Chains, holes, and links: Organisation of activities in supplier relationships in the Russian transition economy

In the context of the transition to market economy as a way to accommodate new ways of managing supply, the paper analyses the chain of activities performed in four supplier relationships in the wood-processing industry in Russia. In contrast to what might be expected, the chains of activities in the cases demonstrate different orders of activities, implying that firms tend to organise their chains differently, depending on the character of the relationship. Moreover, the four cases also indicate that activities usually performed by the supplier in Western market economies are still carried out by the customer in Russia. It also seems that the interfaces in the chains are seldom characterised by mutually adapted activities and that the few mutual adaptations observed are to be found at the customer level. Consequently, the activity link between the supplier and the customer tends to be weak; payment and quality control are the only activities that have been adapted to the relationship as such. The paper concludes with a discussion of three strategies for supply management in transition economies.