Identifying service strategies in product manufacturing companies by exploring environment-strategy configurations

Higher market complexity and increasing competitive intensity are forcing traditional product-manufacturing companies to change their position in the goods-services continuum by continuously extending the service business. However, the existing literature tends to be somewhat vague in defining service strategies for manufacturing companies wishing to move along the continuum. The purpose of this study is to identify service strategies that correspond with specific environment-strategy fits. Using an exploratory factor and cluster analysis for testing Western European firms, the study highlights four different service strategies. The four service strategies include after-sales service providers (ASPs), customer support providers (CSPs), outsourcing partners (OPs), and development partners (DPs). After-sales service providers concentrate on cost leadership and ensure proper functioning of the product. Customer support providers form a unique value proposition by investing in a strong product and service differentiation. Outsourcing partners combine cost leadership with service and product differentiation to offer attractive prices for operational services. Their goal is to assume the operating risk and full responsibility for the customer's operating processes. Development partners provide research and development services to create a situation in which customers benefit directly from their development competencies.     

我国电网企业融资方式及相关问题探讨

针对电力体制改革过程中电网企业资金困难,重点分析了电网企业融资障碍,提出了适合电网企业的融资方式,最后对电网企业融资实现及创新提出了建议。     

Large European manufacturers and the management of R&D

At the end of 1984, for the third consecutive year, a research team from INSEAD administered a survey of the largest manufacturers in Europe. This survey attempts to provide an insight into the technological and manufacturing strategy designed and implemented by these large manufacturers.
Each year since 1982 about 150 companies have completed the questionnaire, and of these 150 replies about one third are repeat answers. The database thus covers about 350 companies. As a consequence this allows us not only to analyse the static picture for a single year, but also to draw a dynamic picture of how thinking about technological and manufacturing strategy is changing within the European Manufacturing Industry.
An analysis of the questionnaire's results allows us to assert some hypotheses about:
a. Changes in the length of the product lifecycle.
b. The importance of process engineering and proprietary process know-how.
c. The interface between manufacturing and research and development as perceived by the manufacturing side.
Since a similar survey is conducted for North America and Japan at the same time, it is possible to posit the European manufacturers vis-à-vis their global competitors for some of these issues.     

The coordination structure of international collaborative technology arrangements

As the pace and breadth of technological progress increases around the world, companies both large and small are forming international collaborative arrangements as the basis for developing competitive advantage from technology. Management of these arrangements requires the creation and maintenance of a wide variety of strategic and operational interdependencies within and between companies. The paper introduces a method for developing a representation leading to a system level understanding of the coordination structure of international collaborative arrangements. The method is based on recent advances in coordination theory and object oriented domain analysis. We apply the method to represent four international collaborative arrangements. The representations that result are then used as data to identify five basic modules of the coordination structure of international collaborative arrangements: strategic management, intra-firm management, joint management, technology exchange and customer interaction. The proposed method leads to increased organizational learning of the goal oriented coordination processes for which managers are responsible when establishing international collaborative technology arrangements.     

The new age of new product development: are we there yet?

A three-questionnaire DELPHI issues study identifies and ranks in importance the top twenty-four management of technology (MOT) issues (unresolved problems) in new product development involving advanced technologies. The study was conducted because of a dearth of studies evaluating the relative importance of MOT problems that are shared across advanced-technology industries. The study relates each of the top ten MOT issues to the 'new product development paradigm' to help explain the importance of each issue. Discussion of participants' comments provides insights into their concerns about each issue. Strategic Planning for Technology Products was identified as the top priority issue, but European and USA participants did not fully agree on the importance of several issues. The findings aid in identifying priority new product development research projects, and show R&D managers the extent to which specific MOT issues are of general concern among companies.     

New product development process and time-to-market in the generic pharmaceutical industry

Generic pharmaceutical companies tend to improve their market position by being first in the market when a patent on an original product elapses. The time-to-market of new products is an important source of their comparative advantages. In our study we investigate the organizational and managerial factors lying behind time-to-market in four generic pharmaceutical companies in Central and Eastern Europe. Our research also supports some results found in other studies on the lead-time of new product development. However, we find some factors specific to generic pharmaceutical companies. Our findings are incorporated into a diagnostic model of new product development in generic pharmaceutical companies, which is an important practical result of our research.     

Multiple scenario approach and strategic behaviour in European companies

Nowadays, scenarios are a popular subject in management literature. However, information available about how extensively scenarios are used and the possible motives for their use, as well as their effects on strategic behaviour in companies, has hitherto been very limited. Results of a survey among Fortune's top 1000 companies in the U.S.A. in 1977 and 1981 showed a growing corporate interest in scenarios. A survey of the use of scenarios in large Western European companies in 1981 provided evidence of similar interest in Europe. In this article, results of the European survey are presented and the differences between user and non-user attitudes towards the future among European firms analysed and the implications for strategic behaviour outlined.     

Globalizing the emerging high-technology company

Two traditional models of global expansion were evaluated in an exploratory effort to explain the globalization patterns of emerging high-technology companies. In-depth field interviews were conducted with 19 Massachusetts-based companies that supply software or peripheral products for desktop computing to explore: their timing and aggressiveness in entering markets outside of North America; their structures and patterns for expansion; and their success. Sampled companies report nondomestic revenues ranging from 6% to 58% of their totals. Statistical analyses of “globalization success,”, defined here as how quickly a company achieves substantial percentage of revenues from nondomestic markets, support an integrated model of globalization that combines a cluster of other influences with elements of Vernon's specific product cycle model and aspects of the more generic internationalization process models. In accordance with Vernon, high-tech products are developed primarily for the home market but are soon transferred overseas, more slowly to “lagging markets.” In contrast with Vernon, many different selling arrangements are employed, and overseas production does not follow for most high-tech firms. In accordance with the general internationalization theory, when high-tech companies perceive foreign markets as risky they proceed cautiously, often using outside specialists to facilitate market entry and increase their involvement over time as their familiarity increases. But in contrast with this, many high-tech firms, especially the most successful, do not even perceive such riskiness and do not exhibit such caution. Unrelated to either of those two models, and building upon the work of Ragman et al.[1], globalization success is most strongly linked to how aggressively senior management allocates internal resources to developing an overseas business model that approximates the company's u.S. model of selling/distributing. External environmental forces, too, such as the varied adoption rates of the underlying desktop computing platforms themselves as well as regulatory factors, also affect globalization of high-tech products and companies.     

Strategic focus of incumbents in the European telecommunications industry: The cases of BT,Deutsche Telekom and KPN

This study investigates the internal and external strategic choices that telecommunications firms, operating in a dynamic network environment, make to adapt to changes and to respond quickly in order to create or to sustain their competitive advantage. In particular, in the European telecommunications industry incumbent firms have faced important challenges from new technologies, liberalization and the convergence of markets. The leading European telecommunications companies initially focused on new markets and new businesses, emphasizing their plans to become major players in relevant markets. However, after the telecommunications euphoria companies were more restrained due to their huge burden of debt and their market value. Through refocusing or restructuring, these companies have tried to streamline their businesses in order to restore their value and to improve their competitiveness. Insight into the specific strategic actions of traditional telecommunications companies in Europe to the recent developments in the industry is provided from the analysis of three leading traditional telecommunications companies: BT, Deutsche Telekom and KPN.     

Diversifying acquisitions and financial relationships: Testing 1974-1976 behaviour

Fifty-four diverisifying acquisitions in manufacturing and mining industries from 1974 to 1976 are investigated in terms of sales growth rate, rate of return on assets, and current ratio of the acquiring and acquired companies. The average characteristics of acquired companies, classified by the characteristics of their acquiring companies, are compared. Results indicate significant structural matches between the acquired and acquiring companies to exploit strengths and avoid weaknesses in growth, profitability, and liquidity. It appears that firms try to balance their business segments in terms of product life cycle stages within a limit of maintaining proper levels of profit.     

Cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) as technology transfer mechanisms

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) between Federal R&D laboratories and private companies in the US are intended, in large part, to transfer technologies developed at Federal R&D laboratories to private companies. We surveyed the Federal laboratory and private CRADA partners involved in CRADAs at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in order to identify certain difficulties inherent in CRADAs as mechanisms for technology transfer. Company partners do not share a common organizational culture with their Federal laboratory counterparts, and are critical of the length of time and complexity of government administrative arrangements necessary to form a CRADA.     

The Impact of European Works Councils on Management Decision-Making in UK and US-based Multinationals: A Case Study Comparison

The operation of European Works Councils (EWCs) is taking management and employee representatives in MNCs into uncharted territory. In particular, for companies headquartered in Anglo‐Saxon economies there is little domestic tradition of statutory employee consultation. Drawing on comparative case studies, this article investigates the impact of EWCs on the process and outcomes of corporate‐level management decision‐making in UK and US‐based MNCs. Variation in EWC impact arises from the interaction of structural factors, such as business focus, management organisation and pre‐existing industrial relations arrangements, and agency factors, including management policy and the cohesion of employee representatives.     

Platform-Driven Development of Product Families: Linking Theory with Practice

Firms in many industries increasingly are considering platform-based approaches to reduce complexity and to better leverage investments in new product development, manufacturing, and marketing. However, a clear gap in literature still exists when it comes to discussing the problems and risks related to implementing and managing product families and their underlying platforms. Using a multiple-case approach, we compare three technology-driven companies in their definition of platform-based product families, investigate their reasons for changing to platform-driven development, and analyze how they implemented platform thinking in their development process and which risks they encountered in the process of creating and managing platform-based product families. The field study shows that the companies involved in the study use a homogeneous concept of platform-based product families and that they have similar reasons to turn to platform thinking and to encounter comparable risks. However, the companies analyzed use mainly product architecture as a basis for their platforms (and ignore many of the platform types advocated in literature), while on the other hand they show divergent applications of the platform concept regarding the combinations of product families and market applications. Through this exploratory study, some important white spots in literature became evident as well. In the discussion part of this article these white spots are discussed and directions for future platform research are proposed. The article concludes that given its importance, platform-driven development of product families clearly deserves further research to provide more insight into strategic planning for new products.     

Competitive Advantage Through Product Performance Innovation in a Competitive Market

Superior product performance does not necessarily ensure commercial success. In many industries, companies seek competitive advantage primarily through product innovation. Competition in such markets is based on claims of technological superiority. However, unless a company can clearly establish the superiority of its products in its customers' minds, a differentiation strategy based on relative product performance is likely to be ineffective. This is particularly true in markets characterized by numerous product introductions from many competitors.
Product innovation success declines as the intensity of market competition increases. This may be caused by customers' inability to differentiate products on the basis of functional performance. John H. Friar tests this hypothesis by examining an industry, medical diagnostic ultrasound equipment, that is characterized by frequent product introductions from numerous companies.
Technical experts from the competing manufacturers believe there are differences in the image quality of their equipment and strongly agree on the factors that distinguish better performance. In most cases, however, customers could not distinguish product performance. Ironically, in a market where everyone is competing by improving product performance, product performance innovation alone may not be enough to create meaningful differentiation.
To succeed in such an environment, companies must compete on two levels. Continued emphasis on product innovation is necessary to keep pace with the competition. However, because product innovation alone is not sufficient to provide market differentiation, companies must shift their competitive thrust to other dimensions.     

Designing Visual Recognition for the Brand*

The present paper examines how companies strategically employ design to create visual recognition of their brands' core values. To address this question, an explorative in‐depth case study was carried out concerning the strategic design efforts of two companies: Nokia (mobile phones) and Volvo (passenger cars). It was found that these two companies fostered design philosophies that lay out which approach to design and which design features are expressive of the core brand values. The communication of value through design was modeled as a process of semantic transformation. This process specifies how meaning is created by design in a three‐way relation among design features, brand values, and the interpretation by a potential customer. By analyzing the design effort of Nokia and Volvo with the help of this model, it is shown that control over the process of semantic transformation enabled managers in both companies to make strategic decisions over the type, strength, and generality of the relation between design features and brand values. Another result is that the embodiment of brand values in a design can be strategically organized around lead products. Such products serve as reference points for what the brand stands for and can be used as such during subsequent new product development (NPD) projects for other products in the brand portfolio. The design philosophy of Nokia was found to depart from that of Volvo. Nokia had a bigger product portfolio and served more market segments. It therefore had to apply its design features more flexibly over its product portfolio, and in many of its designs the relation between design features and brand values was more implicit. Six key drivers for the differences between the two companies were derived from the data. Two external drivers were identified that relate to the product category, and four internal drivers were found to stem from the companies' past and present brand management strategies. These drivers show that the design of visual recognition for the brand depends on the particular circumstances of the company and that it is tightly connected to strategic decision making on branding. These results are relevant for brand, product, and design managers, because they provide two good examples of companies that have organized their design efforts in such a way that they communicate the core values of their brands. Other companies can learn from these examples by considering why these two companies acted as they did and how their communication goals of product design were aligned to those of brand management.     

New Product Management Practices of Small High Technology Firms

Various methods exist for managing the planning, cost estimating, scheduling and statusing of new product development projects. David Boag and Brenda Rinholm investigate whether the use of formal management procedures and structured frameworks are the most effective methods for achieving control over new product development activities. This article describes the new product development management practices of 33 small and medium-sized high technology companies. The authors employ a judgmental procedure to group the firms into three stages of development for their management of new products. Findings indicate that success at new product development is greater for more formalized companies than for companies which are less formalized or which use informal methods.     

Do brand names differentiate identical industrial products?

Many industrial marketing companies manufacture goods that are intrinsically identical to goods made by their competitors. When faced with this problem, an increasing number of companies attempt to use branding at the ultimate consumer level to pull their product through intermediate manufacturers and distribution channels. This paper analyses the validity of this strategy by looking at the U.K. man-made fibre market, where it has been used extensively. The conclusions are that branding alone is unlikely to be of value in the market. This hypothesis is supported by the results of a survey of industrial experts and consumers. It is suggested that the key to controlling the market in question is branding with rigid control of product end use.     

The small- and medium-sized firm as a channel for technology transfer between nations

Managers of small- and medium-sized firms are often unwilling to enter into agreements with firms in other countries to share knowledge developed in their own R & D efforts. They see such arrangements as being primarily withing the normal activities of the larger companies and restrict their own participation to the local market. These smaller firms, however, have much to offer in new technological ideas. Managers willing to establish multinational ties can find them to be advantageous to home and host countries and to lead to greater success for their enterprise.     

Collapsing New Product Development Times: Six Case Studies

Today's customers are sophisticated. They demand product variety, functionality and performance. To survive in this arena, successful companies in a global economy must rapidly introduce new products (new product lines or improvements to existing lines) by collapsing their product development times. Vincent Mabert, John Muth and Roger Schmenner report results from a comparative case study of six new product introduction projects at six different firms, identifying those elements that are important to product introduction lead time and how they are influenced by customer and organizational and technical factors. They note that the new product innovation process is very complex, sensitive to external forces like customer demands or expectations and to internal issues like how team leadership is defined for the development team. The article describes the participating companies and analyzes the six projects with particular attention to four structural elements: motivation, workings of teams, external vendor's cooperation with the teams and project control. The authors conclude by identifying the top priority factors influencing new product introduction time.     

Forecasting business needs in the telephone market

The last decade has seen substantial changes in the environment in which U.S. telephone companies operate. As regulated monopolies, telephone companies are experiencing effective competition in several areas of their operations. Additionally the consumerist movement has made regulatory agencies more aware of the requirements of the numerous markets served by the utilities. With “good” telephone service available at reasonable cost throughout the United States, users and telephone companies are more aware of secondary product attributes such as style (decorator sets) and auxiliary features (the ability to place one caller on hold and answer another call). These changes reflect the evolution of the marketing function within the telephone companies and the increasing use of marketing research for product line expansion and sales forecasting. What has caused this shifting perspective on the function of marketing? How have the utilities responded? The following discussion deals with these questions as well as the ways in which marketing research has aided the telephone company in forecasting sales to business customers.