Ponce, NicolasNicolasPonce2023-04-132023-04-132022-09-19https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/108266In recent history, the conceptualization of an own, firm-specific production system has become a trend observable across a wide range of industries. Despite the continued interest and commonly improved understanding, as production systems are implemented, firms experience difficulties in quantifying the impact of individual and bundled production system elements on operational performance metrics. At the same time, the ability to make data-informed decisions based on current performance and profound expertise on the most relevant levers of a production system represents a high potential for manufacturing companies, which is still exploited to a limited extent by a few progressive actors. There is a general consensus in the relevant literature that the self-reinforcing effects of reciprocal interactions of production system principles have not yet been conclusively empirically explored, which is why several scholars argue for the importance of further scientific research. The present dissertation contributes to knowledge generation in the pharmaceutical context by investigating the effects of principles among themselves and their impact on performance metrics. The research findings show decision makers of pharmaceutical companies in which elements they have to invest the highest amount of resources to achieve the strongest possible impact depending on certain problems or purposes. Thus, the dissertation makes a direct contribution to solving the problems identified for manufacturing firms, which are especially associated with the introduction of production systems. The present research addresses the existing knowledge gap by consistently identifying, conceptualizing, and operationalizing relevant principles of contemporary production systems. Besides, the empirical review provides significant findings regarding the explanation of the strongest levers per performance dimension, which should be implemented for an effective as well as efficient improvement of the performance of manufacturing plants. By matching the operationalized production principles with the St.Gallen OPEX model as well as by designing and validating an abbreviated performance metrics system, the possibility of a semi-automated benchmarking is provided. This will enable pharmaceutical firms to obtain a real-time assessment of their performance compared to that of their competitors on the basis of data that is already available. In addition, the principles that only show a medium level of agreement with the St.Gallen OPEX Model suggest conceivable areas of improvement for its further development.deOperations ManagementProduktionsmanagementLean ProductionPerformance ManagementPharmazeutische IndustrieEDIS-5137Operational Excellencedoctoral thesis