Journal of Operations Management

Operations strategy and its development have received a lot of attention in the operations management literature. However, as noted by Ward et al. (1995), an understanding of the factors that influence operations strategy development has not been widely studied. Further, how managers of firms in underdeveloped countries develop operations strategy has yet to receive any significant attention among researchers. This paper takes a look at the development of operations strategy in an underdeveloped economy, Ghana. Specifically, the paper examines the relationships between the business environment and the operations strategy choices made by firms in Ghana. The paper seeks to understand the influence that specific business environmental factors have on the operations strategy choices of low cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery dependability.

A survey of manufacturing firms was carried out in 1998. The respondents (production managers in those firms) were asked to indicate the extent to which business costs, labor availability, competitive hostility, and environmental dynamism were of concern to them. They were also asked to indicate their extent of emphasis on the operations strategy choices of quality, cost, flexibility and delivery dependability. This paper presents the result of the analysis of the relationships between the environmental factors and the operations strategy choices. The data indicate that, among firms in Ghana, the two strongest factors that influence the degree of emphasis placed on operations strategy choices are perceived business costs and competitive hostility. Results are presented for both large and small firms, and for firms that are completely locally owned as well as for joint venture firms.

In much of the current literature on supply chain management, supply networks are recognized as a system. In this paper, we take this observation to the next level by arguing the need to recognize supply networks as a complex adaptive system (CAS). We propose that many supply networks emerge rather than result from purposeful design by a singular entity. Most supply chain management literature emphasizes negative feedback for purposes of control; however, the emergent patterns in a supply network can much better be managed through positive feedback, which allows for autonomous action. Imposing too much control detracts from innovation and flexibility; conversely, allowing too much emergence can undermine managerial predictability and work routines. Therefore, when managing supply networks, managers must appropriately balance how much to control and how much to let emerge.

In this exploratory analysis, a model is developed and tested to determine whether the use of JIT purchasing reduces logistics costs for both suppliers and buyers. The results indicate that JIT purchasing directly reduces costs only for buyers. An indirect path, however, was found between JIT purchasing and logistics costs for suppliers. To the extent that JIT purchasing may result in suppliers adopting JIT manufacturing techniques, then suppliers too can benefit, at least indirectly, from JIT purchasing.

This study examines the definition of theory and the implications it has for the theory‐building research. By definition, theory must have four basic criteria: conceptual definitions, domain limitations, relationship‐building, and predictions. Theory‐building is important because it provides a framework for analysis, facilitates the efficient development of the field, and is needed for the applicability to practical real world problems. To be good theory, a theory must follow the virtues (criteria) for ‘good’ theory, including uniqueness, parsimony, conservation, generalizability, fecundity, internal consistency, empirical riskiness, and abstraction, which apply to all research methods. Theory‐building research seeks to find similarities across many different domains to increase its abstraction level and its importance. The procedure for good theory‐building research follows the definition of theory: it defines the variables, specifies the domain, builds internally consistent relationships, and makes specific predictions. If operations management theory is to become integrative, the procedure for good theory‐building research should have similar research procedures, regardless of the research methodology used. The empirical results from a study of operations management over the last 5 years (1991–1995) indicate imbalances in research methodologies for theory‐building. The analytical mathematical research methodology is by far the most popular methodology and appears to be over‐researched. On the other hand, the integrative research areas of analytical statistical and the establishment of causal relationships are under‐researched. This leads to the conclusion that theory‐building in operations management is not developing evenly across all methodologies. Last, this study offers specific guidelines for theory‐builders to increase the theory's level of abstraction and the theory's significance for operations managers.