Increased firm formalization helps emerging firms develop stable routines and processes to increase their chances of survival. However, uncertain and dynamic task environments of emerging firms require more flexible organizational structures. Such duality of structural prescriptions stems from competing demands of task and institutional environments. We propose that manufacturing flexibility co...

Malaysian manufacturing has an asymmetrical structure: small and medium-sized enterprises dominate in numbers, but contribute relatively little to total output, employment, and exports as compared to their larger counterparts. In light of an increasingly competitive environment arising from globalization, a sound knowledge of turnover patterns within the sector by plant size and its potential i...

This study examines technology use in Canada’s manufacturing sector, and how a set of technology-using manufacturing establishments performed relative to non-users. Data originates from a recent Statistics Canada survey, asking manufacturing firms about their use of 22 advanced manufacturing technologies, and panel data taken from the Census of Manufacturers. Results show that the use of advanc...

Manufacturing firms concentrate on their core competences to prevail in fierce competition. This concentration lead manufacturing firms to shift large shares of their value creation to their suppliers. As a result, the supply network drives the economic performance of manufacturing firms through three measures; individual performance of suppliers (1), their arrangement and the structure of the ...

Malaysian manufacturing firms play an important role in the country’s social and economic development. However, industry faces challenges productivity competitiveness due to rapid globalization instabilities affecting countries worldwide. To address these challenges, technological capability has become essential requirement for a firm’s progress remain sustainable competitive. This study aims i...

The past two decades have seen the realization of the manufacturing firms towards quality consciousness. The various firms worldwide employed the statistical tools for minimizing the deviations and subsequently the number of rejects of the manufactured parts. In this process, more prominence is laid on prevention of defects rather than detecting and rejecting the defect in the usual traditional...

This study focused on the alignment of business strategy and IT strategy among 256 small UK manufacturing firms. IT alignment was explored using both the matching and moderation approaches, leading to a measure of alignment for each firm. The group of firms with high IT alignment achieved better organisational performance than firms with low IT alignment. As well as confirming prior findings in...