| The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a framework representing the emerging perspective, capability-based approach, in the operations strategy field and to verify it by conducting a series of multivariate methodologies on empirically collected data and interviews with industry experts.; Drawing upon literature, two major research streams in the operations strategy field are identified. One stream is titled planning-based approach, which is based upon Skinner's traditional trade-off concept (1969, 1974 and 1978). The other is titled capability-based approach, which was first introduced by pioneering scholars like Hayes and Wheelwright (1984) and Hayes (1985). A framework is developed to represent basic theoretical premises of capability-based approach. The proposed framework is to test whether existing operations capability are source of the firm's competitiveness and its future capability development is influenced by the current competitive position.; The constructs and their attributes in the proposed framework are validated for their reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity using confirmatory factor analysis method. The results from construct validation tests on operations capabilities demonstrated that the proposed attributes of operations capabilities are satisfactory. Hypotheses derived from the framework are tested by conducting a series of multivariate statistical analysis on data sets collected from 1990 to 1996. Multivariate tests revealed three major trends across survey years. First, it appears that the impact of operations capabilities on competitive strengths shifted from technology related capabilities to the firm's ability to promote information sharing. Second, it appears that most of attributes in current competitive strengths that were affected by existing operations capability also have significant influence on future capability development. Third, investment in human capital did not demonstrate any significant impact on competitive strengths. These findings from multivariate tests are employed as discussion topics with industry experts.; Findings from interviews suggest the importance of developing capabilities that encourage information and knowledge sharing across functional boundaries. Moreover, findings also suggest that it is difficult to recognize the imminent positive return from the investment due to pervasiveness in decisions for human resource management. |
