Production and operations management

BOOKS FOR MANAGERS is still basically accounting.

a formal

introduction

to financial

Double entry and “T” accounts are described in detail but one wonders what use this is to a general/sales/production manager. Software packages process this data and the results are much more important than the detailed processes. Perhaps a nonaccountant would be interested but (from experience as a lecturer to mature MBA students) such a person would be in a minority. If the book is accepted as an introduction to accounting on a superficial level then it is worth reading by any manager. Accountants should read it to learn about explaining the various techniques to others not trained in a financial discipline. Chapter 20 on Valuation is only four pages in length but Mathematics of Interest, Chapter 12 is fifteen pages long. Would a manager of whatever discipline not prefer some examples on valuations - even recent real life examples - to give a concrete picture of what exactly takes place? The calculation of interest is surely of minimal concern except to a few specialists. It is this sort of comparison that makes one look again at the market for this book. The various chapters containing discrete worked examples appear to be used to pad out certain sections whereas, as suggested, more work on valuations would be welcomed. Pages 74 and 75 are photocopies of other documents and contain miniscule printing which is difficult to read. Why do publishers allow such poor examples of their craft? This book is difficult to categorise. It is of passing interest to accountants and certain finance students. Any general manager would, in the reviewer’s view, soon find that he was reading a basic introduction to finance and how finance decisions impinge on other areas. Perhaps this is what it is meant to do. The title suggests, to this reviewer, something more general and dynamic. Bob Scott

Glasgow Business School and Operations Management, Daniel W Thomas R Hoffman, and Peter W Stonebreaker, South Western Publishing, 1989, 822 pages, f 17.95. Production

Gofarty,

Fogarty, as it will be known to differentiate it from all the other books with the same title, seems at first to be another text aimed at undergraduate production management courses. It is over 800 pages and offers

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an instructors manual and p.c. based decision support software; all of these features are typical of this genre. Traditional diagrams are here indicating that the well established procedures and techniques of Operations Management are covered. In addition the newer ‘conceptual’ acronyms such as TQM and JIT are included, but as an in-text appendix rather than as integrated topics. So the content is fairly standard and any competitive advantage must be gained from its organisation, presentation and style. The organisation of the book is indeed somewhat novel. The authors have moved from the classical approach of arranging the text in terms of functions and have adopted a ‘time-line and techniques, orientation’. As a result the book is divided into seven parts, four of which are based on planning phases. Emphasis is placed on planning time-scales, and many techniques traditionally grouped under operational functions (e.g. capacity management) are dispersed in the text. Part 1, the Introduction, consists of two chapters. The first deals with the operations function, its history, the systems concept, and productivity. The second differentiates between types of organisations, in particular between service and manufacturing operations, and discusses areas of decision making. (The preface promises to promote a systems approach and to emphasise service related topics, but both promises are largely unfulfilled in the remaining text.) Part 2, Long-range Planning, covers product and resource planning, facility location, and process design in three chapters and in a conventional manner. Part 3, Medium-range Planning, has five chapters which cover forecasting, aggregate (and production and resource capacity) planning, master scheduling (and capacity planning), facility layout, and work design and measurement. Part 4, Short-range Planning consists of three chapters on inventory management (independent demand), MRP, and capacity requirements planning respectively. Part 5, Execution and Control, consists of which cover activity control (mainly project management (PERT/CPM), management, distribution management, assurance and control.

five chapters scheduling), purchasing and quality

Part six, Policy and Strategy, consists of two chapters which are perhaps misplaced. The first on strategy and policy would be better placed in Part 1, while the chapter on JIT, TQC, and enhanced scheduling techniques would have fitted into Part 5.

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1990

Finally Part 7, Technical Supplements, analysis, mathematical programming, waiting line theory.

covers financial simulation, and

The application of time-line orientation in parts 2, 3, 4, and 5 works well in that it emphasises the importance of time-scales in Operations Management. However the cohesiveness of the functional/technique approach is not sacrificed entirely, for example the PERT/CPM technique, which has both planning and control components is not split. The presentation of the book is excellent and maintains the usual high standard of American texts. However this style is a little dry, and more case material and practical information would have helped. For example the importance of the availability of computer packages in the development of both MRP and PERT/CPM is not acknowledged to any extent. In these cases the power and scope of such systems, their availability at and brief implementation relatively low prices, guidelines should have been described. In addition much of the data is parochial to the US, (e.g. US/Japanese performance comparisons), which made the text less valuable in a European context, but this is also true of all similar texts. The book is valuable as a text for Operations Management courses. Its strengths lie in its technical depth of theory and subject comprehensiveness, and it does attempt to satisfy both manufacturing and service sectors. Its weakness lies in its lack of case material and practical content. It is APICS (American Production and Inventory Control Society) approved and the material is consistent with the APICS terminology and doctrine. This should guarantee its success in the USA, but it does not rise above similar offerings in a competitive sector.

this reason Japanese managers have concluded that local cultural behaviour as akin to their own. The author hypothesises that this has encouraged the Japanese to implement managerial methods in their East Asian subsidiaries with less sensitivity to the differences than Western firms. To test this opinion, the author conducted a survey of employees of a Japanese owned department store group in both Hong Kong and Singapore and with a second Japanese store (only Hong Kong). Findings suggested that as in equivalent studies in the UK and USA, Japanese Management had only transferred part of their management system. Chinese shop workers were dissatisfied with what they regarded as the key factor - pay and promotion. The positive feelings that employees had towards their bosses, co-workers, company and job did not fully compensate for the negative attitude to the “hygiene” factors. This study can never be more than an early still photograph of a moving and long term situation. Nevertheless it is a useful benchmark for future investigation. The Japanese have shown again and again their flexibility and adaptability whether in regard to early marketing failures in the West or in their ability to absorb and suitably modify Western practices. As Japan moves offshore, her managers will continue to transfer their winning methods tailored for local consumption. Much remains for Japanese managers to do in this regard. A major Achilles heel is Japan’s multinationals’ inability to absorb foreign executives into the senior echelons of the management cadre.

University

Simon Coke of Edinburgh

Geoff Southern Business School

Trojan Horse, the Ultimate Japanese Challenge to Western Industry, Barrie G James, Mercury Business Books, London 1989, 284 pp, Cl 5.00.

Japanese-Style Management Transferred; The Experience of East Asia, KJohn Fukuda, Routledge, London 1988, 220 pp, f3.00.

The threat of the Japanese is a topic which sells books. For this reason Barrie James’ book will appeal to Western politicians, managers and trade unionists eager to seek reasons for halting the flow of Japanese direct foreign investment into our markets. But why are the Japanese investing in production capacity in the EC and the USA? The Japanese themselves would prefer to export. Exporters can better control suppliers (cost/quality and delivery times) and employ their own workforce whom they know how to motivate. The problems of communication, of integrating foreign managers and the political issues of plants owned overseas all mitigate against foreign direct investment as a strategic choice. But the trend towards increased protectionism combined with the rise of the Yen have

University

of Glasgow

John Fukuda begins his monograph “Japanese-style management transferred; the experience of East Asia” with a short analysis of the effects of national culture on management with particular emphasis on Japanese as opposed to Western management norms. This leads to a discussion of the social values of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and of the overseas Chinese Communities in East Asia. Certain underlying cultural traits do appear to be common throughout the region including Japan. For