A configuration study on the relationships between production systems and business strategy in the changing environment

摘要

This paper describes the development and analysis of a numerical taxonomy of the relationships between production systems and business strategy in the changing competitive environment. The taxonomy was developed with a standard method of cluster analysis, and is based on four types of environment, six types of business strategy and four types of production systems. Eighty-two firms were surveyed through face-to-face interviews. Four kinds of relationships between environment, business strategy, and production systems were observed. The validity of the cluster analysis is supported in the non-linear canonical correlation analysis. Underlying dimensions for the cluster analysis are interpreted as the product or service attribute and the customer focus.