CERES :: Browsing by Author "Szwejczewski, Marek"

Browsing by Author "Szwejczewski, Marek"

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Open Access
Bootlegging in high technology R&D departments : from initiation to disclosure
(Cranfield University, 2012-09) Masoudnia, Yaser; Szwejczewski, Marek
Bootlegging -the unauthorised projects initiated by an employee and directed toward innovation for the benefit of their organization -is an important aspect of innovation, because it is considered to be a great source of bottom-up innovation within organisations. Since it is clandestine and hidden from management and researchers, it has remained one of the least researched aspects of the innovation process. There are a handful of studies on the topic of bootlegging in the management literature – mainly based on one or a small number of case studies. The research suggests that bootlegging activity can lead to innovative new products and is seen in a positive light by a large majority of authors. However, the existing literature lacks empirical evidence and consensus among different authors on the various aspects of bootlegging such as reasons for bootlegging, underground operation, disclosure stage of bootlegging and its outcomes. Since bootlegging is a clandestine process, after careful consideration of a variety options, it was concluded that in-depth interviews with bootleggers is the most appropriate approach for studying the topic. Network sampling was applied to identify bootleggers and gain their trust. The researcher has utilised his network and attended several professional and engineering conferences to identify and approach bootleggers rather than contacting them through their managers and organisations. Subsequently, 55 in-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken. The appropriate research methodology helped to shed light on these under-researched aspects of innovation. Cont/d.
Open Access
Cross-border Transfer of Organisational Resources Within a Multinational Corporation in the Context of Manufacturing
(Cranfield University, 2007-08) Lu , Chun-Chieh; Szwejczewski, Marek
MNCs (Multinational Corporation) have been considered a salient phenomenon and a popular subject under investigation. Amongst a plethora of research streams, the capability of a MNC to effectively transfer – to relocate or replicate – its organisational resources within the company network has been considered fundamental to its competitive advantage. Recognising this stream of investigation, this thesis aims at, firstly, mapping this research area, and secondly, identifying current knowledge gaps. Particularly, the interest of this research is the context of manufacturing. A SLR (Systematic Literature Review) approach was adopted to identify and examine relevant preceding research from two major electronic databases (ProQuest and EBASCO). The findings of this research contribute an overview of and potential knowledge gaps in this research area.
Open Access
An exploratory study of close supplier-manufacturer relationships
(Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith; Lemke, Fred; Szwejczewski, Marek
Close relationships with selected suppliers can enable manufacturers to reduce costs, improve quality and enhance new product development. Although the advantages of close co-operation are widely acknowledged in the literature, the specific attributes of such relationships are not well understood. To address this gap, 39 managers responsible for purchasing were interviewed using a technique from psychology, which is particularly effective at uncovering the characteristics of relationships. This approach is innovative in the context of supplier management research and gave insights into how manufacturers expect more from their suppliers than just reliable deliveries of high-quality, well- priced parts and components. The results of the empirical research enhance our knowledge of the attributes of manufacturer–supplier relationships and also indicate how manufacturers can establish close relationships with selected suppliers. Overall, the study has established the viability of a new approach for understanding the complex topic of manufacturer–supplier partnersh
Open Access
How innovative are UK manufacturing companies?
(1997-01-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek; New, Colin
Open Access
Identifying hidden consumer needs: a systematic literature review
(Cranfield University, 2010-08) Bruce, Helen Louise; Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek
A key aspect of innovation is the development of new products (innovative product development). Successful innovative product development generates increased revenue and profit for the innovating company. In order to capitalise on these benefits companies must develop ideas and opportunities for new products. Successful new products are those which meet the needs of consumers and the identification of consumer needs therefore gives rise to opportunities for innovative product development. However, the research methods traditionally employed in consumer needs investigations are ineffective in identifying the more subtle and deeply rooted requirements of the consumer. This results in a series of hidden consumer needs, the identification of which could highlight previously unrecognised opportunities for innovative product development. Within the literature there exists a lack of clarity surrounding the most effective research methods for identifying hidden consumer needs at the idea generation stage of innovative product development and further research is therefore needed to address this gap in knowledge. The aim of this systematic literature review was to investigate the previous studies of hidden consumer needs in order to generate recommendations for the design of future research initiatives which seek to address this lack of clarity. The literature describing the previous studies of interest was systematically located and reviewed, and conclusions were drawn regarding the most frequently and successfully applied research methods. The concept of a research orientation was subsequently developed, which refers to the underlying process of hidden consumer needs identification. The findings from the review give rise to three high level recommendations for future research into the identification of hidden consumer needs at the idea generation stage of innovative product development, which seek to build on the insights arising from this systematic review in respect of the most frequently and successfully applied research methods and the underlying research orientations.
Open Access
Innovation culture in business to business (B2B) consultancies – key factors
(Cranfield University, 2017-05) Khetavath, Nitish; Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek
Innovation has become a necessity for the survival of organizations. Recent academic and practitioner publications have focused on the importance of the culture of innovation and have identified a number of cultural practices (referred to as ‘factors’ in this thesis) that enable organizations to be innovative. To understand the factors of innovation culture further, a systematic literature review (SLR) was undertaken. The SLR identified 27 factors of innovation culture, but showed that there is conflicting evidence on which of these factors is most important for innovation. Further, the SLR showed there is only sparse evidence on the reasons why the 27 factors are important. From an academic research standpoint, there is thus a lack of clarity around the phenomenon of innovation culture. From a practitioner standpoint, managers do not have clarity on which aspects to focus, when trying to create a culture of innovation. These gaps in the extant literature led to two research questions (RQs): RQ1 – “What are the most important factors of innovation culture as perceived by managers?”; RQ2 – “Why are the factors (from RQ1) of culture considered to be important?” To investigate these questions, the PSF (Professional Services Firm) sector was chosen because: (a) such firms are constantly under pressure to differentiate themselves by offering innovative solutions to clients, (b) PSFs face a unique set of challenges to overcome in order to innovate, and (c) there are practically no studies on innovation culture in the PSF industry, providing an opportunity to make a contribution to knowledge. Three in-depth exploratory case studies were conducted using a complex research design employing multiple data sources (interviews, focus groups, documents, and observations). Although each individual case study identified a set of factors most relevant to its business context, the cross-case analysis identified 12 key factors of innovation culture relevant to all three cases. The findings from both individual cases and the cross-case analysis form the contribution of this thesis. The main contribution of this thesis to theory is that it identified 12 key factors of innovation culture and so clarifies the phenomenon. Compared to the literature, the study added two new key factors and also provided more empirical evidence for others that had previously been considered as less important. The thesis also highlighted that the industry (PSF)/sub-industry (e.g. IT, management, engineering consultancies) and organizational context determine what factors are relevant for innovation culture. From a practitioner standpoint, this thesis examined each of the 12 key factors and generated insights into how they contribute to addressing the challenges that inhibit the PSFs from innovating. These insights will be helpful to managers at a practical level to be able to create a culture of innovation.
Open Access
Investigating the meaning of supplier-manufacturer partnerships : An exploratory study
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z) Lemke, Fred; Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek
Supplier partnerships can be the key in enhancing the performance of manufacturing companies. Consequently, partnership has been strongly recommended by academics and practitioners alike. Surprisingly, the concept of partnership is only poorly understood. Many authors have identified the advantages that it can bring but far less has been published on the attributes of partnership itself. What is known is that partnerships are “close” relationships and thus, the level of relationship closeness is an appropriate angle for exploring supplier partnerships. Research was conducted using the repertory grid technique with an exploratory sample of ten managers from four German engineering companies. It revealed that supplier partnerships are very different from other forms of relationship and identified five distinct attributes of partnerships. These findings have a number of implications for both practitioners and research
Open Access
Is Management Commitment to Quality Just 'A Given'?
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek
Reports on interviews held with management at six factories in the UK, which had received awards for their manufacturing excellence, which aimed to discuss the TQM initiatives and, in particular, to gauge the degree and nature of the management commitment required to make these successful. Uncovers, from the results, an indication of the emphasis that managers must place on becoming personally involved if TQM is to be successful. Identifies four common dimensions of management commitment in the approaches seen across the six factories: the time and effort invested, emphasis on clear goals and organizations, management’s manufacturing expertise, and a strong focus on employees (training and teamwork). Concludes that although the findings are based on only six cases, the topic of commitment is an important one, with significant implications for management and it is also an area which is ripe for further, detailed investigatio
Open Access
Italian and UK Manufacturing compared
(2002-01-01T00:00:00Z) Grando, A.; Szwejczewski, Marek; Goffin, Keith
Although the Italian economy has seen a steady growth in the importance of the service sector, manufacturing still plays a key role in the economy. It employs 32 per cent of the active population and accounts for about 33 per cent of the country’s gross national product. For this reason, the performance of Italian manufacturing plants relative to their international counterparts is of considerable domestic importance, as well as highly relevant for those interested in wider European comparisons and benchmarks. This article reports on a research project that looked at the performance of manufacturing plants in Italy, and in the U
Open Access
Manufacturer-supplier relationships : An empirical study of German manufacturing companies
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z) Szwejczewski, Marek; Lemke, Fred; Goffin, Keith
Effective management of suppliers is one of the ways manufacturing companies can improve their performance. Typically, it has been argued in the literature that close relationships with suppliers should be developed, in contrast to the traditional price-driven transactional relationships. However, there has been relatively little empirical research on how supplier management is applied.
Open Access
Manufacturing standards of performance for success
(Cranfield School of Management, 1995) Sweeney, Mike T.; Szwejczewski, Marek
This paper details the findings of a study of the manufacturing performances and practices of 140 engineering companies in the UK. From this study, significant differences in the manufacturing competitiveness of these firms have been identified. Causes for the performance differences are discussed and recommendations are made for the design of a manufacturing strategy to improve manufacturing competitiveness.
Open Access
Manufacturing strategy and perfomance:A study of the UK engineering industry
(Cranfield School of Management, 1995) Sweeney, Mike T.; Szwejczewski, Marek
This paper details the findings of a search for manufacturing "strategic groups" in the engineering industry, that is a set of firms competing within an industry on the basis of similar combinations of business scope and resource commitments. The research methodology used was to adopt stockturns (excluding work in process), as a measure of manufacturing scope. Manufacturing throughtput efficiency was selected as a measure of production engineering resource commitment. An initial grouping of companies was accomplished by using these two manufacturing performance variables. Comparisons were then made of the manufacturing practices and performances of the firms in the four strategic groups that were formed. The results obtained show statistically differences in the performance of each of the strategic groups formed. They can also serve as benchmarks for the evaluation of manufacturing manangement performance. The proposed manufacturing strategy and performance matrix provides a practical framework for strategic planning.
Open Access
Product innovation in UK manufacturing companies
(Inderscience, 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z) Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek; Sweeney, Michael; New, Colin
In many sectors of the manufacturing industry, product innovation is an important way for companies to achieve competitive advantage. Regular introductions of new products can be essential, especially in fast-moving markets. But how often do companies introduce new products? A database of UK manufacturing plants was analysed to determine the innovation rates and typical product development times in specific industry sectors. The results show a wide spread in the development times and innovation rates even within closely defined sectors - implying that some companies are particularly efficient at product innovation whereas others need to improve. In addition, the research identifies a number of key areas of innovation, which require further investigation, both within the UK and on an international basis.
Open Access
Product support and the new product development process
(2006) Anagnostopoulos, Z.; Szwejczewski, Marek; Goffin, Keith
Product support is a key aspect in the industrial marketing of not only high-technology products but also heavy goods and software applications, since it strongly influences customer satisfaction and can also be an important source of revenue. Typical elements of product support include installation, user training, equipment maintenance and, if necessary, repair - all of these are normally provided by manufacturers’ support organisations. Despite its importance to several industries, support has not been extensively researched. This study describes the involvement of the support organisation in the new product development process. Several authors have identified that product support is dependent on product design. Consequently, the same authors emphasise that support should be thoroughly evaluated during product design. This study identifies the elements of product support that may be evaluated and shows in detail how four companies in different industrial sectors evaluate support when developing new products. To further investigate the topic, two similar products per company were selected: one easy and one difficult to support. The study investigated the differences in the development between the two products in terms of product support input in the new product development process. The results show that all companies had product support participating in their new product development processes, however product support was more involved in the easy than in the difficult to support products. Compared to other research works and research publications, this research project took a step deeper inside the NPD teams in order to investigate the involvement of product support, the actions and targets set and the influence of product support. Consequently, the study provides a foundation from which there is real scope for further management research into what is becoming recognised as a vital element of industrial marketing.
Open Access
Risk management in new product development : a systematic review of literature
(Cranfield University, 2012-10) Afzal, Muhammad Akram; Szwejczewski, Marek
The purpose of this thesis is to provide taxonomy of risk management (RM) in new product development (NPD) research and, based on that, to develop a research agenda for this field of study. The review was based on a systematic review which not only concentrates peer reviewed journal papers but also conferences and a book chapter. A total of 58 academic sources have been retrieved published within the period of 1980-2012 and were classified into various purposeful themes. The review reveals that research on RM in NPD is mostly theoretical in nature and lacks empirical foundations. It also argues that while there has been written a lot on how risk should be managed in NPD process (prescriptive type), the other aspect of how risk is being managed (descriptive type) is not very well addressed. Based on this, various research gaps are identified from different developed themes. The review is limited in several ways. First, research cannot be regarded as complete or comprehensive literature review in the field of RM in NPD, although every effort has been made to include the articles relevant to review question. The themes selected for classification of articles could have been structured in many different ways. The research accomplishes an identified need for exhaustive classification of literature. It identifies discrepancies among theoretical and empirical knowledge and thus tries to bridge a gap between both types of knowledge.
Open Access
Roads to Resilience: Building Dynamic Approaches to Risk to Achieve Future Success
(Airmic, 2014-01-28) Goffin, Keith; Hopkin, Paul; Szwejczewski, Marek; Kutsch, Elmar
In complex and constantly changing business environments with ever more complex risk, one of the key questions that boards ask of themselves is: “What can we do to future-proof ourselves against the growing array of risks?” In a search to answer this question, case study based research, undertaken by Cranfield School of Management on behalf of Airmic, looked at eight leading companies that constantly have to deal with significant uncertainty and risk and yet have survived, maintaining both their reputation and balance sheet. The ways they approach risk management and have achieved resilience was investigated at: AIG, Drax Power, InterContinental Hotels Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Olympic Delivery Authority, The Technology Partnership, Virgin Atlantic and Zurich Insurance.
Open Access
The search for generic manufacturing strategies in the UK engineering industry
(1996) Sweeney, Mike T.; Szwejczewski, Marek
The search for generic manufacturing strategies has been attempted previously using the American and the European Manufacturing Futures survey data. This paper details the results of a study using manufacturing strategy and performance data submitted by 120 competitors for the 1993 and 1994 UK Best Factory Award. The research method used was the same as that applied by the previous researchers of this subject. This was to carry out a cluster analysis of the rankings of emphasis to be given to the improvement of six competitive capabilities during a two year period following completion of the questionnaire. Only data from UK engineering companies were used for this analysis. The study findings are similar to those of the previous American study but add to them. Four distinct clusters of different competitive capabilities were observed. The distinguishing competitive capability of each cluster was found to be consistent with those detailed in a previously published theoretical framework that linked competitive capabilities with generic manufacturing strategy types.
Open Access
A study into continuous improvement initiative sustainability
(Cranfield University Press, 2013-09-19) Szwejczewski, Marek; Sweeney, Michael; Butler, Michael
The idea of continuous improvement is familiar to most managers and there are many examples of how its use can increase a company’s overall performance. However, while numerous companies have adopted the approach, very few have seen the long term sustainability of such programmes. This paper reports on research that was carried out into the sustainability of continuous improvement initiatives. A case study was carried out in a manufacturing company that had been using the approach for five years. The case study identified several factors that helped to sustain the initiative but it also revealed some elements that had a negative impact.
Open Access
Supplier Base Management: Experiences from the UK and Germany
(Mcb, 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z) Lemke, Fred; Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek; Pfeiffer, Rolf; Lohmüller, Bertram
Streamlining the supplier base is a common approach in many US and UK manufacturing companies. However, is this approach being adopted in Germany as fast as it has in the UK? This paper describes research that answers this question and investigates how German companies are managing contacts with their suppliers. The research was conducted in two stages. First, a postal survey of German and UK manufacturers identified the supplier base trends. Second, a follow-up telephone survey of a random sample of German plants investigated supplier management processes. The findings show that German manufacturers have not reduced their supplier base by as much as their UK counterparts. However, German manufacturers that have reduced their supplier base perceive significant benefits. Currently, many companies appear to have failed to recognize the potential of working with a reduced supplier base.
Open Access
Supplier management in German manufacturing companies : An empirical investigation
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z) Szwejczewski, Marek; Goffin, Keith; Lemke, Fred; Pfeiffer, Rolf; Lohmüller, Bertram
A key issue for manufacturers is supplier management, i.e. organising the optimal flow of high quality, value-for-money materials or components from appropriate innovative suppliers. Many companies now recognise the central role that supplier management plays in achieving long-term competitive advantage. This paper presents the results of a study of supplier management practices in Germany, contrasted against those in the UK. It identifies a key difference – German manufacturers have not reduced their supplier base as much as the companies in the UK. However, it appears that German manufacturers will be reducing their supplier base in the near future, although they are likely to follow a policy of multiple sourcing rather than single-sourcing from suppliers. The results of the research have strong implications for German companies as they clearly indicate the potential for performance improvement through the adoption of best practices in the field of supplier managemen