Is inflation targeting an appropriate framework for monetary policy? Experience from the inflation-targeting countries countries are optimistic about inflation targeting as a monetary-policy framework. South Africa is also following this trend. The international literature review of the topic offers lessons to be learnt from the common experience of the countries considered. It shows that inflation targeting is not a universal remedy to modern economic ills -- there is an emerging danger of assigning monetary policy a larger role than that which it can perform; a danger of expecting monetary policy to accomplish tasks that it cannot achieve; and a danger of preventing monetary policy from making the contribution that it is capable of doing. Therefore, inflation targeting cannot address all the macroeconomic problems that face many countries, except for inflation. Nonetheless, it plays a crucial role in improving macroeconomic performance. / Economics / M.A. (Economics)

A production strategy enables companies to effectively manage the different challenges that the production function face in a competitive environment. A production strategy helps a company to make operational and strategic decisions that follow a logical pattern and supports the corporate strategy and the competitive priorities of the company. When no strategy exists the decisions may be arbitrary and unpredictable leading to an under-achieving production system. Production strategy involves decisions that shape the long term capabilities of a producing company. For the traditional production industry there are a number of production strategy frameworks that facilitates the process of designing production systems. However, these frameworks typically leave project based production out of the scope or treat project based production as one type of production system, when in fact project based production systems can be multifaceted depending on product design and market requirements. This thesis focus on project based manufacturing in a house-building context. Houses can be produced by different types of production systems, and depending on how the production systems are designed they have strengths and weaknesses in different areas of competition. To be able to meet the increasing demand for residential houses, and improve performance in the house-building industry, the way houses are produced have to match different market requirements in a more effective and efficient way. To do this a production strategy has to exist. Typically there is a trade-off between productivity and flexibility, hence a production system designed to meet customer requirements concerning product design is probably not the best process choice if the customer thinks price and delivery time are the most important. A production strategy helps a company to make decisions so that the output of the production system meets customer requirements in the best possible way. Due to the fact that project based production is typically left out of the scope in traditional production strategy literature and that there is a lack of research concerning production strategy in a house-building context, the purpose of this research is: … to extend the production strategy body of knowledge concerning project based production in a house-building context. To fulfil the purpose the following four research questions are studied and answered: RQ1: What aspects can be useful in a classification matrix contrasting different production systems for house-building? RQ2: Which competitive priorities are important to measure when evaluating different production systems on a production strategy level in a house-building context, and how can they quantitatively be measured? RQ3: How does the characteristics of the production system, i.e. the process choice, affect information exchange in a house-building context? RQ4: How can a new production strategy be formulated and implemented in an industrialised house-building context and what challenges are important to consider in that process? To answer RQ1 a classification matrix was developed that classify production systems along two dimensions: a product dimension (degree of product standardisation) and a process dimension (degree of off-site assembly). The two dimensions are related, for example a high degree of standardisation should be matched with a high degree of off-site assembly and consequently a low degree of product standardisation should be matched with a low degree of off-suite assembly. A mismatch, e.g. high degree of off-site assembly and low degree of standardisation, typically leads to poor performance and should hence be avoided. To be able to see how different types of production systems perform in different areas of competition key performance indicators (KPIs) were developed. The KPIs presented in this research can be used to measure quality, delivery (speed and dependability), cost (level and dependability), and flexibility (volume and mix) at a production strategic level (RQ2). Furthermore, to answer RQ3, a production strategy perspective was taken on information exchange by relating information exchange to the design of the production system. The results indicate that employing different types of production systems leads to different approaches to information exchange. Employing a production systems using traditional production methods on-site and a low degree of product standardisation lead to a traditional approach to information exchange, e.g. project meetings, telephone and mail. Production systems employing some degree of off-site assembly have less complex and more stable supply chains and use ICT-solutions to a higher extent, which facilitates information exchange. The findings also indicate that a high degree of product standardisation facilitates the use of ICT-solutions such as ERP and BIM. RQ4 concerns the production strategy process, i.e. formulation and implementation. Failure in this processes can jeopardise the whole business. Based on a longitudinal case study of an industrialised house-builder a suggested production strategy process was developed, including both production strategy formulation and implementation. The study also identified context specific challenges that have to be considered in an industrialised house-building context, e.g. the complexity that comes with using two different production processes (off-site and on-site) in the same production system. The research is case based and a total number of eight different production systems have been studied. Data has been collected through interviews, observations, and review of company documents.

In recent years, industrialised house building has gained shares on the Swedish house building market. The market demands for industrialised house building are exceeding the available supply of housing and experiencing a substantial increase in the housing production costs. For industrialised house building, the design has been identified as a critical phase with the systematization of the design a necessary part of industrialisation. Therefore, companies strive towards the inclusion of standardization and controlled processes in the design phase. Product platforms have proved to be related to the standardization of processes and products. Introducing a product platform approach in the design phase of house building could be a way to improve the design and ensure value creation in entire processes. Thus, the aim of this research is to outline means to support and improve the design phase of industrialised house building by using a product platform approach. A Swedish multi-storey house building company that uses glulam post and beam building system with a focus on platform development was used as the single case study in this research. The company intends to achieve increased efficiency by moving towards industrialized approaches. Empirical data were mainly gathered from interviews, observations, workshops, and document analysis. The findings present the existing challenges in the housing building industry and outlines twenty critical success factors that need to be considered in the design phase. Also, the result outlines support methods and tools that can be used for the improvement of the design phase when applying a product platform approach. Moreover, a flexible product platform can be developed with the support of parametric modelling and used to design building components having an engineer-to-order characteristic. Finally, the results show that a building system can be considered as part of a product platform in light of the necessity of an adequate support in the design process to maintain a sustainable platform. Thus, the contribution includes the addition of knowledge to platform theory in general and its application on the design phase of industrialised house building. / Under de senaste åren har det industriella husbyggandet tagit andelar på den svenska husbyggnadsmarknaden. Behovet av bostäder på marknaden överstiger tillgången och med ökning av bostadsproduktionskostnaderna som konsekvens. För det industriella husbyggandet har projekteringen identifierats som en avgörande fas och dess systematisering är en nödvändig för industrialiseringen. Som en följd strävar företag i segmentet efter att inkludera standardisering och kontrollerade processer i projekteringen. Produktplattformar har kunnat kopplas till standardisering av processer och produkter. Införandet av produktplattformar i projekteringen kan vara ett sätt att förbättra designen och säkra värdeskapandet igenom hela processen. Således är syftet i denna avhandling att ta fram medel för att stödja och förbättra projekteringen för industriellt husbyggande genom att tillämpa en ansats med produktplattformar. Ett svenskt byggnadsföretag med flera våningar som använder limträ- och balksystem med fokus på plattformsutveckling användes som en enda fallstudie i denna forskning. En fallstudie har genomförts på ett företag som bygger flervåningshus med ett pelar-balksystem i limträ med fokus på plattformsutveckling. Företaget har ambitionen att nå högre effektivitet genom att röra sig mot ett mer industriellt tillvägagångssätt. Data samlades in från intervjuer, observationer, workshops och dokumentanalyser. Resultaten visar vilka de befintliga utmaningarna är för husbyggandet och presenterar tjugo kritiska framgångsfaktorer som ska beaktas i projekteringen. Studien har även tagit fram supportmetoder och verktyg som kan användas för att förbättra projekteringen vid tillämpning av produktplattformar. Vidare, en flexibel produktplattform kan utvecklas med stöd av parametrisk modellering och användas för att projektera byggnads-komponenter med engineer-to-orderegenskaper. Slutligen, resultaten pekar mot att ett byggsystem kan betraktas som en del av en produktplattform ur perspektivet att tillräckligt med stöd i projekteringen krävs för att underhålla en hållbar plattform. Således, arbetet har bidragit med kunskap till teori om plattformar i allmänhet och dess tillämpning på projekteringen för industriellt husbyggande.