Search results

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key capabilities required in supply net management.

Uses the Management Capability Framework to break down supply net management into different modes and identify capabilities required in them.

Reveals that the supply activity of companies increasingly takes place in intentionally developed strategic networks called supply nets. These networks pose distinctive challenges for supply chain management. Identifies four diverse but simultaneously extant modes of management in the supply net context, and discusses the key managerial capabilities in each mode.

Provides a conceptual framework to fulfill the identified need to understand management in the network management context. This paper enables researchers and business practitioners to identify the strategic focus and key capabilities required in managing supply nets.

Purchasing has emerged as a key source of competitive advantage. This paper aims to explore how different purchasing strategies are connected to complex supply relationships and to the goal of purchasing.

The study draws on the literature on industrial network theory and industrial buying behaviour.

The contribution describes six types of purchasing strategies that firms exert. These strategies depend on the complexity of supply relationships and the buyer's purchasing goal. Conventional products and services are bought through transactional exchange relationships, whereas strategically important items are purchased through intentional supply networks.

Purchasing strategies of a firm emphasise either efficiency or effectiveness of operation. The type of exchange varies according to the nature of supply relationships: it is either transactional or relational. A key implication for managers is that they should recognise the goal of buying, the strategic importance of the object of purchasing, and choose accordingly between the different types of supplier structures.

The paper shows that firms' purchasing strategies depend on the nature of their supply relationships and the motive for purchasing. Different strategies emphasise different aspects and events that ultimately manifest themselves in the firms' business models.

The purpose of this article is to provide a brief summary of all the articles in this special issue.

Briefly discusses each article in this special issue.

This special issue of Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing aims to understand in greater depth both business‐to‐business purchasing and various types of buyer‐seller relationships. The authors selected 14 articles that provide an in‐depth understanding of the critical issues involved in purchasing orientations.

The article highlights how the papers in the special issue seek to understand in greater depth both business‐to‐business purchasing and various types of buyer‐seller relationships.