Business Horizons articles from July 1992

Business Horizons archives from July 1992

Operations in the American economy: liability or asset. (Editorial)
July 1, 1992... How do people view operations? For business managers, the operations function is where value-added activities occur when manufacturing products or providing services. To most Americans, it connotes dirty factories, hot surroundings, tight...

American manufacturing competitiveness: the view from Europe.
July 1, 1992... If our products are so poor, why are we doing that well in Europe? --Richard Gephardt (D. Mo.) (quoted in Gordon 1992) Nineteen ninety-two is the 35th anniversary of Business Horizons, the 500th anniversary of the European discovery (or...

So you want to lower costs? (cost accounting)
July 1, 1992... Over the past decade or so, there has been a revolution in the thinking of many manufacturing managers about what it takes to be productive both on the factory floor and throughout the manufacturing enterprise. Initiatives on total quality...

Competing through development capability in a manufacturing-based organization.
July 1, 1992... In a competitive environment that is global, intense, and dynamic, developing new products and processes is increasingly a focal point of competition. Firms that get to market faster and more efficiently with products that are well matched to...

Accelerating innovation.
July 1, 1992... Innovation, which has led to new products, processes, and services, has become the business activiW with the greatest clout per dollar in the last decade. Perhaps a better way of saying this is that innovation seems to provide the greatest...

Customer supplier integration: why being an excellent customer counts.
July 1, 1992... What does it take to be a good supplier? Six sigma quality, predictably excellent service, and competitive price? How about advanced training opportunities, or a seat on the new product team? Or a share of the cost savings from the design...

Global outsourcing: have U.S. managers thrown the baby out with the bath water?
July 1, 1992... Japanese industry has often been used to illustrate the competitive impact of procurement strategy. It has been argued, for example, that intelligent management of raw material costs, rather than new technology, was primarily responsible for...

Japanese plants in the U.S.: how good are they?
July 1, 1992... Are Japanese plants located in the United States (Japanese transplants) superior to U.S.-owned plants? Many people today would say yes to this question, but we say no--not necessarily! Those who argue in favor of their superiority point to the...

Success factors in manufacturing. (includes related article on research methods)
July 1, 1992... Over the past decade, academics and practitioners alike have concluded that manufacturing matters. It matters to the economy as a whole, and it matters to the business to which it belongs. The belief that manufacturing is an important...

Continuous improvement strategies for service organizations.
July 1, 1992... American firms have been hit hard by the current downturn in the economy. This decline in economic activity has affected the manufacturing and service sectors equally. Stagnation in the service sector, combined with increased deregulation and...

Service, please: the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
July 1, 1992... As Will Rogers once said, "Thank God we don't get all the government we pay for!" Seldom do we hear about a successful government program. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) is one, though, in spite of a few glitches. On...

Time-based competition: white-collar activities.
July 1, 1992... 6 Time-based competition has caused remarkable changes on the factory floor. Many U.S. firms recognize that in today's markets, the speed of response to customer demands is a key competitive advantage. These firms have worked assiduously to...