Title: A configuration study on the relationships between production systems and business strategy in the changing environment

Authors: Jian Wang, De-bi Tsao

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Tokyo Institute of Technology, O-okayama 2-12-1, Meguro-Ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan. ' Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Tokyo Institute of Technology, O-okayama 2-12-1, Meguro-Ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan

Abstract: This paper describes the development and analysis of a numerical taxonomy of the relationships between production systems and business strategy in the changing competitive environment. The taxonomy was developed with a standard method of cluster analysis, and is based on four types of environment, six types of business strategy and four types of production systems. Eighty-two firms were surveyed through face-to-face interviews. Four kinds of relationships between environment, business strategy, and production systems were observed. The validity of the cluster analysis is supported in the non-linear canonical correlation analysis. Underlying dimensions for the cluster analysis are interpreted as the product or service attribute and the customer focus.

Keywords: change; competitive environment; business strategy; production systems; cluster analysis; engineer to order; ETO; make to order; MTO; assemble to order; ATO; make to stock; MTS; manufacturing competitiveness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2005.006500

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2005 Vol.7 No.1, pp.20 - 40

Published online: 17 Mar 2005 *

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