An empirical research on the relationship among organizational boundary, flexibility and performance of the manufacture in Pearl River Delta

In the more and more dynamic competitive environment, the high performance and the core competence of firms derives from organizational flexibility. The boundaries between and in the flexible firms are becoming more and more blurred and penetrative in order to adapt to the complicated environment. This paper puts forward several hypotheses based on the research on a large number of theories. The more penetrative the organizational interior boundary is, the stronger the organizational flexibility is. The more blurred the organizational exterior boundary is, the stronger the organizational flexibility is. The more penetrative and blurred the organizational boundary is, the stronger the flexibility is and the better the organizational performance is. The article argues that the frequency of information communication inside firms, the establishment of multi-function group, customers’ involvement in new product design and development can make organizational boundaries blurred and penetrative. On the empirical research on 204 large and media-sized manufacturers in the Pearl River Delta, the article tests the hypotheses through SPSS. The article also probes into the approach of realization and significance of organizational flexibility through the analysis of the relationship among the boundries, flexibility and performance of firms with different characters and scales in different industries.