Contextual factors intervening in the manufacturing strategy and technology management-performance relationship

Abstract

The relationship between technology management (TM) and manufacturing strategy (MS) can be an important factor for increasing operational performance (OP) and contextual variables may affect this relationship. The purpose of this study is to empirically verify whether MS or/and TM improve OP and whether contextual variables influence OP in the electronics and machinery industrial sectors. A total of 231 firms from fourteen countries have been studied. Hierarchical regression analysis has been applied to test the formulated hypotheses. The findings show that MS significantly improves OP in both sectors, but TM only in the machinery sector. However, the MS-TM relationship is shown to have a significant interaction effect on OP in both types of industries. Additionally, the inclusion of contextual variables does not indicate any significant direct effect on OP. Finally, analysis results show that the greatest improvement in OP occurs in both sectors when MS, TM and contextual variables are included in the model. The evidence suggests that these industries should implement MS and TM to improve OP, while simultaneously considering contextual variables (indirect effect). Therefore, this paper also proposes that significant differences in OP are determined not only by the implementation of MS and TM practices, but also by contextual variables intervening in the relationships between these practices and OP. Overall, MS and TM should be considered important manufacturing practices by managers, who should take into account the interaction effects of contextual variables if they wish to be competitive in the global, dynamic market.