1,720,963 research outputs found
Manufacturing strategy configurations: stability and trends of change
No full textThe literature widely debated the importance of studying manufacturing strategies in terms of strategic configuration, i.e., coherent sets of priorities pursued by the companies. While the literature proved both empirically and theoretically the stability of a set of manufacturing strategy configurations, studies on the specific choices made by companies over time are lacking. This paper aims at analysing the stability of strategic configurations selected by companies over a 10 years period of time. Three different longitudinal samples from the IMSS database help to identify and study patterns of change from one strategic configuration to the other. Empirical evidence shows that companies are mostly seeking strategic flexibility, changing their set of priorities over time. The most stable strategies are the ones based on differentiation, while the pure focus on cost reduction or the multi-focused strategy of "do all" are not stable configurations. INTRODUCTION The theory about Manufacturing Strategy evolved significantly since the seminal work of Skinner (1969). This contribution put forward the basic elements of the definition of manufacturing strategy, the decision areas faced by manufacturing managers, and the principles that drive manufacturing choices. Based on this model, a number of authors (e.g. Buffa, 1984; Hayes and Wheelwright, 1984; Fine and Hax, 1985; Schroeder et al., 1986; Hill, 1989) contributed to the advancement of the discipline, both through empirical research and theoretical studies. The traditional model is partly questionable, because of its limited power of capturing and interpreting internal links among the elements of manufacturing strategy, i.e. the internal consistency, and the links of manufacturing decisions with the external environment, i.e. external consistency (Bozarth and McDermott, 1998). In order to address this gap, a number of studies tried to explore the priorities of manufacturing strategy as manufacturin
Patterns of change in manufacturing strategy configurations
No full textPurpose – The paper aims to address the question of how and how often companies change their
manufacturing strategy in the medium and long run, thus addressing a lack of evidence in the
literature.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper explores the movements made by companies among four manufacturing strategy configurations drawn from the literature (market-based, product-based, capability-based and price-based configuration). Analyses are based on three longitudinal samples from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) database.
Findings – Results show that while strategic configurations are rather stable, many companies do indeed change strategy and identifies which patterns of change prevail. Product-based strategy is the most-widely spread and most stable strategy. Capability-based competition is the rising star. The market-based strategy is struggling and price-based competition is on its way out.
Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is the small size of longitudinal samples, leading to tentative propositions for further testing. Practical implications – No strategic configuration appears to be the final “maturity” target for manufacturers. Companies select their configurations according to life cycle of the organization and market competition.
Originality/value – The paper contributes to fill a lack of longitudinal evidence of strategic change and flexibility of manufacturing companies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
- …
