Knowledge that Transforms

AbstractQuality management (QM) has become an all‐pervasive management philosophy, finding its way into most sectors of today’s business society. After the initial hype and enthusiasm, it is time to take stock of the knowledge accumulated in what is now a mature field of study and look for directions to take the field further forward. This article reflects on the mass of literature in the field, synthesizing, organizing and structuring knowledge and offering suggestions for future research. It reviews QM research organized along five main themes: the definition of QM, the definition of product quality, the impact of QM on firm performance, QM in the context of management theory and the implementation of QM. The article draws on these themes to reflect on three questions which are fundamental to re‐visit and re‐appraise QM: (i) What is QM? (ii) Is the set of practices associated with QM valid as a whole? (iii) How to implement QM in a real business setting?

AbstractResponse rates are an important indicator of survey research success and a methodological concern in OM today. An analysis was done of 233 OM survey research papers published over the past 12 years which showed that the average managerial response rate flattened‐out in the mid‐1990s at, approximately 32% and has not improved since then. This paper goes on to examine the theories and techniques found in the diverse survey research literature on improving response rates including OM survey research benchmarks that achieved very high response rates. By following the tactics outlined in this paper, OM survey researchers stand an excellent chance of not only improving the overall respondent yields for their studies but also reducing the bias caused by non‐response.

AbstractHow do companies in the fast‐growing industries achieve good customer satisfaction together with efficiency in supply chain management (SCM)? This inductive case study of six customer cases of Nokia Networks, one of the leading providers of mobile telecommunication technology, led to propositions exploring that question. Good relationship between the customer and the supplier contributes to reliable information flows, and reliable demand information flows in turn contribute to high efficiency—these are well‐researched issues also in other industry environments. But in a fast‐growing systems business such as mobile telecommunications industry, the supplier needs to be able to adapt its offering to a wide variety of customer situations and needs. Understanding the customer’s situation and need together with the right offering contributes to good co‐operation in improving the joint demand chain, which further leads to superior demand chain efficiency and high customer satisfaction.

AbstractThe resource based view (RBV) theory of the firm widely acknowledges that capabilities that are unique and are important for achieving sustained competitive advantage. It has been argued in the manufacturing literature that manufacturing facilities, technology and policies are important to gain performance. However, little has been done to examine the capabilities from a resource based perspective. Nor has there been an exploration in how firms develop and leverage new capabilities. The literature also tends to neglect how complex and often intertwined these capabilities are within the firms. This study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the successful development of new resources and competencies that were created when Analog Devices developed an emerging technology. The paper is exploratory and identifies the new competencies and Analog Devices’ ability to capitalize upon them.