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IJOPM 29,7

Globalization and its impact on operational decisions
The role of industrial districts in the textile industry
Francisco Puig
Department of Management, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

692
Received 19 May 2008 Revised 6 July 2008, 1 March 2009 Accepted 10 March 2009

Helena Marques
Department of International Business, Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, and

Pervez N. Ghauri
Department of Management, King’s College London, London, UK
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to analyse the impact of globalization on the manufacturing operations of industries and industrial districts and how it influences the specialization and diversification of manufacturing decisions. Design/methodology/approach – The sample includes 9,684 Spanish manufacturing textile firms and the analysis is both cross-sectional and longitudinal. Findings – The results show that globalization tends to diminish the district and subsector effects over time, but they also show the positive impact of specialization on productivity and of diversification on business growth. Originality/value – The paper indicates to managers that the production function in textile firms has viability in Europe through achieving specialization and efficient operations management. Keywords Globalization, Manufacturing systems, Operations management, Decision making, Textile industry, Spain Paper type Research paper

Introduction The textile-apparel industry represents traditional manufacturing in some of the European Union (EU) member countries (see European Commission at http://ec.europa.eu/ index_en.htm). Recently, however, this industry is facing important challenges that question its ability to survive and perform at an efficient level particularly in its operational function (Dangayach and Deshmukh, 2001; Nordas, 2004; Golf et al., 2005;... [continues]

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