Systemic Flexibility And Business Agility

This book provides a conceptual framework for systemic flexibility and business agility, drawing on a basis of research/case applications in various types of flexibility and agility in business. The selected papers address a variety of issues concerning the theme of systemic flexibility and business agility and are organized into following five parts: (i) Systemic and Strategic Flexibility; (ii) Information and Business Agility; (iii) Flexibility, Innovation and Business Excellence; (iv) Flexibility in Value and Supply Chains; and(v) Financial Flexibility and Mergers & Acquisitions. Flexibility and agility in business are emerging as key dimensions of business excellence that encompass the requirements of both choice and speed. The two concepts, flexibility and agility, have been used in multiple ways and often interchangeably, both in literature and in practice. The growing need for flexibility/agility in business can be seen from reactive as well as proactive perspectives. A business enterprise is expected to possess reactive flexibility/ agility (as adaptability and responsiveness) in order to cope with the changing and uncertain business environment. It may also endeavor to intentionally generate flexibility/agility as a strategic change in a variety of ways, such as leadership change, reengineering, innovation in products and processes, use of information and communication technology, and learning orientation.

This book explores how the conceptual lens of Holistic Flexibility presents new advancements in systems thinking. Systems thinking is often associated with frameworks and methodologies that often confine the discipline to academic circles in operations research and management science (OR/MS). Holistic Flexibility for Systems Thinking and Practice challenges this status-quo and talks about systems thinking as a state of mind, giving it a cognitive character. The book presents both theoretical deliberations and practitioner cases of Holistic Flexibility. The development of systems thinking in OR/MS is described leading to the latest debates on the subject and the key pillars of Holistic Flexibility are discussed in detail. A range of case studies are presented that offer a firsthand experience of Holistic Flexibility in practice. Learnings are drawn to highlight the importance of a spiritual approach in management, an understanding which is used to further develop the conceptual lens of Holistic Flexibility since it was first introduced. This book presents a range of competencies required for systems practitioners to address and respond to complex situations in an interconnected world. A bold attempt to pragmatize systems thinking and systems practice, the ideas presented in this book weave a thread between the development of the discipline, current debates, and what lies ahead. It will be highly beneficial for OR/MS researchers and graduate students who are interested in systems thinking as well as researchers interested in connecting modern management thinking and Eastern mysticism.

This book discusses how systems thinking and approaches can aid management consultants in navigating the complexities of client advisory in current realities. It thereby brings to the forefront aspects of holism, flexibility and responsibility - the keys to success in today’s world. Management consultants are called in to offer an independent expert view of an organisation/ a situation and are expected to address some of the most pressing problems businesses face. The client does not exist in a silo, but in a complex environment that lies at the intersection of a range of internal and external factors that are often unseen and unpredictable. The organisation itself presents an alien territory that the consultant is expected to acclimatise to within a very short period of time, and come up with solutions that “insiders” would not have been able to visualise. The book presents a range of ideas, concepts and reference cases that are relevant and topical for consultants in their daily work. It argues that systems thinking allows holism and flexibility in management consulting – while holism is about the ability to encompass the environmental and organisational complexity, flexibility is about the ability to think creatively and adopt different approaches to accommodate this complexity. With commentaries, case studies, conceptual models and perspectives that cut across multiple industries, sectors and countries, this book is a valuable resource for academics and professionals alike. The book’s inner pages and its page on Springer.com contain additional comments providing perspectives of clients, industry experts and academia.

This book focuses on the challenges of capacity building for flexible work organizations in Asia, and demonstrates how business enterprises practice reactive flexible capacity (in the form of adaptiveness and responsiveness) to cope with changing and uncertain business environments. The book provides examples of how this can be achieved by means of various organizational change initiatives, leadership strategies, re-engineering, innovation in products and processes, the use of information and communication technology, reshaping learning orientations, and more. As these topics are supported by research and case studies situated in different sectors and countries across Asia, the book will provide a useful resource for a broad readership including: management students and researchers, practicing business managers, consultants, and professional institutions.

This book provides a conceptual ‘Flexibility in Resource Management’ framework supported by research/case applications in various related areas. It links and integrates the flexibility aspect with resource management to offer a fresh perspective, since flexibility in different levels of resource management is emerging as a key concern -- a business enterprise needs to have reactive flexibility (as adaptiveness and responsiveness) to cope with the changing and uncertain business environment. It may also endeavor to intentionally create flexibility by way of leadership change, re-engineering, innovation in products and processes, use of information and communication technology, and so on. The selected papers discussing a variety of issues concerning flexibility in resource management, are organized into following four parts: flexibility and innovation; flexibility in organizational management; operations and technology management; and financial and risk management. In addition to addressing the organizational needs of corporate bodies spread across the globe, the book serves as a useful reference resource for a variety of audiences including management students, researchers, business managers, consultants and professional institutes.

This edited book provides a conceptual framework of managing flexibility in the areas of people, process, technology and business supported by researches/case applications in various types of flexibilities in business. The book is organized into following five parts: (i) Managing Flexibility; (ii) People Flexibility; (iii) Process Flexibility; (iv) Flexibility in Technology and Innovation Management; and (v) Business Flexibility. Managing flexibility at the level of people, process, technology and business encompasses the requirements of both choice and speed. The need for managing flexibility is growing to cope with the developments and challenges in the global business environment. This can be seen from reactive as well as proactive perspectives. Flexibility is a major dimension of business excellence and deals with a paradoxical view point such as stability and dynamism, continuity and change, centralization and decentralization, and so on. It needs to be managed at the levels of people, process, technology and various business functions and it is important to create flexibility at the level of people to create and manage flexibility in processes and technologies in order to support flexible business requirements.

This book provides a conceptual framework of global value chains, flexibility and sustainability, supported by research projects, case applications and models in various related areas organized into three parts. In the first part of the book, various authors discuss how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of global value chains through various types of analyses. While the focus is on cluster management, and mergers and joint ventures, the legal aspects of control and liability concerning the integration of value chains, is also examined in one of the contributions. The second part includes chapters concerning ‘Strategy and Flexibility’. Strategies concern topics such as inventory management, talent management, strategic alignment, decision making, behavioural change and HR systems. The third and final part of the volume concerns the topic of ‘Sustainability’, wherein the contributions focus on various initiatives intended to promote sustainability across respective value chains bearing in mind the concept of flexibility. The book is a valuable resource for a varied audience, ranging from management students and researchers, to practicing business managers, as well as for professional institutions, consultants, and corporate organizations.

This book discusses the latest advances in people-centered design, operation, and management of broadly defined advanced manufacturing systems and processes. It reports on human factors issues related to various research areas such as intelligent manufacturing technologies, web-based manufacturing services, digital manufacturing worlds, and manufacturing knowledge support systems, as well as other contemporary manufacturing environments. The book covers an extensive range of applications of human factors in the manufacturing industry: from work design, supply chains, evaluation of work systems, and social and organization design, to manufacturing systems, simulation and visualization, automation in manufacturing, and many others. Special emphasis is given to computer aided manufacturing technologies supporting enterprises, both in general and in the manufacturing industry in particular, such as knowledge-based systems, virtual reality, artificial intelligence methods, and many more. Based on the AHFE 2017 International Conference on Human Aspects of Advanced Manufacturing, held on July 17-21, 2017, in Los Angeles, California, USA, the book provides readers with a timely snapshot of the enterprises of the future and a set of cutting-edge technologies and methods for building innovative, human-centered, and computer-integrated manufacturing systems.