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Supply chain management can be seen as an approach to obtaining the benefits of Vertical Integration without ownership. Vertical Integration has the potential to offer benefits of increased control as well as cost reduction, but supply chain approaches can theoretically provide these same benefits through effective organisation. The concerns with supply chains are discussed under the headings of: innovation, competence and value added, investment flexibility, networks rather than single chains, proprietary design knowledge and dependence. The conclusion is that, where supply chains are identified (even within vertically integrated organisations), then an approach based on effective management of each of the customer‐supplier relationships is key to success. Reference is made to work and materials produced by the Supply Chain Management Group at the University of Glasgow Business School which emphasises the need to implement “best practice” at each point in each chain.

This paper aims to investigate the complexity of collaborations in supply chain networks, particularly the influence of horizontal collaborations (e.g. international joint ventures) on vertical collaborations (e.g. supplier–manufacturer partnering relationships).

A multiple case study including four horizontal collaborations and five vertical collaborations within a supply chain network is presented in the context of the Chinese automotive industry. Data interpretation from interviews is structured by key collaborative activities and collaborative behaviors.

The analysis highlights a variety of collaborative behaviors under different types of collaboration and their interaction. The complexity of collaboration is revealed in a range of dimensions including culture diversity, drivers/facilitators, competitive/collaborative advantages and the engagement of all. Collaboration evolves as the structure of the supply chain changes; the key is to appreciate the existence of cooperation, competition and culture conflicts and to manage the trade-offs.

A window of opportunity is presented for future research to investigate the complexity of supply chain collaboration in a wider industrial or geographical context, including statistical validation and comparative analysis.

A contingent view on supply chain collaboration is promoted to practitioners (e.g. international supply chain managers), where collaborative activities should be aligned with the motive and type of business relationships which may change as collaboration develops.

A rare empirical study captures the complexity of supply chain collaboration including the interaction between different forms. A dynamic collaboration approach recognizes the changing process, varying cooperation behaviors as well as characteristics of partners which have not been sufficiently reflected in the literature.

Applications of AMT and JIT suggest a different relationship should evolve between buyers and suppliers. At a detailed level this will involve supplier selection and monitoring against specified performance measures. For mutually beneficial relationships, however, more managerial choices will have to be made. The nature of these choices and the preferred route to success is the subject of the research programme outlined in the paper. By the study and development of best industrial practice, the intention is to effectively transfer the technology into more buyer/supplier relationships.

Flexible manufacturing can be understood and managed even by non‐technological senior management provided they are involved in agreeing market parameters, technological flexibility needs, and quality, cost and delivery performances, and ensure that detailed lower level decisions on operational matters comply with strategy. The tendency to abdicate responsibility for technological decisions to lower levels of management must be avoided. A development path extending three to ten years into the future is required, as only those companies which adopt a flexible manufacturing policy, integrating market/financial requirements with effective production, can hope to compete in the future.

Flexible manufacturing can be understood and managed even by non‐technological senior management provided they are involved in agreeing market parameters, technological flexibility needs, quality, cost and delivery performances. Abdicating the responsibility of technological decisions to lower levels of management is to be avoided. Companies aiming to satisfy customer needs by rapid response, through having a flexible manufacturing system which integrates market and financial requirements with effective production, will compete in the future. A development path extending three to ten years into the future is required, to integrate flexible manufacturing into an effective element of corporate strategy.

Describes a new approach to improving customer/supplier partnerships. Asserts that Western managers tend to perceive every other company as a potential threat. Contends that Japanese companies have realized that global battles are between groups of companies acting in networks or extended supply chains. Shows how supply chain competitiveness can be improved through the buyer/supplier relationship audit. Concludes there is still much to be done before we emulate the Japanese role models and create competitive alliances of companies which would have a strong root culture of quality on which the health of each part would depend.

This paper uses an empirical study of the collaborative business relationships between Opel Portugal as a subsidiary the American automotive manufacturer General Motors and its Portuguese‐based direct suppliers (PBDS) as a means of exploring the contributions of the three research traditions of supply chain management, multinational theory and, crucially, the role of the IMP approach. Within this research, the supply chain management concept of partnering is used to provide a bridge between the dyadic and network perspectives. Also, due to its potential in describing complex business networks and in capturing the nature of dyadic business relationships, the analytical tool related to the IMP work, the ARA (activities‐resources‐actors) model, by Häkansson and Snehota, is a major influence on the development of the conceptual framework presented in this study. The case results indicate the possibility of mapping the constructs of the partnering approach onto the ARA model to understand the dyad within a network context where the MNC's structure and operation exerts an often constraining role on the possible dyadic interactions.

Supply chain management is examined and why supplier quality improvement is sometimes more apparent in speech than in action. The concern is that to obtain the required higher quality the suppliers are simply “running faster” on the traditional treadmill. A guide to managing the supply chain is provided and recommendations made for future “best practice” in the light of existing processes.

The structure of this special edition is presented, sketching the main points of the 4th International Conference of the Operations Management Association (UK) at which similarities between the Operations Management philosophies and techniques of manufacturing and service industries are examined. Day one sees speakers from each sector discussing quality, customer/market interface, resource management and people involvement and communications. Day two consists of academic papers on the same issues. Closeness to the customer, organisational direction and structure, standards of training for competence and the individual′s contribution to quality are highlighted.

This paper reflects on a three‐year EPSRC research project (1994‐1997), called "Implementing Partnering in the Supply Chain", that studied the development of collaboration between two companies, IDV Operations Ireland Limited and Killeen Corrugated and the complex processes involved in fostering their business relationship. The paper illustrates strategic motivation; both corporate and local, of the companies involved. The principal theoretical outcome of the research, “A Partnering Change Model”, provides a structure for analysis. The case describes the outcomes according to this analysis and, finally, conclusions and managerial implications are presented.