Manufacturing Strategic Planning

Skinner Wickham , “Manufacturing—Missing Link in Corporate Strategy,” Harvard Business Review (May/June 1969), pp. 136–145; Hayes Robert H. Wheelwright Steven C. , Restoring Our Competitive Edge (New York. NY: John Wiley & Sons. 1984), pp. 24–45; Fine Charles H. Hax Arnoldo L. , “Manufacturing Strategy: A Methodology and an Illustration,” Interfaces (November/December 1985), pp. 28–46.

These priorities have shifted over time. In Skinner's original article, the priorities were productivity, service, quality, and return on investment. Most later articles have used the priorities cited in the article. See, for example, Wheelwright Steven C. , “Reflecting Corporate Strategy in Manufacturing Decisions.” Business Horizons (February 1978), p. 61; Hayes Wheelwright , op. cit., pp. 40–41; Hayes Robert H. Schmenner Roger W. , “How Should You Organize Manufacturing?” Harvard Business Review (January/February 1978), pp. 107–108; Swamidass Paul M. , “Manufacturing Strategy: Its Assessment and Practice,” Journal of Operations Management (August 1986), pp. 471–484.

See Gunn Thomas G. , Manufacturing for Competitive Advantage (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1987), pp. 89–94, for a similar set of concerns.

See, for example, Steiner George A. , Strategic Planning: What Every Manager Must Know (New York, NY: Free Press. 1979); Ackoff Russell L. , A Concept of Corporate Planning (New York, NY: Wiley-Interscience, 1970); Lorange Peter Vancil Richard F. , Strategic Planning Systems (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1977).

Lorange Vancil , op. cit., chapters I, 2.

Aquino Michael A. , “Improving Purchased Material Quality,” Purchasing World (May 1985), pp. 100–102; Gryna Frank M. Jr. , “Quality Costs: User vs. Manufacturer.” Quality Progress (June 1977), pp. 10–13.

Garvin David A. , “Competing on the Eight Dimensions of Quality,” Harvard Business Review (November/December 1987), pp. 104–108; Garvin David A. , Managing Quality (New York, NY: Free Press, 1988), chapter 4.

Gerwin Donald , “An Agenda for Research on the Flexibility of Manufacturing Processes,” International Journal of Production Management, 7/1 (1986): 38–44; Dixon Robb , “Measuring and Managing Manufacturing Flexibility,” Research Report, Manufacturing Roundtable, Boston University School of Management, mimeographed, February 1988.

On delivery, see Gilmour Peter , “Customer Service: Differentiating by Market Segment” International Journal of Physical Distribution, 7/3 (1977): 141–146; Kyj Myroslaw K. , “Customer Service as a Competitive Tool.” Industrial Marketing Management, 16/3 (1987): 225–230. On service, see Chase Richard B. Garvin David A. , “The Service Factory,” Harvard Business Review (July/August 1989), pp. 61–69.

Ishikawa Kaoru , Guide to Quality Control (Tokyo: Asian Productivity Organization. 1976), chapter 3.

There are strong parallels here to results-oriented change programs, which also specify quantitative improvement goals. See Schaffer Robert H. Thomson Harvey A. , “Successful Change Programs Begin with Results,” Harvard Business Review (January/ February 1992), pp. 80–89.

Slade Bernard Mohindra Raj , Winning the Productivity Race (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books 1988), chapter 3.

Garvin David A. , “Quality on the Line,” Harvard Business Review (September/October 1983), pp. 65–75; Garvin David A. (1988), op. cit., chapters 6–9.

For more on capabilities and their links to strategic planning, see Hayes Robert H. , “Strategic Planning—Forward in Reverse?” Harvard Business Review (November/ December 1985), pp. 111–119; Frohman Alan L. , “Putting Technology into Strategic Planning,” California Management Review (Winter 1985), pp. 48–59; Cleveland Gary Schroeder Roger G. Anderson John C. , “A Theory of Production Competence,” Decision Sciences (Fall 1989), pp. 655–668; Prahalad C. K. Hamel Gary , “The Core Competence of the Corporation,” Harvard Business Review (May/June 1990), pp. 79–91.

This example is based on Robert Hayes, Indalex Ltd., Harvard Business School case 9-680-081. The case is reprinted in Garvin David A. , Operations Strategy: Text and Cases (Englewood Cliffs. NJ: Prentice Hall, 1992), pp. 8–21. Note that the initial strategic analysis in this article (steps 1–4) draws directly on the case, but the later steps in the distillation process have been invented and are presented solely for illustrative purposes.