Cost cutting by transferring the production capacity to low-wage countries cannot by itself guarantee the survival of the manufacturing industry in the European Community. This book poses a number of topical questions, regarding competitive production for the 21st century, in four key areas.

The health of American manufacturing has been a cause of real concern during the 1980s. Foreign competition, hostile takeovers, new technologies and a host of other factors have caused dramatic changes in this key sector of the American economy. Many ob servers of this process of change are singing the

Implementing co-operative production networks to secure and foster future competitiveness on the global market is a major strategic target for many small- and medium-sized enterprises. The text starts begins with a look at strategic management before moving onto operational product development and operations execution, and in doing so provides a

Agile manufacturing is defined as the capability of surviving and prospering in a competitive environment of continuous and unpredictable change by reacting quickly and effectively to changing markets, driven by customer-designed products and services. Critical to successfully accomplishing AM are a few enabling technologies such as the standard for the

" This book examines the implications of pervasive computing from an operational, legal and ethical perspective, so that current and future e-business managers can make responsible decisions about where, when and how to use this technology"--Provided by publisher.