Linking performance drivers in production planning and inventory control to process choice

This study investigates how process choice relates to production planning and inventory control decisions. We empirically examine the validity of deductively derived patterns about these types of decisions. More importantly, we look for normative insights by exploring how production planning and inventory control decisions affect operations performance. Our findings show that production line and continuous flow plants use more of a level production strategy, and carry less raw material and work-in-process inventory. The performance drivers for these plants, through which the operations function excels, are effective utilization of equipment, reduced finished goods inventory, and reduced setup down time. To gain forward demand visibility and batching economies, job and batch shops rely much more on backlogs in their planning process. These plants use more of a production chase strategy and position inventory lower in the bills of materials. Four performance drivers for top-performing job and batch shops are to find ways that better anticipate customers' orders, have a more responsive chase strategy, carry less raw material or purchased inventory, and shorten production planning horizon, partly through less reliance on backlogs. It is intriguing that top-performing plants not only do the expected things, given their choice of process, but also excel in selected dimensions—some of which fit the profile normally associated with a different process choice. To monitor and continuously improve operations, evaluation ‘scorecards’ should pay particular attention to performance drivers, which change depending on the plant's process choice.     

Economic and sociopolitical determinants of exchange controls

The objective of this study is to explore the feasibility of identifying factors that could presage the imposition of exchange controls. Two sets of variables are argued to contain pertinent information regarding the imposition of controls. One set is composed of 14 economic ratios related to the balance of payments and exchange rate; the other set is made up of 17 proxy measures of sociopolitical instability. The empirical analysis of exchange controls imposed by 13 governments during 1973–1983 shows that these variables have potential for predicting the imposition of exchange controls.     

A financial comparison of Japanese and US manufacturers

This paper compares and contrasts the financial policies of Japanese and comparable U.S. manufacturing firms on the basis of 15 financial ratios. The findings indicate that there are significant differences between these two groups in 10 out of the 15 ratios investigated.Ali M. Fatemi is with the College of Business Administration at the Kansas State University. Hossein Safizadeh and Marna Jo Young are with the Wichita State University.     

Sourcing practices and boundaries of the firm in the financial services industry

We investigate sourcing decisions related to the back‐office operations of 108 processes used by financial services companies. Guided by the arguments of transaction cost economics and the resource‐based and knowledge‐based view of organizations, we hypothesize that service customization and volume represent two key drivers of a service company's sourcing decisions. The inherent uncertainty of service customization gives rise to the transaction cost risks of opportunism and holdups and thus favors insourcing. Moreover, the competency gained from performing high‐volume back‐office operations aligns with the tenets of the resource‐based view, which also favors insourcing. The empirical results corroborate these theoretical expectations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.