Global Operations Management

In this chapter, we consider the factors that influence why companies and industries internationalise their operations and use globalisation to pursue competitive operations strategies. First, we will describe how, historically, industrialised economies have sought resources and exploited overseas markets and later offshored their operations to optimise costs. Then, we explore the mechanisms for firms to internationalise, through foreign direct investment and ownership, technology transfer, and the part played by operations management. After this, we consider the whole global production system, manufacturing networks and propose the concept of a holistic global footprint. Following this, we explore the current and future challenges in Global Operations Management (GOM) by exploring why there is a growing concern about resilience and sustainability. And finally, we discuss how risk mitigation and greater digitisation can address some of these challenges.