The impact of supplier development on buyer competitive advantage: A path analytic model

As manufacturing firms increasingly realize that supplier performance is crucial to their establishing and maintaining competitive advantage, supplier development has been a subject of considerable research in supply chain management. We develop and test a path model to explore how supplier development practices affect buyer-supplier performance from the buying firm's perspective in the context of Hong Kong's electronics industry. The results show that top management, supplier evaluation, and supplier strategic objectives are significant determinants of transaction-specific supplier development, and that buyers that have closer collaborative relationships with suppliers may strengthen their competitive advantage.     

“Green” supply chain management: The role of trust and top management in B2B and B2C markets

“Green” supply chain management (GSCM) has often been associated with highly visible companies (Bowen, 2000) and firms within consumer-focused industries (Buysse & Verbeke, 2003; Hall, 2000; Roht-Arriaza, 1996). As such, GSCM has partly been led by development of consumer awareness of environmental issues (Beamon, 1999; Zhu et al., 2005). This suggest that firms operating in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets have strong incentives to implement GSCM, due to both institutional and stakeholder pressure. However, this leaves the role of GSCM in business-to-business (B2B) sectors relatively unexplored and to-date little is known about: 1) the relative engagement with GSCM among firms in business-to-consumer and business-to-business sectors; 2) the conditions that are necessary for successful implementation of “green” practices in B2B supply chains. This study addresses these issues within the context of 340 buyer–supplier relationships in the United Kingdom, using an innovative research methodology that captures firms' engagement with GSCM practices and minimizes social desirability and common source biases. Our results show that GSCM is relatively limited among firms in B2B markets compared to firms in B2C markets. At the same time, we show that developing trust with supply chain partners, while also having top management support, is a crucial driver of engagement with GSCM among firms in B2B sector but less important among firms in B2C sector. These findings provide considerable insights to managers and marketers of B2B supply chains that seek to respond to a growing interest of environmental performance of supply chain.     

Corrigendum to “The effect of spatial variables on the economic and environmental performance of bioenergy production chains” [Int. J. Prod. Econ. 131 (2011) 224-233]

Using a knowledge-based perspective, we identify and test the conditions enabling inter-firm learning in the aerospace supply chain. We focus on buyers accessing knowledge from their suppliers. Hypotheses are tested via a cross-sectional survey of supplier relationships of prime contractors in Canada's aerospace industry. The variables identified as having a significant impact on inter-firm learning are as follows: the quality of the buyer–supplier relationship in terms of trust, collaboration, socialization and information sharing; the proprietary links between both firms; and the use of ITC collaboration tools.     

The relationship between supplier management and firm's operational performance: A multi-dimensional perspective

This paper presents an empirical study on the multidimensional relationships between supplier management practices and firm operational performance. Specifically, we focus on three supplier management practices, namely strategic long-term relationship, supplier assessment, and logistics integration, and test their effects on four operations performance measures, namely quality, delivery, flexibility, and cost. We use data collected from 232 manufacturing firms in Australia to conduct the study. Ten hypotheses were tested simultaneously using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. The results show that different supplier management practices have different unique effects on different operations performance measures. Supplier assessment has a positive relationship with quality performance. Both strategic long-term relationship and logistics integration have positive relationships with delivery, flexibility, and cost performance. From a theoretical perspective, this study demonstrates the relative contributions of different kinds of resources (i.e., supplier management practices in our case) to different performance measures. Our research findings provide practical insights for managers to understand the effectiveness, as well as the limitations, of different supplier management practices in enhancing different operations performance measures of firms.     

Intermediaries in power-laden retail supply chains: An opportunity to improve buyer–supplier relationships and collaboration

Despite the benefits of buyer and seller collaboration and hence relationships extolled in extensive studies, issues of relationship power inhibit implementation of collaborative and relational approaches, particularly in some parts of the retail sector. Further, most research regards buyer–supplier collaboration and relations as dyadic or focal relationships, or perhaps in a network context, and typically investigates buyer–supplier collaboration and relations from a power-dependency perspective; and within vertical supply integration. Little attention has been given to the potential role of supply chain intermediaries, such as logistics service providers, in objectively and independently determining and managing the course of buyer–supplier collaboration and relations in a business-to-business context. This article appraises the potential role of buyer–supplier collaboration and relations and their relevant opportunities in the power-laden, contentious environment of the retail grocery sector. With an interdisciplinary approach, drawn from supply management, relationship management, and logistics and supply chain management, this article emphasises the importance of horizontal collaboration using fourth-party logistics structures as horizontal intermediary conduits, who act independently between retailers and suppliers to facilitate collaborative and relational activity.     

Coping with time pressure in interfirm supply chain relationships

In today's evolving marketplace, firms must increasingly focus on developing responsiveness to meet customer demands. In the pursuit of such rapid response to customer needs, firms often demand that other members of their supply chain reduce cycle times of key business activities. Although tight deadlines are commonly imposed by customers, little is known about how supplier firms respond to such time pressure. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to learn more about the phenomenon of time pressure in interfirm relationships and determine how firms cope with this common situational constraint. Grounded theory methodology was utilized to discover a time pressure coping strategies taxonomy that is driven by evaluative criteria such as the frequency, magnitude, and attribution of time pressure. The model that emerged from this research provides information about the potential costs of leveraging interfirm relationships in order to achieve supply chain responsiveness.     

The Chinese paradigm of global supplier relationships: Social control,formal interactions and the mediating role of culture

This paper reports the results of a study that examined how firms can establish successful business relationships with Chinese suppliers. Its aim is to explore salient characteristics of the nature of buyer supplier relationships with the emergence of China as a dominant economic power. Two surveys have been conducted that investigated several factors that inhibit and enable effective supplier relationship management (SRM) between organisations sourcing from China and Chinese suppliers, and explored the impact of cultural characteristics of Chinese management on the nature and performance of supplier relationships. The research highlights the importance of the social control aspect of governance structure of supplier relationships and stresses that both social and formal control mechanisms should be implemented for more effective relationships with Chinese suppliers. It also demonstrates the need for companies to recognise the importance of guanxi and several cultural characteristics of the Chinese style of management in SRM and advocates the need for the development of a hybrid Sino-Japanese and global supplier relationship management paradigm that incorporates elements from the existing SRM models. It generates insights into how the cultural context of emerging markets affects the nature of business relationships and generates a research agenda in the field of supply chain management that can explore the development of new paradigms in supplier relationships management. The main theoretical argument put forward centres on the need for the development of a new global supplier relationship management paradigm that will take into account the cultural elements of the Chinese society.     

Interfirm Relationships in the Supply Chain: The Small Supplier’s View

The need for global market presence, the complexity of new product development, and the emphasis on core competence are making alliances among firms more important, and recent evidence suggests that these issues are affecting small suppliers as well as the large firms that are their customers. This paper studied the relationship orientation (i.e., the perceived importance, of interfirm relations) in a fragmented supplier industry whose single largest customer group is automotive OEMs. The primary objective of the research was the identification of factors that discriminate between firms with high and low relationship orientations. The study found four factors describing benefits and barriers associated with interfirm relationships, and found that firms with a high relationship orientation were smaller and more optimistic about the industry’s ability to support a greater number of firms in the future, and perceived faster technology change than firms with a low relationship orientation.     

Distributors' customer-driving capability under supplier encroachment

Suppliers in business-to-business (B2B) markets often directly approach end customers in addition to using third-party distribution channels. This phenomenon, known as supplier encroachment, poses an increasing challenge to the distributor's profitability in the supply chain. However, little research has adopted the distributor's perspective to examine how it can overcome this challenge. This study addresses this gap by adopting the dynamic capability and network embeddedness theory to postulate the critical role of the distributors' customer-driving capability in tackling encroachment. Using survey data from 125 distributor firms in the semiconductor industry, we show that distributors' customer-driving capability significantly improves firm performance and that the impact strengthens when supplier encroachment is high. Moreover, we delineate the positive impacts of supplier relationship exploration, distributor relational embeddedness, and customer service excellence on distributors' customer-driving capability. Interestingly, supplier encroachment weakens the effects of supplier relationship exploration and customer service excellence but strengthens that of distributor relational embeddedness, indicating the importance of leveraging peer relationships under high supplier encroachment.     

Big data analytics for supply chain relationship in banking

This paper reports how a commercial bank in Asia uses big data analytic as a tool to explore the internal B2B data to improve supply chain finance and the efficiency of marketing tactics and campaigns. A case study was conducted by analyzing two types of supply chain relationships: (1) supply chain relationships in the credit reports; (2) e-wiring transactions among supply chain companies. The results show that big data analytics is very useful in terms of improving the commercial banks' marketing and risk management performances. The case study also set a good example for B2B firms seeking to understand how they could leverage big data analytics to differentiate customer solutions, sustain profitability and generate new business values. Theorical and practical implications are also discussed.     

Channel relationship and business uncertainty: Evidence from the Hong Kong market

This study examines the dynamics of channel relationships between an end user and multiple suppliers in Hong Kong, a major international logistics hub in Asia. Drawing on the literature on channel relationships, we examine the links between different channel relationship variables and the contingent effect of business uncertainty on the links between these variables and supplier commitment. The results of the study indicate that expected relationship continuity mediates the effects of trust and relationship quality on commitment. Furthermore, the positive effect of trust on commitment is found to be stronger when business uncertainty is high than when business uncertainty is low. As supply chain management is becoming essential for firms to succeed in today's business, industrial marketing managers need to be aware of the dynamics in channel relationships and to better manage their supply chains. The implications of our findings for research and for the practice of channel relationship management are provided.     

Does a green supply chain improve corporate reputation? Empirical evidence from European manufacturing sectors

Managing supplier relationships in an environmentally responsible way may prevent risk of adverse publicity and reputational damage to the buying firm. Drawing on the stakeholder approach and the environmental management capability framework, the purpose of this paper is to gain further knowledge regarding the impact of strategies oriented to green supply chain management on a firm's corporate reputation. We test a set of hypotheses in a panel data of European manufacturing companies for a period of ten years. Our findings provide strong support for the premise that supplier selection, monitoring and partnership termination based on environmental criteria positively influence corporate reputation. Additionally, evidence suggests that the implementation of those strategies in an integral way as well as progressing towards the adoption of green supply chain management benefit a firm's reputation. This study has implications for theory and practice.     

Supplier adaptation: A qualitative investigation of customer and supplier perspectives

Differing views and goals in the buyer–supplier dyad can create underlying tension in supply chain relationships. Although research recognizes that adaptation is often expected from both customers and suppliers in exchange relationships, researchers have not adequately explored the long-range relational implications of customer adaptation requests. This research uses data from two qualitative focus groups to examine the interaction of customers and suppliers surrounding adaptation, as prior research has not yet considered how the customer's response to adaptation may change if they are aware of how the supplier actually perceives and evaluates specific adaptation requests. The first focus group included 20 active participants representing both customer and supplier perspectives, while the second focus group included five participants to provide a more in-depth examination of issues that emerged in the first focus group. Results suggest that customers' and suppliers' adaptation expectations differ; each has difficulty recognizing adaptation conflict because of perceived benefits and biases surrounding adaptation. Results suggest several adaptation conflict management behaviors are utilized to minimize its negative impacts on supply chain relationships, including blameshifting, justifying and negotiating techniques. Results suggest that trust can create blind spots in relationships, potentially causing customers and their suppliers to have difficulty recognizing conflict until it deteriorates relationships' foundational trust.     

Assessing the relational benefits of logistics services perceived by manufacturers in supply chain

The growing importance of logistics activities that span the boundaries of supply chain firms has put an emphasis on supply chain relationship management. Based on the existing marketing concept on relational benefits and the supply chain management literature on consumer satisfaction, this research evaluates logistics service performance from the eyes of manufacturers. Using data collected from US manufacturing firms, the study has identified the factors that influence manufacturer's satisfaction, as well as the key to understanding the benefits-satisfaction-loyalty triads in supply chain relationships. The contribution of the paper includes developing a conceptual model, adding new theoretical insights into benefits-satisfaction-loyalty triad that has been applied by manufacturers and LSPs, and providing some meaningful perspective on how to strategically assess the use of logistics providers so as to transform a logistics firm from a tactical service provider to a hand-in-glove strategic partner.     

Supply chain integration and performance: The effects of long-term relationships, information technology and sharing, and logistics integration

Supply chain integration is widely considered by both practitioners and researchers a vital contributor to supply chain performance. The two key flows in such relationships are material and information. Previous studies have addressed information integration and material (logistics) integration in separate studies. In this paper, we investigate the integrations of both information and material flows between supply chain partners and their effect on operational performance. Specifically, we examine the role of long-term supplier relationship as the driver of the integration. Using data from 232 Australian firms, we find that logistics integration has a significant effect on operations performance. Information technology capabilities and information sharing both have significant effects on logistics integration. Furthermore, long-term supplier relationships have both direct and indirect significant effects on performance; the indirect effect via the effect on information integration and logistics integration.     

Cross-border e-commerce firms as supply chain integrators: The management of three flows

Cross-border e-commerce is becoming increasingly popular around the world. With the development of technology, competition has gradually shifted from commodity-based attributes, such as cost and quality, to a supply chain's service capacity for e-commerce. Within this context, the present paper delineates how cross-border e-commerce firms can generate supply chain service capabilities that yield improvements in supply chain relationship quality to e-tailors and other platform users. Insights are derived through data collected via a multiple case study approach based on four Chinese cross-border e-commerce enterprises (OSell, Zongteng, BizArk and Linca); data were collected from 41 semi-structured interviews, field visits and secondary data. Relying on the service-dominant logic as the theoretical foundation, we identify three supply chain resources (flows related to information, logistics and finance) and their interplay as being critical for the development of supply chain service capabilities, which in turn lead to an improvement in the quality of supply chain relationships (assessed by the dimensions of trust improvement/commitment, risk mitigation, and customer satisfaction). The results offer important insights into how to best manage supply chain resources in relation to the three flows by cross-border e-commerce firms in order to foster relationship quality, an attribute that has become so critical today for competitive differentiation.     

The role of open book accounting in a supplier network: Creating and managing interdependencies across company boundaries

Open book accounting (OBA) is an accounting method that has been put forward as a tool for managing interdependencies across company boundaries. This paper investigates the role of OBA in creating and managing interdependences in supplier relationships. In particular, consideration is given to how OBA deals with the embedded relationships in which interdependencies are both potentially aligning and conflicting with interdependencies in other relationships. An in-depth case study on the role of OBA within the retail industry in Sweden has been conducted. The study shows that the company used the OBA to create and manage interdependencies in different inter-organizational situations. The company used it in managing the interdependencies with the first tier supplier and down in the supply chain influencing second and third tier suppliers. However, OBA plays a key role in creating and managing the embedded supplier relationships. OBA was used to influence indirect relationships and their technical and organizational interfaces. It was also decisive in new resource combination and in the identification of new interfaces. Furthermore, OBA was used when actors defined the network boundaries and find new temporary solutions.     

The mediating role of key supplier relationship management practices on supply chain orientation—The organizational buying effectiveness link

The role of key supplier relationships and their link with purchasing performance are poorly recognized in current business-to-business marketing literature. Given the predominance of collaborative supply chain relationships, purchasing must be considered to be providing value, thereby implying its effective nature. This study introduces a conceptual model of the relationship between supply chain orientation (SCO) and key supplier relationship management (KSRM) with organizational buying effectiveness (OBE) as a measure of effective purchasing behavior. To extend the model's nomological network, we link OBE with firm profitability. We find that SCO and KSRM have a strong positive influence on OBE. Furthermore, KSRM is demonstrated to be a significant mediator in the SCO–OBE relationship. Finally, OBE significantly and positively influences firm profitability, suggesting that it adequately addresses the aspects of effective purchasing behavior. We also discuss theoretical and managerial implications as well as future research directions in light of the limitations of this study.     

Power to all our friends? Living with imbalance in supplier-retailer relationships

This study investigates the issue of power in business-to-business relationships and constitutes an appraisal of the theory relating to issues of supply chain relationships, in which the received view from the Relationship Marketing (RM) literature with its emphasis on trust, dyadic symmetry and mutuality is questioned. It is contended, alternatively that other types of relationships, for example, those based on selfishness are equally relevant, and that power imbalanced business relationships are just as important to the understanding of business exchange. Specific reference is made to power relationships in vertical food supply channels in the UK, where the majority of control lies in the hands of large multiple retailers. The paper cites case material drawn from studies into the relationships between UK based fresh food supplier organizations and their principal customers, the leading UK food retailers, and determines specific outcomes with regard to issues of power, mutuality and the nature of power-dependent relationships.     

The Effects of Supplier Involvement and Knowledge Protection on Product Innovation in Customer–Supplier Relationships: A Study of Global Automotive Suppliers in China

Globalization drives firms to develop product innovation through their global supply chains. While innovations generated by supply channel members, as opposed to individual partners, are playing an increasingly important role in the success of all supply chain partners, there has been limited research on how supply chain relationships cultivate the process of such innovation generation, particularly in emerging markets. Correspondingly, this study explores how multinational suppliers can develop adaptive product innovation to create competitive advantage in emerging markets. Drawing on the knowledge‐based view and transaction cost economics, this study investigates the influence of supplier involvement and other factors on supplier innovation and performance. The results of a survey of 170 multinational automobile suppliers in China provide support for most of the hypotheses. Specifically, supplier involvement in codesign has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with product innovation. Furthermore, knowledge protection, trust, and technological uncertainty are all found to drive greater product innovation. In addition, the institutional environment moderates the effect of product innovation on performance. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of how MNEs can acquire local knowledge and develop adaptive products in emerging markets.