The impact of organizational structure on the level of JIT attainment: towards theory development

Just-in-Time (JIT) is a radical innovation that has the potential to arm firms with new competitive capabilities. In some cases, firms attempting to implement JIT have been unsuccessful. In other cases, firms have failed to acknowledge the need to adopt JIT principles and practices. The failure to successfully implement JIT or even to recognize the need to adopt JIT may be attributed to impeding structural arrangements. Innovation theorists suggest that certain organizational designs facilitate radical innovation, while other designs may constrain it. This paper describes the degree of centralization, formalization and complexity that is necessary to facilitate initiation and implementation of JIT.