Suchergebnisse

AbstractEffective strategies are built upon common foundations of productivity, quality, time and customer service. Although each are important, their relative importance varies with the performance of competitors and the expectations of customers. Productivity and quality have gained renewed importance in international markets, especially among mature firms with excess capacity that seek to differentiate their products of services. In many industries, however, productivity and quality differences are narrow, forcing the search for competitive advantage into areas of timeliness and service.RésuméLes stratégies efficaces reposent toutes sur la productivité, la qualité, le "temps‐voulu" et le service. Toutes comptent, mais leur importance relative est fonction des performances des concurrents et des attentes des clients. La productivité et la qualité ont acquis une importance nouvelle sur les marchés internationaux, en particulier pour les entreprises à surcapacité de production qui ont opté pour la différenciation de leurs produits ou services. Toutefois, dans maintes branches de l'industrie, la productivité et la qualité sont relativement homogènes, d'où I'importance du temps‐voulu et du service.

The Ford Motor Company is undergoing an evolutionary change in its corporate culture and operating procedures, hoping to transform itself into a twenty‐first century organisation capable of competing around the globe with other world‐class producers. Beset with simultaneous strategic, financial and design crises it has become obvious that revitalisation of the company is dependent on recasting the labour‐management relationship, and that cost increases must be offset by productivity. The 1979 negotiations between Ford and the Union of Automobile Workers (UAW) resulted in the creation of the National Joint Committee on Employee Involvement (NJCEI) specifically considering quality circles and team building; while 1982 negotiations outlined specific functions of local steering committees, career counselling and guidance, targeted vocational retraining projects and introduced the Employee Development and Training Programme. Through the use of joint governing boards, local steering committees and the National Joint Committee, Ford and union officials meet frequently to discuss topics of mutual concern. With eleven major product re‐configurations either in progress or recently completed, it appears that the company has made a major gamble on the future. The UAW‐Ford NJCEI has been successful in achieving its aims of improved employee satisfaction, labour‐management co‐operation and improved product quality.

Discusses the purposes, structure, processes, and pitfalls associated with government‐business alliances built through very broad‐based strategic planning. The need for these aliances often arises from issues or threats that neither party can resolve by itself. Geovernment and business alliances exist in all societies, varying only in frequency of use and effectiveness. Very broad‐based strategic planning (VBBSP) efforts seek a broad consensus through an inclusionary approach that reaches out to embrace representatives of the relevant constituencies. Paralleling the examination of VBBSP skills and efforts, addresses the use of VBBSP approaches as a technique for developing an organizational vision among various constituents who make up an organization. Concludes not only that government‐business alliances are common and essential but also that VBBSP may be the most effective way to address the different processes and outcomes related to these alliances. VBBSP also offers considerable promise for building intra‐organizational consensus.