Instructions:
Read the first three chapters from Holweg, M. Pil, F. (2004) The Second Century: Reconnecting the Consumer and Value Chain through Build–to–Order, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.
Read also Froud, J., Haslam, C. J., Johal, S. and Williams, K. (2002) “Cars after Financialization: A case study in financial underperformance, constraints and consequences”, Competition and Change, 6 (1) pp. 13 -41.
Read any other reference from the BUS002 reading list that you might consider relevant.
1. What are the main differences in terms of process design between the “built to order” and the “built to stock” production models?
2. What are the implications for an organisation adopting “built to order” in terms of knowledge and skills accumulation?
3. Based on your answers to question 1 and 2, to what extent do the “product life cycle” and the “product-process matrix” frameworks help to analyse and explain the emergence of “built to order” manufacturing?
4. Between 1989 and 2000 Honda, Chrysler, BMW and Daimler were the best performing car mass manufacturers with return on capital employed (ROCE) above 10% (Julie Froud et al., 2000, p. 22). To what extent does this support Holweg and Pil’s explanation of the emergence of “built to order” as the new “dominant” approach to manufacturing (Holweg and Pil, 2004)?