Focused factories - limited vertical integration, Strategic Management

Assignment Help:

Focused Factories - Limited Vertical Integration

Japanese companies prefer specialisation (derived from Adam Smith's theories on division of labour), with a limited or focused span of activity. They believe that with fewer activities to control, their abilities to master skills and improve productivity, are enhanced. There are some stark comparisons. The Singer Sewing Machine Company in Scotland, once had 14,000 employees working simultaneously on one site. Today IBM in Scotland who are engaged in the large-scale production of personal computers believe their plant has reached an 'optimum' size with 3,000 workers. Under no circumstances, would they allow their plant to approach the dinosaur proportions of the now extinct Singer plant. The issues of organisation and productivity are closely linked. Group technology (GT) This is a technique which is well documented by the British academic, J L Burbidge in his article 'The Future for Batch Production', 1985. Instead of laying out the plant by department specialism, it is considered more sensible to group product families together in cells. The purpose of their grouping is to improve material flow and span of control. For instance, less set up time is needed between parts requiring similar processing. More use can also be made of shared facilities. Group technology has been around for some time - it was widely used by the Soviet Union during World War II to produce tanks. After the war, it was imported to Europe. However, as the literal translation of the Russian is 'family planning' (which has other meanings!) it was altered to group technology.


Related Discussions:- Focused factories - limited vertical integration

Marketing strategy for services, Marketing Strategy for Services ...

Marketing Strategy for Services This activity is part of your marketing plan.  Prepare a 4-5 page report, addressing the following : o   Describe the target

Evaluating the performance of divisions, Q. Evaluating the performance of d...

Q. Evaluating the performance of divisions? The controllability principle is concerned with assessing performance based upon measures that can be controlled only by a manager a

Explain operating profit margin - performance ratios, Q. Explain Operating ...

Q. Explain Operating profit margin - performance ratios? Operating profit mar =              (PBIT / Turnover) x 100% This is the ratio of operating profit to sales or turno

What is the eva for this division, Division Y has annual operating profit o...

Division Y has annual operating profit of £40 million after charging £6 million for the development cost of a new product which has been launched and is expected to last this year

Explain zero based budgeting, Q. Explain Zero based budgeting? Zero bas...

Q. Explain Zero based budgeting? Zero based budgeting (ZBB) is a method of budgeting, which requires each cost element within the budget to be specifically justified as though

Analyze and diagnose a current and significant organization, Option A. ...

Option A. Identify, analyze, and diagnose a current and significant organization problem or objective that directly involves any one or more of the following organizational be

Activities in strategic management process, a) identify and explain the key...

a) identify and explain the key activities in the strategic management process. b) why do businesses need to go international .?

Define global and international regional strategies, 1. What are the streng...

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the mission statement? Which of these statements are effective guides to decision-making within an organization? Which, if any, of th

Calculate the growth-price-recovery, Hamadi Corporation manufactures an ele...

Hamadi Corporation manufactures an electronic component 'AZ-101'. This component is significantly different from its peer companies and has gained a high repute. The company presen

What does process of crafting and executing strategy entail, What Does Proc...

What Does Process of Crafting & Executing Strategy Entail? 1.   Crafting & executing a company's strategy is a five-stage managerial process: (a). Developing a strategic vi

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd