Strategy, operations, and profitability: the role of resource orchestration

Abstract

Citation: HUGHES, P. ... et al, 2018. Strategy, operations, and profitability:The role of resource orchestration.International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 38 (4), pp.1125-1143.Additional Information:• AbstractPurpose -Developing and implementing strategies to maximize profitability is a fundamental challenge facing manufacturers. The complexity of orchestrating resources in practice has been overlooked in the operations field and it is now necessary to go beyond the direct effects of individual resources and uncover different resource configurations that maximize profitability.Design/methodology/approach -Drawing on a sample of US manufacturing firms, multiple regression analysis (MRA) and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) are performed to examine the effects of resource orchestration on firm profitability over time. By comparing the findings between analyses, the study represents a move away from examining the net effects of resource levers on performance alone. Findings -The findings characterize the resource conditions for manufacturers' high performance, and also for absence of high performance. Pension and retirement expense is a core resource condition with R&D and SG&A as consistent peripheral conditions for profitability.Moreover, although workforce size was found to have a significant negative effect under MRA, this plays a role in manufacturers' performance as a peripheral resource condition under fsQCA.Originality/value -Accounting for different resource deployment configurations, this study deepens knowledge of resource orchestration and presents findings that enable manufacturers to maximize profitability. An empirical contribution is offered by the introduction of a new method for examining manufacturing strategy configurations: fsQCA.

An empirical explanation of the natural-resource-based view of the firm

“…Comprising four resources intended to maximise both sustainability and competitiveness, the NRBV may respond to the growing need for ecological and societal development in business operations. However, scholars highlight a lack of explanation of competitive resources in operations (Laosirihongthong et al, 2013;Hughes et al, 2018). Of particular significance are criticisms of infeasibility, which arise from the resource -based theory roots of the NRBV.…”

“…Of particular significance are criticisms of infeasibility, which arise from the resource -based theory roots of the NRBV. The tacit nature of resources and their intended heterogeneity, scarcity, inimitability and nonsubstitutability (Powell, 1992;Lockett et al, 2009) has long warranted concerns of impracticality and unattainability (Grant, 1991;Lockett et al, 2009;Hughes et al, 2018). It is for such reasons that academics have argued NRBV resources do not exist in practice (Hart & Dowell, 2011;Ashby et al, 2012).…”

A reflection seraching a configuration: strategic management, competitivitness, strategic of production

“…Dentro dessa perspectiva tem-se a junção de duas correntes teóricas consideradas, a princípio, divergentes, mas que hoje entendidas como complementares: os estudos de Porter, em que considera o ambiente externo como o fator mais importante para desenvolver a estratégia, e os recursos e capacidades estudados pela visão baseada em recursos -RBV (do inglês, Resource Based View). A complexidade de "orquestrar" recursos na prática tem sido negligenciada no campo das operações e agora é necessário ir além dos efeitos diretos de recursos individuais e descobrir diferentes configurações de recursos que maximizam a lucratividade (HUGHES et al, 2018).…”

“…As complementaridades entre os recursos devem ser aproveitadas e , explorando essas complementaridades, os ganhos de desempenho podem ser alcançados, uma vez que as empresas buscam estratégias diferentes na implantação de recursos e exibem combinações únicas de envolvimento de recursos. Os recursos provavelmente serão distribuídos heterogeneamente entre as empresas e isso pode explicar as diferenças de desempenho entre as mesmas (HUGHES et al, 2018).…”

“…A re-inserção da área de operações no centro de decisões estratégicas vem ampliando, então, o escopo teórico sobre estratégias de produção -elevação da capacidade competitiva da empresa, ajuste dos processos, ativos e competências da área de operações, alinhamento com a estratégia empresarial, são alguns dos vieses de discussão considerando: o conteúdo, o processo, o posicionamento, a descrição, a prescrição e o caráter dinâmico das estratégias de produção (SHAVARINI et al, 2013;KOCH e FRIIS, 2015;HUGHES et al, 2018).…”