Configuring the Drivers and Carriers of Process Innovation in Manufacturing Organizations

Abstract

In today’s hyper-competitive manufacturing world, the rapidly changing landscape has put new demands on organizations, and they need to reinvent themselves by injecting new strategies in order to stay ahead of the competition. Therefore, to achieve world-class performance and competitiveness in the global environment and competition, there is immense pressure on manufacturing organizations with limited resources to invariably pursue main drivers to enable them to improve process innovation. In this backdrop, this questionnaire-based study investigates the impact of various enabling practices on process innovation of manufacturing organizations. The questionnaire package included scales of lean manufacturing (LM), organizational culture (OC), human resource management (HRM), total quality management (TQM), supply chain management (SCM) and process innovation (PI). The data were collected through convenient sampling technique from presidents, CEO’s, directors, managers and senior supervisors of different functional areas of large-scale organizations. The theoretical model was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) through AMOS®. The key findings revealed positive and significant relationships of LM, HRM and OC as drivers with TQM and SCM. The results also demonstrated affirmative and significant associations of TQM and SCM with PI. Similarly, the outcomes indicated that TQM and SCM, as carriers, partially mediate the relationships of LM, HRM and OC with PI. Overall, the findings elucidate the imperativeness for manufacturing organizations to reinforce their mediators (TQM and SCM practices) while effectively implementing LM, HRM and OC practices as drivers of PI. The study has important implications for the organizations seeking to determine the relative importance of various practices as an effective source of process innovation.

Product Innovations through Ambidextrous Organizational Culture with Mediating Effect of Contextual Ambidexterity: An Empirical Study of IT and Telecom Firms

“…The sustainable accomplishment of enterprises asks for a vigorous harmonizing of organizational ambidexterity and product innovation [22]. In order to enhance process and product innovation, Ali et al [23] suggests that manufacturing firms need to rely on executing efficient human resource management practices by providing conversant training to their staff, refining work skills and commitment by the suitable compensation system and furthering organizational culture. Considerable research efforts by different researchers have been dedicated to recognize and elaborate the factors that results in organizational ambidexterity.…”

“…Contextual ambidexterity has made business units proficient of incorporating new practices or system for radical innovation and the competence and invention essential for incremental innovation. Ali et al [23] inspected the degree to which illustrative policies are implemented by manufacturing enterprises and their influence on the extents of product innovation. It is suggested that management should get themselves acquainted with the novel strategies that augment operational performance and enable effective decisionmaking.…”

“…The pursuance of innovation helps in attaining competitive advantages and realizing superior performance in competitive market environments, nonetheless efficacious innovations remain challenging task for enterprises. Recent studies reveal the importance of both technology-related innovations, which refers to the adoption of disruptive technologies in new product development processes [23,25]. Innovation also depends on exploration and exploitation processes, and balancing exploration and exploitation offers another difficult dilemma.…”

Management Styles and Decision-Making: Pro-Ecological Strategy Approach

“…In the pro-ecological strategy context, failure and instability occur when there is a dissonance between the announced strategy and its execution. Employees and customers are very much aware of the need for conservation and sustainability and they lose their trust if such phenomena appear [48,49].…”

“…To avoid anarchy in an organization, there have to be common goals and values shared among team members. Another condition is to keep coherence between management style and organizational culture [49,123]. In the directive style, there is no place for flexibility and freedom in implementing the management style.…”