Affiliations: [a] Henley – The Management College, Greenlands, Henley-on-Thames, UK | [b] Athens School of Economics and Business Science, 76 Patisson Street, Athens 10434, Greece
Note: [*] A version of this paper was first presented at the International Research Seminar on Industrial Marketing: Research on Interfaces between Marketing, Organisational Behaviour and Technological Development in August 1984 at the Stockholm School of Economics. The authors gratefully acknowledge the reviewers' comments on the original paper. The research was funded by the Joint Committee of the Economic and Social Research Council and the Science and Engineering Research Council and we thank them for their support.
Abstract: This paper examines the relative influence of economic technical and managerial factors on an organisation's decision to adopt or reject a flexible manufacturing system. Based on interviews within 31 British and West German companies the authors develop a process model of the adoption decision which provides an organising framework for their discussion. Their findings support the view developed by Gerwin and Leung that the rate of adoption of such a significant innovation depends as much upon the appropriate organisational infrastructure, the key people involved and the role of manufacturing in the overall corporate planning process, as it does upon the economic and technical case for FMS.
