Managing Innovation and Operations in the 21st Century

Garza-Reyes, Jose; Kumar, Vikas; Martinez-Covarrubias, Juan Luis; Lim, Ming K.

Abstract

The globalized and current competitive business environment of the twenty-first century has brought ever more hallenging pressures to the operations of organizations. In this century, operations are not only expected to contribute to the profitability and efficiency of organizations but also to serve as a platform to achieve contemporary organizational objectives that include customer satisfaction, quality, responsiveness, and sustainability. Therefore, neither operations managers nor organizations can be successful in achieving these objectives if they stick to the old assumptions and ways of designing, managing, and improving operations. In this scenario, innovation plays an essential role to ensure that operations contribute to the competitiveness of modern organizations and help them to overcome the challenges that the twenty-first century has brought to them. Thus, the purpose of this book is to allow business leaders, existing and potential operations managers, or all those interested in this subject, to acquire core skills in the field of operations and innovation management to understand and effectively promote competitiveness through the development or adoption of best practices in the design, management, and improvement of a company’s operations as well as to deploy a culture based on innovation and continuous improvement. We wrote this book based on our experience as industrialists, consultants, researchers, and academics, after working with all those organizations that wanted their operations and innovation activities to take a primordial role in their constant battle for competitiveness. Our experience made us realize that most operational issues and problems faced by organizations derive from the lack of core knowledge about operations and their poor interactions with other functions of the organization and the external environment that currently dominates the world’s markets. For this reason, we have divided this book into three main sections: the first section provides an understanding of the general context of innovation and operations management (Chapters 1 and 2), the second section provides a review of the external environmental factors that play a role in the innovative management of operations (Chapters 3 and 4), and the third one focuses on the internal aspects that surround the management of operations in an innovative way (Chapters 5–10). By focusing on core and well-established principles such as the role of operations managers, design of products, processes and services, organizational culture and structure within the context of managing operations and contemporary topics such as the economics of innovation and operations management, innovative global supply chains, innovation and sustainability, among others, the readers of this book will:
• Gain knowledge of operations management concepts, business models,methods, tools, and best practices used by successful organizations to improve their operations.
• Understand how to apply operations management concepts in a real industrial context.
• Reflect upon and consider particular operational issues that have a direct impact on the competitiveness of contemporary organizations.

Some of the chapters have also been complemented with case studies that have been written by industrial and academic experts with vast experience in various areas of operations and innovation. These cases show the practical application of some of the concepts, methods, tools, and/or techniques
reviewed in the chapter where they appear.

We hope this book serves as a good reference to all kinds of business leaders, existing and potential operations managers, or all those interested in this field.

• Book Type: Authored Book
• Publication Date: Aug 10, 2017
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• ISBN: 9781138214729
• Keywords: operations management, innovation, sustainability, operational improvement, global supply chains
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/883034
• Publisher URL: https://www.crcpress.com/Managing-Innovation-and-Operations-in-the-21st-Century/Garza-Reyes-Kumar-Martinez-Covarrubias-Lim/p/book/9781138214729
• Additional Information: Corporate Creators : NA