Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dimensions of supply management that may contribute to its ability to create value. Based on previous literature, this study proposes that key supplier management (KSM), the strategic level of supply management and supplier relationship management (SRM) capabilities can be supply management factors that significantly influence its ability to create value.

The issue is examined using survey data collected in Finland, and the concepts are tested using regression analysis.

The results show that KSM, the strategic level of supply management and SRM capabilities are significant dimensions of value creation in supply management. The findings support the contemporary understanding of value in which firms endeavour to create value for the company, its customers and its suppliers.

Previously, value creation has received minor attention in supply chain management research. Although previous research clearly shows that strategic supply management plays a significant role in firms’ competitiveness and performance, its role and potential in value creation have been less studied. Thus, this study contributes by empirically examining the factors affecting the ability of a firm’s supply management to create value.

Due to the increasing complexity in supply chains and networks, several key practices have been highlighted as beneficial for supply chain performance. However, it is less known whether adopting such practices affects the innovation performance of the focal firm. This study hypothesises that supplier collaboration practices in four specific areas (green and ethical supply management, early supplier involvement, systemic purchasing and inter-firm learning) may lead to higher focal firm innovation performance, as they require the firm to adopt new business models, processes and product features.

The hypotheses drawn from previous research are tested with a quantitative survey study of 165 Finnish firms and analysed by means of regression analysis.

The results show that two examined practices are positively related to focal firm innovation performance: systemic purchasing and green and ethical supply management. Interestingly, early supplier involvement and inter-firm learning did not influence innovation performance.

Little is known about whether adopting certain practices in supply management affects the innovation performance of the firm. In fact, among the performance indicators of supply management, innovation is rarely studied, and more studies using innovation as a performance indicator are called for. Thus, this study focuses on supplier collaboration practices and their relation to the focal firm’s innovation performance.

This study aims to investigate the role of sustainable supply management (SSM) practices in a firm’s overall sustainability performance and reflect the significance of supply management in this performance. The paper uses dynamic capability view as a theoretical foundation for the research of SSM practices and differentiates between reactive and proactive practices.

The research design includes a focus group session with nine supply management professionals and survey data collected from 111 companies. The research objectives are examined by means of quantitative analyses.

The empirical results show that SSM practices represent a significant share of the firm’s sustainability performance overall. However, the significance of the practices differs depending on the strategic type and importance of the practice. SSM practices reflecting reporting and upstream SCM activities aim to ensure sustainability of the entire supply chain and have a focal role in improving firm’s sustainability performance.

A three-dimensional matrix for the categorization of SSM practices is proposed. This is a novel theoretical contribution to the SSM literature. Reactive practices are basic ones where the strategic importance regarding the development of new capabilities is low. Proactive practices are dynamic in nature and aim toward the development of new capabilities. Thus, proactive practices have a long-term effect and are necessary for gaining higher sustainability performance.

The purpose of this paper is to unite the fragmented discussion concerning organizational-level capability in terms of purchasing and supply chain management. The capability drivers are identified from the literature and then validated by purchasing professionals. The impacts of the identified capability drivers on supply management capability are empirically examined. To increase a firm’s supply management capability, it is essential to connect purchasing and supply chain management to the firm’s strategy, as well as to establish robust policies and procedures for the activities of supply function, and to promote supplier orientation and the value of supplier networks to the business.

Data and methodological triangulation are utilized in the form of focus group sessions and a large scale survey. A regression analysis of the data from 165 Finnish firms is performed to examine the influence of the drivers.

The drivers of supply management capability proposed in this study and ranked by the focus group were the strategic status of procurement, supplier orientation, and the formalization of organizational responsibilities and roles in the purchasing function. An examination of these components and their relation to capability by means of a regression analysis showed that they have positive effects and high explanatory power on supply management capability.

The paper summarizes capability studies in the field of purchasing and supply chain management from the last two decades and also fulfils the need for empirical studies concerning the concept of supply management capability. Moreover, it contributes to the theory development by confirming that supply management capability really is a strategic asset of a firm.

Sustainability-related risk management of logistics service providers (LSPs) is an essential part of sustainability performance of focal companies, as logistics services touch the entire supply chain (SC) – from raw material sources to end-customers. The purpose of this paper, draws on resource-based view and stakeholder theory in exploring how companies can manage environmental and social sustainability-related risks from logistics service suppliers. This kind of capability is essential in order to maintain reputation in the eyes of stakeholders, and to maintain long-term financial performance.

The data of this multiple-case study were collected from semi-structured interviews in eight case-companies in Finland. Five of the cases are primary logistics buyers, and three represent LSP companies.

The cross-case analysis showed that primary buyers of logistics services use their sustainability criteria as a prerequisite for LSP candidates, and when the level is adequate and equal, other factors, e.g. price and capacity, are decisive. Based on the analysis, large LSPs are preparing for the future competition, and act in a more sustainable manner than their customers (buyers) expect at the moment, while small LSPs strictly comply with the regulation. However, buyers’ requirements for sustainable logistics services are increasing as the stakeholder expectations for comprehensively sustainable SCs are growing.

Only little research has been conducted on sustainable logistics from the buyer company’s risk management perspective. This paper adds the knowledge of sustainability-related risk management in purchasing of logistics services and in the logistics industry.

This paper aims to conceptualize supply market orientation (SMO) for the purchasing and supply chain management function and discusses how SMO capabilities are developed and how their application differs within and across firms. This research can thus be used as a blueprint for the development of a SMO capability that accommodates a firm’s unique contextual antecedents’ profile.

The qualitative research design comprises five in-depth case studies with 43 semi-structured interviews with large manufacturing and service firms.

SMO is defined as the capability to exploit market intelligence to assess, integrate and reconfigure the heterogeneously dispersed resources in purchasing and supply chain management in a way that best reflects the peculiarities of a firm’s supply environment. The empirical analysis shows that although SMO capabilities are configured similarly, their application varies across and within firms depending on the characteristics of a firm’s purchasing categories and tasks. Hence, reactive versus proactive SMO application is contingent upon firm-level and purchasing category–level characteristics.

The study uses the dynamic capabilities view as a theoretical background and provides empirical evidence and theoretical reasoning to elaborate and endorse SMO as a dynamic capability that firms need to have to compete in a complex and dynamic environment. The study provides guidance for supply chain managers on how to successfully develop and deploy a SMO capability.

This paper investigates how sustainability requirements modify supply strategies at different levels in the food industry companies. The paper integrates single supply decisions into firm-level supply strategy and views supply strategy as one coherent strategy in which the decision-making is based on the values and principles of a firm.

The paper captures the decade of change and studies the renewal of supply strategy by utilising two qualitative data sets with a ten years of difference. The data contain 41 interviews from a retailer and 5 of its food supplier companies.

Results confirm that a decade ago only minor attention was channelled towards sustainability whereas today sustainability is a key driver behind supply decisions and supply strategies because firms need to respond to sustainability requirements and challenges. The study presents a framework for analysing different levels (firm, category and supply market levels) of changes and sustainability requirements faced by food companies and their supply strategies.

Previously, sustainability has rarely been connected to firm-level supply strategy. This study presents the supply strategy elements that were important for Finnish food industry companies over a decade ago and matches these elements to the needs of today’s firms. As a result, the study incorporates the concept of sustainability with the supply strategy frameworks.

A firm's ability to cascade sustainability requirements further down to lower-tier suppliers might be affected by inter-firm power relations. This study aimed to identify the power sources of focal firms and first- and lower-tier suppliers and to investigate how they may affect their ability to cascade sustainability requirements along multi-tier supply chains.

A multiple case study of 24 companies was conducted to investigate the sources of power in multi-tier supply chains. In total, 42 informants from five focal companies, ten first-tier suppliers and nine lower-tier suppliers were interviewed.

Differences were found between the sources from which focal firms and first- and lower-tier suppliers drew power. Findings revealed that firms' power sources may increase or impair their ability to cascade sustainability requirements to lower supply chain tiers. Furthermore, multi-tier supply chain-level power sources constitute a significant determinant of firms' ability to disseminate sustainability requirements to lower-tier suppliers.

The results can help companies and purchasing managers understand how their own and suppliers' power may affect their ability to cascade sustainability agendas to lower-tier suppliers. In particular, the results can be useful for supplier selection and the development of supplier relationship management strategies for fostering sustainability in multi-tier supply chains.

This study places traditional power perspectives in the context of multi-tier sustainable supply chain management, broadening the view beyond dyadic relationships that have traditionally been the focus of the supply management literature.

This study aims to build on the dynamic capability view by examining dynamic capabilities associated with public value in public procurement.

A qualitative case study approach is used in this study. The interview and secondary data consist of eight cases of value-creating procurement from four public organizations.

The findings connect dynamic capabilities and public value in terms of innovation generation and promotion, well-functioning supplier markets, public procurement process effectiveness, environmental and social sustainability and quality and availability of products or services.

Dynamic capabilities in public procurement are necessary to improve public procurement.

This study extends understanding of how sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities contribute to public value creation in both innovative and less innovative (i.e. ordinary) procurement scenarios.

Managing supply chains (SCs) for sustainability often results in conflicting demands, which can be conceptualized as sustainability tensions. This paper studies sustainability tensions in electronics SC contexts and the related management responses by applying a paradox perspective.

A single case study on the electronics SC is conducted with companies and third-party organizations as embedded units of analysis, using semi-structured interviews that are triangulated with publicly available data.

The study identifies tension elements (learning, belonging, organizing and economic performing) conflicting with general social–ecological objectives in the electronics SC. The results indicate a hierarchal structure among the sustainability tensions in SC contexts. The management responses of contextualization and resolution are assigned to the identified tensions.

Framing social–ecological objectives with their conflicting elements as paradoxical tensions enables organizations and SCs to develop better strategies for responding to complex sustainability issues in SC contexts.

The study contributes toward filling the gap on paradoxical sustainability tensions in SCs. Empirical insights are gained from different actors in the electronics SC. The level of emergence and interconnectedness of sustainability tensions in a larger SC context is explored through an outside-in perspective.