SAFIZADEH, RITZMAN, SHARMA, AND WOOT found that a concise and focused definition of manufac- turing task was positively related to performance. In an exploratory study of executives in six industries, Ma- rucheck et al. (1990) support the view that operations strategy is formulated under the umbrella of corporate strategy and that it reacts to marketing strategy. Ward etal. (1992) investigated the predominant process choices in manufacturing industries. They found that “typical producers” in each industry have diagonal po- sitions on the product-process matrix. clusters did not directly correspond to the process choice groupings of Hayes and Wheelwright, Miller and Roth found some evidence to support the characteristics of the product-process matrix. Our study is different in that we, first, directly examine whether a plant’s process choice agrees with the emphasis placed on product cus- tomization. Then we investigate whether process choice supports the plant's other competitive priorities. Next, we assess the impact of such relationships on perfor- mance. Finally, we analyze off-diagonal plants in terms of other explanatory variables such as flexible automa- tion and part commonality. In the next section we will describe the instrument and data used for testing the three propositions. * Frequency counts shown as cell values, with percentage of row totals given in parentheses. Numbers ‘in boldface print represent on-diagona! positions. Chi-Square = 41.60, p < 0.001. Analysis of the Product-Process Matrix eG Means and Rankings (in Parentheses) of Competitive Priorities for On-Diagonal Plants tically significant difference between the performance of on-’and off-diagonal batch shops. This finding does not support Proposition 3. On-diagonal continuous flow shops, however, do better than their off-diagonal coun- terparts. One reason for this finding is production vol- ume. Our results show that the corporate-wide perfor- mance of on-diagonal plants improves steadily as they progress from job shops to continuous flow shops. High-volume operations get higher marks. Fiegenbaum and Karnani (1991) indirectly support this explanation by showing a positive relationship between firm size and financial performance. Additional analysis of our data also supports this explanation. The (Q4) perfor- mance measure is positively correlated with process
The C language is the most successful software language ever devised. Developed between 1969 and 1973 along with the Unix operating system, it has always been a pragmatic language for solving its developere problems. Limitations of early hardware (it first ran on a DEC PDP-11 with 24K of memory) forced it to be a small language, but this is one of its strengths. Since C's simple semantics closely fit those of typical processors, C compilers produce compact, efficient code.
Base-catalyzed alkylation or arylation of β-ketoesters. Subsequent mild hydrolysis and decarboxylation yield substituted acetones. Alternately, treatment with concentrated base produces substituted esters:
Larry P Ritzman
