High-Performance Manufacturing: Evidence from the Automotive Components Industry
研究了71家欧洲、日本和北美汽车零部件供应商的制造绩效与管理实践，发现严格的过程控制和紧密集成的运营能提高生产率，但精益生产中的人力资源政策并非普遍适用的最佳方式。
This paper examines the manufacturing performance and management practices of 71 automotive components suppliers located in Europe, Japan and North America. The research reports on the extent to which these plants have adopted 'lean production' practices and tests the proposition that such techniques are linked with high manufacturing performance. The results support the contention that tight process control and closely integrated operations are more productive. However, the data do not support the notion that the work organization and human resource policies associated with the lean production model represent a universal 'best way' for achieving high manufacturing performance. Rather, our findings emphasize the importance of context, specific plant characteristics and choice for understanding the performance of manufacturing organizations.