Biswajit Mohapatra, Sushanta Tripathy and Deepak Singhal
As the COVID-19 epidemic ravages the world in the fourth industrial revolution era, the manufacturing sector faces its worst situation in a century. Lean philosophy, renowned as a…
Abstract
Purpose
As the COVID-19 epidemic ravages the world in the fourth industrial revolution era, the manufacturing sector faces its worst situation in a century. Lean philosophy, renowned as a “warrior philosophy,” can be an able rescuer to these industries. This study aims to identify the hurdles to lean strategy implementation and conduct an analysis to provide cognizance to policymakers, practitioners and decision-makers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study aims to identify the obstacles that obstruct lean implementation into seven primary barriers/components, with the fuzzy DEMATEL approach being used to evaluate the critical factors as well as the cause and effect factors among them. Expert opinions are sought to obtain the relevant data for evaluation purposes.
Findings
The results reveal that a firm should focus on firm cultural conflict scenario, resources–responses incapability, improve on suppliers’ attitude and execute a proper planning and logistics equation to alleviate the hindrances of implementing lean. As these causal factors influence the effect factors, namely, top management vision, management–employee relationship and human resource building, focusing on them automatically improves the effect factors; thus, the surge to overcome resistance to lean implementation is alleviated.
Practical implications
This research aids in identifying and analyzing lean implementation issues in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. The observations, results and insights drawn can act as a guiding force to rupture the resistance envelope covering the domain of lean implementation and possibly reinstating industries to survive and excel in the business post-COVID era.
Originality/value
This research introduces barriers to lean implementation in a unique way, as it articulates all sections of an industry and group the barriers based on the classification. It further prioritizes the barriers for their importance in the Indian industrial scenario. This would help the industry professionals and managers access the barriers and generate insight on how and where to start implementing lean.
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Sushanta Tripathy, Sadananda Sahu and Pradip Kumar Ray
In order to enhance the performance of R&D in manufacturing organizations, the R&D managers need to identify the internal as well as the external factors that affect the R&D…
Abstract
Purpose
In order to enhance the performance of R&D in manufacturing organizations, the R&D managers need to identify the internal as well as the external factors that affect the R&D performance of manufacturing organizations in India. They need to understand the inter‐dependencies of these factors. This paper seeks to identify the critical success factors for R&D in Indian manufacturing firms.
Design/methodology/approach
There may be a number of factors that are critical for achieving acceptable R&D performance and these factors have been identified by a number of instruments or means, such as questionnaire surveys, brainstorming, and consolidation by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A total of 14 factors have been identified by using principal component analysis and finally we have developed a structure of interrelationship among the identified critical success factors using an interpretive structural model.
Findings
The results show that R&D vision and direction and R&D oriented culture are the most important critical success factors (CSFs) and they have a great influence on the other CSFs. Though R&D vision and direction and R&D oriented culture are the short‐term objectives, Indian manufacturing firms should be equipped with proper R&D management strategy to achieve the long‐term objectives, such as achievement of revenue and profitability within a quick time frame.
Practical implications
Although R&D managers of Indian manufacturing firms are aware of various critical success factors, a systematic approach is required for identifying them, and as these factors may have complex interrelations between them for analyzing R&D performance in a manufacturing firm, it is essential that such an approach is in place. The hierarchy based ISM further defines those factors which are really critical and need more focus on the root causes of the success. In addition to that, the proposed ISM model acts as a good guideline in order to improve the performance of the manufacturing R&D organizations in India.
Originality/value
The paper provides an interpretive structural model to develop a map of the complex relationships and magnitude among identified critical success factors.
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Sushanta Tripathy, Satyabrata Aich, Anurup Chakraborty and Gyu M. Lee
The purpose of this paper is to identify the success factors for supply chain in Indian small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and establish a causal relationship among them…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the success factors for supply chain in Indian small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and establish a causal relationship among them. In the present scenario, the SMEs are under huge pressure to achieve the supply chain competitive advantage and to improve operation and logistic effectiveness and, at the same time, remain tractable to the demand uncertainty and volatility in the market. To enhance the performance of supply chain in SMEs, the managers need to identify the internal as well as the external factors that affect the supply chain performance of SMEs in India. They need to understand the causal relationship of these factors.
Design/methodology/approach
There may be a number of factors that are critical for achieving acceptable supply chain performance, and these factors have been identified by principal component analysis (PCA). In all, 29 factors have been identified by using PCA and the dominating 29 factors are categorized into 6 constructs, and finally, the structural equation modelling (SEM) methodology using the AMOS 4.0 program has been adopted as the primary methodology for this paper to assess the causal relationship among six constructs.
Findings
In this paper, the authors analyzed the structural relations among information technology (IT), logistic effectiveness, operational effectiveness, customer relationship, supplier relationship and SCM competitive advantage. Results indicate that IT holds the key to achieve the SCM competitive advantage in SCM practices of SMEs in India.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed models for enabling factors are tested in firms with a limited numbers of factors in highly competitive environment. More factors may be incorporated, which will help for a clear understanding and establishing the causal relationship among the various enabling factors.
Practical implications
Although managers of Indian SMEs are aware of various enabling factors, a systematic approach is required for identifying enabling factors, and as these factors may have complex interrelation between them for analyzing supply chain performance in SMEs, it is essential that such an approach is in place. The paper presented here will help the SMEs managers in identifying the areas in which they need to focus their attention to improve SCM practices. A structural equation modelling is developed to show the complex relationship between the factors that affect the performance. In addition to that, the proposed structural equation model acts as a good guideline to improve the performance of the supply chain in India.
Originality/value
The paper provides a structural equation model to develop a map of the causal relationships and magnitude among identified enabling factors.
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Swagatika Nanda and Ajaya Kumar Panda
The purpose of this paper is to track the financial performance of manufacturing firms at different levels of their conditional quantiles. It also analyzes the relevance of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to track the financial performance of manufacturing firms at different levels of their conditional quantiles. It also analyzes the relevance of revenue and cost channels along with key firm-specific parameters that influence firm’s profitability.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyses a sample of 1,000 manufacturing firms over a study period spanning from 2000 to 2016. It uses both quantile regression and panel ordinary linear square (OLS) models to analyze the financial performance of the firms.
Findings
The study finds large scale of heterogeneity among the firms under different quantiles of profitability. Export earnings, firm size, asset turnover and volatility of exchange rate are the decisive determinants of financial performance across all quantiles. Financing assets by current debt is negatively impacting return on assets and return on capital employed of firms from lower quantile whereas profitability is positively impacted if they are financed by long term debt. Debt financing of assets does not make any sense for firms with high quantile of profitability. The study also finds that quantile regression approach is a better method than panel OLS models in the presence of highly heterogeneous and non-normal distributions.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to the financial performance of manufacturing firms and does not consider service sector which is also equally competitive. However, a sector wise analysis of firm’s profitability could be more meaningful than comparing all the firms in one basket of manufacturing domain.
Practical implications
The research findings have both practical as well as policy implications. Practically, the study helps the firm managers to identify critical success factors that significantly influence firm’s financial performance at different levels of profitability. It also helps the policy makers to align policy focus to stabilize firms at lower level of profitability and also to manage conducive business environment for all firms at different levels of their profitability.
Originality/value
The study provides a deep theoretical underpinning of literatures on firm’s financial performance and empirically investigates it using advanced methodology. The robust estimates of the study ensure to analyze financial performance under revenue and cost channels at diverse level of their profitability.
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Debolina Dutta and Sushanta Kumar Mishra
Despite studies claiming gender inclusion is beneficial for organizations, the under-representation of females in the workforce is a reality. As recruitment practices impact…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite studies claiming gender inclusion is beneficial for organizations, the under-representation of females in the workforce is a reality. As recruitment practices impact employees' entry into organizations, examining the salient predictors of job pursuit intention might foster gender inclusivity.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a mixed-method study conducted in two phases (Phase 1: a sample of 2,084 professionals; Phase 2: interviews of 20 senior human resource (HR) professionals and interviews with 26 women professionals), we examine the key predictors of job pursuit intention of women. We employed a qualitative study as Phase 2 employed a qualitative study to understand why some of the proposed hypotheses were not supported.
Findings
We found that work–life balance, perceived job security and perceived ethical behavior of organizations were more important for female than the male applicants in influencing their job pursuit intention. Also, the type of work and person–organization (P–O) fit were found to be equally important for both the gender groups. The implications of the study to theory and practice were discussed.
Research limitations/implications
Our study extends the existing literature by identifying salient factors (such as work–life balance, perceived job security and ethical citizenship) that are found to be more important for female applicants compared to their male counterparts while pursuing a job. Also, females were found to worry more about losing or not finding a job than males. Our results further indicate that type of work and P–O fit have a significant effect on job pursuit intention for both male and female applicants. The study addresses the need for research on targeted recruitment to increase gender inclusion.
Practical implications
The contribution of this paper lies in identifying critical factors relevant to the female applicants in India who potentially constitute a large talent pool waiting to be leveraged. It adds to the body of knowledge on enabling inclusivity and affirmative action for increasing gender diversity through recruitment. By highlighting the factors that should be given prominence in job promotions to attract more female candidates and emphasizing the gender-focused HR policies and practices and through internal and external communication, it helps practitioners attract and retain female applicants in an emerging economy like India.
Originality/value
Our study contributes in three ways. First, it attempts to plug the gap by investigating gendered preferences in job pursuit intentions between male and female applicants, especially in different cultural environments and in emerging markets such as India. Second, existing studies on job pursuit intentions were based mostly on inputs from student respondents. Our study has collected data from professionals working in organizations who have worked and experienced gender-related HR practices in organizations. Third, our study used a mixed-method approach to get a nuanced understanding of female talent expectations and preferences during the job-seeking behavior.