Despite the proclaimed advantages and popularity of outsourcing, there are few and contradictory studies of the effects. The main purpose of this paper is to analyse how outsourcing manufacturing relates to performance and innovation at the plant level. A second purpose is to analyse how this outcome relates to investments in manufacturing capability. This paper is based on the results of a large-scale survey of outsourcing and manufacturing practices among a representative sample of Swedish engineering firms. The results show mainly no significant effects from outsourcing manufacturing on plant operating performance or innovation capability. This paper, however, reveals that the firms' investments in technological and organisational capabilities explain the improvements of performance at the plant level to a significantly higher extent than outsourcing does. This paper concludes with a suggestion to further analyse the potential of combined outsourcing and manufacturing strategies.

Firms are increasingly involving and relying on networks of suppliers and other external partners in their innovation processes. A successful exploitation of suppliers' technology and competencies is however challenging, not least in situations characterised by technological uncertainty. The main purpose of this study is to analyse how supplier innovativeness may be leveraged through internal knowledge integration capabilities in involving suppliers. The analysis is based on a survey of firms in Europe and North America. The study shows that innovative suppliers do contribute to a firm's innovation performance in terms of time–to–market and level of innovation in products/services. The main result is that an internal knowledge integration capability in terms of proficiency in supplier management and cross–functional decision making boosts innovation performance, in particular when technological uncertainty is high.

This article reports findings from the Swedish part of the 2nd International Continuous Improvement Survey. Based on Bessant's evolutionary model of continuous improvement behaviour, the continuous improvement capability level of the Swedish engineering industry is estimated. The data analysis shows that there is a need for progression towards higher continuous improvement capability levels. Therefore, the specific abilities to develop in order to support such a move forward are clarified. In addition to being an illustration of manufacturing practices in Sweden from a continuous improvement perspective, this article contributes to the field of Operations Management by being the first attempt to replicate the work of Bessant via a large-scale survey study. The model is found valid and it shows that development of continuous improvement abilities contribute to the enhancement of plant performance.

This study examines which factors motivate small enterprises to realise product innovations and how these factors affect their innovation processes. In a multiple embedded case study of three small enterprises, 11 different innovation processes, both realised and unrealised, were discovered and analysed. Strategy, competition, profit, growth, source of innovation idea, innovation process size and novelty were not found to explain the motivation to innovate, but ten interdependent motivating factors did, of which four externally oriented factors were found conclusive for innovation to occur. The factors found, dealing with resource scarcity, technology and market uncertainty and risk, and cash flow, highly affected how the innovation processes were carried out. The findings further show that the need to maintain steady cash flow seems to be the overall motive for product innovation in small enterprises.

This study focuses on the tense appropriability-openness relationship, defined by some as paradox. Based on an international survey of 415 manufacturing firms, we investigate how the use of different kinds of intellectual property protection mechanisms (IPPMs) affects interfirm R&D collaboration while considering partner location in the analysis as well. Our results show that the use of formal, semi-formal or informal IPPMs has different effects on openness in terms of partner variety and depth of collaboration with academic partners, value chain partners and competitors. Moreover, when considering location we uncover previously hidden appropriability-openness liaisons showing that semi-formal or informal IPPMs are mainly valid in relation to national partners, whereas formal appropriability explains international collaborations. One implication of the study is that to better understand the appropriability-openness relationship it is imperative to differentiate between national and international settings. We further suggest that the potential paradox delineating this relationship has a geographical dimension.