The role of executive problem solving in knowledge accumulation and manufacturing improvements |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Managerial Sciences, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, 35 Broad Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA;2. Department of Management, Lebow College of Business, Drexel University, 3220 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA;1. School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, China;2. College of Business and Economics, Lehigh University, United States;1. College of Business, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, United States;2. Villanova University, Management and Operations, Villanova School of Business, 800 Lancaster Ave., Villanova, PA 19085, United States;1. Aalto University, School of Engineering, Rakentajanaukio 4 A, P.O. Box 12100, FI-00076, Aalto, Finland;2. Eindhoven University of Technology, Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, Netherlands;3. Aalto University, School of Science, Maarintie 8, P.O. Box 15500, FI-00076, Aalto, Finland;1. College of Business and Innovation, University of Toledo, 2801 West Bancroft St., Toledo, OH 43606, United States;2. W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, 400 E. Lemon St., Tempe, AZ 85287, United States;3. Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, 1001 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 1G5;1. 177 107th Ave. NE, #2101, Bellevue, WA 98004, USA;2. Thunderbird School of Global Management, 1 Global Place, Glendale, AZ 86001, USA |
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| Abstract: | This study investigates how strategic leaders influence knowledge stocks and manufacturing improvements in firms. In doing so, we identify two related but distinct problem-solving orientations among senior executives. The first orientation uses short-term remedies to control and contain the impact of a problem, which we label as symptomatic problem solving (SPS). The other orientation addresses a problem situation with the objective of developing new understanding and skills, and we label it as generative problem solving (GPS). We test our theoretical framework using two waves of survey data from a sample of metal casting manufacturers (metal foundries) in the United States. Our analysis shows that GPS positively affects both internal and external knowledge stocks, while SPS negatively influences internal knowledge stock. Knowledge stocks, in turn, facilitate incremental and radical manufacturing improvements. Our results suggest that the two executive problem-solving orientations can potentially counteract each other in enhancing and depreciating knowledge stocks, and subsequently affect a manufacturer's ability to attain improvements both in the short and long terms |
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| Keywords: | Manufacturing improvements Problem-solving orientation Knowledge stocks |
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