Management support for the adoption of manufacturing best practices: key factors

Management support for any change initiative's success has been well documented. Adoption of a manufacturing best practice, which has been developed elsewhere and has produced superior results, also brings some changes to the adopting organization. Survey-based studies show that companies involved in the identification of best practices are generally not willing to adopt or are not successful in implementing their findings. This indicates that these organizations' managers do not offer adequate support for best practices. This study was undertaken to identify the factors that influence management support for the adoption of manufacturing best practices. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between each of the factors and management support. Positive significant associations were found between management support and organizational resource availability, external pressures, perceived operational benefits, and compatibility. Also, satisfaction with the existing practice was found to have a negative significant association with management support.