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For more complex products that require customers to undertake learning in order to retrieve or realize the products’ true values, the product design and supply management decisions are different from those of less complex products. Nonetheless, in spite of the undeniable significance of coordinating decisions across product design and supply chain structures, we know very little about how to do so in practical ways. In this paper, we build on previous findings and offer a framework to enable the application of the supply chain structure design early in the new product introduction process. The proposed framework is based on a field study of the common practices in one of the major North American automakers, but we believe that it is widely applicable in other industries.

New product and service development is a highly interactive social process and is challenging enough when the activity is largely contained within one organizational unit. However, the complexity and challenges increase and magnify when the process involves a network of organizations with different goals, capabilities and dependencies. This paper takes an in-depth look at six new product and service development cases involving a network of organizations within the telecommunications industry. We are able to learn about the complex patterns of interaction across the value chain and uncover the nature of the process complexity and its impact on new product performance. Based on these insights, we discuss how managers can better manage these complex and challenging new product development processes in a networked enterprise.

The necessity of maintaining lean operations and becoming an 'agile enterprise', in which the speed and flexibility at which a company functions matches that of its technology, is widely accepted. Information technology is providing the means for companies to integrate better their internal and external activities. This level of integration is achieved through 'enterprisewide systems' that reflect the current operations and processes of the business and allow decision-makers to digest information more rapidly and accurately, and with more flexibility. The objective of this paper is to review some of the current literature concerning enterprise integration and to identify and discuss the main issues that need to be considered before attempting to establish enterprise-wide integration.

New approaches are required to successfully justify and implement advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). This paper offers such a new approach by proposing an operational framework for measuring the impact of AMT on productivity gains at the firm level. The approach is a complement to the conventional input/output analysis and is based on the realization that any attempt to capture the benefits of AMT should emphasize the ‘outcome’ or effectiveness of the operation rather than only to accentuate its ‘output’ or efficiency. The framework presented is sufficiently general that it can be used in assessing any form of new technology and its introduction into the firm.

When should a plant, if ever, adopt more flexible forms of production technology? The factors supporting the decision for a dedicated system are often based on the dedicated technology's lower fixed and variable costs with respect to production volumes. In. many industries, it is clear that such cost-reduction techniques are essential to a firm's success. On the other hand, flexible manufacturing systems, though initially more expensive, eliminate the requirement for an immediate investment in a new process once the life span of a particular part or product has ended. Given these fundamental differences, it is clear that the question of whether a firm within an industry should select a manufacturing technology which is highly flexible or dedicated can be key to its long-term success. To gain a reasonable understanding of which decision is best, it is imperative that the relationships between innovation, market, and production costs be understood and quantified. The aim of this report is to analyse these v...

There are a number of excellent textbooks on international business already available. So why is another one needed? In answering this question, P. Lasserre provides four main reasons to justify hi...