The Challenge of the Product Focused Cells. Changing Patterns of Management Control in a Changing Manufacturing Environment

Abstract

During the past decade, one of the major thrusts of change in manufacturing industry has been the alignment of manufacturing methods to rapidly changing and turbulent market demands (Piore & Sabel, 1984; Smith, Child & Rowlinson, 1990). A focus upon core products and processes, involving customer responsiveness and the elimination of waste has been coupled with a drive to improve product quality and cost reduction. ‘New Wave’ lean manufacturing techniques (Storey, 1994) and management control methods (Berry, Broadbent & Otley, 1995) are therefore now widely com‐mended as a means of improving competitiveness in industry (Smith, 1990). However, it is always easier to extol the virtues of such techniques than to translate them into a coherent set of practices (Kunda, 1992).

Citation

Ezzamel, M., Willmott, H. and Worthington, F. (1997), "The Challenge of the Product Focused Cells. Changing Patterns of Management Control in a Changing Manufacturing Environment", Management Research News, Vol. 20 No. 2/3, pp. 18-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb028523