A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF THE OPERATIONS STRATEGIES OF GLOBALLY-ORIENTEDAND DOMESTICALLY-ORIENTED NEW-ZEALAND MANUFACTURING FIRMS

There has been much written on why and how firms become involved in en tering international markets. There is less material on the production /operations actions taken by such fil ms. This paper investigates the differences in competitive capabilities and manufacturing performance improvement plans between globally-oriented and domestically-oriented firms. It uses data collected from 140 New Zealand manufacturing compa nies. The results indicate that both groups emphasize the same competi tive capabilities, but the globally-oriented group is placing more emp hasis on some action plans involving quality assurance, improving exis ting processes and design for manufacture. Their most favoured action plans are similar to those of firms in most advanced manufacturing cou ntries which participate in the Manufacturing Futures Project.