Title: How initiatives renew operations strategy and its linkage to competitive strategy: a micro-level perspective

Authors: Emmanuel D. Adamides; Eleni Karfaki

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Section of Management and Organization Studies, University of Patras, Patras, Greece ' Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Section of Management and Organization Studies, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

Abstract: The research reported in this paper aims at providing a consistent description of the dynamics of bottom-up operations initiatives and their interaction with ongoing operations strategy activity for facilitating their analysis with respect to producing strategic renewal. Towards this end, using actor-network theory, we first develop a conceptual framework for analysing the trajectories of bottom-up operations strategic initiatives as they seek resources and legitimation in the organisation's strategic processes, and then we apply the framework to analyse an operations-led strategic initiative in a training services provider, focusing on its linking to the operations and business level strategic processes.

Keywords: operations strategy; strategic initiatives; actor-network theory; ANT; training services; house of quality; HoQ; strategic renewal.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2017.081488

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2017 Vol.26 No.2, pp.141 - 161

Received: 22 Jun 2015
Accepted: 06 Aug 2015

Published online: 10 Jan 2017 *

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