Over the last decade, Spanish companies have been immersed in a process of change which has notably affected all orders of activities on which worldwide relations and balances have been traditionally based. Such effects on business have produced: Globalization and internationalization of markets.A wealth of deregulating norms.Growing uncertainty and environmental turbu lence, Increased competition.Enlargement of product catalogues offered by companies.More selective demand.Using quality as a competitive strategy.To face this new situation, companies have modified their structures to present a different physical and conceptual configuration from those used over the last three decades. This drastic change h a s affected both the way we understand productive relationships and competitive performance in the market. A s Kaplan points out (1990), this has exerted enough decisive influence on traditional management systems that they have become obsolete, giving way to the new flow of information necessary for today's business world. ADAPTATION OF SPANISH COMPANIESJ u s t as U S companies imported Japanese manufacturing techniques in the early 1980s with unquestionable success, Spanish companies timidly began to modify their structures some years later in order to adapt to the new situation. They were greatly influenced by the presence of multinational American firms in Spain's business context. Changes in Spanish companies have taken two routes which we consider complementary. Their productive structures have adopted the Configuration of the companies characterized by Porter and Aker (1987) as world-class in which the following points have been implanted: 0 Just-in-Time flexible manufacturing systems Total quality control 0 Advanced technology Quantitative and qualitative competition have also decisively influenced their market strategy. At present these innovations have unfortunately affected only a few companies. Because no empirical studies have been done in Spain, we estimate that 15 percent or less of all companies have undergone this necessary reconversion processwith the automation sectorbeing the most affected. But no matter how small the percentage may be, a progression has been observed over the last two years, perhaps in geometrical terms, in the number of companies adapting to the new situation. Johanson (1990) explains how new technological quality control and the Just-in-Time concept were affecting the environment factor. For this reason, companies have had to make changes in their management system. This is now happening in Spain on a daily basis, mainly because companies are avid for information in the new competitive and productive context. This information is very different from what was previously supplied by traditional manageme n t sys tems.The most important innovations are in managing costs, measure and control systems, and management strategies. MANAGEMENT OF COSTSFrom an internal point of view, competitive company strategy demands continually reduc-32 S U M M E~~A L L 1993
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