Competitive priorities and managerial performance: a taxonomy of small manufacturers

Abstract

Much of the research in manufacturing strategy has focused on specific relationships between a few constructs, with relatively little emphasis on typologies and taxonomies [Bozarth, C., McDermott, C., 1998. Configurations in manufacturing strategy: a review and directions for future research. Journal of Operations Management 16 (4) 427–439]. Using data from 196 respondents in 98 manufacturing units, this study develops a taxonomy of small manufacturers based on their emphasis on several competitive priorities. The annual sales for 64% of the participating units in this study are below US$50 million, which is on the lower side as compared to other studies in this area [cf., Miller, J.G., Roth, A.V., 1994. A taxonomy of manufacturing strategies. Management Science 40 (3) 285–304]. The study findings indicate that different groups of manufacturers — Do All, Speedy Conformers, Efficient Conformers, and Starters — emphasize different sets of competitive priorities, even within the same industry. Further, the Do All types, who emphasize all four competitive priorities, seem to perform better on customer satisfaction than their counterparts in the Starters group. The above findings lend support to the sandcone model but contradict the traditional trade‐off model.