G Model
OPEMAN-701; No. of Pages 13

ARTICLE IN PRESS
Journal of Operations Management xxx (2010) xxx–xxx

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Journal of Operations Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jom

Agile manufacturing: Relation to JIT, operational performance and firm performance
R. Anthony Inman a,∗ , R. Samuel Sale b , Kenneth W. Green Jr. c,1 , Dwayne Whitten d,2 a College of Business, Louisiana Tech University, Box 10318, Ruston, LA 71272, United States Department of Management and Marketing, PO Box 10025, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX 77710, United States Department of Management, Marketing, and MIS, College of Business, Southern Arkansas University, P.O. Box 9410, Magnolia, AR 71754, United States d Texas A&M University - Mays Business School, Information and Operations Management Department, Mailstop 4217, College Station, TX 77843, United States b c

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A structural model incorporating agile manufacturing as the focal construct is theorized and tested. The model includes the primary components of JIT (JIT-purchasing and JIT-production) as antecedents and operational performance and firm performance as consequences to agile manufacturing. Using data collected from production and operations managers working for large U.S. manufacturers, the model is assessed following a structural equation modeling methodology. The results indicate that JIT-purchasing has a direct positive relationship with agile manufacturing while the positive relationship between JITproduction and agile manufacturing is mediated by JIT-purchasing. The results also indicate that agile manufacturing has a direct positive relationship with the operational performance of the firm, that the operational performance of the firm has a direct positive relationship with the marketing performance of the firm, and that the positive relationship between the operational performance of the firm and the financial