Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Operations & Production

Management, Volume 33, Issue 11/12

This double special issue of the International Journal of Operations and Production
Management contains ten papers which have been developed from a series of research seminars
funded by the UKs Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC, 2009-2010) (Reference RES451-26-0547). These seminars have subsequently catalysed research into the following emerging
trends in operations management:
The servitization of manufacturing investigating how adding services in manufacturing
organisations can add to their competitiveness.
E-operations investigating the use of new developments in enterprise resource
planning systems.
Outsourcing looking at the bases for outsourcing and or insourcing of resources and
capabilities.
Leanness and agility looking at ways of reducing waste and increasing value created by
operations.
Performance measurement and quality control investigating how measuring
operations can change operations behaviour.
These seminars, and their subsequent following research, were founded on the basis that global
competitiveness can be enhanced by embracing these trends which is only possible if
organisations are using highly knowledgeable and professionally trained operations managers.
Unfortunately, even in higher cost economies, it can sometimes be perceived that managers lack
this knowledge and an accompanying formal higher education (Porter and Ketels, 2003).
Therefore, we believe that higher cost economies should seek to improve operations
management education and practises through wider dissemination of the above trends if they
are to remain competitive against emerging lower cost-economies (e.g. Brazil, Russia, India and
China). This is because these trends are more likely to generate genuine long term sustainability
than interventions taken through national policies aiming to artificially protect and preserve
economic competitive positions by controlling imports, exports and foreign direct investment
activity; which can distort, and disguise, the ineffectualness of actual operations management
behaviour (Dowdy et al., 2005).
For instance, UK companies are seen as being slower to adopt contemporary management
practises than their foreign counterparts, especially in manufacturing, which has negative
implications for the UKs future economic prosperity. Possible explanations for this behaviour
include: resistance to change, complacency, inadequate training, and low private and public
investment in R&D. All this, combined with a lack of institutional support to help disseminate
best practises associated with higher performance operations, has reduced operations
management competitiveness in the UK. Therefore, this seminar series was established to
debate issues concerning the above trends, their impact upon operations management,
especially in the UK, and share knowledge about these emerging beneficial practises. The
seminars involved a mixture of approximately 250 academics, consultants, managers, politicians
and research students. Further details about these seminars and subsequent research can be
found here: www.aston.ac.uk.
Twenty six papers were originally submitted to this special issue, which were narrowed down
through the normal IJOPM reviewing process, to the following final ten papers; which fall
loosely into the following themes:
Servitization

The servitization of manufacturing: a systematic literature review of interdependent

trends (by Lightfoot, Baines, and Smart) which gives a state-of-the-art look at
servitization research.
A decision methodology to support servitisation of manufacturing (by Dimache and
Roche) which gives a practical decision support framework to help managers adopt
servitization.
E-operations
Managing enterprises and ERP systems: a contingency model for the enterprization of
operations (by Clegg and Wan) which gives a practical decision support model to help
managers plan ERP adoption and enterprise-wide strategy.
ERP systems in lean production: new insights from a review of lean and ERP literature
(by Powell) giving a current review of how lean and Enterprise Resource Planning
systems can be used together to reduce organisational waste.
Outsourcing
Company-specific production systems and competitive advantage: a resource-based
view on the Volvo production system (by Torbjrn and Aspelund) providing a practical
case study about building corporate core competencies.
Supply chain professionals: a study of competencies, use of technologies, and future
challenges (by Prajogo and Sohal) which gives an up-to-date account of how
competencies can be built throughout a supply chain.
Leanness and agility
The role of management consultancy in implementing operations management in the
public sector (by Radnor and OMahoney) which gives an overview of lean adoption in
large public organisations.
Understanding high value manufacturing in Scottish SMEs (by MacBryde, Paton, and
Clegg) gives an overview of how value creation can be enhanced in small private
organisations.
Performance measurement
Generating organisational performance: the contributing effects of performance
measurement and human resource management practices (by Bourne, Pavlov, FrancoSantos, Lucianetti and Mura) providing empirical cases about performance management
challenges and successes.
Performance measurement to drive improvements in healthcare practice (by Elg,
Palmberg Broryd and Kollberg) which provides empirical evidence for effective
performance management systems to be implemented.
This special issue includes theoretical and empirical insights to bridge the gap between
academic and practical perspectives. The authors hope that this research will act as a key point
of reference for those wishing to conduct follow-on research into these operations management
trends (Barratt et al., 2011). Hence, in turn, this should enable operations management practises
based in higher cost economies to compete more sustainably, on a long-term basis, with those
located in lower cost economies.
References
Barratt, M., Choi, T.Y. and Li, M. (2011), Qualitative case studies in operations management:
trends, research outcomes, and future research implications, Journal of Operations
Management, Vol. 29, pp. 329342
Dowdy, J., Dorgan, S., Rippin, T., Van Reenen, J. and Bloom, N. (2005), Management Matters,
McKinsey and Company and Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics &
Political Science, available
at: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/management/Management_Matters.pdf (accessed September 17, 2013)
ESRC (2009-2010), Trends in modern operations management, Reference RES-451-26-0547,

Economic and Social Research Council, available at:www1.aston.ac.uk/aston-businessschool/research/groups/oim/research/esrcseminars/

Porter, M.E. and Ketels, C.H.M. (2003), UK Competitiveness: Moving to the Next Stage,
Department of Trade and Industry, available at: www.dti.gov.uk/files/file14771.pdf(accessed
September 17, 2013)
Ben Clegg, Jillian MacBryde, Prasanta Dey
Guest Editors