Emphasising today over tomorrow: not a strategic option in operations.

The question to be addressed in this paper is: How is competing for tomorrow based on operations enabled or compromised by competing for today? Operations strategy has been defined as the total pattern of decisions which shape the long term capabilities of any type of operation and their contribution to overall strategy, through the reconciliation of market requirements with operations resources (Slack & Lewis, 2008). It is the “long term” element of this definition that is of interest in this paper and, in particular, the linkage between choices of emphasis on today and tomorrow. Managing for today while building the infrastructure for tomorrow involves a basic dilemma: building the systems and processes for the short run often undercuts the innovative process. Successful organizations innovate for today as well as for tomorrow. Yet, managing this duality is difficult and there are many examples of once-innovative firms trapped by their own success (Tushman & Nadler, 1986; Abell 1999). Boyer & McDermott (1999) examined the impact of strategic consensus or disagreement on the development of manufacturing capabilities and plant performance. They proposed that the critical factor in determining strategic success was not necessarily which priority was emphasized, but whether the priority was translated into a consistent pattern of decisions that helped to develop the capability into a competitive advantage. It is this “pattern of decisions” that is of interest in this paper.