The Evolution of Operations Strategy: an Overview of Empirical Research on Competitive Priorities

Operations strategy has been a subject of empirical research for 25 years. We analyzed the outcomes of 33 empirical studies on competitive priorities, published between 1983 and 2007, and identified trends in operations strategy since the early 1980s. At that time, researchers mainly emphasized the importance of flexibility in operations; however, we found that quality has consistently been the focus of attention for manufacturing companies since the end of the 80s. In addition, we investigated differences in operations strategy between companies from different regions. Besides quality, North American manufacturing companies focus more and more on delivery and less on flexibility and service. This also holds for European companies, which, in addition, focus on cost reductions. Asian-Pacific manufacturing companies also continuously pursue a quality strategy, and in addition, they increasingly emphasize a low cost strategy. We could not identify a trend in manufacturing companies' emphasis on innovation, due to a lack of data on competitive priorities associated with innovation. Our results show that the