A double case study applying action research methodology was conducted in two pharmaceutical preparation manufacturers in the Netherlands to improve their manufacturing systems by implementing time-based manufacturing (TBM) practices. Following the diagnosis phase, the situation of each Company was analysed and suitable improvement interventions were selected for implementation in the Case Companies. At the end of the action research project, semi-structured interviews were taken in each Company a year later, and the achieved results of the improvement programmes were collected and analysed. This research extends the existing theory of time-based competition and demonstrates that TBM practices apply also in the pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing industry. Furthermore, this study shows how to improve TBM practices and reduce the throughput time by providing the route for improvement and implementation. Although the first Case Company did not improve the core TBM practices and manufacturing performance, its infrastructure improved through the implementation of an ERP system and further enhancement of its quality management system, illustrating that the design of the infrastructure is a key factor to become a time-based competitor. The second Case Company succeeded to improve the 2 TBM practices and throughput processes resulting in the reduction of the order cycle time and increase of the delivery dependability. Based on the data of the two Case Companies, this study demonstrated the relationship between these two manufacturing performance parameters, which indicates that manufacturers may strive for both delivery speed and delivery reliability using the same improvement plan. Adopting TBM is a long journey of many years and needs a continuous improvement infrastructure.

A double case study applying action research methodology was conducted in two pharmaceutical preparation manufacturers in the Netherlands to improve their manufacturing systems by implementing time-based manufacturing (TBM) practices. Following the diagnosis phase, the situation of each Company was analysed and suitable improvement interventions were selected for implementation in the Case Companies. At the end of the action research project, semi-structured interviews were taken in each Company a year later, and the achieved results of the improvement programmes were collected and analysed. This research extends the existing theory of time-based competition and demonstrates that TBM practices apply also in the pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing industry. Furthermore, this study shows how to improve TBM practices and reduce the throughput time by providing the route for improvement and implementation. Although the first Case Company did not improve the core TBM practices and manufacturing performance, its infrastructure improved through the implementation of an ERP system and further enhancement of its quality management system, illustrating that the design of the infrastructure is a key factor to become a time-based competitor. The second Case Company succeeded to improve the 2 TBM practices and throughput processes resulting in the reduction of the order cycle time and increase of the delivery dependability. Based on the data of the two Case Companies, this study demonstrated the relationship between these two manufacturing performance parameters, which indicates that manufacturers may strive for both delivery speed and delivery reliability using the same improvement plan. Adopting TBM is a long journey of many years and needs a continuous improvement infrastructure.

The change from mere product supply to customer solutions, integrated and customized offerings (including e.g. products, software and services), has been argued to be a route to success in the 21st century. However, current literature offers little support for leaders who must manage the customer solutions business’ need for bridging the diverging business logics of products and consulting. The thesis addresses this organizational challenge and aims for an understanding of the phenomenon corporate consulting, consulting businesses in product-based organizations. More specifically, the author investigates whether, and if so how, corporate consulting can be a general way of providing customer solutions. The author was formerly a marketing director of just such a corporate consultancy, and has remained a part-time employee throughout the research project. An in-depth study from within the organization enabled the collection of a rich set of longitudinal empirical data through self-ethnography and insider action research. It also led to a marked emphasis on aspects relevant to both academy and industry. A subsequent broader study into other corporate consultancies helped to generalize the findings further. The thesis investigates corporate consulting using two levels of analysis. The subsequent findings indicate firstly that, within the consulting unit, the simultaneous existence of consulting logic and product logic can lead to dual organizational identities (a consultant- and a staff identity) in corporate consultancies. The importance of managing these identities through conscious rhetoric is emphasized. Secondly, on an overall company level, the relation between the product business and the consulting business is in focus. The main conclusion here is that, despite a consulting unit’s responsibility for customized offerings, customer-orientation cannot be delegated to corporate consultancies in order to enable the traditional product business to carry on with “business as usual.” In a customer solutions business, top management must, instead, infuse a general customer-orientation into the whole organization, and the corporate consultancy must be handled as an integral part, rather than a mere extension for customization. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2003</p>

This study contributes an original, practice-based analysis of knowledge brokering in inter-organisational communities of practice in the not-for-profit sector. Defining characteristics of the not-for-profit sector include its social values, principles and practices. Existing literature understates or overlooks the significance of values and principles that are manifested in and enlivened through every day social practices and practitioner encounters. The study contributes by presenting knowledge brokering as a knowledge sharing intervention which integrates people, processes, values and principles into practice. Knowledge brokering and other practice interventions in the not-for-profit sector have to align with its social mission, if they are to be compatible and effective. This is especially so in multi-agency partnerships and inter-organisational communities of practice where collaboration and co-existence rather than assimilation are the primary objectives. This study finds that values-compatible knowledge brokering interventions, boundary bridging, co-creation, common artefacts and knowledge sharing, enable inter-organisational communities of practice to evolve without sacrificing individual autonomy. Foundational knowledge brokering literature emphasises the structural position of the knowledge broker, their knowledge superiority and the benefits they accrue by operating on the periphery of a social network. The study contributes by arguing that knowledge brokering processes and roles can be examined through an alternative practice lens with the knowledge broker as an internal co-practitioner located within a network. The study was carried out in a new, time-limited multi-agency partnership project in the not-for-profit sector. The partnership constituted an inter-organisational community of practice comprising advice, information and support agencies that had agreed to work collaboratively to improve local services. The author was employed as the project s Knowledge Management Officer and carried out the study over a two year period using an insider action research approach. As an insider practitioner-researcher, the author contributed to the project s objectives, worked collaboratively with practitioners and gathered rich data. Action and research occurred simultaneously and the iterative processes enabled the cumulative learning to inform, develop and analyse the practice. The combination of using insider action research approach, an examination of knowledge brokering as a practice intervention and a multi-agency, not-for-profit setting, makes this a unique practice-based study untapping knowledge management lessons from the not-for-profit sector.

Both practice and theory present good reason to believe that collaborative interorganizational relationships have become particularly important for innovation and new product development in industries characterized by rapid technological change and dynamic competition. Even though collaboration across organizational boundaries represents an important change in the way companies innovate and develop new products (services and processes), it appears as if the process and practical steps of such arrangements are scantly explored.   The thesis Dating for Innovation addresses this gap by empirically studying a focal company’s attempts to bring new opportunities into the world through collaborative interorganizational relationships under conditions marked by fluid change. A diverse set of research methods ranging from an insider action research approach to more conventional case study methods were applied to shed light on contingencies that may play a role in influencing the process and practical steps.   The result suggests an explorative logic and process, where the partners make use of interorganizational relationships as a means to explore the knowledge necessary for creating, recognizing, and, eventually, developing future opportunities. Not only interest and continued motivation, but also calculated costs and perceived risks, were thus outcomes of the collaboration rather than prescribed beforehand. Furthermore, the empirical findings suggest that corporate entrepreneurs at lower levels in the organization have a more significant influence than previously assumed. From a general point of view, these results imply that parts of the process can be facilitated, but not all initiatives or activities can be directed. Managers are thus challenged to reflect on how to productively deal with interorganizational innovation activities without adapting a classical linear and/or hierarchical monitoring of interorganizational innovation initiatives. / Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2004 [10], iii, [1], 107 s.: sammanfattning, s. 108-265, [6] s.: 5 uppsatser

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