Utilising cross-functional teams to achieve marketing/operations integration for delivery priority

Keshwan, A

Abstract

In today's manufacturing environment, due to the complexity of products, and the progress of technology, organisations are forced to be more responsive to the pressure of the dynamic market by developing, producing and delivering products quickly and before competitors (Bendoly et al., 2012; Gattiker, 2007). As a result, the integration between marketing and operations as core functions of a manufacturing organisation (Slack et al., 2013) has increasingly received attention from many academics and practitioners (e.g., Hausman et al., 2002; O’Leary-Kelly & Flores, 2002; Prabhaker, 2001; Swink & Song, 2007; Tang, 2010). This is because of the importance of the marketing and operations interface to achieve more rapid responsiveness to market demand through the fit between market requirements and operations capabilities (Slack et al., 2009). Despite the importance of this work, empirical research on how to achieve and develop this integration is still limited in comparison with conceptual work (Felekoglu et al., 2013; Paiva, 2010; Sharma, 2013; Song et al., 2010). Therefore, this study is an attempt to narrow this gap by investigating why and how to manage the marketing and operations functional relationship effectively in order to become more market oriented. The framework of this research consists of four phases namely; the needs (reasons for integration), the methods (cross-functional teams), the development (potential problems), and the achievement (delivery priority). This framework represents a strategic imperative for developing the delivery performance of an organisation based on the fit between strategy (time-based strategy), organisational structure (cross-functional integration), and environment (the competitive position) (Lenz, 1980; Miller, 1988). Empirically, due to the need to develop the performance of Iraqi public industry sector, two Iraqi public textile organisations were chosen as case studies to conduct this project by using semi-structured interviews and direct observation to gather data. According to the findings of this research, it can be argued that this study would be an approach to implement market orientation in the Iraqi context albeit one which is difficult to execute.

Citation

Keshwan, A. Utilising cross-functional teams to achieve marketing/operations integration for delivery priority. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Mar 22, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 22, 2017
• Publisher URL: http://www.salford.ac.uk/library/research/repository
• Related Public URLs: http://www.salford.ac.uk/library/research/repository
• Additional Information: Funders : Iraqi Higher Education&Scientific Research ministry; Projects : Scholarship; Grant Number: 22656