Question

Manufacturing strategy in context: environment, competitive strategy and manufacturing strategy

A. Environmental Dynamism . What do the authors mean when they discuss turbulence in the market? How can the firm balance their goals, given the potential for turbulence?

Answer 1

Market turbulence or environmental dynamism is a sudden or external change which cannot be predicted by manufacturing organizations because of the technological changes, change in market based products or services and having strong competition in the marketplace. The market turbulence can be measured with the help of – understanding the customers desires for the product or services with respect to the existing or new product or services, how frequent competitors are launching the new products or services or showcase the aggressiveness, product technologies, etc. Thus, it is evident that the market turbulence (i.e. environmental dynamism) impacts flexibility in manufacturing and delivery capability of the same (apart from the quality). For an organization to balance their goals ( given the potential for turbulence and) competing in the dynamic market conditions (so as to have better informed customers, diffusion of technological changes, more shorter product life cycles, etc.) needs to have competitive strategies in place. This in turn influence the manufacturing strategies, which result into business performance.