Toward Stakeholders’ Satisfaction:A Study on Manufacturing Practices and Performance Outcomes of Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in theMidwest

摘要

Manufacturing plays a significant role in the national economy. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can be suppliers, producers,distributors and/or customers. Increasingly, the competitiveness of SMEs lie in the strategic management of both manufacturing practices andperformance outcomes. In this paper we address two critical manufacturing practices of SMEs (i.e. quality practices and operational flexibility)that impact performance outcomes. Our paper identifies three key performance measures including operational, financial and stakeholderoutcomes. Stakeholder performance is identified as an antecedent of operational and financial performance. This paper presents a theoreticalmodel that is tested empirically using survey data collected from manufacturing SMEs in three Midwestern states. The results suggest that qualitypractices strongly impact operational flexibility and that both quality practices and operational flexibility impact manufacturing outcomes. Whatis noteworthy is the pivotal role of operational flexibility between quality practices and the performance outcomes. Both theoretical and strategicmanagement implications are discussed.