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

Definition of shareholder wealth, Alfred Rappaport's definition of sharehol...

Alfred Rappaport's definition of shareholder wealth (value)  Shareholder value = corporate (business) value - Debt The corporate value represents the perpetuity of cash

Illustrate about return on capital employed, Q. illustrate about Return on ...

Q. illustrate about Return on capital employed? Return on capital employed (ROCE)       =    (Profit before interest and tax (PBIT) / Capital employed) x 100%       RO

International aspects to transfer pricing, Q. International aspects to tran...

Q. International aspects to transfer pricing? The following issues can influence international transfer pricing decisions. Exchange rates e.g. fluctuations in global cur

EFE Matrix, Prepare an EFE Matrix for our university Islamic international ...

Prepare an EFE Matrix for our university Islamic international Islamabad by identifying and evaluating external opportunities and threats facing higher education in your state ,the

Show the demerits of using return on investment, Q. Show the Demerits of us...

Q. Show the Demerits of using return on investment? The following disadvantages maybe experienced when choosing to use ROI as a primary performance measure. -  An accounting

International trade, Suppose that the small country of Fiji is isolated fro...

Suppose that the small country of Fiji is isolated from the rest of the world and no international trade occurs due to prohibitively high transportation costs. Amongst other things

Discuss the key activities of the strategic manageme, Discuss the key activ...

Discuss the key activities of the strategic management process. Explain why it is important for managers to recognise the interdependent nature of these activities.

Targeting , targeting strtegics with live examples

targeting strtegics with live examples

Strategic Planning and Organizational Development fo, Question 1: Read the ...

Question 1: Read the article in the assigned Reading, “Management: A Journey in Progress.” Which do you think are the most enduring management principles and management responsibil

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