On the strategic improvement of machinery enterpri

From the perspective of competitive priority, the strategic improvement of machinery enterprises

this paper is the research results from the National Natural Science Foundation funded project "survey of manufacturing strategy of Chinese machinery enterprises". The project is also a data survey project in Chinese Mainland in the "international manufacturing strategy survey" involving thousands of enterprises from more than 20 countries around the world. The survey was jointly carried out by China Machinery Industry Enterprise Management Association and the school of management of Harbin Institute of technology

the internationalmanufacturingstrategysurvey (IMSS) project was initiated by chrisvoss of London Business School and perlindberg of kamos University in Sweden in 1992. Its purpose is to study the impact of the economic, cultural, political and enterprise characteristics of various countries on their manufacturingstrategy (MS) and the basic characteristics of their manufacturing strategies around the world. A total of more than 20 business schools and thousands of enterprises around the world participated in the survey, which is held every four years. So far, it has been held five times (1993, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2009)

the content of this article is the relevant part of the survey on manufacturing strategy of Chinese machinery enterprises. The valid sample of the questionnaire is 212 machinery enterprises from many regions and industries in China

competitive priority refers to the strategic priority of weaving or the way in which the organization chooses to compete in the market, which is the priority of manufacturing competitiveness. After the 1990s, with the globalization of economy, the acceleration of technological progress and the intensification of market competition, the internal and external environment of manufacturing enterprises has changed. The competition of enterprises has changed from the previous mainly based on cost expansion to the demand for high quality, shorter lead time, faster delivery, more frequent introduction of new products without increasing costs and inventory. Innovation is becoming more and more important in organizations, and service has also become one of the factors for enterprise success. Scholars clearly put forward the concept of "service enhanced manufacturing". Now, environmental protection and society have become new competitive priority factors, which have attracted more and more attention of manufacturing enterprises

this survey found that in the past three years, when formulating strategies, China's machinery enterprises have paid the most attention to quality, followed by service and delivery, and price is no longer the main factor for enterprises to win orders, which is in line with the development trend of the manufacturing industry

from the results of this survey (see table), in the next three years, China's machinery enterprises hope to gain competitive advantage through differentiation strategies such as brand building, product development and providing high-quality products or services, and less adopt low-cost strategies and centralized strategies

the survey results show that China's machinery enterprises are showing a good development trend. Compared with three years ago, not only the sales revenue is on the rise, but also the manufacturing performance in terms of quality, cost, flexibility, delivery, service, innovation, society and so on has improved. Especially in terms of service enhancement, supply chain management, production mode design, etc., it is roughly equivalent to the improvement level of manufacturing enterprises in developed countries, and has a slight advantage in enterprise performance and manufacturing performance

however, it should also be noted that the return on investment and sales profit rate of China's machinery enterprises are decreasing. High competition intensity and many competitors are the biggest pressure faced by China's machinery enterprises at present. Compared with similar enterprises in developed countries, China's machinery enterprises still have some gaps. In the next three years, efforts should be made to make strategic and strategic improvements in the following aspects

a, improvement 1: Manufacturing Services - add more service value and service forms

from the survey results, the service performance is measured by the indicator of "customer service and support". Compared with three years ago, the average value of this indicator is 3.40, indicating that the service performance of machinery enterprises has improved by more than 15%

there is a lot of room to improve manufacturing services. Although China's machinery enterprises regard service as the main competitive priority, there is still much room for improvement in manufacturing practice, due to the difference between large-scale, comprehensive and high-speed equipment. According to the survey results, the sales of China's machinery enterprises mainly come from assembled products (79.64%) and parts (24.62%), while the proportion of services provided is very small, accounting for only 8.94%. In developed countries, the proportion of services is 13.68%, indicating that the value created by the services provided by China's machinery enterprises is not high, and there is a lot of room for the improvement of manufacturing services

expansion of manufacturing service projects. The enterprise mainly provides the following services: product after-sales service, hourly charging service, product upgrading service, customer support center service, product use training service, maintenance service and spare parts management service. China's machinery enterprises have recognized the importance of various services, but they still focus on the traditional after-sales and maintenance of products in the service items provided. The corresponding performance is to add new services. China's machinery enterprises pay special attention to product design for after-sales service in terms of service-oriented design, improving organizational skills, improving service and expanding service mode

b, improvement 2: flexibility - enhance the response ability to personalized orders

flexibility indicators include product customization ability, product output flexibility and product variety flexibility. The survey results show that China's machinery enterprises have made great progress in customization ability compared with three years ago, and have also made corresponding improvements in product varieties and output flexibility. With the diversification and personalization of customers' needs, how to meet customers' personalized needs through flexible production has become the biggest problem faced by enterprises. According to the survey, the proportion of "design to order/Engineering" in China's machinery enterprises is 16.70%, which is still not high. From the development trend of customers' needs in the future, the degree of customers' personalized needs will be higher and higher. Therefore, the proportion of "design to order/Engineering" in orders will also be larger and larger, which requires China's machinery enterprises to make adjustments in time, not only to produce according to orders, Moreover, we should design according to orders, customize products according to customers' personalized needs, and adjust product varieties to meet users' different needs, so as to enhance the response ability to customers' personalized orders, so that manufacturing enterprises can obtain greater competitive advantage

c, improvement III: Innovation - increase investment in product R & D and technological innovation

the innovation ability of enterprises can be measured by the two indicators of "time to market of products" and "product innovation". From the survey results, China's machinery enterprises have made great progress in the innovation ability in the past three years, in which the improvement of product innovation is greater than the time to market of products

with the increasingly fierce market competition, the product life cycle becomes shorter and shorter, and innovation becomes more and more important in the organization. The global top 500 enterprises tend to take the research and development and technological innovation of products as the core competitive strategy, which can be seen from the oil spill and other exports, because the research and development and technological innovation of products are the core of high profits. At present, the innovation ability of China's machinery enterprises has made some progress, but it is still far from enough. China's machinery enterprises also need to increase investment in product and technological innovation. Especially in the situation of market globalization, product innovation can realize the differentiation of products and services, and produce products different from competitors to meet the needs of different consumer groups, which is conducive to manufacturing enterprises to protect and develop their own markets

d, improvement 4: Society - pay attention to more improvement of the environmental protection level of enterprises.

social indicators include: employee satisfaction, environmental protection level and social reputation. The survey results show that the social performance of China's machinery enterprises has improved significantly compared with three years ago, among which the greatest improvement is social reputation, and the lesser improvement is environmental protection level, which shows that at present, the goals of China's machinery enterprises are mainly focused on the reputation of the enterprises themselves, and the efforts to improve environmental protection level are insufficient

with the progress of society and the intensification of enterprise competition, it has gradually become a new trend of modern enterprise philosophy to undertake corresponding responsibilities for relevant stakeholders and strengthen the enterprise society. However, the survey results show that Chinese enterprises are not enough to monitor the environmental performance of their partners' corporate society and products in the supply chain. In the near future, the environmental protection cost of enterprises will be higher and higher, and the environmental protection pressure of enterprises will also be greater and greater. Among the social indicators of China's machinery enterprises, the smallest improvement is precisely the environmental protection level, and the efforts in environmental protection are insufficient. From this point of view, with a view to the future, China's machinery enterprises should pay attention to the accelerated improvement of enterprise environmental protection standards

e, improvement V: Supply Chain Management - from the chain and the first production of the identification requirements of the product conformity declaration stage to the chain stage

the survival and prosperity of a manufacturing enterprise depends not only on its own efforts, but also on its relationship with upstream and downstream enterprises and customers. The survey results show that when choosing strategic suppliers, China's machinery enterprises pay more attention to the quality of products or services, delivery performance and the development prospects of suppliers, and better use electronic tools such as Internet and EDI to communicate and coordinate with suppliers

however, there is still much room for improvement in supply chain management. According to the survey results, the degree of using shared information, order tracking, collaborative management and other means to coordinate the planning decisions and material flow with its strategic suppliers and customers is not high

with the development of society, the market environment faced by manufacturing enterprises has undergone great changes. Dynamics, mutation and instability have become the trend of the development of the market environment. The characteristics of the manufacturing market environment, such as customer dominance, rapid change and fierce competition, are becoming increasingly prominent. Correspondingly, the development of supply chain has developed from chain stage to complex and highly cooperative stage. In this context, the emergence of the "value" model has broken the original supply chain model and gradually become a new business model choice for manufacturing enterprises. In value, enterprises can connect many partners together, form a fast, reliable and convenient system through effective resource integration, adapt to the uncertainty of the market with the flexibility of the network, and meet the diversified needs of customers by enhancing the way of value creation, so as to adapt to the changing market environment and realize the maximization of enterprise value. This is an improvement to make the supply chain theory more suitable for today's e-commerce society

therefore, China's machinery enterprises should move from independent value creation to cooperative value creation, paying attention not only to supply, but also to creating value for customers, enterprises and suppliers. In the future, the key to success is to organize or rebuild value

f, improvement VI: the implementation of "globalization" of China's machinery enterprises needs to be comprehensively promoted. The implementation of globalization of enterprises includes improving the globalization level of production networks (such as transferring production activities to overseas factories), improving the globalization level of procurement, improving the globalization level of sales, and improving the globalization level of product design and new parts development. The survey results show that more than 90% of enterprises purchase and manufacture most raw materials in their own countries, and 78.1% of enterprises produce products