ABSTRACT
The physical layout and the transformation process that an organization employs are critical factors for strategic operations management. This is because both the layout and, more specifically, the process transformation process (or process choice as it is sometimes called) provide massive clues about what the organization can do, as well as what it cannot do. This is important because sometimes an organization will be attracted to a market opportunity and the attempt will prove futile because the appropriate process choice is not in place. For example, a famous operations management case on this issue is the attempt by Babcock & Wilcox to enter the nuclear energy industry (Hill, 2000). This was a disaster because the required change of transformation – from line to job processes – was not undertaken by Babcock & Wilcox.
