Abstract:
This thesis
investigates the adoption rate of manufacturing strategy formulation
processes and provides insights into why current formulation process workbooks are
not
widely adopted. A paradigm is developed to enhance the adoption of process
workbooks in the
manufacturing environment and attempts to bridge the gap between
tried and tested
processes and their practical application in manufacturing industry.
Manufacturing strategy formulation processes have been developed to assist
manufacturing companies in the development of manufacturing strategies. There is
evidence that the
adoption of these processes and the development of strategies within
manufacturing industry are beneficial. However, some literature provides anecdotal
evidence
suggesting that adoption levels of these formulation processes are low.
The research
programme investigates if, and why, the adoption of manufacturing
strategy formulation processes has been low. lndustrially based interviews have been
used that confirm the low level of
adoption of these processes. A variety of reasons
have been identified. These
mainly focus on the presentation and format of process
workbooks. Several
proposals are made to enhance the adoption of manufacturing
strategy formulation processes.
I
particular, the research identifies four key areas that should be considered in the
future
presentation of manufacturing strategy formulation process. These key areas
can be summarised as
validity, attention, simplicity, and holistic perspective forming
the basis of a
paradigm to increase the use of workbooks and the adoption of strategy
formulation
processes by manufacturing managers.
The
findings of this research and the development of a paradigm offer practical
assistance to
bridge the gap between research activities and practitioner requirements.
The
paradigm has been evaluated by further interviews with industry practitioners and
makes a useful contribution to the formulation and
application of strategy in
manufacturing industry.
