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This article is the first half of a series concerning advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) investment decisions. Individual problems with formalised techniques in this field are reduced by the frequency of their joint use in organisations. The article emphasises that it is important to appreciate that the nature, costs and benefits of AMT are complex and the systems have a far‐reaching impact on the organisation.

This article is the second half of a series concerning advanced decisions. Central to the problem of AMT (advanced manufacturing technology) is that investment is uncertainty. Under consideration is a highly expensive innovation, often bringing unprecedented operational routines and organisational impacts. The intangible benefits of AMT are dealt with here, and how to quantify them.

The exploitation of new manufacturing technologies by large organisations is placing increasing pressures on the ability of SMEs to compete, since they enable large firms to compete through advantages traditionally associated with SMEs (e.g. flexibility, small production runs and specialised products). If SMEs are to maintain and improve their competitive position, a more proactive stance is required in relation to new technology investment. The identification and removal of barriers to adoption could greatly aid small firm investment in new technology. The internal investment appraisal process has been identified as one of the major barriers to the adoption of new manufacturing technologies in large firms (Price et al., 1990; Finnie, 1988). Little, however, is known about how SMEs conduct investment appraisals. Further, where SMEs seek external funds, they face additional appraisal by the funding institution. Research (Joyce et a/., 1990; Watkins and Morton, 1992) has indicated that SMEs view financing difficulties as a major barrier to investment. Given the nature of new manufacturing technologies, it is anticipated that such investments may create specific financing problems, particularly in relation to the appraisal by the financial institution. The focus of this paper, therefore, is on these two potential barriers to investment. Firstly, the paper investigates the extent to which the appraisal problems faced by large organisations are common to SMEs and establishes the extent to which the appraisal methods advocated in the literature are relevant to SMEs. Secondly, it examines external constraints on the financing of new technology investments from the firm perspective. In examining these barriers, the paper identifies the characteristics of the investment and financing decision‐making processes in SMEs. The main findings of the research project, involving case studies of 15 SMEs in the South East, are that SMEs do face problems in appraising and justifying new technology investments. However, these difficulties appear to cause fewer problems for SMEs in terms of the outcomes of the appraisal process than might be expected. Surprisingly, the financing of new technologies was not found to constitute a significant barrier to investment and few of the firms had experienced any real difficulties in raising finance for this purpose. The reasons for these apparent conditions are explored in depth and factors affecting the results are identified.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodological framework that combines several data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to deal with the problem of evaluating and ranking advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) without introducing any subjectivity in the analysis.

The methodology follows a two-phase procedure. First, the relative efficiency of every technology is calculated by implementing different DEA cross-efficiency models generating the same number of high-order indicators as efficiency vectors. Second, high-order indicators are used as outputs in a SBM-DEA super-efficiency model to obtain a comprehensive DEA-like composite indicator.

The framework is implemented to evaluate a sample of flexible manufacturing systems. Comparing it to other methods, results show that the methodology provides reliable information for AMTs selection and effective support to management decision-making.

This paper contributes to the body of knowledge about the utilization of DEA to select AMTs. The framework has several advantages: a discriminating power higher than the basic DEA models; no subjective judgment relative to weights necessary to aggregate single indicators and choice of aggregation function; no need to perform any transformation normalizing original data; independence from the unit of measurement of the DEA-like composite indicator; and great flexibility and adaptability allowing the introduction of further variables in the analysis.

Based on interviews conducted with senior managers of four German multinationals, discusses issues of technology management in the context of global manufacturing. An overview of the four companies and their competitive priorities is first presented. Then discusses the role of globalisation and issues relating to technology transfer and technology management. Based on observations, identifies three common strategies/practices adopted by the companies studied, namely maintaining focus on core competencies/technological capabilities; maintaining a continuing dialogue between the R&D function at headquarters and the overseas operating units; and providing extensive education and training for all employees.

This paper presents an overview and guidance for manufacturing companies which are preparing to invest in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). The purpose of this paper is to explain the reasons why the company may encounter problems while adopting AMT, and to look at the many suggestions offered by the relevant literature for improving the performance of evaluation in AMT investment. According to the four major steps in adopting AMT (i.e. strategic planning, justification, training and installation, and routinization and implementation), the research work here aims to assist managers or investors to recognize problems at each step, thus offering appropriate ways to avoid and/or solve those problems. It is believed that improved justification methods will encourage more firms to invest in AMT and to realize the benefits these investments can offer.

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.

This paper seeks to present the results of an investigation on the justification of investments in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) at manufacturing plants in the USA. Unlike previous research that explored the adoption and use of a specific AMT or groups of similar AMT, this study focuses on a plant's combination of technologies or its technology portfolio.

Mail survey responses from a sample of 82 plants are used to examine the relationships between the type of technology portfolio being used and the justification approaches and evaluation techniques that were utilized to justify these investments. The study also investigates the level of functional integration and the level of effort applied to several activities during the justification stage of the AMT projects.

The majority of plants that had adopted the more complex technology portfolios were using hybrid (economic and strategic) justification approaches supported by ratio and discounted cash flow justification techniques. Plants that were using the less complex portfolio also used hybrid approaches, but tended to concentrate on the use of ratio techniques. Findings on the level of functional integration at various stages of the AMT project are also reported.

This research concentrated on discrete‐parts durable goods producers in the USA. Further studies are needed to determine whether the findings can be generalized across other industries or in other countries.

This research uses an innovative portfolio analysis approach to investigate the important topic of justification of AMT. Managerial implications arising from the results of this study and a number of new research avenues are advanced.

This paper investigates the impact of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) merger in Australia on existing and potential clients of the new merged firm. From prior theory it is expected that some existing clients may have an incentive to switch away from a newly merged firm as the same larger firm now audits close competitors once audited by separate firms. Prior theory also suggests that another group of potential clients should be attracted to the newly merged firm where the merger enhances or creates industry specializations. The expectation is that in both of these instances there will be increased switching activity associated with the newly merged audit firm. Contrary to expectations, a significantly lower level of switching behaviour was observed for the newly merged firm compared with that of the other Big 5 firms, suggesting that an advantage of enhanced specialization may not be the attraction of new clients but the retention of existing clients. When comparing the nature of the switches, some support was found for the view that the switches to the new firm were likely to be in enhanced areas of specialization, but no evidence was found to suggest that close competitors would switch away from this firm. The greater rate of retention of clients compared with other Big 5 firms was not associated with a more competitive audit pricing policy.

The purpose of this study was to composite maize, a cereal grain with low protein and lysine content, with groundnut a rich source of protein, to improve the nutritional quality of maize–groundnut composite flours and their resultant porridges.

Defatted and full fat groundnut flours were used to prepare maize–groundnut composite flours and porridges at the ratio of 100:0, 55:45, 70:30 and 85:15, respectively. They were analyzed for proximate composition, energy value, amino acid and fatty acid profiles.

Compositing maize with groundnut significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased proteins from 10 per cent in maize flour to up to 21 per cent in composite porridge (denoted DFC1). The energy values for composite porridges were 434 Kcal/100 g when compared with 398 Kcal/100 g established for maize porridge alone. Lysine content was three times higher in composite flours than for maize flour, while for composite porridges, lysine was four times higher than in maize porridge. There was an increase of 35 per cent in oleic acid content when maize flour was composited with groundnut flour.

Further research is required to evaluate the properties of full fat and defatted maize–groundnut porridges and their effects on consumer acceptability.

It can be concluded that compositing maize with full fat and defatted groundnut has the capability of improving the nutritional quality of cereal-based diets consequently contributing to a significant increase in nutritional security of African populations and those of other developing countries of the world.