Purpose - The "resource-based view" (RBV) of firms considers that major operational and organisational advantages are created in the internal environment of a firm. The implementation of lean ...manufacturing represents the potential for strategic advantage over competitors, especially in craft-based industries in developing regions of the world. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the adoption of lean manufacturing and market share and value creation of companies in the agricultural machinery and implements sector in Brazil.Design methodology approach - The paper is based on data collected in a survey conducted across 37 firms in the agricultural machinery and implements industry in Brazil. The data were used within a model for assessing the degree of leanness to test three hypotheses using correlation, regression, analysis of variance and cluster statistical methods.Findings - Brazilian firms and managers in this sector that have supported a transition towards the adoption (and adaptation) of lean manufacturing practices have shown a significant improvement in their business performance.Originality value - The paper presents an empirical study where lean manufacturing is investigated and tested from a "RBV" perspective. It demonstrates the application of an emergent model for measuring the degree of leanness and the extent of business improvement. The study and the model are applied to smaller, craft-based industries and so is applicable in developing countries and regions, in comparison with most literature on lean production in advanced economies. It provides a useful perspective for firms to corroborate and understand the potential benefits that lean manufacturing can bring if adopted.
The desire machine Forrester, Paul
Analysis (Oxford),
05/2024, Letnik:
84, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Abstract The experience machine poses the most important problem for hedonist theories of well-being. I argue that desire satisfactionism faces a similar problem: the desire machine. Upon entering ...this machine, your desires are altered through some minor neurosurgery. In particular, the machine causes you to desire everything that actually happens. The experience machine constructs a simulated world that matches your preexisting desires. The desire machine reconstructs your conative state to match the preexisting world. Desire satisfactionism recommends entering the desire machine because you will then have more satisfied desires, but this is unintuitive. In this paper, I consider how desire satisfactionists might avoid the result that entering the desire machine increases one’s well-being. First, I further motivate why this problem arises. Second, I consider coherence-based norms of rational desire change. Finally, I argue that introducing a substantive account of fitting desire is the only plausible solution, but that this response requires abandoning pure subjectivism about well-being.
Purpose - Continuous process flow is a prerequisite of lean systems as it helps to reduce throughput times, improve quality, minimize operational costs, and shorten delivery times. The purpose of ...this paper is to empirically demonstrate the application of a methodology that combines a time-based study, discrete-event simulation and the trial and error method to enable a leaner process through more efficient line balancing and more effective flow for a park homes production process. This method is replicable across other contexts and industry settings.Design methodology approach - The paper reviews the UK park homes production industry and, specifically, a major factory that builds these homes. It compares the factory method to traditional on-site construction methods. An empirical study of production times was carried out to collect data in order to analyse the current workload distribution and the process flow performance of the park homes production process. Finally, seven discrete-event simulation models were developed in order to test different scenarios and define the optimum line balance for every section of the production process.Findings - By combining time study, discrete-event simulation and trial and error methods, the workload distribution and process flow performance of the park homes production line were analysed and improved. A reduction of between 1.82 and 36.32 percent in balancing losses in some sections of the process was achieved.Practical implications - This paper supports current knowledge on process flow improvement and line balancing by exploring and analysing these issues in a real-life context. It can be used to guide production management practitioners in their selection of methods and demonstrates how they are exploited when seeking to improve process flow, efficiency and line balancing of production operations.Originality value - The study uses a real industrial application to demonstrate how the methodological combination and deployment of process flow improvement strategies, such as time study, simulation, and trial and error, can help organisations achieve process flow improvements and, as a consequence, a leaner production process.
Epistemicism and commensurability Forrester, Paul
Inquiry (Oslo),
12/2022, Letnik:
ahead-of-print, Številka:
ahead-of-print
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The topic for this paper is the apparent value incommensurability - two goods are apparently incommensurable when it appears that neither is better than the other nor are they equally good. I ...consider three theories of this phenomenon. Indeterminists like Broome Broome, John. 1997. "Is Incommensurability Vagueness?" In Incommensurability, Incomparability and Practical Reason, edited by Ruth Chang. Harvard University Press. hold that it is due to vagueness: when two goods appear to be incommensurable, this owes to the fact that 'better than' is vague. Incommensurabilists like Chang Chang, Ruth. 2002. "The Possibility of Parity." Ethics 112 (4): 659-688. hold that some goods appear to be incommensurable because they genuinely are, because it is determinate that neither is better than the other, nor are they equally good. I defend epistemicism, the view that the appearance of value incommensurability is due only to our ignorance of how goods compare. In reality, all goods are commensurable. I offer two arguments for epistemicism. First, epistemicists are committed to less unexplained axiological structure than are non-epistemicists, Second, only epistemicists have an adequate explanation of some facts about the scope of apparent incommensurability. Finally, I identify a class of putative counterexamples to the epistemicist's analysis..
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the implementation of lean within two contrasting UK-based organizations; a food manufacturer and a healthcare organization. The different contexts ...provide insight to the strategic desire for efficiency gains and tactical issues and challenges of lean execution and implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
– The research questions developed from the review of the literature were tested using evidence from field-based, action research within a food manufacturer and a National Health Service organization. The reported contrasting case studies contribute to the longer term debate on the adoption and adaptation of lean-based “best practice” within organizations.
Findings
– There are three primary findings: first, that the adoption of lean provides a strategic benefit, as well as providing a basis for a strategy of operational change; second, that partial, as opposed to full, adoption of lean occurs due to external organizational constraints, such as demand patterns, supplier unreliability, little expertise in deploying change programmes, etc.; and third, that a company will balance the adoption of the lean ideology against the financial costs and operational risks incurred in full adoption.
Practical implications
– The conclusions drawn add substantially to the ongoing commentaries on aspects of lean, and develop interesting questions for future research regards the developed “Cycles of Lean Implementation” concept.
Originality/value
– The conclusion proposes that partial implementation of the lean philosophy does not necessarily represent a conscious organizational choice, or any lack of conviction, but is representative of external constraints on the organization. This complements previous commentaries on appropriate strategies and develops interesting questions for future research into operational efficiency.
Abstract
Providing evidence of the impact of university–industry (U–I) partnerships is challenging. This empirical research contributes to this thought-provoking subject area by developing an impact ...assessment framework to assess the effect of collaboration between university and industry. This is examined through a multiple case study approach: 13 partnership schemes, each of two years duration, in manufacturing and healthcare. This study demonstrates that effective knowledge transfer from universities to enterprises is not only hypothetically feasible, but also realistically tangible and measurable. It explores how Business and Management Schools transfer knowledge and technology through external interventions and formal partnership schemes. Our findings show that impact and knowledge transfer can be evaluated, but requires active facilitation before, during and after the project, plus a level of openness and expert engagement within the partnerships. Additionally, our findings established that healthcare partnerships generated higher perceived levels of impact than manufacturing. This perhaps indicates that further work is necessary to resolve the issues limiting the productivity gains of manufacturing partnerships.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges that face leaders when implementing business excellence programmes in the Jordanian public sector.
Design/methodology/approach
– The ...study adopted a content analysis approach to analyse the excellence assessment reports that have been produced by the King Abdullah II Centre for Excellence. The sample comprises ten public organisations which have participated in the King Abdullah Award for Excellence more than once and acknowledge in their reports that they have failed to achieve satisfactory results.
Findings
– The key challenges to effect the implementation of leadership criteria in the public sector in Jordan were found to be poor strategic planning, lack of employee empowerment, weaknesses in benchmarking performance, and a lack of financial resources, poor integration and coordination, and poor measurement system.
Practical implications
– This study proposes a conceptual model for the assessment of challenges that face managers when seeking to implement excellence in leadership in the Jordanian public sector.
Originality/value
– Leadership challenges in the public sector are generally widely studied, but it is important to gain a better understanding of how these challenges can be overcome. In comparison to many existing studies, this research has provided specific and detailed insights these organisational excellence challenges in the public sector and provides a conceptual model for use by other researchers into the future.
Despite the fact that the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) finalized (more than 24 months ago) the new required securitization safe harbor rule and other legal requirements to facilitate ...securitization by federal credit unions (FCUs), an FCU only recently closed the first securitization of a prime auto portfolio. This is rather surprising because banks and other credit providers have widely and actively used securitization as an important means for funding such credit activities and as a tool for active portfolio management to enhance related investment returns. TOPICS: Credit risk management, information providers/credit ratings Key Findings • Banks and other credit providers have widely and actively used securitization as an important means of funding credit activities and as a tool for active portfolio management to enhance related investment returns. • Securitization has not been widely used by federally insured credit unions (FICU) because of NCUA’s authority to disaffirm or repudiate contracts of a failed FICU, which powers apply to the transfer of financial assets in connection with a securitization. • Recognizing the chilling effect this authority has had on securitizations sponsored by FICU, NCUA has issued a safe harbor that defines the conditions for protection for securitization transactions for any transfer of financial assets. • A recent FICU securitization has demonstrated that the safe harbor is opening the door for future FICU securitizations that rely on the safe harbor.
The role that innovation plays in industry is, usually, exclusively discussed in more technically advanced industries (for example, automotives and pharmaceuticals). More mature and established ...industries, such as textiles and ceramics, are often neglected. This article redresses this balance by considering the role of technological innovation in the UK ceramics industry. Case analysis comprising both retrospective and current innovation in the industry is used to highlight the role of innovation and some of the antecedents to successful technological innovation.
Clarifies the concept of lean manufacturing and what it comprises. Commences with a review of the lean production literature and, specifically, existing models that identify the variables and ...component elements of lean production firms. Presents a research instrument for measuring the degree of leanness possessed by manufacturing firms. Research questions were developed and incorporated into structured survey questionnaires for both manufacturing directors and managing directors that enabled a quantitative assessment to be made for the various components of leanness. The survey was completed by over 30 firms in the UK ceramics tableware industry and so represents a comprehensive overview of the state of play in that sector. The figures derived allowed for hypotheses testing and a quantitative analysis. Presents selected results and conclusions from the current survey to illustrate the application and usefulness of the instrument. Argues that, though developed specifically for the tableware industry, the research instrument can be adapted for use in other industries.
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