bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysing the effect of flexibility on manufacturing systems performance
Authors: Baykasoğlu Adil , Özbakır Lale
Published: February 2008

Purpose

In today's very competitive, dynamic and unpredictable manufacturing environments it is critical to improve manufacturing performance in order to be able to compete. Responsiveness and agility become important characteristics of manufacturing systems and organizations. Manufacturing systems must be designed optimally by taking into account responsiveness and agility related measures in order to improve effectiveness and performance. One of the important enablers of performance improvement is flexibility. It is a known fact that flexibility has a positive effect on the manufacturing system performance if it is properly utilized by the control system (usually scheduling). However, the relationship between flexibility and manufacturing system performance through scheduling is not entirely explored in the previous literature. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of process plan and machine flexibilities on the scheduling performance of manufacturing job‐shops.

Design/methodology/approach

Effects of process plan and machine flexibilities on the scheduling performance of manufacturing job‐shops are analyzed at different flexibility levels by using the grammar‐based flexible job shop scheduling system that is developed by Baykasoğluet al.. Three different flexibility levels are defined for process plans and machines. Four different problem sizes are evaluated according to “makespan” “machine load balance” and “mean waiting times of jobs”. Performance differences among “process plan” and “machine flexibility” levels are determined and statistically analyzed through Taguchi experimental design methodology.

Findings

It is found out after detailed analysis that the effect of machine flexibility on job shop performance is higher than the process plan flexibility. It is also figured out that after a certain level of machine flexibility, the speed of scheduling performance improvement decreases considerably.

Originality/value

The paper presents the interaction between flexibility and scheduling performance of manufacturing job‐shops. The findings should be taken into account while designing scheduling systems for job shops that have flexible processing capabilities.
An integrated framework for ISO 9000 motivation, depth of ISO implementation and firm performance
Authors: Jang Woan‐Yuh , Lin Ching‐I
Published: February 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine whether business can benefit from ISO 9000, and examines how motivation impacts the depth of ISO 9000 implementation and how the depth of ISO 9000 implementation impacts a firm's performance in Taiwan.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey questionnaire was mailed to the 1,668 companies with ISO 9000 certification, and a total of 441 usable responses were returned. Using a structural equation model, this study empirically examines the relationship between ISO 9000 motivation and ISO 9000 implementation depth and how implementation depth influences firm performance.

Findings

The results demonstrate that a positive relationship exists between the extent to which companies implement ISO 9000 and firm performance. Additionally, internal motivation fully mediates the relationship between external motivation and ISO implementation depth. Furthermore, the implementation of ISO 9000 directly and positively influences operational performance and indirectly affects market performance, in turn positively impacting business performance.

Originality/value

This study represents a first attempt to construct a conceptual framework that integrates the motivations behind implementing ISO 9000 certification, the implementation depth underlying processes, and ISO 9000 performance.
Lean manufacturing performance in China: assessment of 65 manufacturing plants
Authors: Taj Shahram
Published: February 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adaptation of lean production and assess its current state of practice in selected plants in electronics, telecommunication, wireless, computer, food/beverage, garment, pharmaceutical, chemical, petroleum, printing, A/C and heating, and a few others in China.

Design/methodology/approach

An assessment tool is used to evaluate actual manufacturing practice related to key areas of inventory; team approach; processes; maintenance; layout/handling; suppliers; setups; quality; and scheduling and control. Manufacturing executives at manufacturing plants answered 40 questions in the assessment. Each response in the assessment is scored and a total score for each plant is recorded by adding average scores for all areas.

Findings

Application of lean production in China started in the late 1970s in the automotive industry, much earlier than by American and European manufacturers. The results of assessments show that the petroleum industry is in lead among all industries, followed by computer, telecommunication/wireless, and electronics industries. The findings from lean production system design‐related questions show low scores in layout design, volume/mix flexibility, setup, visual factory, and point‐of‐use delivery. However, plants earned high scores in materials flow, scheduling/control, on‐time delivery of finished goods, and overall defect rate. The findings have some similarity with recent studies about Chinese manufacturing firms' performance and competitiveness.

Research limitations/implications

Research findings are from some selected manufacturing plants in China and they should not be interpreted as an indicator of that particular sector in China.

Originality/value

This study investigates actual lean manufacturing practice and performance in Chinese plants.
Finite scheduling of collaborative design and manufacturing activity: a Petri net approach
Authors: Bareduan Salleh Ahmad , Hj. Hasan Sulaiman , Ariffin Saparudin
Published: February 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to present an approach of utilizing Petri net (PN) to model and schedule collaborative design and manufacturing activities at a cyber manufacturing centre (CMC).

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual PN model consisting of all activities at the CMC is drafted. This model is then simplified to generate a conflict free PN for scheduling analysis purposes. Based on this simplified PN, generalized scheduling algorithms were developed. The algorithms were used in spreadsheets to process and analyze the operation database before finally transforming it into a dynamic finite scheduling sequence in the form of Gantt chart.

Findings

The PN is found to be very useful in modelling and analysing the scheduling sequence for a CMC with collaborative activities resembling flow shop with shared resources.

Originality/value

The models and methods described in this paper are practical means of utilizing PN in managing the scheduling and manufacturing activities.
Analysing the factors responsible for effectiveness of implementation and integration of enterprise resource planning systems in the printing industry
Authors: Baray Shahneel , Hameed Shafqat , Badii Atta
Published: February 2008

Purpose

This paper's purpose is to examine the impact of ERP adoption in one of the most traditional sectors, namely the printing industry, within a case study of five typical large‐scale printing organisations set in the developing economy context of Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

The research methodology and the analysis motivated an interpretive approach. The inductive reasoning approach has been used, since the aim was to find something new for the printing industry and to try to discover the advantages that ERP could bring about for the industry. In this research study, semi‐structured interviews were conducted along with a number of visits to the targeted printing firms selected as being prototypical of the sector in this business environment. The research questions focused on identifying and exploring the benefits related to ERP for the printing industry, and why it was needed.

Findings

The research shows that all the functional categories identified in the literature for ERP can be introduced in the printing industry. However, within each category, not all its modules can be adopted for this industry. The research has also shown that the benefits of some areas of ERP are still to be understood by the stakeholders.

Practical implications

The enterprises under study now have an opportunity to look into ERP solutions as the basis also for first‐mover advantage within their sector.

Originality/value

There has been one previous attempt in Pakistan to restructure the largest printing press by introducing SAP, which failed due to lack of technical expertise and training support. This paper draws on the successful approaches deployed in ERP implementations in other sectors and examines the extent to which they can be adapted for the printing industry, for example which modules should be prioritised for integration and how to optimise their impact.
Predicting total quality management adoption in New Zealand
Authors: Haar Jarrod M. , Spell Chester S.
Published: February 2008

Purpose

The paper seeks to understand the adoption rates of total quality management (TQM) by New Zealand firms, and the role that organisational size plays in determining adoption rates.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of 997 random New Zealand firms of all sizes yielded 228 responses. Factors tested to predict TQM adoption were organisational size, workplace autonomy, performance standards, use of teams and group problem solving. In addition, organisational size was tested as a potential moderating variable on the other factors.

Findings

Overall, 33 per cent of firms in New Zealand used TQM, with an addition 5 per cent no longer using TQM, indicating strong adoption rates by international standards. All the direct effects and moderating effects were supported. Consequently, firms with higher level of workplace autonomy, use of performance standards, use of teams, and use of group problem solving were more likely to have adopted TQM, and this was more likely for larger firms than smaller firms. As a result, strong support was found for the interacting effect of organisational size.

Research limitations/implications

The implications are that TQM adoption rates are much higher in New Zealand than suggested in the international literature. A highlight of the present study is the focus on firms of all sizes, rather than being limited to only larger sized firms.

Originality/value

This paper provides much needed information on the state of TQM in New Zealand and provides a unique approach by testing the moderating effects of organisational size on predictor factors on New Zealand firms.
Performance analysis of multi‐criteria CAC for distributed access point selection in WLANs
Authors: Hwang I‐Shyan , Chen Chien‐An
Published: February 2008

Purpose

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are the predominant option for broadband wireless access network, and multiple access points (APs) will be much more available for wireless stations (WSTAs). Call admission control (CAC) on AP selection problem over 802.11 WLAN is a critical issue. In the existing architecture, strongest‐signal‐first is the default AP selection mechanism in 802.11 WLAN which uses the single criterion, received signal strength indicator, to select AP. However, this method suffers from bandwidth deficiency and unbalanced load among APs due to the uneven distribution of user load, thus degrading the system throughput. Instead, the purpose of this paper is to propose a multi‐criteria CAC on AP selection algorithms.

Design/methodology/approach

The distributed multi‐criteria considered in order are RSSI, minimum required bandwidth of WSTA, estimated effective bandwidth (EEB) and AP‐WSTA distance. A semiMarkov model considering both packet retransmission limit, packet error rate and collision effect is proposed to predict the system throughput and validated through simulation results. Two multi‐criteria AP selection algorithms after EEB is evaluated are proposed and compared based on this analytical model.

Findings

The proposed algorithms outperform the traditional SSF algorithm in terms of the balance index for AP and the average system throughput.

Originality/valve

The paper presents performance analysis for multi‐criteria CAC for distributed access point selection in WLANs.
A weighted multilateration positioning method for wireless sensor networks
Authors: Gau Yu‐He , Chu Hung‐Chi , Jan Rong‐Hong
Published: February 2008

Purpose

Localization problem is one of the most important research issues for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The purpose of this paper is to present a two‐phase localization algorithm for WSNs.

Design/methodology/approach

In the first phase, each sensor node obtains its initial position by DV‐hop method. In the second phase, each sensor node gathers the locations and distances to its neighbors, updates and exchanges these location information periodically and then operates the multilateration with different weight values.

Findings

The simulation result shows that the average position error of the proposed two‐phase method is less than 20 per cent of the radio range, and the number of sensor nodes which can be located is larger than 70 per cent of total nodes for a network with low density.

Originality/valve

The paper presents a weighted multilateration positioning methods for wireless sensor networks.
A stage model of education and innovation type in China: the paradox of the dragon
Authors: Johnson William H.A. , Weiss Joseph W.
Published: February 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual stage model of education and innovation type. The model depicts the influence of education on innovation and the paper aims to discuss the implications of it for the national competitiveness of China.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a newly created conceptual stage model of education and innovation supported by observations and a literature review based on past and present innovation efforts in China.

Findings

The paper demonstrates the importance of linking creative education with radical innovation that is associated with higher value‐added economic activities. The findings of the empirical studies to date in China suggest that such a change will not be easy. There is a need to increase the propensity towards creative thought processes even if this is considered “undesirable behavior” both in the Chinese classroom and for the Chinese Communist party. Evidence suggests that without such creativity, self‐initiated radical innovation is not possible across a broader spectrum of the educational system, and that break‐through inventions in value‐added technology and design industries will be limited in China.

Originality/value

The model in the paper is designed to stimulate further research, initiate discussion and encourage action on driving creativity in Chinese educational policy and practices. The paper's analysis and findings will be of interest to managers and government policy makers in China that are charged with developing new programs to spur value‐added innovation. Researchers will find the ideas for further empirical research potentially valuable in helping them to design studies surrounding the phenomena of creativity, education and innovation practices.
Multimedia University's experience in fostering and supporting undergraduate student technopreneurship programs in a triple helix model
Authors: Pei‐Lee Teh , Chen‐Chen Yong
Published: February 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the first three dimensions of the triple helix model. The focus of this paper is to study and develop a model for the role and functions performed by a university to nurture undergraduate student technopreneur development.

Design/methodology/approach

This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the process of the technopreneurship program undertaken by Multimedia University (MMU) in 1999‐2005. The analysis is based on the self‐administered questionnaires, qualitative interviews, internal documents, web sites and direct observation. Electronic questionnaires are e‐mailed to 24 founders of start‐ups to explore their views on the entrepreneurial support structures in MMU.

Findings

The success of MMU in undertaking the technopreneurship programs is the result of the organization structure, management's policies and priorities which are concentrated on creating and sustaining the necessary support structures to foster undergraduate student entrepreneurial activities.

Practical implications

A very interesting and useful information and impartial for new university planning to establish a culture of new enterprise creation within a university. It should be noted that though this is a study of various aspects of the success of MMU in undertaking technopreneurship programs, however, this will have an implication of how triple helix strategic model can be implemented in China.

Originality/value

Many universities have focused more on linkages of entrepreneurship and commercial‐valued research involving academic staff and postgraduate students rather than undergraduate student entrepreneurship. It is believed that MMU is one of the few entrepreneurial universities which focuses on undergraduate students, who, from enrollment to graduation, are offered constant encouragement, training and support for their efforts to conceive and start up business enterprises. This paper is intended to share the experiences of MMU in fostering and supporting undergraduate student technopreneurship programs in a triple helix model. This paper is intended to share the experiences of MMU in fostering and supporting undergraduate student technopreneurship programs in a triple helix model with readers in China and out of China who have interest on the effective implementation of the university ‐ government ‐ industry strategic partnership.
THE WILL TO MANAGE
Authors: Parker Hugh
Published: February 2008

This first issue of Management Decision introduces a new contribution to the literature of management. The editorial policy of this quarterly will be to publish articles on management subjects that will be of interest and value to the growing class of managers in this country who consider themselves to be true professionals—i.e., who have deliberately chosen the field of management as a challenging career, and who take it seriously enough to master the techniques and skills that are as essential to success in management as they are in any other profession. It may therefore be timely, in this first issue, to comment briefly on the present state of the management profession in the U.K., and the literature currently available to it.
BRAVE NEW BUSINESS
Authors: CRAWFORD ALAN
Published: February 2008

My basic principal in planning the new organisation is that managers require relevant information. Relevant in the sense of being available when decision is required, and also of being highly digested and without a mass of unwanted detail. The information to be made available to managers for decisions about the on‐going processes of the business will exist to affect their actions—not to invite their perusal. Thus we are deliberately setting out to reverse the trend in businesses where managers have been getting ever greater quantities of data at ever greater speeds.
MANAGEMENT JARGON EXPLAINED
Authors: Ward Tom
Published: February 2008

Integrated Data Processing This procedure is sometimes known as the Total Systems approach. Basically the technique is associated with the use of computers in Business Data Processing and recognises the important fact that where a computer is being used to do a job which can be done by other methods it is probably being wasted.
TAKING THE INITIATIVE IN PRODUCTIVITY BARGAINING
Authors: CUTHBERT NORMAN H.
Published: February 2008

In order to achieve anything, one side in the productivity bargain has to expose its position. The author argues that this side must be the management.
SUCCESSION IN THE SMALL
Authors: WHEELER GORDON
Published: February 2008

OPTIONS OPEN TO SMALL FIRMS Small firms constitute 90 per cent. of those engaged in manufacturing and distribution. Pressures of competition and the necessary reliance upon one or two key men cause many small firms to disappear without trace—others amalgamate or become absorbed into larger units as their very success draws attention to themselves and to their needs for the specialist knowledge available in the bigger unit. But as rapidly as small organisations disappear, others appear to take their place. New industries or new expressions of personal service frequently favour this. It may also be expected that the effects of Selective Employment Tax and the Training Board Levy, with their encouragement to existing organisations to divest themselves of labour, will create opportunities for small industrial units not hitherto directly favoured in this way. The major long‐term problem of the small organisation is most likely to be management or executive succession. Where, as is often the case, the driving force, the business skill, behind the company is one man, the problem of his replacement is likely to loom large to himself, his family, his colleagues (who recognise their own incapacity for this role), and those employees who depend upon the continuance of the firm for their livelihood.
DECISION TAKEN
Authors: BROWN JOHN
Published: February 2008

The essence of management is judgement and decision. Decision commits the individual and the organisation to a path of development and further irresistible decisions. In this regular feature Peter Smith, Group Education and Training Manager, The Avon Group, will recount crucial business decisions taken by British managers and entrepreneurs and evaluate their consequences for the individual and his organisation. Many people throw up their jobs and set out on their own account. Many fail through basing their decision on inadequate planning, and poor judgement of the situation. Few succeed so quickly as John Brown who heads the rapidly growing computer consultancy and management services group of Management Dynamics. Barely over 40, in the space of only a couple of years he dominates with his organisation a growing and vitally important area of management consultancy. No decision is a static entity. It contains both vision and consequences—John Brown's vision grows with the success of his original decision.
MANAGEMENT TRAINING
Authors: PERRIN JOHN
Published: February 2008

With encouragement from local industrialists and training officers, the University of Nottingham agreed in 1965 to begin developing short courses for managers. It was suggested that courses organised by universities could have, and should have, a more intellectual content than courses available elsewhere, and this would make a useful alternative, or complement, to courses already available in the region at colleges of, technology, P.E.R.A., etc.
THE HIGHER CIVIL SERVICE
Authors: PLAYFAIR EDWARD
Published: February 2008

What is the nature of the civil servant's job? How can one speed the good man's route to the top? How does one avoid a promotion policy based on “dead mens' shoes?”
MARKETING CONSORTIA
Authors: KEAN JOHN
Published: February 2008

The woollen and worsted industry consists almost wholly of small firms which for the main part are none‐the‐less of a sufficient size to be economic production units—that is they are large enough to be able to employ sufficiently skilled production and technical management and to be able to produce yarn or fabric at an economic cost, providing the diversity of their product is not too great. Once diversity and variety is allowed to become too great, production costs start to rise rapidly as short runs inevitably affect the level of efficiency. This drop in efficiency can to some extent be reduced by raising the level of skill of production management, but this more skilled and more complex management is naturally more expensive, so both factors tend to increase cost.
PRICING
Authors: GABOR ANDRÉ
Published: February 2008

If you ask a student of economics what price is, he will answer that it is the factor which equates supply with demand. He is likely to add that, in a competitive market, price will tend to settle at a level at which no excess profits are made by the producers and the distributors, while a monopoly will fix prices so that its profits should be at a maximum. It is generally agreed, I think, that whether or not these statements contain an element of truth, they are of no use whatever to the businessman.
Operational research and the buyer
Authors: MUIR ANDREW
Published: February 2008

To the outsider, the buyer's decision taking processes would seem to be highly empirical with little use being made of the scientific management techniques that are now available. Since the potential savings must be very high, it is very important to ask ourselves why operational research in particular has made so little impact.
A seller's market for management education in Britain?
Authors: TAYLOR BERNARD
Published: February 2008

There is common agreement today in government and in industry about the need to educate and develop British management as a means of achieving faster economic growth and more rapid technological change. As a result, huge investments are being made in new facilities for management training—in the business schools and universities, in the newly‐created polytechnics, in independent colleges such as Ashridge and Henley, and in industrial colleges, under the impetus of the Industrial Training Act. There is probably about a hundred million pounds of capital already invested in staff and facilities', and with the present drive for management education we could see this figure increased substantially over the next five years. When we consider the capital investment involved it is surprising how few statistics are available on which future plans can be based. Few private businessmen would launch a venture costing say a quarter of a million pounds without doing some market research—yet it is not unusual for a local authority, a university or an independent body to establish a management college costing several hundred thousand pounds without prior research. The market for short courses in particular is very volatile and as a result most colleges have passed through periods when their premises were only partially filled, and some colleges have been forced to close through lack of support. As Mr. Marples of Cambridge said in a recent article, “the small academic groups which exist in a number of our institutions of higher learning have discovered to their cost, the difficulties of securing support for their post‐experience ventures.” In Eire, and in Belgium, and in parts of the USA, comprehensive studies have been made into the needs and facilities for management education and training as a basis for policy making. In Britain one or two limited studies have been made but we still lack a sound statistical basis for the predictions which must be made about this vital market. Apart from the investigation we have carried out for Yorkshire, Northern Ireland is the only region which has commissioned a survey of needs and facilities before the re‐development of its management education service.
Towards a theory of large‐scale organization
Authors: SCHUMACHER E.F.
Published: February 2008

WE LIVE in an age of large‐scale organization. Furthermore, it appears that organizations are destined to become ever larger, and that this is desirable and necessary. Almost every day we hear of mergers and takeovers; the UK hopes to enter the European Economic Community so opening up larger markets to be served by even larger organizations. In the socialist countries, nationalization has produced vast combines to rival or surpass anything that has emerged in the capitalist countries. The great majority of economists and business efficiency experts support this trend towards vastness.
New products and market research
Authors: DAY ROBERT L.
Published: February 2008

THE degree of newness or innovation of a new product may vary greatly—ranging from a new brand in an established product field, which differs only slightly from existing brands in the product category, to a product involving an entirely new concept, such as the television receiver or the ball‐point pen. In consequence the rôle of market research will tend to vary according to the degree of innovation, although in application rather than in principle.
MANAGEMENT TRAINING at Ashridge Management College
Authors: MANSTEAD S.K.
Published: February 2008

ASHRIDGE Management College at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, stands on a site on which Richard, Earl of Cornwall, founded a monastery in 1276. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII appropriated it as a royal residence which later became the home of the Dukes of Bridgwater. The present building was erected between 1808 and 1814 and remained a private residence until 1927. Since 1958 Ashridge has been an independent management development centre which is fully residential and financed almost exclusively from course fees.
Cost/benefit analysis of a test market
Authors: WILLS GORDON
Published: February 2008

One of the most intractable problems facing marketing managements today is to know when to buy marketing research to enhance their understanding of the probability of success. Conversely, when will the expenditure and resultant delay outweigh the benefits from a reduction in uncertainty? Nowhere is this problem more keenly felt than in new product development. Launching new products is often vastly expensive, and available evidence suggests that products fail more often than they succeed. However, well researched “pilot” marketing and sequential launches give competition time to retaliate or imitate, thereby constituting risks of a different ilk. None the less, marketing managements are tending to carry out more and more test operations to attempt to assess the likely outcomes of broadscale operations. This article provides an early report from part of a research programme carried out at the University of Bradford into methods of marketing experimentation. It offers an integration of Bayesian decision theory and network analysis which, in conjunction with DCF techniques, provide a powerful tool of cost/benefit analysis.
TECHNIQUES IN ACTION
Authors: SCRUTTON T.A.
Published: February 2008

Office landscaping eliminates the numerous little boxes which often constitute an office system, saves duplication of numerous services and overcomes barriers to effective information and communication systems. In this article, T. A. Scrutton, Director and Secretary of Beecham Products, answers questions on why Beechams established several landscaped offices experimentally and what it has achieved so far.
Things did not turn out as expected
Authors: WHEELER GORDON  E.
Published: February 2008

One of the rewards of success for the company director is that he is unlikely to be called upon to explain his policies publicly and that, consequent upon success, shareholders, whether large or small, are likely to accept uncritically any explanation of the company's activities which the chairman thinks appropriate. In fact, unlike cabinet ministers, who seldom refuse an opportunity of discussing their r6le, or their government's policies, members of boards of directors rarely make statements about company affairs. Even in the very unusual event of a resignation of a director being proffered or sought have those who voted his adoption in the first place any clear idea as to what differences of opinion, blunders, or stupidity may have led to the disappearance of the director. Furthermore, as the process of election or selection calls for none of the skills on the part of the new director associated with the hustings, most shareholders one suspects place their trust in men unknown, unheard and unrecognized. Business success and high profits seldom come to companies all the time and to many companies but rarely. The excuse proffered is that “things did not turn out as expected” or ‐ and currently much more common — “things would have turned out as expected if only Government policy, or the economic climate had been different”. Currently many chairmen have been able to explain away losses amounting to millions of pounds simply by claiming that the national economic position is unfavourable: shareholders appear to have become so bemused by the pessimism surrounding the economic situation that they confidently re‐elect boards of directors who promise nothing better than low sales, lower returns, and lowest profits. It is not surprising that explanations such as those outlined above were accepted occasionally, but in many cases the records of his annual statements show that the chairman has been able to claim the economic situation as being unfavourable as an excuse year after year. In such cases one can only suppose that a favourable economic situation would be one in which some magic National Finance Corporation automatically multiplied profits by two if they were large, by ten if they were small, and gave some special reward for a loss. Discussions recently surrounding a number of take‐over situations, as well as the examination of Lord Robens' thesis that the chairman of a nationalized undertaking must on principle proffer his resignation if serious public criticism is levelled against the corporation, make it worthwhile to re‐examine attitudes towards directors and chairmen of companies. The case that follows invites an examination of the role and responsibilities of directors in a particular situation.
DESIGN MANAGEMENT
Authors: BRUCE ARCHER L.
Published: February 2008

“The design act consists of a problem‐solving activity which is goal‐directed and is identical in kind with those problems familiar to management students and decision theorists”
THE MANAGEMENT PRENTICE: a practitioner's views
Authors: Kempner T.
Published: February 2008

IT MUST BE 10 years since I first heard Dr. Revans lecture. He was in as much demand then, as he is now, to grace those symbolic occasions when management is exhorted about business education. I was an apprentice of sorts myself at the time and I remember the gist of his message very well: that management education was a good thing and that there should be more of it. Hoping to ingratiate myself with speaker and audience—a familiar situation in conference questions—I asked one, and was duly, and perhaps rightly, slapped down.
Management misinformation systems
Authors: ACKOFF RUSSELL L.
Published: February 2008

“Most management information systems are designed on the assumption that the critical deficiency under which most managers operate is lack of relevant information. I do not deny that most managers lack a good deal of information that they should have, but I do deny that this is the most important informational deficiency from which they suffer. It seems to me that they suffer more from an over abundance of irrelevant information.”
Launching a product in the USA
Authors: WHITEHEAD EDWARD
Published: February 2008

•Commander Whitehead, can you tell me how it was that Schweppes first came to consider launching bitter lemon in the USA? What overall company strategy was involved?
Planning in the medium‐sized company
Authors: WILSON A.C.B.
Published: February 2008

“If planning is to be successful the planner must have enlisted the active interest and commitment of everybody from the managing director to the foreman, which means in effect making them do the planning. He must be the catalyst; he must not plan all by himself in an ivory tower.”
Planning communication systems for business organizations
Authors: MOELWYN HUGHES IFAN
Published: February 2008

Only a small proportion of large companies has taken the step of appointing a communications manager; and frequently the rôle is limited to co‐ordinating the communications load that already exists within the organization.
The case against planning—the beloved community
Authors: WEST CHURCHMAN C.
Published: February 2008

“… the whole 1968 planning process is predicated on the false and untenable position of serving the public's interest by means of expert representation… false because in reality the public's interest is to plan, to mean something in the planning process, to be a master, not a servant, in the planning system.”
Human asset accounting
Authors: McCOWEN PETER
Published: February 2008

NOT since the days of slavery have human beings been evaluated in terms of their potential earning capacity to their employers. This form of assessment disappeared with the ownership of employees, but recently it has been found that attaching a value to human assets is both feasible and profitable. The aim is no longer to barter in flesh and blood, and there is certainly no likelihood that people will be bought and sold; instead management is finding that by attaching financial values to its staff it can make more efficient use of its human resources.
Making money out of mergers
Authors: PARKER HUGH
Published: February 2008

“…More important is the quality of planning that goes into ensuring their success. This planning always takes more time and effort than most managements realize, but it is skimped at great peril. It is part of the total price of every worthwhile merger, and—as has been shrewdly observed—this price is always lowest if paid in advance.”
The public forum on prices
Authors: JONES AUBREY
Published: February 2008

Many readers will be familiar with the Reports of the Prices and Incomes Board on topics from bread and bus fares to fletton bricks and university teachers' pay. But what are the grinding principles behind its delibera‐tions, and how does its activity restrict the freedom for marketing manoeuvre which modern management needs? Is the PIB an attempt to arrive at the medieval principles of the “just price”, or are these concepts of social costs and market orientated pricing a part of its philosophy? These are the issues raised in this exclusive interview, when Gordon Wills, Editor of “Management Decision” and Senior Lecturer in Marketing Studies at the Management Centre in the University of Bradford talked to AUBREY JONES, Chairman of the National Board for Prices and Incomes.
Payment systems, productivity and choice
Authors: GILL JOHN
Published: February 2008

“… in the interests of productivity and efficiency senior managements need to pay more attention to the functioning of the existing payment system and to the negotiating of change when this appears to be appropriate.”
Everybody's output is somebody's input
Authors: WARD TOM
Published: February 2008

“The number of operator hours squandered in 'matching' documents with a very high probability of agreement must be enormous and certainly out of all proportion to what they achieve. This useless activity can be eliminated by recognizing that an invoice does not tell a company anything it does not already know …”
Financing R & D
Authors: RANCE H.F.
Published: February 2008

“Unless a company accepts R & D as an essential element in the business, it is better not to spend money on it, for the money will be wasted.”
Optimum economic manning
Authors: BREWSER PETER
Published: February 2008

The optimum manning level … depends solely on the frequency of peak loads for any established cost ratio … The degree of inefficiency caused by manning at the wrong level can cause losses of over 25 per cent.
Utilizing human resources effectively
Authors: TANNEHILL ROBERT E.
Published: February 2008

“Since the general introduction of inanimate mechanism into British manufactories, man, with few exceptions, has been treated as a secondary and inferior machine; and far more attention has been given to perfect the raw materials of wood and metals than those of body and mind. Give but due reflection to this subject, and you will find that man, even as an instrument for the creation of wealth, may be still greatly improved. “But, my friends, a far more interesting and gratifying consideration remains. Adopt the means which erelong shall be rendered obvious to every understanding, and you may not only partially improve those living instruments, but learn how to impart to them such excellence as shall make them infinitely surpass those of the present and all former times.”
Computers in the City
Authors: HALL MICHAEL G.
Published: February 2008

COMPUTERS have now become fairly common pieces of equipment in the offices of the larger city stockbrokers and indeed a few brokers are in the throes of installing their replacement, third generation machines. However, in the past the principal applications of computers have been in the field of data retrieval and, on the accounting side of the business, routines such as producing contract notes, maintaining investment records and portfolio valuations.
Evaluating research
Authors: LAWRENCE J.R.
Published: February 2008

THE problem of evaluating research in a university is likely to be more difficult than in an industrial company. Bearing in mind the problems at a national level of allocating funds between university, primary and secondary education, or between universities, roads, defence, and so on, it is desirable to develop measures of value for reducing reliance on purely political advocacy.
Defining the data processing manager's role
Authors: HARPER R.J.
Published: February 2008

THE rôle of the data processing manager in terms of managing a data processing function, of the computer itself, and of people responsible for systems analysis and design, programming and operation, appears self evident. However, it provides particular management problems which must be taken into account when selecting the manager. Furthermore, this selection process must also take account of his rôle as an innovator; the rôle in which he directly affects the established management pattern of activities and the means of achieving management objectives.
Appraising capital investments by computer
Authors: HARRISON IAN
Published: February 2008

“INVESTING capital in buildings, equipment, machinery, new product development and personnel training presents management with some of its most difficult problems. Capital investment uses today's funds to generate tomorrow's profits; it requires the most careful appraisal if the possibility of making mistakes is to be minimized and the future of the company is to be assured.
CYBERNETICS:the new science of management
Authors: GEORGE FRANK
Published: February 2008

CYBERNETICS is the science of management; and also in some senses the science of science. It contains the fundamental ingredients of what is needed for all of organization and planning. The word cybernetics applies to any sort of closed‐loop system, which is adaptive. Because some such systems are serious and important, while others are light‐hearted and trivial, cybernetics is misunderstood in many quarters. All this has created a sad state of affairs because cybernetics as applied to serious systems is the most important science of our times.
Integrating operating systems for management control
Authors: TAGG JEROME
Published: February 2008

TODAY, management is being “dazzled by the science” of information systems, computers and operations research techniques. Frequently, glib incompetents intimidate management into using these tools, while, in the other extreme, it rejects them because competent practitioners frighten management.
The prerogatives of systems
Authors: Beer Stafford
Published: February 2008

I WONDER very much whether anyone really noticed the title of this address, Prerogatives of Systems; or whether, having noticed, he was at all concerned. Perhaps he put it down to my ignorance—or his own. For a prerogative is an entitlement to priority. How then can systems have prerogatives? Surely it is only living beings who have entitlements. And if we put the word prerogative in its most familiar context, these living beings are ourselves. It is the human prerogative that counts.
Project Evaluation in Research and Development
Authors: PEARSON A.W. , TOPALIAN A.S.
Published: February 2008

THE industrial organization today finds itself in an environment within which there are an ever increasing number of problems to be tackled. Managers, in addition to coping with problems arising out of current pressures within and outside their organizations, must endeavour to search out those investment opportunities which will most help the organization achieve its objectives in future time periods.
Profit maximization via financial management
Authors: Lawson G.H.
Published: February 2008

ACCEPTING that companies wish to maximize profits in some sense, this article first considers three major problems which together constitute the main core of financial management. Thereafter, some aspects of investment and financing decisions are treated in greater detail.
Towards numerical taxonomy of busines enterprises
Authors: Goronzy Friedhelm
Published: February 2008

This paper is based in part on Appendix B of Friedhelm Goronzy, “A Multivariate Analysis of Selected Variables of Manufacturing Business Enterprises”, Unpublished Dissertation, Louisiana State University, 1968. The writer acknowledges the support of this work through a dissertation‐year fellowship granted by the Graduate School of Louisiana State University. This research was supervised by Professor Herbert G. Hicks. Parts of this article were presented at the Numerical Taxomony Colloquium at the University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, September 1–4, 1968.
The overtime coin—management and labour motivation
Authors: BROWN A.J.
Published: February 2008

This paper has arisen out of work done at the centre for business Research, Manchester Business School, in connection with the Wage Payment System Project under the direction of Professor Tom Lupton. In addition to all the members of the project team, the author would like to acknowledge, in particular, the extensive and invaluable help given so freely to him by Dan Gowler of Manchester Business School.
investment management—the pin of the professional
Authors: Aczel J.A.
Published: February 2008

THE main purpose of this article is to discuss the problems and objectives of professional investment management. It is essential to concentrate on the more important aspects of investment decision‐making, as this subject has many far‐reaching ramifications. One problem which will be analyzed in some detail is how far professional managers are useful, as there is some misunderstanding about their basic functions in certain quarters. As will be shown later, we believe that they perform a very important and valuable service within the financial community.
techniques in marketing forecasting
Authors: Davis J.
Published: February 2008

More companies probably undertake some form of forward estimation of their markets and their sales than of any other aspect of their activities. The estimates produced may then be used in a variety of ways, such as in production planning, planning the sales force, setting advertising appropriations, estimating cash flow, assessing the need for innovation or diversification, and in considering the general position of the company in the future. Unfortunately, although much of this forecasting is very good, a great deal of it is of poor quality and of doubtful value.
graduate recruitment in the 70’s
Authors: Plumbley P.R.
Published: February 2008

IN choosing a career undergraduates are no different today from those students of 5, 10, or 20 years ago. They still fall into roughly three groups: