【正文】 ty to those with higher degrees of flexibility, either marketoriented or resourcesoriented. Firms that are able to deal with uncertainties that their petitors cannot have marketoriented flexibility. By reducing market uncertainties or exerting influence on customer expectations, firms have more strategic choices and can adopt a more proactive approach to peting. Firms with highly flexible production systems have resourceoriented flexibility and can be more responsive to the changing market. By bining these two concepts, Figure 1 shows the dominant petitive priorities corresponding to the firm39。s petitive environment suggest that economies of scale and product or process technology will be a diminishing source of petitive advantage. As a result, manufacturers are turning their attention to building the skills and knowledge of their workforce. Worldclass manufacturers also realize that petitive advantage can be created only when the manufacturing strategy is well integrated with other functional strategies, which together support the overall corporate strategy. It implies that changes in strategy are necessary to cope with the changes in petitive environment and in the organization itself. Therefore, there is no best manufacturing strategy, and all petitive manufacturers should be ready to shift from one strategy to another as needed. The appropriate strategy depends on a firm39。s performance links directly to corporate performance and survival. Understanding the importance of the manufacturing function and its link to corporate performance provides a focal point for management to think more proactively about building capabilities for the future. The poor performance of many major manufacturing firms during the last two decades was no surprise to many researchers. Companies that develop a clear linkage between business and manufacturing strategies tend to be more successful and profitable. This finding has substantiated the argument that manufacturing is indeed a key petitive variable, especially in those industries where customers are increasingly cost and quality conscious. Phase 3: Formulate and implement strategies that center on the development of skills, manufacturing capabilities, and lean organizational structures. The outdated manufacturing strategy based on mass production is not responsive enough to cope with rapidly changing markets and shortened product life cycles. In addition, production jobs have bee more challenging and conceptual, as routine and repetitive tasks are performed by automated equipment. The full benefit of technology can be exploited only when workers understand and control a large part of the production process. * Skills and knowledge A productive work force today must be highly skilled and flexible, characteristics that can only be developed through extensive training and experience in a variety of job assignments. Therefore, the workplace must be reorganized to promote continuous learning, which must bee a normal part of work life. Evidence suggests that not many manufacturers, particularly in the United States, give high priority and mit sufficient resources to training their frontline workers. Management needs to realize that maintaining and upgrading the skills of their workforce is central to their petitive strategy. Management must focus on the cultivation of multiskilled workers and stop treating them as replaceable parts or a cost to be controlled. In an attempt to find out why the improvement of flexibility has been so elusive, Upton (1995) observed that most managers put too much faith in machines and technology, and too little faith in the daytoday management of people (p. 75). The basic theme of a skills development program is to encourage continuous learning throughout the pany