Exploring early purchasing involvement in discontinuous innovation: A dynamic capability perspective

This paper aims to address the gap concerning our knowledge about early purchasing's involvement (EPI) in new product development (NPD) projects in contexts characterized by discontinuous innovation. We adopt a dynamic capability perspective to explore how existing sourcing and supplier relationship management capabilities are adapted when purchasing agents become involved in discontinuous innovations projects. We use an embedded case-study approach to study four NPD projects in a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) company. The case studies are based on interviews with managers and staff from the research and development, purchasing, and marketing departments, as well as suppliers involved in the projects. Our empirical findings capture emerging purchasing practices including a “reversed” sourcing process, purchasing-marketing interaction, and the coordination of “a learning atmosphere” between the R&D department and suppliers through proactive innovation meetings and creativity workshops. We derive propositions to conduct further research into the role of the purchasing department in times of discontinuous innovation. We also provide a framework of sourcing and supplier-relationship practices that firms can use when embarking on discontinuous innovation.     

Conducting multilevel studies in purchasing and supply management research

Purchasing and supply management (PSM) research commonly covers multiple levels of theory and analysis. The theorizing and simultaneous testing of hypotheses across multiple levels is referred to as multilevel analysis (MLA) and is commonly performed using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Researchers in the PSM domain have paid little attention thus far to the topic of multilevel studies. Although MLA holds the potential to yield novel insights into PSM issues, it also generates new challenges for authors and reviewers alike. We contribute to this methodological dialogue by examining reasons for conducting multilevel PSM research and offering practical guidance for increasing its methodological rigor.     

Community-based research: Engaging universities in technology-related knowledge exchanges

Many universities are disengaged from their local regions. While universities are hotbeds of knowledge with the potential to generate new and disruptive technologies, their development strategies and public relations engagements rarely emphasize the potential of universities to act as local and regional economic engines. Similarly, information systems (IS) and other scholars generally aim to make international, not local impacts. Local contributions are often viewed as distractions from more visible and highly rewarded roles in the global scholarly community, such as publishing in international journals. This Global Challenge article argues that universities' local ecosystems are appropriate targets for IS scholarly activity, particularly when this is undertaken in the form of community-based research (CBR). Following conceptual discussions of ‘community’ and key elements of CBR, we draw on the authors' personal research experiences to evaluate the potential contributions of IS scholars in terms of CBR projects focused on technology-related knowledge exchange. After outlining implications and potential future directions for IS researchers, we close by presenting a call to IS scholars to intensify their local ecosystem research collaborations in technology-related knowledge exchanges contexts, in order to increase the relevance and local impact of their research.     

Case research in purchasing and supply management: Opportunities and challenges

This paper examines the current state of application of qualitative methods, namely case studies in purchasing and supply management. We argue that the case study method has much to contribute to the development of the discipline namely in terms of theory development, providing strong exemplars as well as testing theories culled from other disciplines. In examining the use of the case method in purchasing and supply management, we suggest that there is a noticeable trend away from single case designs with sparse methodological reflections to multiple case, comparative designs accompanied by the use of conventional method justifications. These developments are broadly welcomed but we identify two blind spots: (1) the relative neglect of the links between theory and method and (2) the use of inappropriate statistical criteria to justify multiple case research designs. We discuss the nature of these problems using a number of examples and formulate rules for conducting good case research.     

An analysis of research into the future of purchasing and supply management

Business organisations are going through rapid external environmental and internal organisational changes due to increasing globalisation, E-business, and outsourcing. As a result, the future of purchasing and supply management—as a function within organisations, as a process that spans organisation boundaries and as a profession—raises important concerns for both organisations and the purchasing professional. This paper considers a broad and rather fragmented body of empirical evidence and analyses 42 relevant empirical studies on the future of purchasing and supply management. The major findings are reported in terms of changes in business contexts, purchasing strategy, structure, role and responsibility, system development and skills. Cross-sectional comparative analyses were also conducted to examine variation by sector, firm type, people's roles in purchasing, and country. A number of major implications for the purchasing function, process and professional bodies are presented together with suggestions for future research to address significant gaps in the current body of knowledge.     

基于企业物资供应管理采购策略研究应用的探讨

文章通过建立以安全、及时、经济供应为目标的物资采购策略,来推动物资采购工作由业务操作型向策略研究型、由经济采购向价值采购的转变,从而进一步提升物资供应风险防控能力,降低采购综合成本,实现科学理性采购。     

Working and organizing in the age of the learning algorithm

Learning algorithms, technologies that generate responses, classifications, or dynamic predictions that resemble those of a knowledge worker, raise important research questions for organizational scholars related to work and organizing. We suggest that such algorithms are distinguished by four consequential aspects: black-boxed performance, comprehensive digitization, anticipatory quantification, and hidden politics. These aspects are likely to alter work and organizing in qualitatively different ways beyond simply signaling an acceleration of long-term technology trends. Our analysis indicates that learning algorithms will transform expertise in organizations, reshape work and occupational boundaries, and offer novel forms of coordination and control. Thus, learning algorithms can be considered performative due to the extent to which their use can shape and alter work and organizational realities. Their rapid deployment requires scholarly attention to societal issues such as the extent to which the algorithm is authorized to make decisions, the need to incorporate morality in the technology, and their digital iron-cage potential.     

Attention-based view on achieving ambidexterity in purchasing and supply management

The focus of purchasing and supply management (PSM) is no longer just on short-term cost savings, but is also on long-term goals such as innovation and renewal. Because of this new dual role PSM needs to balance the short-term goals referred to as exploitation, and the long-term strategic goals referred to as exploration. However, developing in-depth knowledge of the supply markets in order to achieve PSM ambidexterity is challenging, as it requires much managerial attention that is limited in nature. This research draws on the attention-based view (ABV) to study the antecedents of ambidexterity in PSM. Based on a survey of 154 Finnish manufacturing firms, a set of hypotheses was tested using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that bottom-up supply market attention has a stronger association than top-down supply market attention with all three PSM goals: exploitation, exploration and ambidexterity. PSM status is positively associated with both bottom-up and top-down supply market attention. Top management should support activities aimed at capturing supply market opportunities by ensuring that the PSM staff is not overburdened and have enough time to focus on supply market intelligence gathering and analyses. This research is among the first to study the role and enablers of attentional mechanisms that underpin ambidexterity in PSM. A contribution to the ABV theory is made by suggesting operationalizations of managerial attention constructs.     

The role of perceived justice in buyer-supplier relationships in times of economic crisis

This paper explores the importance of perceived organisational justice in times of crises, when supplier commitment has the potential to offset the negative impact of external pressures on business performance. We draw data from a survey of 117 suppliers of a major Greek grocery retailer. The grocery retail sector in Greece suffered considerably during the peak of the financial crisis, in 2016, providing a unique opportunity to explore the role of fairness in buyer-supplier relationships in times of crisis. The paper makes a distinct contribution by exploring the role that POJ plays in mitigating the impact of a financial crisis on suppliers’ performance, both operational and financial. Moreover, we explore the role of commitment as a mediator between POJ and performance, in the specific context of a financial crisis. Our findings indicate that organisational justice influences firm performance through commitment and that the financial crisis moderates the relationship.     

Supply chain finance schemes in the procurement of agricultural products

Product, information, and finance flows are all interrelated within the modern supply chain; thus, it is now more than ever of paramount importance for practitioners to integrate procurement and financial decisions. This challenge is exemplified in many agricultural supply chains, where operational risks are significant and access to capital differs sharply across firms. We study three management tactics that some large food/beverage manufacturers – situated downstream in these chains – have used to meet the challenge: ordinary fixed price contracts (or soft tolling) with direct suppliers, hard tolling and contract farming where the manufacturer intervenes upstream, providing capital, and coordinating procurement decisions. We place these upstream intervention schemes in the theoretical context of supply chain finance (SCF) and model their application to a three-echelon agricultural supply chain. We perform a numerical study in order to understand how the structure of capital constraints in the chain may influence the manufacturer's choice of SCF scheme. The numerical study is based on a business case that reflects the barley–malt supply chain of Heineken N.V. Despite greater coordination opportunities, we show that upstream intervention is not necessarily preferable for the manufacturer. Nevertheless, the preferred SCF scheme can be inferred on the basis of relatively simple characterization of the capital constraints in the supply chain.     

Digital innovation and transformation: An institutional perspective

In this conceptual piece we suggest that the institutional perspective is a prolific lens to study digital innovation and transformation. Digital innovation is about the creation and putting into action of novel products and services; by digital transformation we mean the combined effects of several digital innovations bringing about novel actors (and actor constellations), structures, practices, values, and beliefs that change, threaten, replace or complement existing rules of the game within organizations and fields. We identify three types of novel institutional arrangements critical for digital transformation: digital organizational forms, digital institutional infrastructures, and digital institutional building blocks. From this vantage point, an institutional perspective invites us to examine how these novel arrangements gain social approval (i.e. legitimacy) in the eyes of critical stakeholders and their interplay with existing institutional arrangements. Questioning the disruptive talk associated with digital transformation, we draw on the institutional change literature to illustrate the institutionalization challenges and that existing institutional arrangements are pivotal arbiters in deciding whether and how novel arrangements gain acceptance. We close this essay with discussing the implications of an institutional perspective on digital transformation for policy, practice and research.     

The status of purchasing and supply management in Finland and Russia

Previous studies have shown that long-term planning, collaborative supplier relationships and supply management capabilities reflect the strategic role and importance of purchasing and supply management (PSM) in firms, regardless of the nature of the business. This study examines how these elements behave in different business environments, such as in Western countries and emerging economies. Finland and Russia were chosen to represent two extremes in terms of international economic competitiveness and the business environment. A survey was conducted in both countries. Regression analyses were run from both samples to examine the effects of long-term planning, collaborative supplier relationships and supply management capabilities on the status of PSM by using data from 100 Finnish firms and 208 Russian firms. The results showed that these elements positively influence the status of PSM in both countries.     

Recombination in the open-ended value landscape of digital innovation

Digital innovation introduces a new open-ended value landscape to anyone seeking to generate or capture new value. To understand this landscape, we distinguish between design recombination and use recombination, explore how they play out together, and redirect the attention from products and services toward digital resources. Digital resources serve as building-blocks in digital innovation, and they hold the potential to simultaneously be part of multiple value paths, offered through design recombination and assembled through use recombination. Building on this perspective, we offer the value spaces framework as a tool for better understanding value creation and capture in digital innovation. We illustrate the framework and offer the early contours of a research agenda for information systems researchers.