SEQUENCES OF OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS - SOME EMPIRICAL-EVIDENCE

Looks at the improvement initiatives which companies implement in oper ations, in the areas of design, supply and production. A number of ini tiatives are considered, including design computerization, flexible au tomation, linkages with suppliers and JIT. In the literature these ini tiatives have been given different names, such as technical and organi zational innovations or best manufacturing practices. Using survey dat a, the paper examines the question of the existence of different seque nces followed by companies to innovate their operations. A sample of 1 25 US, Japanese and Italian companies belonging to the electronics, ma chinery and transport industries is analysed. On the basis of the init iative start-up year, four different sequences have been found. They a re different in terms of two dimensions: one is the type of initiative s launched at the beginning, and the other is the level of selectivene ss of the companies in launching the initiatives. The sequences have b een labelled Hard Full Adopters, Hard Discriminators, Soft Full Adopte rs and Soft Discriminators. Company characteristics, such as the count ry of location, and context factors such as export, and length of prod uct life cycle have emerged as discriminating factors between the sequ ences.