The content and process of automation strategies

If automation is to support the competitiveness for a manufacturing company, strategic as well as operational issues need consideration. To best support competitiveness, decisions concerning automation should be treated as one of several decisions in a manufacturing strategy. Furthermore, to fully utilize the advantages from automation, the manufacturing strategy content and process needs refinement. In this paper, improvement of the manufacturing strategy theory is suggested, mainly based on employment of human factors engineering.     

装备制造企业颠覆式创新实现机理及路径研究——基于扎根理论的分析

颠覆式创新是我国实施创新驱动发展战略、加快装备制造企业创新发展的重要手段。以我国3家具有代表性的装备制造企业为研究对象，运用扎根理论研究方法，对装备制造企业颠覆式创新实现机理及路径进行多案例探索性研究，通过开放式译码、主轴译码和选择性译码，构建装备制造企业实现颠覆式创新的机理路径模型，归纳出装备制造企业实现颠覆式创新的3个阶段，并据此为我国装备制造企业实现颠覆式创新提出管理策略和建议。     

The impact of temperature on manufacturing worker productivity: Evidence from personnel data

This paper presents novel evidence on the impact of temperature on daily indoor worker productivity in a non-climate-controlled manufacturing environment in China. Combining individual worker productivity data from personnel records with weather data, it documents an inverted-U shaped relationship between temperature and labor productivity. Workers do not increase avoidance behavior. The findings suggest that the economic loss from reduced manufacturing labor productivity due to ambient temperature is quantitatively important, providing new insights into the biological effects of climate factor on human labor. Further, back-of-the envelope calculations indicate that the estimated welfare gains from preventing extreme temperatures are substantial.     

应急管理中的敏捷创新：基于健康码的案例研究

面对紧急情况下的各种约束，当事方很容易陷入路径依赖，从而不能实现真正的创新。但在2019年底的新冠疫情应对中，中国健康码异军突起，实现了敏捷创新。选取最具代表性的两类健康码，基于一手访谈和公开报道资料，还原健康码从孕育到成熟的全过程，发现其模式与按部就班的传统创新几乎完全相反。通过与另外3组共6类健康码对照，归纳出打破路径依赖、实现敏捷创新所需的3个条件：制度弹性、应变能力和领导能力。结论对改进科研管理以及理解创新本质具有一定启发。     

Relocation of second degree: Moving towards a new place or returning home?

We study the “Relocations of Second Degree” (RSDs), i.e., the location decisions that modify the country of destination of a previous offshoring investment. Specifically, we distinguish between two types of RSDs, i.e., “Relocation to the Home Country (RHC)”, also known as back-reshoring, and “Relocation to a Third Country (RTC)”, i.e., the choice to move to a second host country.Specifically, we explore how the location advantages underlying the previous offshoring decision affect the probability to undertake an RHC, rather than an RTC. Location advantages reflect the favourable conditions that a foreign country offers with respect to the home one, in terms of market-seeking, asset-seeking and efficiency-seeking (i.e., cost-saving and productivity-enhancing) opportunities. Using data from the European Restructuring Monitor, we focus on the RSDs regarding manufacturing activities, implemented across European countries between 2002 and 2015. We find that, on the one hand, when a previous offshoring investment is driven by market-seeking location advantage, firms undertaking the RSD are more likely to opt for an RHC, except during the economic crisis where market-seeking European firms seem to prefer RTCs. On the other hand, RTC is a preferred choice when the location advantage is of efficiency-seeking type. In addition to offering a broader characterization of RSDs, our study provides empirical evidence of the relationship between the offshoring and relocation decisions. Managers should be aware of this connection when designing their manufacturing internationalization strategies.     

医药制造业发明专利与产业发展的空间耦合协调研究

专利与产业协调发展对实现产业创新发展至关重要。采用改进的象限图法以及专利重心与产业重心空间耦合态势模型，定量分析我国医药制造业发明专利与产业发展之间的耦合协调关系以及两者的时空动态演变趋势。结果表明，目前我国医药制造业发明专利与产业发展间存在明显偏离，耦合协调性主要表现为西高东低、北高南低的分布格局；近5年来，耦合协调性有所提高，发明专利重心与产业发展重心间的距离逐渐缩小，变动一致性提高。结论可为专利密集型产业、高技术产业专利与产业协调发展提供理论和实证支持。     

Backshoring of production activities in European manufacturing

Backshoring – the movement of manufacturing activities from locations abroad back to the home country – has gained some attention in policy discussions and in academic research in recent years. This paper presents empirical evidence on backshoring from a large sample of European manufacturing firms. The data indicate that backshoring is still uncommon among European firms. Around 4% of all firms in our sample have moved production back to the home country between 2013 and mid-2015. The most frequent reasons for backshoring are the loss of flexibility, a lack in quality of the goods produced abroad, and unemployed capacities at home. Flexibility and quality concerns are, in particular, relevant for firms that move production back from Asian countries. Backshoring is most likely for manufacturers of final products and in high-technology sectors, in particular in electrical equipment, information and communications equipment, and the Automotive industry.     

Competitive priorities and managerial performance: a taxonomy of small manufacturers

Much of the research in manufacturing strategy has focused on specific relationships between a few constructs, with relatively little emphasis on typologies and taxonomies [Bozarth, C., McDermott, C., 1998. Configurations in manufacturing strategy: a review and directions for future research. Journal of Operations Management 16 (4) 427–439]. Using data from 196 respondents in 98 manufacturing units, this study develops a taxonomy of small manufacturers based on their emphasis on several competitive priorities. The annual sales for 64% of the participating units in this study are below US$50 million, which is on the lower side as compared to other studies in this area [cf., Miller, J.G., Roth, A.V., 1994. A taxonomy of manufacturing strategies. Management Science 40 (3) 285–304]. The study findings indicate that different groups of manufacturers — Do All, Speedy Conformers, Efficient Conformers, and Starters — emphasize different sets of competitive priorities, even within the same industry. Further, the Do All types, who emphasize all four competitive priorities, seem to perform better on customer satisfaction than their counterparts in the Starters group. The above findings lend support to the sandcone model but contradict the traditional trade-off model.     

Evaluating accessibility impacts of the proposed America 2050 high-speed rail corridor for the Appalachian Region

Transportation improvements are often considered to be precursors of economic growth. This paper examines industry-specific ‘attractiveness’ due to changes in the transportation network for 23 counties in the Appalachian Region. The network improvements result from new highway construction and the proposed America 2050 High-Speed Rail (HSR) plan for the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. The impacted counties that are proximate to five HSR stations (Birmingham, Atlanta, Greenville, Charlotte, and Greensboro) are studied for potential accessibility changes between the years 2002 to 2035. The impacts are examined with respect to six key industry sectors found around the proposed HSR stations: manufacturing; retail; construction; mining, quarrying, oil and gas extraction; health-care services; and all other remaining industries combined. The analysis shows that, for transportation improvements with highways only (and no HSR), a decrease in accessibility for all the impacted counties occurs for the six industry sectors examined in the future year of 2035. The HSR speed of 150 miles per hour is found to be adequate enough to cause positive changes in potential accessibility of the directly impacted counties containing the Birmingham and Greenville HSR stations. With combined transportation network improvements from both highway construction and the new 150 mph HSR line, counties around the Atlanta and Greensboro HSR stations would see accessibility increases in 2035 compared to 2002 with respect to five industry sectors: manufacturing; retail; construction; health-care services; and all other remaining industries combined. However, accessibility changes with respect to mining, quarrying, oil and gas extraction would be positive specifically only for the indirectly impacted counties around the Atlanta HSR station and the county containing the Greenville HSR station. This clearly shows differences in the spatial distribution of attractiveness for different industry sectors across the impacted counties along the HSR corridor. Thus, this exploratory analysis could serve as an aid to proactive public policy decision-making for large-scale transportation network improvements, such as the HSR, in understanding and improving economic activities for different industry mixes across other regions of the United States.