Developing manufacturing management strategies: Influence of technology and other issues

Over the last decade or so the global business environment has changed. Manufacturing management and its operating strategies, therefore, must be based on a consideration of these new factors. For many industries it is no longer possible to develop such strategies using methods or procedures used in the past. The aim of this paper is to identify the issues that are relevant in this context and propose a model that can aid future strategy development processes. It is concluded that technology - defined broadly - will have a determining influence in this process and that there is a place for a formalised technology strategy in the strategy development processes of an organisation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.