Supplier–supplier relationships in buyer–supplier–supplier triads: Implications for supplier performance

A growing number of studies and evidence from industries suggest that, besides managing the relationship with its suppliers, a buyer needs to proactively manage the relationships between those suppliers. In a buyer–supplier–supplier relationship triad, the buyer, as the contracting entity, influences the suppliers’ behaviors and the relationship between them. By considering the relationships in such a triad, we are able to gain a richer and more realistic perspective of buyer–supplier relationships. In this study, our goal is to examine supplier–supplier relationships in buyer–supplier–supplier triads, focusing on how such relationships impact the supplier performance. We frame the supplier–supplier relationship as co-opetition—one in which competing suppliers work together to meet the buyer's requirements. We investigate the role of the buyer on such relationships, and how the buyer and co-opetitive supplier–supplier relationships affect supplier performance. We find mixed empirical support for our hypotheses. However, we are able to demonstrate the dynamics of supplier–supplier co-opetition in the buyer–supplier–supplier triad. We point out the need for further studies in this area.     

Social Marketing of a Fortified Staple Food at Scale: Generating Demand for Fortified Rice in Brazil

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the social marketing strategy implemented by PATH and GAIN to create a sustainable market for rice fortification in Brazil and develop a replicable model relevant to other geographies. It draws on market research on consumer attitudes and practices, as well as key demand and consumer metrics before and after execution of the social marketing campaign in Brazil. This marketing endeavor succeeded in establishing the viability of introducing fortified rice in a country through a purely market-based approach. Whereas social marketing is vital to the introduction and scale-up of fortified staple foods through commercial markets, it is not sufficient to achieve meaningful scale and sustainability. Engagement from the public and social sectors, clear governance, and other factors are critical to substantial and long-term impact. Lessons from this first attempt to introduce a fortified staple food through a market-based approach are relevant to similar initiatives elsewhere.     

Supply chain vulnerability assessment: A network based visualization and clustering analysis approach

Supply chains are large, complex, and often unpredictable. Purchasing and supply managers and supply chain risk managers need methods and tools to enable them to quickly understand how unexpected disruptions in the supply chain start and grow and to what extent will they negatively impact the flow of goods and services. This paper introduces a methodological approach that can be used by both researchers and managers to quickly visualize a supply chain, map out the propagation path of disruptive events from the supply side to the end customer and understand potential weaknesses in the supply chain design; taking into account the structure, connectivity, and dependence within the supply chain. The approach incorporates a Petri net and Triangularization Clustering Algorithm to offer insights into a supply chain network's vulnerabilities and can be used to efficiently assess supply chain disruption mitigation strategies, especially in complex and difficulty to analyze supply chain systems.     

Managing Critical Spare Parts within a Buyer–Supplier Dyad: Buyer Preferences for Ownership and Placement

Despite the criticality and expense of spare parts, many firms lack a coherent strategy for ensuring needed supply of spare parts. Moreover, scientific research regarding a comprehensive spare parts strategy is sparse in comparison with direct material. Our research identifies and tests three literature-based, theoretically anchored attributes that influence a buyer's preference for inventory ownership and inventory placement when managing the stock of a critical spare part. Our findings indicate that item specificity and item supply uncertainty are useful in predicting a buyer's preference for managing the inventory of a critical spare part. Furthermore, we find that buyers have (1) a strong preference for consignment-based inventory management approaches, (2) a bias against inventory speculation despite its use in practice and analytical models, and (3) a strong preference for inventory postponement when the level of supply uncertainty is low.     

Beyond improved quality: the motivational effects of statistical process control

The deployment of statistical process control (SPC) in manufacturing environments is a prominent global phenomenon. Managers have frequently justified investments in SPC by citing and/or demonstrating the improvements in quality and costs from the effective implementation and practice of SPC. This paper complements this rationalization by presenting conceptual arguments and empirical evidence to further our understanding of the motivational effects that result from the deployment of SPC within production environments. Several hypotheses derived from relating the deployment of SPC to process operators’ jobs and their affective reactions to work are tested using data provided by 100 process operators. The empirical results, generated from applying path analysis, suggest that the effective implementation and practice of SPC, in fact, would create more enriched jobs for process operators that lead to higher levels of work motivation and job satisfaction.     

Theorizing,testing, and concluding for mediation in SCM research: Tutorial and procedural recommendations

Empirical research in Supply Chain Management is increasingly interested in complex models involving mediation effects. We support these endeavors by directing attention to the practices for the theorizing of, the testing for, and the drawing of conclusions about mediation effects. Our paper synthesizes diverse literature in other disciplines to provide an accessible tutorial as to the mathematical foundation of mediation effects and the various methods available to test for these effects. We also provide guidance to SCM scholars in the form of eight recommendations aimed at improving the theorizing of, the testing for, and the drawing of conclusions about mediation effects. Recommendations pertaining to how mediation effects are hypothesized and stated and how to select among methods to test for mediation effects are novel contributions for and beyond the Supply Chain Management discipline.     

Physical distribution service performance and Internet retailer margins: The drop-shipping context

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between Internet retailer margins and retailer promises regarding product distribution service. We focus particularly on Internet retailing in a drop-ship context, because this model provides a purer separation of these activities and the related costs and constitutes a critical context for the empirical examination of the relationship between retailer margins and promises. Drawing upon retailer and consumer perspectives, we articulate and justify a set of propositions regarding the relationships among different Internet retailer margins and promised product distribution service performance. We examine a sample comprising over 2000 retail transactions with customers and find partial empirical support for the set of propositions. Specifically, the results show that product margins and the margins on shipping and handling are inversely proportional. We also find a direct relationship between promised product distribution service performance and shipping and handling margins even after key product characteristics known to influence the cost side of the margin equation are controlled for. These results confirm an intuitively logical view of the relationships among pricing and promised product distribution service performance. The study also offers insights for practitioners regarding the opportunity to enhance performance in this domain and demonstrates the benefit and power of employing objective measures drawn from the vast array of information captured via online transactions.     

VENDOR‐OWNED INVENTORY MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS IN RETAIL: AN AGENCY THEORY PERSPECTIVE

This paper undertakes two related tasks to augment current understanding regarding vendor‐owned inventory management (VOIM) arrangements implemented in the retail industry. The first task formally juxtaposes three prevalent forms of VOIM arrangements (i.e., Consignment, Pay‐On‐Scan, and Scan‐Based Trading) to one another and identifies three dimensions (i.e., Relevant Data Visibility, Timeliness of Information Release, and Shrink Responsibility) that serve to discriminate among them. The second task applies an Agency Theory lens to uncover differing profiles of characteristics underlying the retailer‐vendor relationship across the Consignment, Pay‐On‐Scan, and Scan‐Based Trading arrangements. These conceptual results contribute to and have implications for the science and practice of VOIM arrangements in the retail industry.