Operations and global competitiveness

Citation

Demeter, K. (2007), "Operations and global competitiveness", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 27 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijopm.2007.02427aaa.001

Operations and global competitiveness

Guest editorial

About the Guest Editor

Krisztina Demeter obtained her PhD degree at Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration in 2001 (today Corvinus University of Budapest, CUB). She has been associate professor since 2002. She played an important role to establish courses in operations and service management at CUB. She has numerous publications both in English and in Hungarian. She has responsibilities in the European Operations Management Association and the International Society for Inventory Research. Her major research fields are manufacturing strategy and supply chain management. She takes part in international (IMSS and GMRG) and Hungarian research programs (e.g. research on competitiveness, supplier capabilities in the automotive industry).

Operations and global competitiveness

The 12th International Conference of the European Operations Management Association (EurOMA) took place in Budapest in June 2005 with the theme “Operations and Global Competitiveness”. This was the first occasion that EurOMA chose a venue in Central and Eastern Europe. The timing was perfect. Hungary had just joined the EU together with nine additional new members, thus extending the economic borders of Europe. This change inevitably has impacted on the operations of European companies by forcing them to internationalize their operations.

This special issue is a selection of papers from the conference. The more than 300 participants could listen to almost 250 papers during the two days. The primary criterion for selection for this special issue was the quality of the papers rather than the exact topic since the numerous parallel sessions provided opportunities to present a paper on any topic within the operations management field. Selection was extremely difficult since many papers reached the required standards. The diversity of papers in this special issue correctly represents the variegation in the conference. It includes some rarer but up-coming topics as well as some traditional issues.

The paper by Marie Koulikoff-Souviron (CERAM Sophia Antipolis) and Alan Harrison (Cranfield University) discusses human resource issues, which is still a very under developed field of research within OM. On the basis of 48 interviews the authors analyze the role of HR in the supply relationship of two companies. They conclude that human issues play a pervasive role in these relationships and we have to deal with it in more depth in order to get better understanding of the contribution of HR to OM success.

Another burgeoning topic is environmental protection. Dayna Simpson, Damien Power and Daniel Samson (University of Melbourne) investigate it in the Australian automotive industry, using case studies. According to their analysis, in order to green supply chains, customers first have to commit themselves to environmental protection. They conclude that the chance of greening the supply chain is higher if:

• •

  they rely more on a given supplier,

• •

  they buy a specific product on a contractual basis as opposed to buying commodities on the market, or

• •

  they strictly monitor the environmental activities of their suppliers.

But again, the customers have to set the example.

The third paper by Ursula Koners and Keith Goffin (Cranfield University) also cannot be considered as a traditional topic. When project management is taught in classes, we emphasize the importance of post-project reviews for learning. However, there is very little knowledge in the literature about the number of companies who consciously do it, the benefits they obtain, the way they do it and so on. This paper gives insights into this issue, based on data from five case studies.

Knowledge codification is a crucial point in the paper by Andrea Furlan, Roberto Grandinetti and Arnaldo Camuffo (University of Padova). They involved 417 SMEs in their survey to find typical profiles of the level of design and marketing capabilities. Then they selected ten firms to see, through cross-case analysis, how new capabilities are developed. They find that faster development can be achieved with conscious knowledge codification, which helps SMEs to improve their design, marketing and supply management capabilities.

Another supply chain related paper was that by Helena Forslund (Växjö University) and Patrik Jonsson (Chalmers University of Technology). They analyze the value of customer forecast information quality in relation to supply chain performance. The authors develop a construct for forecast information quality, and test it with 136 Swedish companies. They come to the conclusion that the forecast information quality has to be improved considerably in order to have a real impact on supply chain performance.

Beside so many manufacturing issues, fortunately there is one paper from the service sector in this issue. Leonike Zomerdijk (London Business School) and Jan de Vries (University of Groningen) discuss the design of service delivery systems. In their analysis, based on five case studies, they investigate and justify three major decision areas and their trade-offs: the level of customer contact, the contact between front and back office (decoupling), and the grouping of employees. The rich analysis provides an excellent basis for further thinking and research.

Although there are only six papers in this conference special issue, some further conference papers are still on the way, to be published in later IJOPM issues.

And finally some acknowledgements. First of all, thanks to the Editors of IJOPM, Margaret Webster and Andrew Taylor who supported my Guest editorial work with their cautious remarks, suggestions and control. I would like to thank the EurOMA board for the trust and help they provided in the organizational issues before, during and after the conference. Special thanks to Chris Voss, Harry Boer and Jan Olhager who gave several suggestions for papers to be included. Finally, the referees of the special issue really increased the level of quality with their deep and wise advice in their reviews. I think they deserve to be mentioned, in alphabetic order: Nuran Acur, Per Ahlstrom, Juan Alberto Aragón Correa, John Bessant, Harry Boer, Peter Bruun, Raffaella Cagliano, Henrique Luiz Correa, Mariano Corso, Simon Croom, Cipriano Forza, Brian Fynes, Matthias Holweg, Christer Karlsson, Peter Kelle, José Machuca, John Meredith, Peter Milling, Guido Nassimbeni, Jan Olhager, Ken Platts, Jaume Ribera, Daniel Samson, Nigel Slack, Dave Tansik, Ann Vereecke, Bart Vos, Chris Voss, John Wacker, Clay Whybark.

Have a good reading.

Krisztina DemeterGuest Editor