How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

Looks at globalization and lean production and their possible interaction. Depicts production as ‘a tightly coupled, flexible system’ centred on JIT (just‐in‐time) delivery and low inventories, which requires continuous improvement as a component quality necessary in the process. Describes global supply chain strategy's conflicting goals as: JIT delivery; low inventory; lead times; flexible manufacturing; and close relationships with suppliers. Concludes that managers can evaluate the trade‐off between locating those activities close to corporate design and production functions.

Lean production in an international supply chain

Explaining sustainable supply chain performance using a total interpretive structural modeling approach

Background:  The implementation of green supply chain management activities as a business strategy remains unfamiliar to many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries such as South Africa. Setting:  Implementation of green supply chain management activities by South African SMEs is necessary, given both the high failure rate of such enterprises in the country and the proven ability of such activities to promote the success of businesses. Aim:  The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between green supply chain management activities, operational performance and supply chain performance in manufacturing SMEs in South Africa. Methods:  Data were collected from 219 manufacturing SMEs operating within Gauteng. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the psychometric properties of measurement scales. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. Results:  Four green supply chain management activities, namely green purchasing, reverse logistics, environmental collaboration with suppliers and green manufacturing, exerted a positive influence on operational performance. Environmental collaboration with suppliers exerted the highest influence on operational performance when compared to green purchasing, reverse logistics and green manufacturing. In turn, operational performance exerted a strong positive influence on supply chain performance. Conclusion:  The results of the study suggest that manufacturing SMEs in developing countries could benefit by adopting green supply chain management activities, with improvements being realised in terms of increases in both operational and supply chain performance.

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Extending green supply chain management activities to manufacturing small and medium enterprises in a developing economy

From last few decades, logistics management (LM) constitutes a global concern among organization’s supply chain (SC) to improve their business effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to uncover and analyze the critical factors (CFs) related to the implementation of effective LM concept and benchmark the SC performance.,The most common (16) CFs were identified and selected through literature and use of the Delphi method. Subsequently, the selected most common CFs were analyzed to distinguish their causal relations using the fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) technique under unclear surroundings. A case example of Indian Logistics Company is also discussed to reveal the practical applicability of the research.,Provision of the effective information communication and technological developments in the system and Management dedication, support and involvement CFs are found to have the top most influences in the effective implementation of LM. This paper also groups the CFs into cause and effect relationship which provides valuable insights for analyzing the factors in successful implementation of LM.,This work attempts to understand the different CFs, their relative position and the importance rating in the system, due to which, managers can differentiate the factor which greatly affects the concepts of implementing LM, and thus, improvements can be made accordingly.,First, this work offers 16 CFs to LM implementation from a SC scenario. Second, in the context of contributing to the theory, the combined Delphi and fuzzy DEMATEL-based model is provided that helps in managing the logistic related issues effectively.

Benchmarking the logistics management implementation using Delphi and fuzzy DEMATEL

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship among supply effort management, logistics capabilities, and supply chain management strategies on firm performance. A concept model was developed and subsequently five hypotheses were formulated. In order to empirically investigate the concept model, a nationwide survey of supply chain professionals within manufacturing firms was undertaken in India and data were collected. The concept model was tested using structural equation modeling. From the results of SEM analysis, it is found that SCM strategy is positively influenced by supply effort management and logistics capabilities. The overall firm performance is positively impacted by supply effort management, logistics capabilities, and SCM strategy. This study presents valid and reliable metrics that academicians as well as practitioners can use in measuring the supply effort management, logistics capabilities, SCM strategy, and firm performance. The investigated SEM model provides supply chain managers with a useful tool for evaluating and improving efficiency of their current managerial practices.

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D.M. Sezhiyan

Papers

The impact of supply effort management, logistics capability, and supply chain management strategies on firm performance