Understanding managerial preferences in selecting equipment

Industry continues to look for methods of gaining competitive advantage through manufacturing techniques. These techniques, however, can be matched by competitors if used without the guidance of a strategic framework. Similarly, structural capacity choices can be matched by competitors without the infrastructural benefits of a well defined operations strategy. In this study, multiattribute utility (MAU) theory analysis was used in an experiment to quantify the contribution of various structural and infrastructural strategic factors toward sustaining competitive advantage within the context of a capital equipment selection decision. The experimental respondents were manufacturing managers and professionals from the plastics industry. This research provides groundwork for understanding the role of strategic infrastructural factors in sustaining competitive advantage within the structural capacity decision of selecting capital equipment in the plastics industry. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.