Staff publications (SoM)

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Open Access
Effectiveness of French management: analysis of the behaviour, attitudes and business impact of top managers
(1994) Myers, Andrew; Kakabadse, Andrew P.; Gordon, C.; Alderson, Siobhan
The findings in this paper are based on the results of a postal survey of 168 top level managers in French organisations. Demographic variables, behavioural characteristics and measures of business impact have been linked in order to discover whether organisational infrastructure concerns, educational achievements of top management, or the behaviour of top management, or a combination of these, influence the business performance of French private sector organisations. The results show that the level of qualification attained does not indicate whether French senior managers will perform effectively, nor is the configuration of organisation structure significant for effective management. Crucial, however, are the attitudes and behaviour of senior managers, who are identified as significantly impacting on group and organisational performance. It is considered that four areas of management are pertinent to the continued growth and development of French senior managers, namely enhancing the ability to respond positively to feedback, enhancing interfacing skills, effective use of consultants and assisting managers to be high achievers.
Open Access
Is Management Commitment to Quality Just 'A Given'?
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek
Reports on interviews held with management at six factories in the UK, which had received awards for their manufacturing excellence, which aimed to discuss the TQM initiatives and, in particular, to gauge the degree and nature of the management commitment required to make these successful. Uncovers, from the results, an indication of the emphasis that managers must place on becoming personally involved if TQM is to be successful. Identifies four common dimensions of management commitment in the approaches seen across the six factories: the time and effort invested, emphasis on clear goals and organizations, management’s manufacturing expertise, and a strong focus on employees (training and teamwork). Concludes that although the findings are based on only six cases, the topic of commitment is an important one, with significant implications for management and it is also an area which is ripe for further, detailed investigatio
Open Access
Service Documentation and the Biomedical Engineer: Results of a Survey
(Hanley and Belfus Inc, 1996-05-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith; Price, D
It is essential that medical equipment manufacturers provide high quality service documentation for their products. Without it, the maintenance and repair of equipment becomes difficult and inefficient for biomedical engineering departments. Due to the key role documentation plays in their daily work, biomeds expect high quality manuals covering issues such as equipment installation, maintenance, troubleshooting and repair. A survey of 40 biomeds in the US and UK confirms that service manuals play a key role in troubleshooting equipment failures. It also showed that 65% of respondents rate service manuals on average as good rather than very good and indicated a number of areas which manufacturers can improve in their documentation, including diagrams and troubleshooting flowcharts. These results have strong implications for medical manufacturers—there are a number of issues that need to be improved in order to make documentation more effectiv
Open Access
UK/Germany Factory Performance Comparison
(1997-01-01T00:00:00Z) New, Colin; Szwejczewski, Marek; Goffin, Keith; Pfeiffer, Rolf; Lohmühler, Bertram
The Management Today Best Factory Awards in association with Cranfield School of Management have been successfully running in the UK in their current format since 1992. The purpose of the awards is to recognize and reward manufacturing excellence in the UK. Previous winners of the coveted ‘Factory of the Year’ award include Bonas Machine Company in 1995 and Van den Bergh Purfleet Foods factory in 1996. However, in addition to recognising manufacturing excellence, the programme collects detailed benchmarking data on manufacturing performance from over two hundred companies each year. This has enabled an extensive database to be created, against which individual manufacturing plants can be judged. In addition the database is being for research purposes - investigating manufacturing performance in various industrial sect
Open Access
Market segmentation: organizational archetypes and research agendas.
(Emerald, 1997-02) Jenkins, Mark; McDonald, Malcolm H. B.
The study of how organizations segment their markets has traditionally taken a prescriptive and analytical approach. More recently, a number of academics and practitioners have voiced concerns over the evident gap between how such concepts are viewed in theory and how they are applied in practice. These issues have already been raised in academic papers, but almost entirely at an abstract level. Introduces a more concrete aspect to the debate by proposing a series of organizational archetypes which illustrate how organizations may segment their markets in practice. These archetypes are developed from a series of mini-case studies which provide a basis for understanding how organizations may interface with the market at both an explicit and implicit level. Discusses the implications for both academic research and organizational practice.
Open Access
Chaos Theory: Implications for Supply Chain Management.
(MCB, 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z) Wilding, Richard D.
Since the late 1950's it has been recognized that the systems used internally within supply chains can lead to oscillations in demand and inventory as orders pass through the system. The uncertainty generated can result in late deliveries, order cancellations and an increased reliance on inventory to buffer these effects. Despite the best efforts of organizations to stabilize the dynamics generated, industry still experiences a high degree of uncertainty. The failure to significantly reduce uncertainty through traditional approaches may in part be explained by chaos theory. This paper defines deterministic chaos and demonstrates that supply chains can display some of the key characteristics of chaotic systems, namely: chaos exhibits sensitivity to initial conditions; it has Islands of Stability; generates patterns; invalidates the reductionist view; and, undermines computer accuracy. The implications for the management and design of supply chains are discussed.
Open Access
Operations management teaching on European MBA programmes
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith
A comprehensive review of the literature established that several investigations have been made of operations management teaching in the USA, whereas almost nothing has been published on European teaching. Therefore, an exploratory investigation was made of operations management teaching on the MBA courses of ten leading European business schools. The results show that course content is similar across schools, but there are large variations on three dimensions: the time allocated by schools to the subject; the balance between operations strategy and tools and techniques in teaching; and the level of emphasis given to service operations. The results also indicate the emerging importance of integrating operations management with other subjects in the MBA curriculum and the key challenge facing faculty - the need to raise the perceived importance of operations management. The comparison of courses will be of interest to all operations management faculty who teach core courses and particularly those who are looking for ideas on how to re-design courses.
Open Access
The Supply Chain Complexity Triangle: uncertainty generation in the supply chain
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1998-08-01T00:00:00Z) Wilding, Richard D.
Since the late 1950s it has been recognised that the systems used internally within supply chains can lead to oscillations in demand and inventory as orders pass through the system. The uncertainty generated by these oscillations can result in late deliveries, order cancellations and an increased reliance on inventory to buffer these effects. Despite the best efforts of organisations to stabilise the dynamics generated, industry still experiences a high degree of uncertainty from this source. The “supply chain complexity triangle” describes the interaction of deterministic chaos, parallel interactions and demand amplification. It provides a framework for understanding the generation of uncertainty within supply chains. The implications for supply chain strategy and manufacturing logistics are discussed.
Open Access
Management development: a new role in social change?
(Emerald, 1999) Clarke, Martin
Traditional approaches to organizational change are of little use in the bid for increased innovation as they reinforce top-down predictability. An alternative approach is through the creation of pockets of good practice which act as role models of change. These pockets need to be subversive of existing practices but simultaneously deliver organizational success criteria. The success of this approach is dependent upon managers developing a critical perspective about organizational control systems. Contrary to received wisdom the foundation for this critical perspective may be most usefully developed from the manager’s own cynical experience of organizational life. In building this critical perspective management development may begin to fulfil a wider educational role in society.
Open Access
Joint Venture Manufacturing in China : an Exploratory Investigation
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z) Zhang, Lihong; Goffin, Keith
International joint venture (IJV) manufacturing is important for both the Chinese economy and a large number of foreign investors. A review of the literature from both Western and Chinese researchers showed that although the purpose and advantages of IJV manufacturing in China are known, a vital aspect – operations management – has largely been ignored. Therefore, exploratory interviews with managers at six companies were conducted to investigate the operations management issues faced by IJV manufacturers in China. Four main problems were identified: the difficulty with recruiting and training suitable employees; all aspects of supplier management; problems with achieving high- quality output; and achieving an effective IJV business culture. The results have implications not only for researchers, in that they indicate where more research is necessary, but also for practitioners, since they identify the areas where IJV manufacturers are most likely to encounter problems in Ch
Open Access
Customer support: A cross-industry study of distribution channels and strategies
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith
Customer support, such as equipment maintenance and repair, is an essential element in the successful marketing of a wide range of products, from computer systems to domestic appliances. Consequently, companies need to establish and maintain appropriate channels for high-quality customer support; either as a part of their own operations or through third parties. This paper describes an exploratory investigation of the distribution channels and customer support strategies of five manufacturing businesses, using case study methodology. The results show the key role that customer support plays in various industries and illustrate the types of decisions companies make on how to provide high-quality support for their customers. These findings have implications for managers in all industries where customer support is important, as they provide insights on how different channels and strategies affect the quality and efficiency of customer support.
Open Access
The role of time compression and emotional intelligence in agile supply chains.
(Sckc Cranfield University, 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z) Wilding, Richard D.
The concept of agile supply chains is attracting increasing research attention, and has been picked up with enthusiasm by commercial organisations, as a conference at Cranfield recently demonstrated (see below). Agile supply chains have a number of distinguishing characteristics. They not only need to be network-based, but they also need to be market-sensitive, with highly integrated virtual and critical processes. Agile supply chains need to synchronise both supply and demand, if they are to respond in ever shorter time-frames to both volume and variety changes. The agile supply chain needs to be able to adjust output quickly to match market demand and switch rapidly from one variant to another.
Open Access
Virtual Teaming in the Agile Supply Chain
(Mcb, 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z) Bal, J.; Wilding, Richard D.; Gundry, J.
This paper describes the information flows in the supply chain, and identifies knowledge and expertise as richer more capable entities for its management than data or information. It briefly explores how the structure of the automotive supply chain is changing due to the pressures of increasing complexity and urgency. Then it highlights the inevitability of instability in the supply chain, through an evaluation of turbulence. Agility is identified as a response for coping with this uncertainty. The tool identified for introducing agility in the supply chain is Virtual Teaming. It achieves this by forming collaborative supply chain partnerships, unconstrained by geography that can quickly apply knowledge and expertise as corrective and preventive mechanisms. A survey of the suppliers to a major automotive manufacturer has highlighted the need for this form of working.
Open Access
Management development as a game of meaningless outcomes
(Blackwell, 1999-04) Clarke, Martin
Open Access
The Detection and Quantification of Chaos in Supply Chains.
(1999-07-01T00:00:00Z) Wilding, Richard D.
In recent years it has become accepted that Logistics and Supply Chain systems are susceptible to uncertainty by the generation of deterministic chaos [Wilding, 1998a; Levy, 1994; Mosekilde & Larsen, 1988]. In this paper an explanation of a methodology for detecting and quantifying deterministic chaos within measured supply chain data is discussed. The paper describes the use of Lyapunov exponents [Peitgen, Jurgens, & Saupe, 1992; Wolf, 1986] and how these can be used to determine the average predictability horizon of a chaotic system [Wilding, 1997b]. This can then be used as a method of quantifying the amount of uncertainty from chaos within a system. The magnitude of the Lyapunov exponent gives a reflection of the time scale over which the dynamics of the system are predictable, so the exponent can be used to approximate the average prediction horizon of a system [Wolf et al., 1985; Shaw, 1981]. After this prediction horizon has been reached the future dynamics of the system become unforecastable. This occurs because any cause and effect relationship between current data and previous data becomes increasingly blurred and is eventually lost.
Open Access
The Agile Supply Chain: Competing in Volatile Markets.
(Elsevier, 2000-01) Christopher, Martin
Turbulent and volatile markets are becoming the norm as life cycles shorten and global economic and competitive forces create additional uncertainty. The risk attached to lengthy and slow-moving logistics “pipelines” has become unsustainable, forcing organizations to look again at how their supply chains are structured and managed. This paper suggests that the key to survival in these changed conditions is through “agility,” in particular by the creation of responsive supply chains. A distinction is drawn between the philosophies of “leanness” and “agility,” and the appropriate application of these ideas is discussed.
Open Access
Design for Supportability : An Essential Component of New Product Development
(Industrial Research Institute Inc, 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith
During new product development, R&D engineers consider a wide range of often conflicting requirements, including product features, cost, quality, and manufacturability. Another factor, which companies often neglect, is to ensure that products are easy and economical to service and support—i.e., to install, to maintain, to repair, to operate, etc. Product support is essential for achieving customer satisfaction in many industries, including high-tech sectors such as computing as well as "low-tech" sectors such as domestic appliances and the like. Leading companies recognize both the importance of product support and the significance of evaluating support requirements at the design stage by using Design for Supportability techniques. This enables them to gain competitive advantage from customer support and earn significant revenue
Open Access
Product innovation in UK manufacturing companies
(Inderscience, 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek; Sweeney, Michael; New, Colin
In many sectors of the manufacturing industry, product innovation is an important way for companies to achieve competitive advantage. Regular introductions of new products can be essential, especially in fast-moving markets. But how often do companies introduce new products? A database of UK manufacturing plants was analysed to determine the innovation rates and typical product development times in specific industry sectors. The results show a wide spread in the development times and innovation rates even within closely defined sectors - implying that some companies are particularly efficient at product innovation whereas others need to improve. In addition, the research identifies a number of key areas of innovation, which require further investigation, both within the UK and on an international basis.
Open Access
Transnational Human Resource Management – The More The Better? - Conceptualisation and Case Research in Spain, Britain and Germany
(2000-01-01T00:00:00Z) Dickmann, Michael
Some authors have argued that in an increasingly integrated world economy an ideal multinational company (MNC) should be simultaneously locally responsive, globally efficient and innovative world-wide. Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989, 1998) suggest that a ‘transnational’ firm overcomes the global-local dilemma while being a highly innovative organisation and that MNCs should strive to follow this supra-national business logic to acquire competitive advantage. A key step to become such an ideal firm is to implement transnational HRM. This raises the issue of whether MNCs should take up these recommendations. If they do, what outcomes are associated with transnational
Open Access
Supplier Base Management: Experiences from the UK and Germany
(Mcb, 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z) Lemke, Fred; Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek; Pfeiffer, Rolf; Lohmüller, Bertram
Streamlining the supplier base is a common approach in many US and UK manufacturing companies. However, is this approach being adopted in Germany as fast as it has in the UK? This paper describes research that answers this question and investigates how German companies are managing contacts with their suppliers. The research was conducted in two stages. First, a postal survey of German and UK manufacturers identified the supplier base trends. Second, a follow-up telephone survey of a random sample of German plants investigated supplier management processes. The findings show that German manufacturers have not reduced their supplier base by as much as their UK counterparts. However, German manufacturers that have reduced their supplier base perceive significant benefits. Currently, many companies appear to have failed to recognize the potential of working with a reduced supplier base.