Benchmarking and developing the operational competitiveness of Chinese state-owned manufacturing enterprises in a global context

The purpose of this paper is to study the operational competitiveness of Chinese State-Owned Manufacturing Enterprises (CSOMEs) by analysing the case CSOME and comparing it with other global manufacturing companies in a Global Manufacturing Strategies (GMSS) database for developing innovation and learning. Analytical models are used to analyse the operational competitiveness of the case CSOME and its subsidiaries based on the weights of the multicriteria manufacturing strategies. The operational competitiveness development of its subsidiaries are applied to predict the future operational competitiveness of the case CSOME in a global context. The results show that quality is the most important competitive priority of the case CSOME and the case CSOME have some advantages when competing in a prospector group. The ranking and stability of the operational competitiveness of the case CSOME imply that: (1) the top CSOMEs have a strong operational competitiveness in the global context; however, they have some gaps compared to the top manufacturing enterprises in the world and (2) it will take a long time for the top CSOMEs to improve their operational competitiveness because of a huge organisational structure.