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EXPLORING THE STRATEGY‐TECHNOLOGY CONNECTION IN SMALL MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Author(s) -
LEFEBVRE LOUISA.,
LANGLEY ANN,
HARVEY JEAN,
LEFEBVRE ÉLISABETH
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
production and operations management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.279
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1937-5956
pISSN - 1059-1478
DOI - 10.1111/j.1937-5956.1992.tb00359.x
Subject(s) - typology , dimension (graph theory) , context (archaeology) , business , industrial organization , consistency (knowledge bases) , process (computing) , work (physics) , competitive advantage , marketing , computer science , mechanical engineering , paleontology , mathematics , archaeology , artificial intelligence , biology , pure mathematics , engineering , history , operating system
Small manufacturing firms make a significant contribution to the economy. Yet, partly because of the greater availability of data on larger firms, strategic management and manufacturing strategy research have tended to neglect small business. Using a survey of small manufacturers, we examine the applicability of Porter's typology of generic strategies to this context and investigate the links between generic strategies and one important dimension of manufacturing strategy‐technology management. The analysis of generic strategies shows consistency with previous work on larger firms and tends to support the use of the typology in this setting. Moreover, the internal and external influences on the technology adoption decision process vary significantly with generic strategies, implying that the role played by individuals and networks constitutes a dominant factor. Surprisingly, no distinction was found between firm groupings with respect to decision criteria, which suggests that the decision process of small firms remains rather inexplicit, informal, and, to a large extent, intuitive. We also found that technologically more sophisticated firms tend to hold stronger competitive positions and that technological strength appears to be related to both cost advantage and differentiation.