Design-for-variety and operational performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 438-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrike Boer ◽  
Harry Boer

Purpose Design-for-variety (DFV) practices aim to help manufacturers to manage and mitigate the negative impact of product variety on operational performance. Theory suggests that designing products according to DFV practices increases operational performance by allowing more efficient processing of products, capitalizing on commonalities and by supporting cross-functional and cross-boundary coordination through simplifying product designs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the latter proposition, and especially the mediating role of internal, supplier and customer integration in the relationship between DFV and operational performance. Design/methodology/approach Data collected in 2014 among 702 manufacturers from 22 countries as part of the 6th International Manufacturing Strategy Survey are analyzed through mediated regression analysis using SPSS 25, AMOS and PROCESS v3.1 software. Findings DFV affects cost/speed, quality, delivery, flexibility and service performance positively. Except for the role of customer integration in the DFV-cost/speed relationship, internal, supplier and customer integration partially mediate the relationship between DFV and operational performance. Practical implications In addition to allowing a more efficient processing of products, the positive effect of DFV on performance is also explained by the fact that DFV practices support cross-functional and supply chain integration. These practices allow manufacturers to create a set of design rules easily understood and communicated within and across organizational boundaries. Originality/value While previous research tends to consider one DFV practice and limited sets of integration mechanisms and performance dimensions, this paper consolidates the most common DFV practices into one construct and encompasses the three forms of integration and six performance dimensions dominating the DFV literature.

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1146-1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Li ◽  
Ling Yuan ◽  
Lutao Ning ◽  
Jason Li-Ying

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the meditating role of psychological ownership which includes both organisation-based psychological ownership (OPO) and knowledge-based psychological ownership (KPO) on the relationship between affective commitment and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is an empirical study based on structural equation modelling, with a sample of 293 employees from 31 high-technology firms in China. Findings – The result indicated that affective commitment had a significant positive effect on OPO but no effect on KPO; OPO was positively related to both common and key knowledge sharing, while KPO exerted a negative impact on both; common knowledge sharing was positively related to key knowledge sharing; the relationship between affective commitment and key knowledge sharing was multi-mediated by OPO and common knowledge sharing. Originality/value – OPO and KPO play an essential role in transferring the effect of employees’ affective commitment to common knowledge sharing and key knowledge sharing, which unravels the blackbox of how effective commitment affects knowledge sharing.


2018 ◽  
Vol 118 (7) ◽  
pp. 1327-1344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongyi Shou ◽  
Wenjin Hu ◽  
Mingu Kang ◽  
Ying Li ◽  
Young Won Park

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the performance effects of supply chain risk management (SCRM). Besides financial performance, two aspects of operational performance are examined: operational efficiency and flexibility. Moreover, the authors explore the moderating role of supplier integration in the relationship between SCRM and operational performance.Design/methodology/approachA survey-based methodology was adopted. Based on the data from an international survey, this study applied the structural equation modeling and latent moderated structural equations approach to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that SCRM positively influences both operational efficiency and flexibility, and has an indirect effect on financial performance. In addition, supplier integration enhances the impact of SCRM on operational flexibility, but does not moderate the relationship between SCRM and operational efficiency.Originality/valueThis study extends the existing literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of the performance effects of SCRM. It also provides managerial insights on both risk management and supplier integration.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma Ga (Mark) Yang ◽  
James Jungbae Roh ◽  
Mingu Kang

PurposeThe current study aims to investigate the role of strategic environmental orientation (SEO) in implementing environmental design practices (EDPs).Design/methodology/approachOn the basis of survey data collected from 212 US manufacturing firms, structural equation modeling and regression analysis are used to test the proposed research model.FindingsThe findings of the present study suggest that SEO not only drives firms' design of environmental products but also moderates the relationship between EDPs and environmental performance. However, SEO turns out not to moderate the relationship between EDPs and operational performance. This study also highlights that firms' EDPs play a critical role in enhancing environmental performance as well as operational performance.Originality/valueBy examining the important role of SEO, this research unpacks the moderating role of SEO between EDPs and firm performance, thus shedding light on how SEO promotes EDPs and the effectiveness of EDPs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacey Sharpe ◽  
Nicole Hanson

PurposeThis study examines the relationship between corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) and firm-level sales and estimates the potentially mitigating role of advertising.Design/methodology/approachTo test their hypotheses, the authors conduct an empirical investigation using a sample of 381 US firms engaging in socially irresponsible behavior.FindingsThe results of this investigation indicate that while sales are negatively impacted during the year of a CSI event, they generally recover in the year immediately following the event. In addition, advertising is shown to mitigate the negative impact of CSI on sales in both the event year and the year immediately following. The authors also consider whether differences exist between CSI firms with and without advertising. From this comparative analysis, it is observed that CSI firms which advertise tend to experience more severe declines in sales. Also, such firms tend to recover from the negative implications of CSI sooner.Originality/valueThis paper provides a novel and empirical approach to assessing the relationship between CSI events and firm-level sales while quantifying the mitigating effects of advertising. Furthermore, the unique contributions and practical findings of this research generate strong support for the significant role advertising can play in helping firms recover from CSI-based brand crisis events and help to establish a promising path for future research.


Author(s):  
Yue Vaughan ◽  
Yoon Koh

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between rapid internationalization and firm value in US restaurant companies. This study also identified the moderating role of available slack, potential slack and recoverable slack on the relationship of rapid internationalization and the firm’s value.Design/methodology/approachA hierarchical regression analysis with panel fixed effects was used in this study. Samples were drawn from publicly traded US restaurant companies, and span from 1993 to 2016 with 264 firm-year observations was used for the study’s analysis.FindingsDrawing on Penrose’s seminal theory of firm-growth that a firm needs excess resources to grow and that the amount of slack resources directly influences a firm’s international growth, this study found that available slack alleviates the negative impact of rapid international expansion in achieving higher firm value.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few analyses that examined thespeedof rapid international expansion in the service context. In addition, this study contributes to existing literature by examining three different slack resources with regards to the speed of international expansion. The findings of this study shed light on restaurant companies whose financial resources are critical for value-adding international expansion.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Fathi Al-Sa’di ◽  
Ayman Bahjat Abdallah ◽  
Samer Eid Dahiyat

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of knowledge management (KM) on product and process innovations, as well as on operational performance (OP). In addition, the effects of product and process innovations on OP, as well as their mediating effects on the relationship between KM and OP, are also investigated. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire-based survey was designed and used to collect data from 207 manufacturing companies operating in the Jordanian capital Amman. To assess construct validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. To test research hypotheses, the bootstrap re-sampling method was applied using Hayes’s SPSS multiple-mediator PROCESS macro. Findings The results indicate that KM has significant positive effects on product and process innovations, and OP. Process innovation was found to have a significant positive effect on OP, while product innovation was not. Furthermore, only process innovation was found to significantly mediate the KM-OP relationship. Practical implications The findings of this study provide useful insights about the role of KM in facilitating and enhancing product and process innovations, as well as OP in the surveyed manufacturing companies. An important implication concerns the roles of product and process innovations. Manufacturing companies seeking improvements in their OP are recommended to focus on process innovation rather than product innovation. While product innovation may affect other aspects of performance, such as market and financial ones, it was not found to significantly affect OP. Process innovation can also leverage KM’s contribution to manufacturing companies’ OP. Originality/value This is a pioneering study in that it developed an integrated model that depicts the interrelationships among KM, product innovation and process innovation and OP, in a developing country context.


Author(s):  
Manish Gupta ◽  
Sindhu Ravindranath ◽  
Y.L.N. Kumar

Purpose Scholars argue that supervisor’s job insecurity may affect subordinates’ work engagement. Moreover, this relationship may be mediated by subordinates’ pro-social voice and the relationship between the supervisor’s job insecurity and subordinates’ pro-social voice may be moderated by organizational culture. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to examine the mediating role of the subordinate’s pro-social voice between supervisor’s job insecurity and subordinates’ work engagement. Second, to test the moderating role of organizational culture between supervisor’s job insecurity and the subordinates’ pro-social voice. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from employees of a large hospital in India using face-to-face data cross-sectional survey method. To test the proposed hypotheses, ordinary least squares regression analysis was performed on the data obtained. Findings The results indicated support for the proposed model in two ways. First, the subordinate’s pro-social voice mediated the relationship between supervisor’s job insecurity and the subordinate’s work engagement. Second, organizational culture acted as a moderator between supervisor’s job insecurity and the subordinate’s pro-social voice. Research limitations/implications The results augment social exchange theory by identifying the crucial role that voicing concerns plays in reducing the negative impact of supervisor’s job insecurity on the subordinates’ work engagement. Practical implications The study findings encourage managers to create an organizational culture that allows the subordinates to challenge their supervisor’s decisions. Originality/value To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study to test job insecurity of the supervisors instead of the same respondents as a predictor of pro-social voice.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Behl ◽  
Pankaj Dutta ◽  
Pratima Sheorey ◽  
Rajesh Kumar Singh

PurposeThe study explores the role of dialogic public communication and information quality (IQ) in evaluating the operational performance of donation-based crowdfunding (DBC) tasks. These tasks are primarily used to support disaster relief operations. The authors also test the influence of cognitive trust and swift trust as moderating variables in explaining the relationship between both IQ and dialogic communication with operational performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a primary survey to test the hypotheses. A total of 203 responses were collected from multiple crowdfunding platforms. The authors used archival data from task creators on donation-based crowdfunding platforms, and a structured questionnaire is also used to collect responses. Data are analyzed using Warp PLS 6.0. Warp PLS 6.0 works on the principle of partial least square (PLS) structured equation modeling (SEM) and has been used widely to test path analytical models.FindingsThe authors found out that the operational performance is explained significantly by the quality of information and its association with dialogic public communication. The results support the arguments offered by dialogic public communication theory and trust transfer theory in assessing the operational success of DBC. The study also confirms that cognitive trust positively moderates the relationship between IQ and organizational public dialogic communication and operational performance. It is also revealed that the duration of the DBC task has no significant control over dialogic public communication.Practical implicationsThe study lays practical foundations for task creators on DBC platforms and website designers as it sets the importance of both IQ and dialogic communication channels. The communication made by the task creator and/or the DBC platforms with the donors and potential donors in the form of timely and appropriate information forms the key to the success of any DBC task. The study also helps task creators choose a suitable platform to improve performance.Originality/valueThe authors propose a unique framework by integrating two theoretical perspectives: dialogic public relation theory and trust transfer theory in understanding the operational performance of donation-based crowdfunding tasks. The authors address DBC tasks catering to disaster relief operations by collecting responses from task creators on DBC platforms. The study uniquely positions itself in the area of information and communication.


2014 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ely Laureano Paiva ◽  
Rafael Teixeira ◽  
Luciana Marques Vieira ◽  
Andrew Beheregaray Finger

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between supply planning, trust and integration, and the influence of them on operational performance. Design/methodology/approach – The paper used a survey with 335 respondents from three different industries. The paper analyzed the data with structural equation modeling. Findings – The results suggest that supply planning and trust are positively related and both influence supply integration and operational performance. At the end the paper proposed a classification for supply integration based on planning use and trust. Research limitations/implications – The sample is composed by companies from only three industries (machinery, electronics and automobile), what does not allow generalization. Practical implications – Managers are challenged to develop simultaneously supply chain planning practices and trust-based relationship within buyers and suppliers. They must pay attention to different integration drivers and use them accordingly and in the context analyzed. The study suggests a 2×2 matrix that might help managers’ decision making. Originality/value – Despite the importance of planning in supply and manufacturing management, few papers analyzed the role of supply planning integrated to trust. The combination between these aspects brings a more realistic and pragmatic view of the supply chain management.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 2184-2197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikhat Afshan ◽  
Jaideep Motwani

Purpose Even though supply chain integration (SCI) has been considered as a vital contributor to business performance, the research shows inconsistency in its finding. Accounting for these inconsistencies, researchers (Fabbe-Costes and Jahre, 2007; Van der Vaart and van Donk, 2008) have highlighted the need to relate the level of integration in a single relationship to the performance outcomes of that relationship. The purpose of this paper is to make an effort in this direction and investigate the impact of customer integration (an important dimension of SCI) on customer-related performance outcome (CRPO) and financial performance of the firm. Design/methodology/approach Based on an extensive literature review, a research model has been developed hypothesizing the relationships between customer integration, CRPO and financial performance. The research model is then tested using data collected from 214 Indian manufacturing companies. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationship between constructs of interest. Findings The result showed that there is no direct effect of customer integration on financial performance instead the relationship is fully mediated through CRPO. Originality/value This study conceptualizes and develops scale for the specific performance outcome resulting from a high level of integration between manufacturer and key customers and labels it as CRPOs. It further investigates the mediating role of this immediate performance outcome on the relationship between customer integration and firm performance.


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