What factors facilitate and constrain the sustained development and replication of organizational capabilities at suppliers? This question is addressed in a comparison of historical case studies at Toyota, Nissan and Honda in Japan. First, as expected, replication difficulty is overcome by...

What alternative strategies are being pursued by firms to capture profit in global value chains? In what ways are the sources of competitive advantage changing as they move up the value chain from low end to high end work, potentially changing the structure and boundary of the existing industry?...

Recent strategy research explains why firms sometimes make-and-buy (not make-or-buy)products simultaneously, but lacks explanations of how they strike the make-buy balance. We respond by developing a framework featuring two determinants of the balance: resource cospecialization and supplier...

SummaryThe focus of many European and American companies is currently on "modular"strategies in product design and production. A modular product has individualelements which are designed independently but function together as a seamless whole.In this article Mari Sako and Fiona Murray compare...

This paper analyses the implications of combining direct and representative forms of workerparticipation for business performance. Direct participation refers to such things as quality controlcircles, continuous improvement teams and other problem-solving groups, while representatweparticipation...

Novak Druce Centre Insights, No.7.