IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v44y1998i7p1017-1020.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Note: How Does Product Proliferation Affect Responsiveness?

Author

Listed:
  • Diwakar Gupta

    (Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M4)

  • Mandyam M. Srinivasan

    (College of Business Administration, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-0562)

Abstract

In this note we consider some strategies that a manufacturing firm may use to deal with an increase in the variety of products it offers. We indicate how alternate strategies for dealing with product proliferation impact the firm's responsiveness, measured in terms of average production lead time and average work-in-process inventory. Focusing on the make-to-order environment and using queueing models, we derive conditions under which an increase in product variety can improve both individual product performance as well as system performance, thus contradicting a common belief that a greater degree of focus and greater responsiveness go hand in hand. These queueing models provide operations managers analytical tools for evaluating alternate strategies for coping with product proliferation.

Suggested Citation

  • Diwakar Gupta & Mandyam M. Srinivasan, 1998. "Note: How Does Product Proliferation Affect Responsiveness?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(7), pages 1017-1020, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:44:y:1998:i:7:p:1017-1020
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.44.7.1017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.44.7.1017
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.44.7.1017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiao, Tiaojun & Xu, Tiantian, 2014. "Pricing and product line strategy in a supply chain with risk-averse players," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 305-315.
    2. J. Cole Smith & Churlzu Lim & Aydın Alptekinoğlu, 2009. "New product introduction against a predator: A bilevel mixed‐integer programming approach," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(8), pages 714-729, December.
    3. Huang, Shui-Mu & Su, Jack C.P., 2013. "Impact of product proliferation on the reverse supply chain," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 626-639.
    4. Himawan Hatmanto & Agung Yuniarinto & Surachman, 2022. "The influence of resource flexibility and product complexity on operational performance moderated by employee competence in Indonesian defense industry," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 11(3), pages 33-43, April.
    5. Thonemann, Ulrich W. & Bradley, James R., 2002. "The effect of product variety on supply-chain performance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(3), pages 548-569, December.
    6. Ayd{i}n Alptekinou{g}lu & Charles J. Corbett, 2008. "Mass Customization vs. Mass Production: Variety and Price Competition," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 10(2), pages 204-217, August.
    7. Menezes, Mozart B.C. & Jalali, Hamed & Lamas, Alejandro, 2021. "One too many: Product proliferation and the financial performance in manufacturing," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:44:y:1998:i:7:p:1017-1020. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.