Why do some companies adopt advanced management systems? The Spanish case

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the organisational innovation effort that is being carried out by Spanish industrial companies through the implementation of advanced management systems.

Taking into account the results of two surveys conducted with Spanish companies (in 1996 and 2007), the authors study the implementation of innovative practices in the organisation of work and describe different typologies of companies, in agreement with how widespread these practices are. In addition, the authors study the determining factors that drive companies to use well‐developed management systems. In order to carry out these analyses use is made of two statistical techniques: cluster analysis and estimation of discrete choice models.

The study of the company typology reveals that there are industrial companies in Spain competing with three different profiles which are described in the paper. There are differences in some human resource management aspects. The greatest differences are seen in the way the information is shared. The results obtained through the estimation of discrete choice models determine that the main factors that explain the implementation of developed management systems in Spanish companies are: market competition; the development of positioning strategies; the existence of a participatory attitude in management; and the participation in networks along the value chain.

After acknowledging the variety of business typologies, the management recommendations suggested in this paper insist on making coordinated progress in decision making on strategies, resources, internal organisation of companies and human resources management policies.

This is the first comprehensive survey about how widespread organisational innovative practices are in Spanish industrial companies.