52 Years of manufacturing strategy: an evolutionary review of literature (1969-2021)

Manufacturing strategy is an essential aspect of production and operations management discipline. It plays a crucial role in the success of business strategy by configuring manufacturing decisions effectively to achieve the firm's competitive advantage in the marketplace. From the advent of the manufacturing strategy concept, it has advanced immensely through the contribution of researchers in scholarly outlets. This paper provides an evolutionary overview of the literature on the manufacturing strategy domain to provide the scientific landscape of existing studies for exploring the progression of the domain over five decades. In this study, 1034 articles published from 1969-2021 are selected, reviewed, and analysed. We critically explored the evolution in the publication trend, usage of keywords, and identified the prominent themes of manufacturing strategy. Based on the thematic analysis of literature, a systemic manufacturing strategy formulation framework is proposed. Further, we determined the critical strategies considered in the manufacturing domain and mapped their evolution according to the industrial revolutions. This study provides significant contributions to the progression of the manufacturing strategy domain by recommending future research opportunities identified through the literature analysis. The practitioners and policymakers can utilise the proposed systemic manufacturing strategy framework to formulate the strategy at their firm.

Automated summary

This study provides an overview of the evolution of manufacturing strategy literature from 1969 to 2021, analyzing 1034 articles to identify publication trends, keyword usage, and prominent themes. A systemic manufacturing strategy formulation framework is proposed based on thematic analysis, along with the mapping of critical strategies and their evolution in relation to industrial revolutions. The study makes significant contributions to the advancement of the manufacturing strategy domain and suggests future research opportunities for practitioners and policymakers.