Purpose – How should a firm decide which of four choices – i.e. inventory speculation, inventory postponement, inventory consignment, and reverse inventory consignment – is most appropriate to adopt for a given purchased item in a particular context? This paper seeks to identify and...

Maquiladora operations have become increasingly popular during the past 10 years. The driving force behind this popularity has been the dramatic devaluation of the Mexican peso, which has made Mexican labour among the lowest cost in the world. However to take full advantage of maquiladora...

The development of co‐ordinated global manufacturing is an important approach to enhancing competitiveness. However, global manufacturing strategies provide the greatest competitive advantage when they are appropriately supported through key value‐added logistics and purchasing activities....

Suggests that much of the competitive dilemma experienced by US and European firms in recent years is a result of a persistent failure to manage the firm as a cohesive value‐added system. The complexity of the interactions among the firm′s value‐added abilities underlies this challenge of...