Many studies analyse manufacturing organisations and their problems by reducing or simply throwing away the interacting components; with the assumption that the latter are either negligible or behave linearly. These studies (referred to as reductionism) tend to overlook the importance of these interacting components. An alternative view is to adopt a "complex systems" approach, to understand the manufacturing organisation as a system which evolves over time by adopting characteristics to survive. The aim of this research was to study the development and application of fitness landscape theory (a theory that is part of complex systems theory) in understandinga nd formulating manufacturings trategy. The creation and application of fitness landscape models to help search and select capabilities for manufacturing strategy is the principal area of novelty within this thesis. Several researchers (Maguire, 1997b; Merry, 1998; Beinhocker, 1999) had noted that fitness landscape theory was an appropriate theory for investigating and understanding strategy, but none of these papers made any attempt to understand fitness and relate it to organisations in terms of competitiveness, effectiveness or survival. With this gap and above introduction the contribution that this thesis makes to knowledge is in the following areas: " The creation of knowledge on the boundaries and detail of complex systems theory. This is summarised by a framework that relates the various concepts to manufacturing management issues. " To study manufacturing strategy. This thesis treats manufacturing organisations as complex adaptive systems, with goal directed behaviour. " The creation of a definition and model of "fitness" that is appropriate for organisations in general. This is then developed into a manufacturing specific definition and model. It was concluded that to increase fitness, a manufacturing organisation must possess the ability to inherit, imitate and search manufacturing strategy (or configuration) such as quality, delivery, flexibility, and cost." The above definitions and models are then related to manufacturing strategy formulation in terms of the acquisition of specific capabilities (cost, quality, flexibility and delivery) " The models are then applied and tested on a population of UK manufacturing organisations to explore the relationship between fitness and capabilities. A map which indicates the relative fitness contribution by the four manufacturing capabilities is presented.

No description available.

This thesis seeks to explain the behaviour of UK aggregate manufacturing and it sub-sectors over the period 1963-1999. In particular the thesis (a) analyses the business cycle behaviour of manufacturing and its sub-sectors; (b) investigates the effects of monetary policy on manufacturing; and (c) investigates whether the time series behaviour of manufacturing and it sub-sectors is characterized by nonlinear (rather than linear) dynamics.

The competitiveness and growth in the manufacturing sector is critical for the UK economy. It is imperative that the design and improvement of manufacturing systems is a constant and dynamic task in the British manufacturing environment. Unfortunately, many companies are still facing major difficulties during the implementation of strategic decisions derived from the formulation of manufacturing strategies. Current project management methodologies and techniques provide inadequate support for managers facing the implementation of strategic manufacturing initiatives (SMI). Therefore, the intention of this research is to provide a rigorous and successful SMI implementation methodology whose structure and contents include the most critical aspects relevant to the strategic manufacturing environment. The research described in this thesis has set out to form a SMI implementation methodology through a structured research programme. Initially existing literature related to SMI implementation methods was reviewed and analysed. A pilot methodology was then formed by contrasting literature against a list of key success factors in the implementation of strategic manufacturing initiatives determined from a worldwide survey. The pilot methodology was evaluated by a selection of practitioners, and results were used to refine the methodology. Finally, a validation test in a manufacturing organisation was conducted through a case study demonstrating the feasibility, usability and usefulness of the methodology. The fully tested and refined methodology is presented as a workbook in the appendix of this thesis. The outcome of this research is a structured step by step methodology which is an aid to the implementation of strategic manufacturing initiatives. The work described in this thesis has made a significant contribution to the knowledge on how to go about the implementation of strategic manufacturing initiatives.

This is a study of the decline and collapse, in 1973, of the Birmingham Small Arms Company Ltd, primarily a motorcycle manufacturing company and pre-WW2 world market-leader. The study also integrates and extends several earlier investigations into the collapse that concentrated on events in the Motorcycle Division, rather than on the BSA Group, its directors and its overall strategy. The collapse of BSA was due to failures of strategy, direction and management by directors, who were not up to running one of Britain’s major industrial companies after it was exposed to global competition. While the charge, by Boston Consulting and others, that the directors sacrificed growth for short term profits was not proven, their failure to recognise the importance of motorcycle market share and their policy of segment retreat in response to Japanese competition, played a large part in the decline of the company. Their ill-fated diversification policy harmed the motorcycle business, but capital could have been raised in the 1950s to re-equip its manufacturing facilities, had the directors had the confidence to do so. The study also examined whether the ‘cultural critique’ of Barnett C, Wiener M.J. et al provides a valid alternative explanation for the collapse. While the hypothesis has some plausibility, too many variables and unresolved supplementary questions arise for this to contribute effectively to a rigorous account of the causes of the demise of the firm.

This thesis is concerned with the sensitivity of Total Factor Productivity (fFP) estimates in UK manufacturing industries to the use of alternative output concepts -gross output vs. value added- and estimation methods -growth accounting vs. econometrics. The departure point is that differences in methods and assumptions can lead to very different TFP growth estimates. The interpretation of these estimates can be problematic when they reflect factors beyond the theoretical concept of TFP. The central goal of this thesis is to evaluate whether and to what extent these factors have an impact on the measurement of TFP growth, on the estimation of any relationship between TFP and Research and Development (R&D) investment and, finally, on the measurement of the UK manufacturing productivity gap differential. The empirical results suggest that: First, TFP growth estimates in UK manufacturing are sensitive to both the output concept used and the assumptions underlying the method used to estimate them. It was found when tested for that the assumptions of perfect competition and instantaneous adjustment, which underlie the growth accounting framework, are not valid. Adjusting for the measurement bias associated with the presence of these factors, it is found that the recovery experienced in the 1980s in UK manufacturing productivity growth rates was not as spectacular as implied by the traditional growth accounting approach. Second, adjusting for measurement bias does not affect markedly the results found in related studies with respect to the relationship between TFP and R&D efforts. The results suggest that R&D investment from the industry itself and from other national industries has a positive impact on the industry's productivity but there is no gain from R&D investment undertaken abroad. Third, the results indicate that the bias in traditional TFP estimates does not impact greatly on the British productivity gap at the aggregate manufacturing level but does so at a more dis aggregated level. Finally, despite the concerns about measurement bias, the results show that the productivity gap still remains significant and the productivity of UK manufacturing still trails behind that achieved in the US, France and Germany, regardless of the sector.