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Manufacturing organizations need to develop and maintain competitive advantage in an increasingly turbulent environment. To do this, manufacturing organizations need to rethink the way in which they manage their business. Are they prepared for the challenge? Analyses the role of Australian manufacturing managers at two levels – strategic and operational – and examines their personal characteristics. First presents some of the relevant normative literature followed by the results of survey. Finally, considers the implications for Human Resource managers in terms of their potential contributions to the change in the light of the survey findings.

This study aims to explore the relationship between digital transformation and resilience development in the Australian food supply chain (FSC), and identify the contribution of digital technologies to it using the dynamic capabilities theory as theoretical lens.

For that, a mixed-method approach was used. It combines both quantitative and qualitative data to identify trends and details of the phenomenon, yielding more robust findings. We firstly collected and analyzing quantitative data obtained from food industry practitioners and, then, qualitative data gathered through semi-structured interviews with experts.

The study findings suggest that the relationship between digital transformation and resilience varies among tiers of the FSC and that digital technologies adoption affects resilience development differently across tiers. This highlights the potential cost savings of developing strategies that jointly address digital transformation and resilience development, improving performance outcomes and determining the extent to which digital technologies enhance or inhibit certain aspects of resilience in the FSC.

The study frames the relationship between digital technologies and resilience within the dynamic capabilities theory and suggests that digitalization can enhance resilience by enabling organizations to sense, seize, and transform strategies. We also provide insights for managers to develop strategies that simultaneously enhance digitalization and resilience, resulting in improved performance during disruptive events.

Over the last decade, Australian organisations have embraced total quality management (TQM) as an effective management philosophy. However, a recent report indicated that there is little evidence of leading Australian researchers working on quality and related areas. Moreover, the perception is that whatever research has been done, it is fragmented and at a low level. In the light of this we conducted an extensive literature search on TQM materials. Our purpose was to provide a systematic analysis of the TQM articles published by the Australian researchers or in the context of Australian organisations. Our analysis led us to conclude that the research has been unbalanced, focusing mainly on case studies and empirical research. Further research is necessary to develop conceptual underpinning and analytical models based on large empirical studies.

Aims to examine the state of leadership and HR focus in TQM research in Australia from published literature and to determine areas for future research. The literature search covered 31 reputable referred journals over the years 1985‐1999 and identified 90 articles which focused on aspects of TQM. However, it was not possible to identify the primary focus of 23 articles, hence these were not considered for further analysis. The rest of the articles (67) were classified using the seven criteria of the Australian Business Excellence Framework and it was found that about 40 per cent of the reviewed articles had leadership and HR as primary focus. The review shows that considerable attention has been devoted to research in strategic direction, organizational culture of the leadership category and, involvement and commitment, and effectiveness and development of the people category. Further research is necessary in areas such as top management's role in environmental issues and community contribution, health, safety and well‐being of employees, and dissemination of leadership throughout organizations.

Western manufacturing firms have shown considerable interest in the just‐in‐time (JIT) philosophy in recent years. The most critical issue facing firms in the West is that of JIT implementation. The primary considerations for JIT implementation and the fundamental issues affecting JIT programmes are discussed in detail. It is concluded that in implementing a JIT programme, changes in the attitudes of both the management and the workforce are necessary together with a clear understanding of the implications resulting from the move to a JIT approach.

The process of transition to Total Quality Management (TQM) at a major facility of a large Australian manufacturing company is described. The key steps taken by the company as part of a process improvement model are also described. The difficulties experienced in implementing TQM and the critical success factors for TQM are presented.

Recent research has focused on identifying the role of technology in strategic manufacturing decision making in a particular industry, in this case the Australian wine industry. This industry was chosen because it has a major focus on the use of advanced process technology as part of its manufacturing competitive positioning. In particular, technology is used to maximise product quality and reduce production costs. Technology was identified as the most important area of manufacturing process decision making, followed by quality assurance and control. It was also found that quality is the most important competitive priority for wine producers, followed by product cost. Both of these were found to be directly influenced by process technology. The competitive priority of rate of innovation, although also likely to be influenced by technology, was found to be much less important. Integration of technology with the process was also identified as being a much less important decision area. An ANOVA determined that there were 32 categories of wine producers for which there were significant differences in the importance of technology.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how task- and relation-oriented customers co-create high quality services with frontline employees from the perspective of customer-dominant (C-D) logic.

The authors reviewed the service management literature and identified a number of critical components that help service providers understand the psychology and behaviour of their customers, and how their customers perceive service encounters. The authors tested the theoretical model using a random survey sample of 707 consumers in Hong Kong.

The authors found that information sharing fully mediated the interactive effects of customer involvement and customer motivational orientation on customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction. These findings support the C-D logic that customers as co-creators of value play a dominant role in service encounters.

The authors contribute to the existing management literature by identifying the importance of the C-D logic for service delivery and management. In particular, the involvement of customers with different motivational orientations through information sharing significantly affects customers’ perceived service quality and satisfaction.

The paper enhances the understanding of customer’s logic by exploring the conditions and process between customer involvement and service delivery. Further directions for theoretical and empirical research are suggested.

The manufacturing techniques used by Japanese companies to provide a competitive advantage have been shown by Japan′s outstanding economic performance to be effective over a long period of time. This effectiveness can be measured in terms of the performance of manufacturing systems or by the way in which manufacturing effectiveness has been translated into success in the marketplace. In an effort to integrate current knowledge, a contextual model of Japanese manufacturing techniques has been constructed. These techniques are transferable from Japan. The key ingredient for success is to gain an understanding of the broad context of manufacturing culture, infrastructure and environment before expecting a transplanted or adapted Japanese system of manufacturing techniques to be effective.

Examines Just‐in‐Time (JIT) from its evolution as a Japanese concept through to a review of its philosophy and implementation. Cites several techniques of implementation. Includes a review of the early work of various researchers and practitioners. Concludes that JIT is a very effective manufacturing philosophy which is universal in nature encompassing all aspects of manufacturing. Suggests a few deficiencies in current literature.