvement.
Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly recognizing the importance of utilizing knowledge and capabilities from a wider innovation ecosystem beyond their corporate network of subsidiaries. In order to manage the complexity associated with setting up and running such international networks of practice, they devolve responsibility for significant activities to external agents. They accomplish this by designing or reengineering their products or services as modular subassemblies that can be parceled out to a network of partner organizations. The extent to which such modularization occurs varies depending on technical/engineering drivers and strategic considerations. It differs between process and product industries and varies depending on output variety, batch size, and the balance of bargaining power between supplier and buyers in the value chain. This ensures that the observed level of modularization varies across industries. However, we also observe that it varies across firms within industries. Depending on their capabilities, firms may implement a strategy leaning toward vertical integration and integration or specialization and modularization.
This paper explores the sets of trading relationships and interdependencies that existed between British and Irish food retailers and the Irish food manufacturing sector prior to Tesco Stores acquisition of Power Supermarkets in 1997. Power Supermarkets was at that time the largest grocer in Ireland. The paper examines the role played by Irish and British retailers in the development of the Irish food manufacturing sector. It points to some of the ways in which retail internationalisation and growing retail concentration are likely to affect food manufacturers and the sets of power and dependency relationships that exist along the food chain. It demonstrates that the effect of internationalisation is likely to be asymmetric with small and emerging firms more likely to experience adverse consequences. The impact upon manufacturers' brand portfolio and customer portfolio strategies are also highlighted.
Introduction 1. Surprising Success 2. Learning the Silicon Valley System 3. Creating Cross-Regional Communities 4. Taiwan as Silicon Sibling 5. Taiwan as Partner and Parent 6. Manufacturing in Mainland China 7. IT Enclaves in India 8. The Argonaut Advantage Appendix A: Immigrant Professional and Networking Associations, Silicon Valley Appendix B: Survey Results: Immigrant Professionals in Silicon Valley Notes References Abbreviations Acknowledgments Index
This paper explores the result of a questionnaire survey on the location decision of new manufacturing plants from 1997 to 2004 and discovers an industrial cluster in Japan. More specifically, performing an exploratory factor analysis across 22 manufacturing industries, this study firstly summarizes agglomeration advantages as a latent location factor, secondly specifies the regional share of industries that emphasize the agglomeration factor, and thirdly identifies the location of industrial cluster based on the regional share. The major finding is that there exists such agglomeration factor, by which most Marshallian location advantages are represented, and the main industrial cluster consists of high-tech industries and spread over the suburb area between Tokyo and Aichi prefectures, where are most manufacturing capacity is concentrated.