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Quick response (QR) systems are being implemented by retail firms at an ever quickening pace throughout the USA. While dramatic changes occur throughout the retail company adopting QR strategies, it is the buyers and buyers’ assistants that are more affected by these changes than other executives in the retail firm. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions, attitudes and opinions of retail buyers toward QR. Over 200 buyers from leading department and specialty store firms that have implemented, or are beginning to implement, QR participated. In general, the findings indicated that buyers had a positive view of QR systems; felt QR would save them time but not reduce the number of buyers currently employed; and that they used technology as an integral part of their job. The study also found several significant factors describing buyers’ perceptions of QR that were related to the size of their organization.

As China emerges as a centre of manufacturing of the world, more and more small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) start to outsource their production and related supply chain management in China. But it is very difficult to effectively manage the international outsourcing and supply chain mainly because their limited size and resources. International outsourcing agents emerge as a potential solution pursued by many western companies. Currently it has very limited information from both practical and theoretical aspects to understand the agents and their characteristics. This paper, based on four case studies of agents in three major industrial sectors in China, introduces business models and growth paths of the international manufacturing outsourcing agents, and establishes a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for evaluation. The paper seeks to help western SMEs and hightech startups recognize the Chinese maturing and an ideal system for implementation, and to provide theoretical insights about the agents role and characteristics in international supply networks.

The objective of this paper is to further the understanding of netnography as a research method for supply chain academics. Netnography is a method for gathering and gaining insight from industry-specific online communities. We prescribe that viewing netnography through the lens of the supply chain will permit researchers to explore, discover, understand, describe or report concepts or phenomena that have previously been studied via survey research or quantitative modeling.

To introduce netnography to supply chain research, we propose a framework to guide how netnography can be adopted and used. Definitions and directions are provided, highlighting some of the practices within netnographic research.

Netnography provides the researcher with another avenue to pursue answers to research questions, either alone or in conjunction with the dominant methods of survey research and quantitative modeling. It provides another tool in the researchers’ toolbox to engage practitioners in the field.

The development of netnography as a research method is associated with Robert Kozinets. He developed the method to study online communities in consumer behavior. We justify why this method can be applied to supply chain research, how to collect data and provide research examples of its use. This technique has room to grow as a supply chain research method.

In the last decade there have been dramatic impacts on, and changes within, the field of purchasing/supply management. Given supply management's new strategic role, this research seeks to examine the key skills and knowledge necessary for firms to improve in order to maximize the purchasing function's contribution to the organization. The research also aims to identifies the major shifts in supply management that have occurred in the last decade.

A qualitative study was conducted with a series of focus group meetings with 54 executives across the USA in order to construct theoretical relationships with which to develop a grounded theory of supply management skills evolution in a changing business environment.

The implications from this research indicate that supply management professionals will assume a more strategic role in the future. The data indicate that there are strong trends underlying this movement. These include the need for building strategic relationships, focusing on total cost and strategic cost reduction, yet collaborating and integrating with suppliers. While in the past these efforts may have appeared to be contradictory, with proper strategic planning they can be complementary.

Supply managers of the future need to acquire strategic skills that add value and enable effective alignment with key business functions at a senior decision‐making level. Additional research is needed in the area to determine how best to recruit and train managers in these skills to move forward.

This study aims to understand how restaurant dependence and autonomy within the supply chain influence market responsiveness. An examination of influences related to improving market responsiveness was also conducted by investigating the moderating roles of information technology adoption and trust.

Hierarchical regression models were developed to test the hypothesized relationships. In particular, data were obtained from only independent restaurant owners and managers because of their ability to select and determine their own suppliers.

Results revealed that restaurant autonomy from suppliers has a more positive effect on market responsiveness than supplier dependence. The moderating test results revealed that information technology adoption significantly improved the relationships between restaurant dependence and market responsiveness, while exhibiting no significant moderating effect. Restaurant trust in suppliers significantly improved the positive effect of autonomy upon market responsiveness; however, it had no significant moderating effect on this link.

This study was conducted to identify what types of supplier relationships should be pursued to improve the independent restaurant’s ability to effectively respond to market conditions. The findings regarding the moderating effects of information technology adoption and trust provided clear evidence that buyer–supply relationship strategies should be developed in consideration of those distinguishable characteristics unique to the operations and environment of independent restaurants.

Findings can be applied to developing desirable relationships with suppliers characterized by restaurant dependence or autonomy and contribute to improving managerial actions for independent restaurants involving adopting information technology and building trust.

Recently, focus in strategic sourcing (SS) has shifted from the exchange of tangible goods toward the exchange of intangibles, such as specialized skills, knowledge, and processes. The purpose of this paper is to aim to delineate the domain of, and operationally test, strategic sourcing orientation (SSO); a management philosophy directed at identifying and meeting the needs and goals of SS.

Using a mixed-methods research design and underpinned by a service dominant logic (SDL) inspired resource-based view (RBV), the authors first use the qualitative input of 41 top sourcing executives in four focus groups to derive four first-order “orientations” (learning, performance, planning, and relational-process) that were found to reflect SSO. Second, the authors propose a theoretically grounded operationalization of SSO derived from the qualitative data and extant literature. A sample of 174 top sourcing executives was used to test the proposed SSO and its impact on SS reputation, supplier management, and performance outcomes.

The results indicate strong support for the theorized SSO and its impact on SS reputation and supplier management, and, consequently, on performance outcomes.

While many firms encourage a culture to enable SS to realize enhanced performance, research has failed to provide a holistic account of this orientation. This study employs a mixed-methods research design to conceptualize and operationalize such orientation.

Purchasing practices of 11 Saudi Arabian corporations were analyzed and compared to a similar study of US‐based purchasing managers. Major findings revealed that training is not highly formalized, provided mainly by outside experts and relies on US‐based professional associations such as NAPM and APICS. In terms of coursework, respondents were most likely to take courses in the Basics of Purchasing and Negotiations. Additionally, professional certification through attaining "Certified Purchasing Manager" status was viewed as very desirable. Currently the majority of these purchasing managers were technically educated but expected that a business degree would become more important in the future. Knowledge about quality practices and price/cost issues were more important than electronic commerce. As a group the top trends they forecasted for their profession were comparable to those forecasted by US‐based purchasing managers.

This paper provides a robust and structured literature review on supply chain resilience (SCRES), the supply chain’s ability to be prepared for unexpected risk events, responding and recovering quickly to potential disruptions to return to its original situation or grow by moving to a new, more desirable state. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extant research through focussed questions and provide an insightful framework with propositions to guide further publications and identify future research needs.

The findings underlie a systematic literature review methodology requiring a robust method of literature analysis. The sand cone model is adopted to develop a comprehensive SCRES framework.

The literature review reveals a strong need for an overarching SCRES definition and a clear terminology for its building elements. It indicates that most research has been qualitative and lacks in assessing and measuring SCRES performance.

This paper contributes a structured overview of 67 peer-reviewed articles from 2003 to 2013 on an emerging area of supply chain research. The review formulates an overarching definition of SCRES, groups and synthesizes the various SCRES elements into proactive and reactive strategies for the ex-ante/ex-post disruption stage and illustrates SCRES measurement through performance metrics. It provides a comprehensive SCRES framework with propositions and indicates gaps in the literature to target for further development.

The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of supply management coordination among a prominent contact lens company (customer), its carton supplier (first tier), and paperboard supplier (second tier). Adopting concepts within the theory of swift and even flow, the authors integrate the physical (material) and information flow among these supply partners to ensure higher productivity through timely production and distribution of the cartons, which reduced the lead-times and inventory levels at the three companies in this supply chain.

This study uses a longitudinal case study (action research (AR)), which combines qualitative and quantitative analyses. Observations over time, documents such as contracts, joint agreements, meeting agendas and minutes, personal conversations, and in-depth interviews were mainly used, with quantitative measurement of operational performance.

The complete solution to eliminate waste and improve the existing system is provided, as well as the ordering process solution in the form of service level models. The results of the study proved supply management coordination to be a pioneering approach in reducing inventory, reducing the safety stock at the buyer’s facility, improving the forecasts, lowering the product delivery lead-times, and establishing an information system throughout the three tiers of the supply chain.

The paper draws upon real-life data from a three echelon supply chain in the manufacturing industry. Combining this triadic focus with action-based research makes it a unique opportunity to reveal insights into the issue of coordination among supply chain members and consequent performance outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to empirically evaluate a modified version of Sheth's model (1981) of buying behavior, in order to determine retail buyers’ willingness to trade off on negotiation variables when placing items on automatic replenishment (AR). A total of 103 usable questionnaires were returned from corporate buyers from five major department store chains located throughout the USA, yielding a 41 percent response rate. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the modified portion of Sheth's model used in this study was satisfactory in exploring relationships that exist between buyers and vendors when determining what products can be placed on AR. The model was significant and respectable in explanatory power, and the significant or highly related variables were: merchandise driven mentality; price/value; color; design; and type of merchandise category. These were all significant or highly related to the buyer's willingness to trade off on the negotiation variables (price, packaging, delivery and assortment). Future research is needed to explore the development of a model that explains the process and decision criteria for successful AR programs.