Consumer perspectives on the African sharptooth catfish in rural and urban areas of the Northern Province

This study evaluated consumer behavioural patterns in relation to meat products, with special reference to the African sharptooth catfish, in the Northern Province. Personal interviews were conducted in rural Ga‐Mamphaka and urban Giyani. The major meat type purchased was found to be chicken (71 per cent in the rural and 46 per cent in the urban community). The sharptooth catfish was found to be acceptable to the majority of respondents, both urban (69 per cent) and rural (57 per cent). Most respondents also indicated that they would like to purchase canned catfish. A potential market for catfish would seem to exist at a price competitive with that of chicken.     

The impact of vendor incentives on Quick Response

Quick Response (QR) is an important business strategy that was initiated in the mid 1980s to deal with competition, slow growth, and reduced margins in the apparel industry. The purpose of this paper was to explore QR strategies focusing on the development of vendor partnerships. A vendor partnership model of QR implementation and channel relationships was developed using an exploratory sample of US retail firms. The model was tested using correlation analysis. Major findings indicated that these firms gave vendors incentives to adopt QR and that firms having more advanced QR programmes perceived fewer problems than those with less advanced programmes. A partial relationship was found between QR and improved financial performance. Finally, the length of time firms had been practicing QR did not guarantee a more advanced QR programme.     

An empirical examination of strategic sourcing dominant logic: Strategic sourcing centricity

Recently, much of the thought in strategic sourcing, i.e., dominant logic, has shifted away from the exchange of tangible goods and toward the exchange of intangibles, specialized skills and knowledge, and processes. This study refers to strategic sourcing dominant logic as strategic sourcing centricity (SSC) and describes it as a sourcing management′s mindset based on learning, performance, planning, and relational orientations and manifests itself in the implementation of SS to meet supply management objectives and satisfy stakeholder requirements. Building on insights on intangibility derived from resource-based theory (RBV), the study proposes and empirically tests strategic sourcing centricity (SSC). The authors test the operational measures of SSC dimensions and its impact on performance on a sample of 174 supply management executives. The results indicate strong support for the theorized framework. Managerial implications and future research agenda are provided.     

Impact of purchasing trends on industrial marketers

Purchasing departments have undergone dramatic changes during the past decade. This article examines key characteristics that changed during the 1970s including the purchasers' view of effective salespersons and women in purchasing. It is important that industrial marketers better understand these changes and subsequently implement marketing efforts that compliment the purchasing environment of the 1980s.     

A strategic skill based model of supplier integration and its effect on supply management performance

Supplier integration is a tool to help organizations gain competitive advantage. Strategic supply management skills and the supply management function's perceived status are hypothesized as antecedents to supplier integration leading to supply management performance. The sample for this study includes 152 executive level supply management professionals. The empirical results suggest that strategic skills and perceived status are essential antecedents to supplier integration and subsequent performance. Further, the relationship between strategic skills and performance is mediated by supplier integration. Results of a dominance analysis also suggest which strategic skills are most likely to explain status integration, and performance. These findings have significant implications for supply management theory and practice.     

Purchasing's role in computer buying: A comparative study

The sale of Electronic Data Processing (EDP) equipment represents a large and growing market both in number of dollars and products. This article analyzes the purchaser's perceived role in the EDP acquisition process from both public and private sector perspectives. Major public and private sector purchasing differences are discussed in terms of their implications for improving EDP marketing success. Differences discussed include: purchaser influence in the EDP decision process, necessity of seller-buyer interface, method of purchase, and purchasing's organization structure for buying EDP equipment.