Technovation, 17(31 (19971 109-117

© 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd

Pergamon All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain
0166-4972/97 $17.00 + 0.00

Linking technological innovationsto

strategic needs
Terry Hill* and Roy Westbrook
London Business School, Sussex Place, Regents Park, London NW1 4SA, UK

Abstract
Manufacturing technology developments need to be aligned with business
needs. A U K government scheme to facilitate this linkage was carried out by
contracted consultants in a series of companies. The initial task was to
conduct a market needs review, so that the appropriate manufacturing
developments to support those needs could be made. The authors 'shadowed'
several of these company initiatives, and four typical cases are described to
illustrate the type of work done by consultants in such situations. In each
case different types of inadequacy made it difficult to link the market review
to technology development needs. These types of inadequacy are discussed,
and some possible explanations are suggested. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd

tiveness of our operation in serving different

L INTHODUC'HON- - THE NEEDTO LINKFUNCTIONAL
SllLqTEGIESTO BUSINESSUNITSI'P,ATEGY
The development of strategy can be seen as a pro-
cess undertaken at three levels:
(i) Corporate strategy. This addresses such ques-
tions as "What sectors should we be in? Which
ones offer sustained growth? How do we gain
entry to them?".
(ii) Business unit strategy. This addresses such
questions as "What market segments do we
serve or wish to serve? What are the needs of
those segments and how are they changing?
How can we best compete in each segment?".
(iii) Functional strategy. Individual functions such
as marketing, research and development and
manufacturing also develop strategies. For
manufacturing, this addresses such questions
as "What actions are needed to support target
markets? What investments and developments
are necessary to sustain or improve the effec-
*Corresponding author.
segments? What techniques or technologies
are best able to assist in these aims?".
For individual manufacturing companies (business
units) to perform well, they need to answer these
questions precisely, and also to ensure they relate the
levels to one another.
The research reported in this paper is concemed
with the link between levels (ii) and (iii) above. It
addresses the issue of how best to establish the tech-
nology developments needed to implement a business
unit strategy. The article draws on case studies of
companies who took part in a recent Department of
Trade and Industry (DTI) scheme entitled 'Manufac-
turing, Planning and Implementation' (MPI). This
scheme provides support for companies to use con-
sultants to help agree market needs and then to use
this analysis as the context in which to place develop-
ments in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT).
In each case we show how market needs were
assessed and expressed, and how the inadequacy of
the market reviews undertaken made the selection of
appropriate technology developments difficult to

S0166-4~/2(96)00092-2 Tedmvalm Vol.17 No. 3 109

T. Hill and g. WesU)rook
ascertain. The cases are then discussed in terms of
some general features common to each which show
why they have not achieved the strategy aims of the
MPI scheme. The opportunity to conduct the research
arose out of a UK government scheme to which a
later section gives the background.
2, MANUFACTURINGSTRATEGYANDAMT
ASPECTSOFTHELITERATURE
Manufacturing strategy is concerned with the align-
ment of a firm's productive resources and technology
with its strategic goals. Beginning with two seminal
articles by Skinner (1969, 1974), the field developed
to the point where an article by Voss (1995) could
look back over more than thirty years of publications
and compare alternative paradigms of manufacturing
strategy. The effect of all this scholarly activity on
manufacturing practice is less certain: Skinner (1992)
himself reflected that "the a d o p t i o n . . , in industry has
been quite modest. Very few firms have a manufac-
turing strategy". This is bome out specifically in the
UK by research carried out at Cranfield School of
Management which in "50 per cent of the business
units studied" found evidence of "poor strategic
vision for manufacturing operations" (Sweeney,
1994). Our research, as will be seen, corroborates
these views and suggests at least one reason for the
deficiency in UK companies' strategic development.
Analysis, of course, requires a general technique or
framework which can be applied to an individual
case, and the manufacturing strategy literature sug-
gests several of these. For the MPI scheme it was
important that client companies and their consultant
advisers used a tool which enabled them to prioritise
investments in manufacturing according to the needs
of the company's markets. One tool for such prioritis-
ation is the identification of order winners and quali-
fiers, at a detailed level of segmentation, often at the
customer/product line level (Hill, 1993).
In addition to the manufacturing strategy literature,
there is a literature on many aspects of AMT. Two
recent surveys of this literature (Chen and Small,
1996; Sambasivarao and Deshmukh, 1995) identified
76 and 43 references respectively, largely since the
late 1980s. These surveys make clear the multivariate
nature of AMT developments, the way they impact
many aspects of management and different functional
disciplines. They identify several broad streams of
scholarly contribution, including:
• strategic frameworks for planning AMT develop-
ments;
110 TedmovationVd. 17No.3
• prescriptive steps for selecting the appropriate
AMT;
• technology management issues (including IT
issues);
• benefits claimed for AMT, and the degree to which
they are realised in practice;
• organisational aspects of AMT;
• financial justification of AMT;
• methodologies for successful implementation.
SOME
The principal findings, at least for the purposes of the
present study, concern selection and implementation
of AMT:
• AMT initiatives often fail, commonly through
implementation difficulties (Meredith, 1987a,b;
Babbar and Rai, 1990);
• these initiatives are among the longest, most com-
plex and expensive developments a firm can under-
take (Meredith, 1987b);
• even when implemented, AMTs may not deliver
all that was expected, especially if the market place
changes during a lengthy implementation period
(Boer et al., 1990);
• strategic considerations are critical to success; if
the initial strategic analysis is faulty or omitted, the
likelihood of failure is high (Voss, 1986; Badiru,
1990).
This present study aims to contribute to this area
of knowledge by looking at the crucial early phase of
AMT developments, the market analysis, which is the
key to formulating strategically oriented manufactur-
ing developments. The nature of the contribution is
unusual (if not quite unique) in looking in detail at a
particular phase, in being grounded in multiple case
studies, and in its focus on the effectiveness of con-
sultants' contributions. The role of the consultant in
this field, as the literature surveys (Chen and Small,
1996; Sambasivarao and Deshmukh, 1995) mentioned
earlier suggest, has been relatively little studied.
3. THEMANUFACTURING,PLANNINGAND
IMPLEMENTATION(MPI) SCHEME
Over the last twenty years the Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI) has launched a series of initiatives
designed to stimulate technological innovation in UK
industry. The most recent of these initiatives is the
Manufacturing, Planning and Implementation (MPI)
scheme. The specific aim of the MPI scheme is to
relate advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs)
to market needs, where an AMT is very broadly
defined to encompass almost any modern manufactur-
ing initiative. The target firms have to be independent

companies with less than 500 employees. One hun-
dred and forty small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) have taken part in this scheme, which was
completed in December 1994.
The MPI scheme was primarily concerned with the
enhancement of the ability of a firm's manufacturing
function to support agreed markets, as clearly indi-
cated by the stated intent of the initial DTI announce-
ment. In this statement it stated the aim of the scheme
was to:
"enhance advanced manufacturing technology
(AMT) activities within consultancy, industrial,
research and training communities in the UK by
encouraging SMEs to adapt best practice in their
application of AMTs by strategically planning
and implementing AMTs for competitive advan-
tage".
Each project had two major parts; the market review,
and the selection of appropriate AMTs. The first of
these parts was explicitly emphasised in the guide-
lines issued to advisers:
"the key to any project is the analysis phase
which challenges a company's assumptions
regarding its business, markets, competitors and
why products are chosen by customers
the market review phase is vital because it gives
context to the relevance of any changes to or
reviews of existing capabilities
a project must link the company's competitive
approach in its market to its capability to provide
goods which meet market needs".
A unique feature of the scheme was the inclusion
of an analytical co-ordination (AC) role, undertaken
by a group of operations management academics
whose task was to analyse the methods used by con-
sultants working with client companies to meet the
aims of the scheme. The AC team has undertaken a
structured review of fifty of these projects, for which
they were permitted, as a condition of any MPI grant,
full access to all personnel involved and all relevant
data and documents. The project reviews all involved:
• several site visits;
• in-depth comparative analysis of documents;
• structured discussions with company executives
and consulting advisers;
• additional analyses of primary data.
This task therefore offered a unique research opport-
unity, because of the number of projects within a sin-
Linkingtechnologicalinnovationsto strategic needs
gle research theme and the quality of access to all
relevant data.
The AC role was to analyse the methods used by
consultants to fulfil the aims of the scheme. This
involved an investigation of the
• process and content of market reviews;
• degree of linkage between market review and the
recommended AMTs;
• nature and impact of the AMTs.
Because the reviews were conducted in the same
structured way at each site, cross-site comparisons
and some generalisations are possible, allowing for
the different context of each firm.
4. THE CASESTUDIES
It is clear from the above that the analysis of the
market is fundamental to the MPI scheme and to the
successful identification of appropriate technology
developments. Without a sufficiently detailed under-
standing of the difference between the needs of differ-
ent segments, or even different customers, it will be
difficult to establish precisely how a company can win
orders from competitors, or even retain its existing
customer base. This means an in-depth analysis, pro-
viding sufficient detail to differentiate customers' pro-
ducts and past, present and likely future scenarios.
The following examples each show, in different ways,
how the failure to provide such a market review
inhibited a firm's ability to link its market needs with
the AMT initiatives they undertook.
4.1 Company A
This company makes personnel protection pro-
ducts. The consultants advising the company under-
took the market analysis required by the MPI scheme,
and the resultant document was described as a 'brief
business review' and contained general statements on
the firm's image, market size, the firm's market share
and competitors. In reviewing current production, it
is noted that 700 product lines are held in inventory
and that order lead time is typically three weeks, with
80% deliveries on time. The organisation of market-
ing and sales departments is also described.
Key factors concerning this review and the method-
ology used by the consultants include:
(i) the consultant specialising in market analysis
spent only 2% of the total project time;
(ii) the lead consultant also spent time on market
TedmvaSonVol.17No.3 111
T. Hill and R. Westbrook
analysis but, given the completion date of this
phase, he could only have spent, at best, a
further 9% of the total project time even if he
had concentrated solely on this activity during
this phase of the project;
(iii) the consultants based much of their review on
a report completed nine months earlier by a
different consultancy company;
(iv) there was no contact made between these two
groups of consultants to discuss the findings
of the first report;
(v) the first report highlighted different segments
in the company's markets; the second report
reviewed the market as a whole;
(vi) the second report concluded that the company
wins orders from all distributors and end users
on the basis of the same criteria and within the
same given priority: "product quality, service,
then price".
The next step in the approach followed by the con-
sultants was to identify several key areas to address
or objectives to follow. The areas covered were:
• the firm should aim for 30% total market share;
• stronger relationships with fewer suppliers should
be developed;
• moulded parts currently bought out should be
manufactured in-house;
• pursue a policy of zero defects;
• improve delivery performance;
• reduce costs.
In support of its overall desire to improve, the com-
pany also undertook two major AMTs:
(a) the in-house moulding of components, leading to
an estimated 40% reduction in cost as well as
benefits from shorter lead times, fewer defects
and lower inventory;
(b) operational improvements based on a TQM
initiative.
In-house moulding was the subject of an extensive
feasibility study and had been identified at the outset
by the client as an important undertaking.
The TQM initiative was introduced by the consult-
ants in the following way:
• a number of brainstorming sessions yielded 45
improvement suggestions;
• the consultants allocated these suggestions to one
of eight categories;
1,12 Tedmv,,'dJonVol.17No.3
• the group members then prioritised the eight categ-
ories as shown in Table 1.
4.1.1 Comments
• No insights into the market were provided. Hence,
market orientation was not part of either the gener-
ation of improvement suggestions or their prioritis-
ation within the TQM activity.
• Eventual prioritisation of actions to follow was by
overall category and not by individual suggestion.
4.2 Company B
Company B manufactures shop refurbishment and
materials handling equipment. A fairly substantial
market review was undertaken by their consultant
advisers, involving 25 man-days (14% of total project
time) and three reports. The contents included:
• size and structure of the UK retailing market;
• sales of shop and office fittings in the UK;
• analysis of 1 l major competitors, showing financial
position and customers served.
Fifteen prospective customers were asked for their
views on Company B's and eleven competitors'
strengths and weaknesses. The results are presented
in Table 2 (marks out of 10, average response).
4.2.1 Comments
• The survey covered only the shop refurbishment
sector.
• The consultants pre-listed the criteria to be review-
ed.
• The shop refurbishment sector was assumed to be
the same.
• Results were presented as an overall statement.
TABLE 1. Company A: categories and their priorities
Priority Category Number of
suggestions
1 personnel issues 8
2 suppliers 9
3 production planning 5
4 production methods 8
5 layout and machinery 6
6 understanding customer requirements 2
7= products 7
7= stocks
Toml 45
 Linkingtechnologicalinnovationsto sb'ategic needs

TABLE 2. Customer survey for Company B and a strong and a weak competi- Only with these insights was manufacturing able to
tor
recognise the key market needs and develop its
Factor Company B Competitor
response in terms of both IT and production process.

Strong Weak
4.3 CompanyC
proposal speed 8 9 7 Company C makes powder coatings, mostly for the
proposal quality 7 7 7
standard product 8 7 8
UK market. Its market review occupied much less
non-standard product 8 9 7 consulting effort than company B's, only five man-
delivery speed 7 8 7 days or 6% of total project time. The review, based
sitework 8 8 7
personnel 9 9 7
on interviews with two suppliers and six customers,
flexibility 8 8 7 produced the following outcomes:
value for money 8 8 7

• total UK market size;

• major UK users and suppliers;
As with company A, manufacturing improvements • company C's market share in different product
were not discussed in the light of this analysis, but areas;
rather were developed simultaneously almost as a • company C's sales by product type;
separate exercise. Although the process types found • segment attractiveness;
in this company include elements of project, batch • customer buying criteria;
and jobbing (see Skinner, 1974), the market review • comparison of company C with three major com-
did not reflect this and neither did the manufacturing petitors;
needs analysis. The latter in fact took a standard • industry best practice re:
approach to an enterprise which has orders as differ- - - service/service quality,
ent as a £400 000 turnkey shopfitting project including - - delivery,
standard and special elements, and an order for over - - product quality,
£1.0 million for 20000 units of identical materials - - price,
handling equipment. - - other.

The manufacturing initiative focused on revising
the factory layout into cells, and installing a new IT
system for manufacturing planning and control.
Together these improvements permitted the company
to improve its delivery speed and reliability during
1993. One major supermarket chain remarked that,
had this improvement not occurred, it would have
removed all its business from company B.
The company's performance during this phase of
the MPI deteriorated to the point where it was taken
over by a competitor. At this point consultancy sup-
port was terminated. Given the new position and its
perilous nature, the company was forced into dis-
cussions with its major customers. This identified
that:
Again, this data did not influence the technology
choices. Rather a separate 'technology review' was
conducted before the market review results were
available (see Table 3). This technology review is a
12-page report with details of the productivity impact
of colour changes and the cost and delivery perform-
ance impact of the 15% reject rate. It also contained:
• a review of the technical capabilities of company
C's existing powder coating equipment:
• a list of changes in technology with estimates of
new equipment costs;
• a list of eight recommended technical improve-
ments for the company.
TABLE 3. Company C: consultants' hours for weeks 5-10 (source: consulting
firm's invoices)

• the shop refurbishment market had two distinct

Week Marketing review Technology review
segments - - new store installation and existing (h) (h)
store refurbishment;
• time frames for delivery and installation varied 1 1 --

from days and weeks for new stores installation 6 5 --

7 1 --
to hours (late Sunday afternoon to early Monday 8 1.5 --
morning) for refurbishment projects; 9 18 --
10 11 15
• the market split between the two segments was
moving increasingly to refurbishment and the Totals 37.5 15
reduced time windows involved.

TechnovationVd. 17 No. 3
 T. Hill and R. West.brook
A similar list was provided for the electroplating part
of company C's business.
Neither the marketing nor the technology review
bore much relation to each other. Indeed, not only
did the market review not influence the AMT choices
because it was once again too general, but the prin-
ciple that there should be such a link was not recog-
nised. Company C has, however, taken the project
further, with initiatives on the following:
(a) Further customer surveys are to be regularly
undertaken, as part of a TQM initiative. Ironi-
cally, the survey document asks customers to
indicate and rank order-winning and order-quali-
fying criteria: i.e., the company subsequently
seeks to obtain the key data it needed before
(though it still does not distinguish between pro-
duct groups).
(b) Business process groups (BPGs) have been estab-
lished to review processes from quotation to
invoicing.
(c) An IT system has been specified to cover:
• sales order entry and invoicing;
• nominal ledger and sales ledger;
• management accounts and payroll.
4.3.1 Comments
• The market review took one man-week, only 6%
of total consulting time.
• Only six customers and two suppliers were inter-
viewed.
• Markets were treated as homogeneous.
• The technology review activity overlapped the
market review work, and had no relation to it.
• No link was made from the market analysis to
AMT developments. Instead, the company has pur-
sued initiatives related to efficiency and manage-
ment control.
4.4 Company D
Company D manufactures air conditioning equip-
ment, ranging from extremely large, complex, highly
customised close control systems to small, fairly stan-
dardised systems. At the time of the MPI project,
company D also introduced a new standard product
intended to be sold from stock. Half the company's
sales are for export.
The MPI project began in 1992, but two earlier
market reviews had been carried out in 1990 and
114 Tedmova'den¥01.17No.3
1991. The MPI consultants claimed they would take
advantage of this to build on the earlier studies. In
their project proposal they undertook to "extract from
the exising . . . analysis the order winning criteria",
and in a supporting letter promised to "review this
work and build on it". The new effort took nine days
and led to a sixteen-page report, with the following
areas of analysis:
• size of UK market (volume and value)
•- by product group (indicates growing or
declining),
- - by equipment specifier;
• buying criteria, ranked within the two main pro-
duct groups;
• company D's sales and market share by product
group;
• customer perceptions of company D;
• requirements for success of the new standard pro-
duct range - - company D's own views plus six
questions for them.
The substantive part of all this from an MPI scheme
standpoint, the buying criteria and customer percep-
tions, are reproduced from one of the earlier studies.
The consultant accepted the limitations of the earlier
study, which confined analysis to the UK, and did not
segment in any more detail than product groups. In
attempting to make a link from buying criteria to
AMT intiatives, two pages of a subsequent report did
make one change to the earlier (pre-MPI) list: it elev-
ated price to the key criterion and thus proposed that
change efforts should focus on "cost reduction", then
"shorter, more reliable deliveries". There was no
analysis of price sensitivity by customer or product.
In fact this company has gone on, in 1994, to make
radical and impressive changes in manufacturing,
with demonstrable gains in inventory management
and productivity, through a cellular/Kanban approach.
However, the link to the MPI scheme is tenuous at
best, since none of the changes came out of the con-
sultants' reviews and no outside help has been used
in implementation. The virtue of the scheme for this
company has been in providing a catalyst for change
and an opportunity to introduce new management into
key roles.
4.4.1 Comments
• The market review took nine days only (8% of total
project time).
• Analysis was confined to the UK market although
half of the sales are for export.
• No segmentation beyond product groups.

• Earlier analysis by another consulting firm was
accepted but not checked or developed.
• Price was elevated as the key order-winner, with
little analytical justification.
• No link to AMT developments.
5. DISCUSSION
These four case studies demonstrate the difficulty
companies of this type are experiencing in obtaining
an understanding of markets which permits AMT
decisions to be demonstrably strategic. They also
exhibit, to differing degrees, several features of many
of the MPI projects, which partially explains this dif-
ficulty. These features can be grouped as follows:
(1) the understanding of strategic thought;
(2) the aim and content of a market review;
(3) the nature of a strategic link from market to
AMT.
We discuss each of these in turn.
5.1 The understandingof strategic thought
We suggested at the outset that strategy could be
considered at three levels: the corporation, the busi-
ness unit, and individual functions. In each of the
cases we have described, and in many others not used
here, these levels are consistently mixed up. The
information on market size and growth or decline of
sectors is very relevant to corporate strategy, but too
broad to enlighten the business unit already largely
committed to its markets. Yet most reports begin with
this data, and not only by way of preamble - - time
and money are devoted to it, as our analysis of con-
sultants' time sheets consistently shows.
There is also a lack of strategic frameworks to
guide or illuminate the investigations. In these cases
'strengths and weaknesses' (one half of SWOT
analysis) and competitor analysis are the only frame-
works used; but even the latter is restricted, in three
of the four cases, to a listing of the main competitors
and the market share they enjoy. Only in company C
does the analysis get beyond this level and look at
industry best practice and the strengths and weak-
nesses of major competitors.
5.2 The aim and content of a market review
The aim of a market review in the MPI scheme is
to provide insight into what is required to compete in
a company's target markets. For an SME in a very
Linking technological innovationsto strategic needs
competitive environment this implies a very thorough
investigation, which makes use of many sources of
information. But in the cases cited above the most
common source of information was existing cus-
tomers. Potential or former customers, whose view
may be more valuable in understanding why orders
are lost, are not surveyed. Even with existing cus-
tomers, the whole story will often only emerge when
checked with internal sources, for a company and its
customers usually have a joint history which needs to
be understood when interpreting customer responses.
Too often existing customers have been the sole
source of information and, as we have seen in two
cases, earlier studies are taken at face value.
To provide the kind of insight required, a market
review needs to provide the kind of detail which is
meaningful at the manufacturing process level. The
tendency to restrict analysis to broad market segments
or product groups is more characteristic of a market-
ing review than a market needs investigation. The
product groupings which are used in the sales and
marketing functions may not be those which the
manufacturing function finds significant. All the mar-
ket reviews are too broad in their segmentation to per-
mit precise technology-related questions to be asked,
let alone answered.
Similarly, there is a tendency to regard all orders,
large or small, standard or special, one-off or repeat,
for immediate delivery or with plenty of notice, as
'sales'. Yet the manufacturing function will regard
these as very different in terms of the demand placed
upon it. The trends at this level of detail are likely to
be important in making future technology choices.
This is internal data, which is relatively easy to obtain
and analyse; however, without an appropriate frame-
work that requires such investigation, such evidence
will be overlooked, as happened in all four cases
above.
5.3 The nature of a strategic link from market to AMT
This feature follows from the preceding two. With-
out an understanding of strategic thinking, and with
a market review that is consequently too aggregate,
it will be impossible to demonstrate that meeting the
needs of target markets requires certain precise AMT
investments to be made. But there is some evidence
that the n a t u r e of such a link is little understood.
Thus, although 'order-winning' (or 'buying') criteria
appear in two of the four cases, in neither are they
followed through into technology specifications. In
the case of company C, where they are to be used
in follow-up customer surveys, the criteria listed are
chosen by the company and assumed to be the same
Te~nmtbn Vol.17 No. 3 115
T. Hill and R. Westbrook
for all product groups. In the case of company D also,
although the 'buying criteria' are part of the market
review, that review is in terms too broad to permit
those criteria to be translated into anything more
specific than a general, plant-wide, effort for cost
reduction. This may in itself be beneficial, as com-
pany D has found, hut one cannot be confident that
the investment was the most strategically relevant for
the most profitable target markets.
In the absence of specific, strategically oriented
innovations, there is a tendency to fall back on gen-
eral developments likely to have impact in various
areas (such as TQM), or efficiency and control
enhancement which will lead to immediately measur-
able improvements likely to justify a consultant's
fees. Good as that may be, it may also be an opport-
unity missed. Without an in-depth, strategically-
oriented market analysis linked closely to AMT
developments, the company cannot know.
6. CONCLUSIONm THE CONTINUINGNEEDFOR
EDUCA110N
It is n o t our intention in this paper to criticise
adversely the skills of the consultants involved, or the
work they undertook. It is entirely possible that they
undertook exactly the tasks required of them by the
client, that the client was satisfied with their efforts,
and that the initiatives taken improved company per-
formance in several areas. Our apparently critical pos-
ition is simply caused by the requirement of the ana-
lytical co-ordinator team to view all the activity from
the viewpoint of the designated aims of the MPI
scheme. It is clear that in this sample of companies
(which is fairly representative) the market analysis did
not permit convincing links to be made through busi-
ness and functional strategies. The question remains
why this should be so.
There are several possible explanations:
(1) The consultant may lack the skills to undertake
such work, or believe that the market reviews
undertaken do indeed meet the conditions of the
MPI scheme.
(2) The client may lack a full understanding of the
scheme and believe that the analyses offered meet
the scheme's requirement.
(3) The client may believe he already has a full
understanding of market needs, and requires only
a confirmation of that understanding from the
consultant.
(4) The client has already formed a view of the AMT
developments his company needs, and uses the
116 TedmvalkmYol.17No.3
MPI scheme to implement the view. He persuades
the consultant of this view which the consultant
feels hired to implement.
(5) The client and consultant have already entered
into a relationship, and continue with it under the
MPI scheme conditions.
(6) An existing report is assumed to meet the con-
ditions of the scheme (see company D above).
(7) Neither client nor consultant agree with the fun-
damental premise of the scheme, i.e. that AMTs
must be strategically oriented, which requires a
detailed market analysis.
Each of these possible explanations has some anec-
dotal support from the cases analysed thus far. Which
of them dominates, and why, would require a separate
study. For the purposes of this paper, though, it seems
fair to conclude that:
• the MPI scheme, despite its clear strategic orien-
tation, has in a significant number of cases not been
implemented in that spirit;
• the need for thorough market analysis, and clear
links with advanced manufacturing technology
developments, is still not well recognised by UK
SMEs or by manufacturing consultants;
• the reasons for this lie, at least in part, in the stra-
tegic skills of clients and consultants and in the
nature of the relationship between them.
Thus, in the field of manufacturing strategy and
related technology developments, there is still a con-
siderable task of education to be done. Skinner (1992)
notes the increase in manufacturing strategy courses,
research and publications in recent times, but warns
that "progress in the first twenty years was only about
20 per cent of the progress in the last five years".
He also points to gaps in the theory development of
manufacturing strategy which have made it far less
adopted than other developments in manufacturing
such as JIT, TQM, FMS, CAD/CAM. The idea that
a company would only pursue one of these popular
'solutions', based on market needs and a strategic
view of manufacturing capability, has therefore
seemed incontrovertible only to the academics. For in
the MPI scheme we have found each of these AMT
developments, and hardly ever have they been justi-
fied by a demonstrable strategic need based on market
analysis. This suggests more work for the educators
in two senses: we need to persuade the practitioners
more effectively, and we need to develop the theory
so that it becomes more persuasive.

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Terence J. Hill is a Professor at the London
Business School. After receivingbachelor's
and master's degrees from the Universityof
Manchester, Terry Hill spent the first ten
years of his career in the industrial sector.
Initially a purchasing executive, he then
moved into production managementwhere
his responsibilities included managing
manufacturingplants. Switchingcareers, he
joined the faculty of Kingston University
and later headed the production/operations
management area at the Universityof War- ,~_
wick. He moved to the Universityof Bath to take up a chair in his
field beforejoining the facultyat LondonBusinessSchool. He received
his doctorate from the Universityof Warwick.
Throughout his time in education, he has developed a successful
consultingpractice, workingprincipallyin North America and Europe.
He has contributed numerous articles on related issues and written
several books including Small Business: Operations Management,
Macmillan (1987); Production~Operations Management (second
edition), Prentice Hall (1991); The Essence of Operations Manage-
ment, Prentice Hall (1993); Manufacturing Strategy: the Strategic
Managementof the ManufacturingFunction(secondedition),Macmil-
lan (1993); and Manufacturing Strategy: Text and Cases (second
edition), Irwin (1994).
Roy Westbrook is Associate Professor of
Operations Managementat LondonBusiness
School and Chairman of the Sloan Masters
Programme. He worked as a civil servant
before turninghis attentionto manufacturing
management. His doctoral research was on
the design of informationsystems for pro-
duction managementand he is currentlyact-
ing as an analyticalcoordinatorfor the DTI's
scheme promoting advanced manufacturing J = ' - ~ ~
technology projects. He has visitedJapan six
times to study just-in-time and total quality
both in major corporations and in some of their suppliers. His most
recent visit was to investigatecompanies who are contributingto the
leading edge techniques of mass customisation. His most recent
research was an in-company study of total quality and continuous
improvement in leading fast-movingconsumer goods companies. A
follow-up project is looking at best practice in the supplychain man-
agement of such organisations.
Roy has taught on executiveprogrammes for such companiesas BT
and Mars, and is director of Midland Bank's 'FoundationManagement
Programme' at LondonBusinessSchool. His most recent publications
include New Strategic Tools for Supply Chain Management.
Orderbook Modelsfor Priority Management, Mass Customisation:
Japan's New Frontier,and the award-winningPriori~Management:
New Theory.for OperationsManagement.
TechnovationVoL17 No.3 117