The Role of Organizational Competences in the Evolution of Business Models

International audienceThis paper presents the use of a conceptual framework designed for the management of organizational competences to contribute to the evolution of the business model of an enterprise. The framework, developed based on a detailed review of the history of the car manufacturer Toyota, was used for a Delphi study and an action-research applied in the furniture industry. The results suggest that it is applicable for ex-post analysis of organizational changes, as well as a strategy planning tool

Mini factory: a successful model for European furniture industry?

Manufacturing system based on mini factory is one of the modern pervasive production models spreading as a response to demand for customized products with low cost and fast delivery time. However, as the term is far from being uniform and unique, its application in research and industry by managers is still challenging and represents somehow a riddle. Consequently, the various meanings associated with the term mini factory in literature are critically assayed. The results depicted three main areas of the model of mini factory: "Work organisation model", "Agile Assembly Architecture" and "Distributed mini factories network". Steming out from the third model, the possibility of using the mini factory model presented by Reichwald, Stotko & Piller was explored. Indeed, due to its characteristics, this model seems to be able to respond more effectively to the challenges in the European furniture sector, in particular for SMEs