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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the prerequisites for lateral knowledge transfer in manufacturing networks.

Data stem from a single case study involving 26 interviews at the management level of a manufacturing network and a survey of 17 manufacturing plants in the network.

The requirements for lateral knowledge transfer between knowledge-sending and knowledge-receiving plants are similar strategic orientation, product portfolio similarity and process similarity. If the knowledge-sending and knowledge-receiving plants meet at least one of these requirements, then knowledge transfer is facilitated. Plant age, functional ties and geographical proximity do not seem to be important in lateral knowledge transfer.

The results come from a single case study, limiting their generalisability. Further research should consider the influence of the network’s coordination mechanism on lateral knowledge transfer.

The paper investigates prerequisites for lateral knowledge transfer in manufacturing networks, shedding light on the fundamental factors that must be in place at the knowledge-sending and knowledge-receiving plants.

The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance in setting the level of autonomy (i.e. parental control) of plants in a network to enhance operational performance. In particular, the effect of autonomy on performance is analysed directly and indirectly through internal manufacturing network integration (MNI) and external supply chain integration (SCI) as two dimensions of manufacturing network embeddedness.

The analysis is based on data from 441 manufacturing plants in 17 countries. Data were gathered during the Sixth International Manufacturing Strategy Survey. Five main constructs were obtained after carrying out a confirmatory factor analysis: plant autonomy, internal MNI, external SCI, efficiency and effectiveness. Direct and indirect relationships among the constructs are tested through a structural equation model.

Higher levels of autonomy correlate with higher effectiveness and similar efficiency. However, lower autonomy leads to higher levels of manufacturing network and SCI, which enhance performance. Although not statistically significant, the analysis of the total effects reveals a mildly positive effect of autonomy on effectiveness and negative effect on efficiency, which requires further investigation.

Further research could include headquarters’ perspectives or additional determinants (e.g. business strategy objectives).

Managers should set autonomy levels strategically: higher for effectiveness and lower for efficiency. However, lower autonomy can also strengthen internal MNI and external SCI, thus improving operational performance.

The concept of manufacturing network embeddedness highlights the importance of considering external supply chain and internal MNI in the same framework, as both dimensions can affect operational performance.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate the manufacturing site and network perspectives for the purposes of strategy fulfilment, which has rarely been jointly discussed. By doing this, the site and network perspectives are broken into their constituents and linked to one another.

The paper provides qualitative research; it conducts a comprehensive literature review and merges the results with the concept of the quality function deployment to link the relevant dimensions. The developed framework is discussed based on a single case study.

The proposed framework relates the network and site perspectives in different dimensions, which range from the strategic dimension to the network and site dimensions. The paper, furthermore, offers the groundwork of developing relationship maps of the site and network capabilities, network configuration and coordination, and the structural and infrastructural dimensions.

The paper contains a single case study and lacks foundation with a broader data set.

The results support the decision-making process of the manufacturing network managers who assess, design, and develop their manufacturing networks and attempt to gain transparency by using different levels of analysis.

The paper is the first attempt to show how the different network and site capabilities contribute to strategy fulfilment, to link the configuration and coordination dimensions of the manufacturing network level, and to link the structural and infrastructural dimensions on the site level. Thus, the authors add to multilevel research in operations management because the authors provide a combined framework for the network- and site-level analysis.

The coordination of a manufacturing network is a challenging task and may be contingent upon the manufacturing environment. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and manufacturing network coordination relate.

Based on a single case study, the paper at hand provides insights on IIoT enablers and the relationship to manufacturing coordination mechanism. The data sample is based on 15 group interviews with overall eight employees from headquarters and business units.

The derived results show that the IIoT enablers (digital technologies, connectivity, data, capabilities and management) are highly related to the manufacturing network coordination mechanism. The results indicate that IIoT initiatives and manufacturing network coordination should be designed to support each other.

The implementation if IIoT initiatives is often analysed in isolation without considering the manufacturing network and more specifically the manufacturing network coordination mechanism. The results highlight how the implementation of IIoT initiatives may act as trigger to adapt formal manufacturing network coordination mechanism.

The purpose of this paper is to compare two distinct network structures to determine and show which structure is more profitable. Specifically, it aims to show which factors render the lead factory concept advantageous.

Based on a simple, two‐stage model for prototype and serial production, the authors highlight factors that determine the relative advantages and disadvantages of the lead factory concept in comparison to an archetype network. The archetype network mirrors those networks that have not implemented special strategic plant roles.

The analysis shows that the lead factory concept benefits from an efficient knowledge transfer. Particularly, it is more profitable than the archetype network under the following conditions: there are a high number of production plants; the adaptation costs for implementing the transferred prototype from the lead factory to the plant are low; the manufacturing costs for the prototype are high; and the manufacturing processes are not highly specific or knowledge intensive.

The paper enables better understanding of the conditions under which the lead factory concept is advantageous for transferring knowledge within an intra‐firm network.

The purpose of this paper is to offer deeper insight into the relationship between a subsidiary’s internal integration in its manufacturing network and subsidiary-level operational performance by taking into account the country context of the respective subsidiary.

Subsidiary-level information is gathered using the sixth round of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey, thus including 507 subsidiaries from 22 countries. Country context is operationalised using the Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum.

The findings reveal that internal integration has a positive influence on operational performance improvement. Country context acts as a moderator on this relationship: subsidiaries in less developed countries are only able to improve their effectiveness (quality, flexibility, delivery), while developed country subsidiaries gain both effectiveness and efficiency (cost, time) benefits from internal integration.

The unit of analysis is the knowledge-receiving subsidiary without taking the characteristics of the sending unit or that of the whole network of subsidiaries into account. Based on the context-dependency of the integration-performance relationship found in this paper, a future research agenda is proposed including further factors (absorptive capacity, knowledge complementarity, organisational practices) that could influence this relationship.

Subsidiary managers in less developed countries should strive to acquire intra-network knowledge related to effectiveness, while managers in developed countries can expect both efficiency and effectiveness benefits.

A large-scale survey encompassing subsidiaries from both emerging and developed countries is used to offer deeper insight into the relationship between internal integration and performance. The paper provides a possible explanation for previous mixed findings on this relationship. The differentiation between efficiency and effectiveness performance shows that country context represents an important factor that moderates the integration-performance relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of organizational context on the relationships between outsourcing and manufacturing flexibility. In doing so, the authors study four types of manufacturing flexibility: product, mix, volume, and labor competence flexibility.

Based on transaction cost economics theory and resource-based view of competitive advantage, the authors focus on economies of scale and scope, asset specificity, organizational learning, and dynamic capabilities as contingencies affecting outsourcing-flexibility relationships. Combining theoretically developed propositions with insights from case studies of 11 manufacturing companies that outsourced some portion of their manufacturing, the authors derive grounded hypotheses.

Empirical results show that in some cases the effects of outsourcing on different types of manufacturing flexibility vary based upon some contingency factors.

Due to the qualitative nature and the geographical focus of the empirical examination, applicability of the findings to other contexts may be limited.

The authors point out specific contingencies that managers should consider when targeting manufacturing flexibility through outsourcing.

This paper presents the interrelationships among outsourcing of manufacturing activities, four types of manufacturing flexibilities, and theoretically derived contingencies. Based on evidence from the analyzed cases, the authors find indications that some contingencies moderate outsourcing-flexibility relationships. In addition, this paper introduces a new type of manufacturing flexibility: labor competence flexibility, which is defined as the ability of a company's workforce to deal with technology driven additions to and subtractions from products over time.

The purpose of this paper is to shortly overview the research in international operations management (OM), to provide background to the papers published in this special section.

As a literature review, the paper investigates the past, present, and future of international OM. It is not a systematic review; the paper just highlights the most important international operational management research networks, streams and concepts in the field.

The paper finds that there is a time lag in the field of international OM compared to other research areas within international business and management. It provides some ideas for the future to be researched.

The paper gives a focused review on international research networks which has not been done before. It also identifies two different streams of researches in international OM: the stream investigating OM differences among geographical areas, and the stream dealing with issues of international manufacturing networks.

While controlling for supply chain effects, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if globalization and collaborative integration within a firm-wide manufacturing network have significant implications for the adoption of sustainable production (SP) and sustainable sourcing (SS) practices at the plant level.

The authors conceptualize SP and SS as process innovations with moderate degrees of innovativeness and apply “Organizational integration and process innovation” theory to build our conceptual model. Then, the authors use primary survey data from 471 assembly manufacturing plants operating in the US, Europe and Asia to test our hypotheses rigorously.

This research finds that the adoption of SP practices at the plant level is significantly and positively associated with globalization and integration of the firm-wide manufacturing network. On the contrary, the adoption of SS practices is more strongly affected by integration in the external supply chain and benefits from the manufacturing network only indirectly, through the association with SP practices.

Operations management literature devoted to sustainability has studied sustainable practices mostly from a risk management angle. Also, there exists contrasting evidence in the operations strategy literature about the positive and negative effects that globalization of a manufacturing network may have on the adoption of sustainable practices at the plant level. Moreover, several studies show how integration with supply chain partners helps manufacturing plants transition into more SP and SS practices; however, related literatures have neglected that collaborative integration within a firm-wide manufacturing network may also help to develop, or adapt to, new sustainable practices. This research represents a first attempt to resolve discordance and unveil the positive effects that manufacturing networks may have on sustainable innovations at the plant level.