Effective decision making entity for production technology development

Abstract

We examine the effectiveness of decision making entity for production technology development, exploring a question of Who is the most effective decision making entity, and therefore who should participate more in the decision making process for which type of technological project? The analysis, using data on 83 technological projects from 22 manufacturing plants, indicates that the intimate knowledge and information about the projects as well as the manufacturing system be one of the critical factors in determining the most appropriate decision making entity. When a firms top managers distribute the decision making power among competing and cooperating participants in technological projects, they should first ask, Who has (thus, where is) the most relevant knowledge and information about the project and the system for which the new technological innovation is planned? It is necessary to look beyond the simple dichotomy of centralized versus decentralized decision making schemes: the critical issue is how to design a structure for the decision making entity most congruent with attributes and end-users of the technological innovation in point.