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This paper aims to investigate the manufacturing strategies for the manufacturing systems in the context of 3D printing, referring to ecosystem-based manufacturing systems, rather than firm-based and network-based ones. A case study approach was adopted for this research, as the data was mainly collected via semi-structured interviews with staff members of companies in China. Besides the elements of strategic choices and manufacturing capabilities identified in the extant literature, this research verified three additional strategic choice elements (functional role, platform and solution) and identified two factors (platform openness and solution diversity) to classify an ecosystem-based manufacturing system. Meanwhile, four manufacturing capabilities of the ecosystem-based manufacturing system have been identified: collaborative manufacturing flexibility, rapid thriftiness ability, self-customisation and co-evolved design capability. The research results contribute to the area of manufacturing strategy via expanding its view from the firm and network levels to the ecosystem level. Meanwhile, the research results present operations managers with an understanding of the strategic choices and manufacturing capabilities of an ecosystem-based manufacturing system in the context of 3D printing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hitherto marginalized in the extant innovation studies is the role of intermediaries in innovation ecosystems, which require greater coordination and orchestration between manifold organizations. We conduct qualitative research on the Precision Engineering Centre of Innovation to understand how this government-affiliated intermediary in Singapore takes the initiative in shaping an innovation ecosystem through which local/foreign precision engineering firms, government agencies, and multinational corporations harmoniously co-develop advanced manufacturing capabilities. By analyzing the qualitative data through the theoretical lenses of innovation ecosystem and intermediary, our findings reveal that intermediaries nurture ecosystems in four major steps: (1) developing the ecosystem vision, (2) forming the ecosystem community, (3) orchestrating the ecosystem resources, and (4) materializing the new value proposition. Based on this process model, the implications for innovation intermediary research, innovation ecosystem studies, and innovation policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Objective The COVID-19 pandemic is a biosecurity threat, and many resource-rich countries are stockpiling and/or making plans to secure supplies of vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics for their citizens. We review the products that are being investigated for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19; discuss the challenges that countries in sub-Saharan Africa may face with access to COVID-19 vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics due to the limited capacity to manufacture them in Africa; and make recommendations on actions to mitigate these challenges and ensure health security in sub-Saharan Africa during this unprecedented pandemic and future public-health crises. Main body Sub-Saharan Africa will not be self-reliant for COVID-19 vaccines when they are developed. It can, however, take advantage of existing initiatives aimed at supporting COVID-19 vaccine access to resource-limited settings such as partnership with AstraZeneca, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation, the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation, the Serum Institute of India, and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool. Accessing effective COVID-19 therapeutics will also be a major challenge for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as production of therapeutics is frequently geared towards profitable Western markets and is ill-adapted to sub-Saharan Africa realities. The region can benefit from pooled procurement of COVID-19 therapy by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with the African Union. If the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of patients who are severely ill is found to be effective, access to the product will be minimally challenging since the region has a pool of recovered patients and human resources that can man supportive laboratories. The region also needs to drive the local development of rapid-test kits and other diagnostics for COVID-19. Conclusion Access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for COVID-19 will be a challenge for sub-Saharan Africans. This challenge should be confronted by collaborating with vaccine developers; pooled procurement of COVID-19 therapeutics; and local development of testing and diagnostic materials. The COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for sub-Saharan Africa to build vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics manufacturing capacity as one of the resources needed to address public-health crises.

Manufacturing capability (MC) is widely considered to depend on a strategic orientation of firms and institutional support. Remarkably, little is known about the influence of firm-specific orientations on manufacturing capability under institutional voids. This study examines the extent to which learning orientation (LO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) influence institutional support to enhance firms' MC. While EO prompts effective responses to institutional voids, institutional support reduces them and LO allows a firm to continuously learn in response to such voids. Drawing insights from the resource-based view (RBV) and institutional theory, this study tests this argument using partial least squares path modeling on a sample of 105 surveyed export manufacturers from Tanzania and Kenya. Findings indicate that although both LO and EO are the major antecedents of MC, firms must be entrepreneurially oriented in order to significantly influence the institutional support. Even though the literature states that institutional support plays a great role in enhancing MC, research findings suggest otherwise. Thus, focusing on the novel constructs relationship and importance-performance analysis, this study contributes to the RBV and institutional theory by providing theoretical and practical implications of the research findings for the contexts where national institutions facilitating business activities are inefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic is a biosecurity threat, and many resource-rich countries are stockpiling and/or making plans to secure supplies of vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics for their citizens. We review the products that are being investigated for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19; discuss the challenges that countries in sub-Saharan Africa may face with access to COVID-19 vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics due to the limited capacity to manufacture them in Africa; and make recommendations on actions to mitigate these challenges and ensure health security in sub-Saharan Africa during this unprecedented pandemic and future public-health crises.Main Body: Sub-Saharan Africa will not be self-reliant for COVID-19 vaccines when they are developed. It can, however, take advantage of existing initiatives aimed at supporting COVID-19 vaccine access to resource-limited settings such as partnership with AstraZeneca, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation, the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation, the Serum Institute of India, and the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Technology Access Pool. Accessing effective COVID-19 therapeutics will also be a major challenge for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as production of therapeutics is frequently geared towards profitable Western markets and is ill-adapted to sub-Saharan Africa realities. The region can benefit from pooled procurement of COVID-19 therapy by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with the African Union. If the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of patients who are severely ill is found to be effective, access to the product will be minimally challenging since the region has a pool of recovered patients and human resources that can man supportive laboratories. The region also needs to drive the local development of rapid-test kits and other diagnostics for COVID-19.Conclusion: Access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for COVID-19 will be a challenge for sub-Saharan Africans. This challenge should be confronted by collaborating with vaccine developers; pooled procurement of COVID-19 therapeutics; and local development of testing and diagnostic materials. The COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for sub-Saharan Africa to build vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics manufacturing capacity as one of the resources needed to address public-health crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an empirical investigation of the major drivers of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of export manufacturers from emerging economies. The paper asserts that there is scarcity of empirical research on EO in the contexts with weak institutions, as those in emerging economies. This research carries clear policy and practical implications regarding the factors supporting or constraining the development of EO. Drawing on the resource-based view and institutional theory, this study applies a partial least squares path modelling method to test conceptual predictions on the survey sample of 105 export manufacturers from two East African countries. It additionally uses importance-performance-matrix analysis to identify the most important predictor variables. Consistent with the resource-based view and institutional theory, research findings reveal that firms capitalise on all predictor variables, i.e. institutional support (IS), learning orientation (LO) and manufacturing capability (MC) to shape their EO. Furthermore, the research findings reveal that LO and MC mediate the relationship between IS and EO. This paper represents one of the very first original studies that have combined the resource-based view and institutional theory to establish the major drivers of entrepreneurial orientation in the contexts of weak institutions found in emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider three manufacturing capabilities: controllability, flexibility, and integrating capability. Controllability is a firm's ability to control its process to enhance efficiency and accuracy and to better meet specifications. Flexibility is a firm's ability to cope with uncertainty and variation, both internal and external. Integrating capability is a firm's ability to integrate and coordinate diverse functions and parts of its supply chain, embodied in overall operations effectiveness and new product innovation. We put forth two hypotheses. First, there is an inherent tradeoff between controllability and flexibility. Second, a firm's integrating effort across its supply chain enables it to overcome such a tradeoff, making it possible to improve both controllability and flexibility simultaneously. Using data from 193 manufacturing companies, we test our hypotheses. It turns out that the relationship between controllability and flexibility is convex-shaped, indicating there are two distinct regions: one in which the relationship is negative and the other, positive. Further, the firms in the positive relationship region make significantly more effort to integrate, that is to say coordinate and communicate, across their supply chains, implying that as the firm strives to integrate its supply chain functions, it can mitigate the tradeoff between controllability and flexibility to a considerable extent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Manufacturing companies outsource their manufacturing process to achieve organizational performance. Companies can focus on improving their core business processes while leaving manufacturing process to companies that are more efficient and cost-effective. However, this leaves manufacturing companies with a dilemma as those outsourcing companies are also producing for competitors and companies’ brand is liable to the integrity of outsourcing companies. By having integrity capabilities, it is argued that companies can achieve organizational performance. This paper investigates the relationship between manufacturing outsourcing and organizational performance with the mediating effect of manufacturing integrity capabilities. This paper contributes to the body of literature by investigating the impact of manufacturing integrity capabilities with resource-based view and transaction cost economics theories. Furthermore, this paper also is practically useful for companies to understand integrity capabilities that are useful to increase organizational performance in the era of the dynamic business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this study, we have compared Germany's “Industry 4.0” and China's “Made-in-China 2025” and estimated China's locus in “Made-in-China 2025”. “Made-in-China 2025” has clear goals, measures and sector focus. Its guiding principles are to enhance industrial capability through innovation-driven manufacturing, optimize the structure of Chinese industry, emphasize quality over quantity, train and attract talent, and achieve green manufacturing and environment. Data show that currently China is no longer the lowest–cost labor market; it is being squeezed by newly emerging low-cost producers such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Meanwhile, China is not the strongest player in the high-tech arena; well-established industrialized nations, the US, Germany, and Japan, have all effectively deployed digital technology to create new industrial environments, produce new products, and improve their well-established brands. Having analyzed the data from the World Bank and China's National Bureau of Statistics, we find an upward trajectory in China in manufacturing capability development, research and development commitment, and human capital investment. However, implementing an ambitious strategic plan such as “Made-in-China 2025” is coupled with challenges. This research helps us understand the relationship between technological entrepreneurship and socio-economic changes in emerging economies such as China. Furthermore, the experience accumulated in China can be referenced by both emerging economies and developed nations to advance their technological entrepreneurship. Highlights • A comparison of China's “Made-in-China 2025” plan and German's “Industry 4.0” plan • Three critical factors that affect the implementation of “Made-in-China 2025” plan • Challenges that are coupled with the ambitious strategic plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically tests a comprehensive set of strategic orientations that influence the development of manufacturing strategy, and examines manufacturing capability to show the impact of manufacturing strategy on a firm's financial and non-financial performance. The manufacturing strategy is posited to be influenced by customer orientation, competitor orientation, resource orientation, and innovation orientation. The findings of this study are based on a sample of the top management of 194 manufacturing concerns from the Canadian technology sector. The analysis using structural equal modelling informs that customer orientation impacts quality and flexibility strategies while competitor orientation influences cost and delivery strategies. Innovation strategy is impacted by innovation orientation. Resource orientation did not significantly impact manufacturing strategy. Quality strategy has the strongest influence on manufacturing capability, followed by cost, innovation and flexibility strategies. Manufacturing capability, in turn, influences both financial and non-financial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud manufacturing offers the potential to make mass manufacturing resources and capabilities more widely integrated and accessible to users through network. Most related research assumes that there exists only one management center for all manufacturing resources and capabilities in a manufacturing cloud. However, this could cause the efficiency problem (e.g. scheduling time) and harm the quality of service (e.g. response time). Actually, a large-scale manufacturing cloud should have multiple management centers to deal with massive, widely distributed manufacturing resources and capabilities and users; meanwhile, the constraint of finite manufacturing resources and capabilities and the cost of remote collaboration should be taken into consideration. Thus, this article first presents the architecture for the multi-centric management with two-level scheduling strategy combining the advantages of the centralized and decentralized decision-making. Then, after quantifying the availability and the collaborative cost of the manufacturing resources and capabilities, we propose a global optimization model for the manufacturing resources and capability allocation under the multi-centric architecture. Finally, a case study adopting our new method shows that the utilization of the manufacturing resources and capabilities would be more balanced, while the cost of the total collaboration would be reduced, compared with the typical decentralized solution. The research results can support cloud manufacturing to effectively deal with the challenge of management and allocation for increasingly large-scale and distributed manufacturing resources and capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study has attempted to empirically analyze the mediating effects of small and medium venture firms' manufacturing capability and testing and inspection capability on the relation between their external information network heterogeneity and technology commercialization capability with a view to diversifying the research stream on the influential factors to small and medium firms' technology commercialization capability. By performing the ordinary least squares regression analysis, the Sobel test, and the Baron and Kenny test based on the 683 data of South Korean small and medium venture firms with the IBM SPSS version 23, this study provides the three empirical findings to be useful for future studies on the roles of small and medium venture firms' the manufacturing capability and testing and inspection capability. First, small and medium venture firms' manufacturing capability partially mediates the positive effect of their external information network heterogeneity on their technology commercialization capability. Second, their testing and inspection capability partially mediates this positive effect. Third, their manufacturing capability and testing and inspection capability jointly and partially mediates this positive effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While recent conceptual research and consultancy white papers have suggested that analysing and interpreting data in the supply chain could potentially lead to the creation of competitive advantage, its exploratory nature demands empirical investigation. Drawing upon the resource-based view, this study empirically investigates the linkages between data-driven supply chains, manufacturing capability and customer satisfaction. The survey data for this study were gathered from China’s manufacturing industry and analysed using structural equation modelling. Results suggest that data-driven supply chains are positively associated with multiple manufacturing capability dimensions (i.e. quality, delivery, flexibility and cost), which in turn, lead to customer satisfaction improvement. While delivery appears to have no significant effect on customer satisfaction, quality, flexibility and cost are significantly and positively associated with customer satisfaction. This study provides insight into the connection between supply chain big data intelligence and both operational and organisational performance improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The pharmaceutical industrial has five subsectors: medicines, cosmetics, phytotherapeutics, cleaning products and medical devices. The medicine subsector consists of organisations producing, importing and selling these products. Most studies about this industry have been guided by economic interests without assessing technological aspects of production. This article was aimed at proposing a methodology for assessing and describing the medicine sector according to its technological development by using the manufacturing capability concept. The main information was taken from the Colombian Medicaments and Food Surveillance Institute’s (Instituto Nacional de Vigilancia de Medicamentos y Alimentos - INVIMA) databases related to pharmaceutical plant production in Bogotá, including material transformation facilities. This study led to three characteristics being identified for defining the pharmaceutical industry’s manufacturing capability: that related to the pharmacological group to which active pharmaceutical ingredients belong, that linked to specifications regarding medicines’ sterility and that related to the technology required for manufacturing each pharmaceutical product. An analysis of these features has thus been presented and some technologies have been identified which have not been transferred or assimilated by the organisations being studied. It was found that manufacturing capability should be considered as being an indicator of the degree of technological development in these subsectors in Colombia.

Quality (Q), delivery (D), flexibility (F) and cost (C) may reinforce each other to form specific models of cumulative capability. Previous empirical studies reveal two dominant models of cumulative capabilities (Q–D–F–C and Q–D–C–F) without testing whether other models could better fit their data. The present study fulfils this gap and conducts a comparative analysis by testing various models of cumulative capabilities based on a survey of 368 Thai manufacturing plants, and concludes that Q–D–C–F is the best-fit model and further extends the models to reveal ‘simultaneous’ cumulative capability. The contributions are threefold. First, multiple methods are applied to robustly search for the best-fit model. Second, direct and indirect links between capabilities are revealed to add insights into the cumulative reinforcement patterns among capabilities. Third, we show that the widely accepted sand-cone model (Q–D–F–C) and competitive progression theory are not necessarily the dominant approaches for explaining cumulative capability patterns of manufacturers, especially from an emerging country. The results are also significant for practitioners as they understand how capabilities such as quality and delivery can simultaneously improve the next sequential capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IT SMEs' product planning, product design, and manufacturing capabilities are of importance to creating their sustainable competitive advantages in the context of digital convergence. However, there have been few empirical studies investigating the relationships among them, which has made this research attempt to model the relationships and empirically test them. Especially, this study divided IT SMEs' product design capability into the product exterior and interior design capabilities and focused on the mediating effects of the product exterior and interior design capabilities between the product planning and manufacturing capabilities. By analyzing the 310 samples of Korean IT SMEs with the ordinary least squares regression analysis, this study has empirically revealed that IT SMEs' product exterior and interior design capability jointly and fully mediate the positive relationship between their product planning and manufacturing capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production management is one of the essential capabilities of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the information technology sector (IT). Therefore, this study empirically analyzed the effects of such important factors as external information network diversity and manufacturing capability on IT SMEs' production management capability. Based on the 310 data collected from Korean SMEs in the IT sector, the ordinary least squares regression results from this study by using the SPSS version 22 have empirically shown that IT SMEs' external information network diversity has a positive and significant effect on their production management capability and this effect is fully mediated by their manufacturing capability. These findings provide a meaningful implication that the positive impact of IT SMEs' external information network diversity is linked to their production management capability through their manufacturing capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing capability of a firm is given by the level of output generated by the production system employed which in turn decides the competitiveness in the market. The pattern of structural and infrastructural decisions in the manufacturing affects the capability of the production system. Therefore, it is crucial to know the overall manufacturing capability of a firm and the contribution of each decision in it. This paper presents quantification of manufacturing capability based on multi-criteria approach. A total of 33 decisions (criteria) and their corresponding choices have been identified from the literature analysis to quantify the manufacturing capability. These decisions are then classified into six decision areas (group criteria), and the manufacturing capability evaluation problem is modeled by using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) framework. The approach facilitates computation of manufacturing capability index by evaluating the decisions taken in the manufacturing, which is then mapped into four levels, namely, infant, industry average, adult, and world class as proposed by the Miltenburg. The methodology is illustrated with a numerical example for a job shop manufacturing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automotive industry is believed to be the pioneer in pushing the growth of manufacturing industry in Indonesia. By implementing manufacturing strategy, the industry will get its performance improved. Automotive component manufacturer is an important part of automotive industry. This research discusses the relationship between influential variables with performance in Indonesia automotive component manufacturer namely manufacturing capability and manufacturing strategy. A model is developed and data are collected from automotive component manufacturers around Jakarta area. Data is processed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The result shows that manufacturing capability significantly influences manufacturing strategy while manufacturing strategy also significantly influences performance of Indonesia automotive component manufacturer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A critical issue has been absent from the conversation on supply chain coordination: how supply chain coordination influence the enterprise performance. This research proposes a new vision to research the performance mechanism of supply chain coordination capability as a dynamic capability. Manufacturing capabilities are existed as mediating role. Design/methodology/approach: Data from International Manufacturing Strategy Survey in 2009 is used to verify the mediating model by hierarchical regression analysis. Findings: The results show that supply chain coordination impacts the enterprise performance positively and indirect impacts the enterprise performance through quality, cost, and flexibility. Research implications: This study presents an overview of the impact of supply chain coordination and manufacturing capabilities on enterprise performance, giving grasp for further research of the relationships that exist between them. Originality/value: This finding integrates insights from previous research in dynamic capability framework and supply chain management into a generalization and extension of the performance mechanism in manufacturing enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents our approach and the developed method for a situation-based adaptation and validation of the manufacturing capability of assembly systems. After motivating the research the problem statement and the state of the art in the field of assembly planning will be discussed. Afterwards the overall approach will be introduced. The method, which is developed based on the approach will be discussed and the derived software tool, which will support the planner in his daily activities, will be presented and explained. The paper concludes with a summary and an outlook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal representation of manufacturing capabilities is a critical requirement for autonomous deployment of agile supply chains in distributed environments. In this context, manufacturing ontologies play a key role by providing the required means for explicit knowledge representation. Manufacturing Service Description Language (MSDL) is an OWL (Web Ontology Language)-based ontology developed with the purpose of modelling manufacturing capability in a service-oriented framework. This paper presents the rule-based extension of MSDL that enhances the ontology semantically and enables advanced ontological reasoning. The particular focus of this paper is on analysing the reasoning and inference patterns used by human experts during the supplier discovery process and formally representing them, to the possible extent, using Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL). Two categories of rules, namely, property inference and classification rules are introduced and implemented in this research. In order to capture the rules and evaluate the effects of the encoded rules on the performance of the MSDL search engine, an experimental approach is followed in this work. The obtained results support the hypothesis that semantic enrichment of the ontology through introducing semantic SWRL rules enhances the performance of the semantic search process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Superior manufacturing capability provides long lasting competitive benefits to a company in the market. It is thus imperative to have an instrument to assess the manufacturing capability of companies. However, empirically tested and reliable tools for the purpose of evaluation of manufacturing capability along different decision areas are scarcely available in the literature. This paper develops questionnaires based on generally accepted principle of instrument design to assess the manufacturing capabilities along different decision areas for four categorization schemes of manufacturing decision areas reported in the literature. The reliability and validity of all four instruments are assessed through responses from managers of 32 manufacturing units and are found to be satisfactory for most of the factors. The criterion validity is found to be fairly good for all the four instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing capability sharing and circulation are the most important aims in cloud manufacturing (CMfg). In order to realize the above target, the issue of how to realize the formal description of manufacturing capability need to be solved. In this paper, a modeling and description method of multidimensional information for manufacturing capability in CMfg system is studied. Firstly, the concept and current research related to manufacturing capability are summarized. Then a multidimensional information model of manufacturing capability is established. Based on the model, a description method of manufacturing capability is proposed, and the related key technologies, e.g., fuzzy information description and dynamic behavior description, are systematically analyzed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Increased outsourcing yields less vertically-integrated firms, suppliers have to rely on different buyers and interdisciplinary teams for acquired and utilized knowledge to improve performance. However, knowledge transfer from buyers to suppliers is not always successful. Studies pertaining to the knowledge stickiness between firms in the knowledge transfer process, such as between buyers and suppliers, have been minimal. Furthermore, while knowledge transfer processes are essentially context-specific in terms of who participates and how they participate in the process, it is very important to put knowledge transfer into context. The results provide support for a curvilinear inverted-U shape relationship between knowledge stickiness and manufacturing capability. In addition, the influence of knowledge stickiness on manufacturing capability would be enhanced by the moderating variables of social embeddedness and learning capability. The finding further suggests that supplier manufacturing capabilities impact supplier commitment and supplier performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Manufacturing capabilities have often been shown to predict various indicators of firm performance. However, the association between manufacturing capabilities and firm performance has seldom been studied in the context of high technology new ventures. Using a sample of 167 UK-based, high technology manufacturing ventures, the current study examines the relationship between manufacturing capabilities (in particular, those contributing to low operating costs and product quality) and venture performance. Additionally, the moderating effects of the ventures’ alliance portfolios and environmental contexts on the capability–performance relationships are explored. Results indicate that venture performance (as reflected in sales growth, return on sales (ROS), and return on assets (ROA)) is significantly predicted by manufacturing capabilities that promote low operating costs and product quality. Further, the data generally support the hypothesized moderating effects of two alliance diversity variables (alliance partner diversity and alliance geographic diversity) and two environmental context variables (environmental dynamism and environmental munificence) on the capability–performance relationships. Overall, the study supports the premise that the value of manufacturing capabilities (i.e., the strength of the capability–performance relationship) among high technology ventures is contingent upon the alliance and environmental contexts within which those ventures operate. Specifically, alliance partner diversity, alliance geographic diversity, and environmental munificence enhance the value of manufacturing capabilities that promote low operating costs. Alliance partner diversity, environmental munificence, and environmental stability enhance the value of manufacturing capabilities that promote product quality. The study''s theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates the complex relationships between the three dimensions of manufacturing capability (quality, flexibility, and cost) and commercialization performance (CP) in Canadian manufacturing environment. An empirical study of 238 Canadian manufacturing companies, using the Maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) technique, reveals that only cost is positively correlated with CP whereas flexibility is negatively correlated with CP. The results suggest that the ability to lower manufacturing cost without paying due attention to other dimensions of manufacturing capability, such as quality and manufacturing fiexibility, leads to an unsatisfactory CP. Based on these findings, we suggest managerial implications and further research study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing strategy is considered to be an important component of overall corporate strategy. A number of researchers have done extensive research on various aspects of manufacturing strategy within operations management domain over last three decades. However, surprisingly the construct of manufacturing capability is not considered as an antecedent for manufacturing strategy, rather both the constructs are assumed to be synonymous to each other despite some criticism in the literature. This paper addresses this research gap. It operationalizes manufacturing strategy and manufacturing as two separate constructs and studies nature of relationship between the two. Also, there is a paucity of research that examines the impact of manufacturing strategy on performance, which is studied in this paper This paper presents preliminary findings from a sample of 194 Canadian manufacturing concerns, top executives and managers. It was found that different dimensions of manufacturing capability impact manufacturing dimensions differently. Our study confirms the conventional wisdom that each manufacturing strategy is backed by the corresponding manufacturing capability. However, it reinforces the notion that certain manufacturing capabilities, such as delivery, are integral to the operations and survival of the firm. The manufacturing strategy positively impacts both financial and non-financial performance. Cost, delivery and flexibility capabilities lead to improved financial performance, while quality impacts customer satisfaction and loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the proclaimed advantages and popularity of outsourcing, there are few and contradictory studies of the effects. The main purpose of this paper is to analyse how outsourcing manufacturing relates to performance and innovation at the plant level. A second purpose is to analyse how this outcome relates to investments in manufacturing capability. This paper is based on the results of a large-scale survey of outsourcing and manufacturing practices among a representative sample of Swedish engineering firms. The results show mainly no significant effects from outsourcing manufacturing on plant operating performance or innovation capability. This paper, however, reveals that the firms' investments in technological and organisational capabilities explain the improvements of performance at the plant level to a significantly higher extent than outsourcing does. This paper concludes with a suggestion to further analyse the potential of combined outsourcing and manufacturing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on international transfer of manufacturing capability has traditionally focused on the viewpoint of the 'transferor', where the recipient is usually less sophisticated. The nature of knowledge in the transferor is identified as the core determinant of the 'transferability' of capability, ideally independent of the host context. In this paper we consider the problem from the viewpoint of the 'transferee'; extracting the capability that it needs from a relatively passive transferor and feeding back knowledge in a mutual learning system. In such cases the 'knowledge transfer' metaphor breaks down. We illustrate this with a case study of a major US computer manufacturer transferring the capability of building its most complex server product to a European site. We discuss the implications of the case for the literature on knowledge transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A challenge facing local firms in China is the selection of effective technology strategies to compete against MNEs in the era of globalization. The existing literature suggests two alternatives, developing strong manufacturing capabilities or developing innovation capabilities, but provides no clear answer to the question of how to select one strategy or the other. This paper explores this issue by introducing two concepts: “barriers to appropriability” and “opportunities for improvement.” We develop four propositions to specify the boundary conditions for local firms to choose their technology strategies and analyze two local firms’ technology strategies to illustrate two of the propositions. We find that development of strong manufacturing capabilities will not necessarily be an effective strategy for local firms competing against MNEs. If there are opportunities for improvement, it might be possible for local firms to compete against MNEs by developing innovation capabilities and core technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Imprint lithography has been proposed as a low cost method for next generation lithography for the manufacturing of semiconductors for the 45nm node and below, as costs for traditional optical lithography and EUV lithography escalate to new levels that may prohibit new semiconductor devices from ever coming to the market. While this was the widely proposed use of this technology, a whole host of new areas can take advantage of this lower cost manufacturing technology also. The template enables imprinting all these devices. Template manufacturing and development is currently done alongside of state-of-the-art reticle manufacturing. While the dimensions of the 1× templates are significantly smaller than what is needed for optical lithography templates, the dimensions are on the same order as the optical assist features, scatter bars and serifs used today. We will show current capability of 1× templates for imprint applications that are available commercially today, for semiconductor and nanofabrication applications. The advantages on the wafer side for the adoption of imprint lithography the simplification of processing, reduced capital costs and process control when integrated in the wafer fab. The adoption of imprint reduces the barrier of entry to state-of-the-art resolution for many older existing fabs that cannot spend upwards of 30 million dollars on an immersion I-line cluster. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]