An exploratory study of the manufacturing strategy process in practice

This work presents an exploratory empirical study of the process of formulating and implementing manufacturing strategy within the framework of overall corporate strategy, as practised by a cross-sectional representation of leading-edge firms. The study shows that these firms’ processes of formulating manufacturing strategy seem to follow the general conceptual models developed in the academic literature. However, the executives indicated that the real benefits of strategy come from implementation, which is a less structured and behaviourally oriented process. Future research must address infrastructural issues including culture, performance measurement and managerial style.