In the extensive literature on learning curves, scholars have ignored outcome measures of organizational performance evaluated by customers. We explore whether customer dissatisfaction follows a learning-curve pattern. Do organizations learn to reduce customer dissatisfaction? Customer...

We study the impact of operational performance on profitability in the context of the U.S. domestic airline industry. In addition, we investigate the impact of focus [Skinner, W. 1974. The focused factory. Harvard Bus. Rev. 52(3) 113-121] on profitability in services. We use quarterly data on...

Mass customization -- making products tailor-made for each individual buyer, in which even the base components are varied -- sounds impossible. Yet it is a reality in Japan and represents a new Japanese competitive advantage. Roy Westbrook and Peter Williamson, reflecting on many visits to...

The UK government promoted a 'manufacturing, planning and implementation' (MPI) scheme between 1991 and 1994. Its aim was to support the strategic development of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) in participating companies. For such AMT developments to be strategic required the companies...

The Supply Chain concept is one of the most important ideas to emerge in management research and practice in the last twenty five years. Organizations do not exist in isolation. Any organization, whether a large corporation, public body, or small business, which aims to meet the needs of its...