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An examination of the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and firm performance: The mediating role of innovation

César Camisón (Departamento de Administración de Empresas y Marketing, Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Económicas, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain)
Ana Villar López (Departamento de Dirección de Empresas Juan José Renau Piqueras, Facultad de Economía, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain)

International Journal of Operations & Production Management

ISSN: 0144-3577

Article publication date: 20 July 2010

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test the mediating role of three types of innovation (product, process, and organizational) in the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Building on the resource‐based view, the paper examines the indirect effects of manufacturing flexibility on organizational performance considering product, process, and organizational innovation as mediating variables. A sample of 159 Spanish firms is taken to test the proposed theoretical model through structural equations modeling using the partial least squares approach.

Findings

The effect on organizational performance of adopting a flexible productive system is mediated by incorporating product, process, and organizational innovation. This paper calls for caution in defending flexible manufacturing systems as universally efficient solutions, and argues that their productivity is linked to the complementary introduction of organizational and technological innovations.

Practical implications

Firms that pursue manufacturing flexibility should develop innovation capabilities to obtain an improvement in organizational performance. Therefore, managers should bear in mind that the mere fact of adopting a flexible manufacturing system will not guarantee improvements in firm performance. If manufacturing flexibility is to help improve company performance, managers should use this flexibility to generate organizational capabilities based on product, process, and organizational innovations, since these are capabilities that can create competitive advantages.

Originality/value

Operations management literature has not reached a consensus about the effect of manufacturing flexibility on organizational performance. This paper helps both academics and managers to gain a better understanding of this question by considering the mediating effect of three types of innovation (product, process, and organizational) in this relationship.

Keywords

Citation

Camisón, C. and Villar López, A. (2010), "An examination of the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and firm performance: The mediating role of innovation", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 30 No. 8, pp. 853-878. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443571011068199

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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