Search results

In this paper, the authors introduce supply disruption ambiguity as the inability of a sourcing firm to attach probability point estimates to the occurrence of and to the magnitude of loss from supply disruptions. The authors drew on the “ambiguity in decision-making” literature to define this concept formally, connected it to relevant supply disruption information deficit, positioned it relative to supply chain risk assessment and hypothesized and tested its negative associations with both supply base ties and inventory turnover.

The authors analysed survey data from 171 North American manufacturers and archival data for a subset (88 publicly listed) of these manufacturers via Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation after ensuring that methodological concerns with survey research have been addressed. They used appropriate controls and employed the heteroskedasticity-based instrumental variable (HBIV) approach to ensure that inferences from our results are not unduly influenced by endogeneity.

Strong supply base ties decrease supply disruption ambiguity, which, in turn, increases inventory turnover. Moreover, strong supply base ties and data integration with the supply base have indirect and positive effects on inventory turnover. As sourcing firms strengthen ties and integrate data exchange with their supply base, their inventory turnover improves from access to information relevant to detect and diagnose supply disruptions effectively.

Research on supply disruption management has paid more attention to the “disruption recovery” stage than to the “disruption discovery” stage. In this paper, the authors add novel insights regarding the recognition and diagnosis aspects of the “disruption discovery” stage. These novel insights reveal how and why sourcing firms reduce their overall ambiguity associated with detecting and assessing losses from supply disruptions through establishing strong ties with their supply base and how and why reducing such ambiguity improves inventory turnover performance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of strategic sourcing and determines its relationship with organisational supply chain agility and performance. It classifies manufacturing firms based on their level of supply chain agility and test the diffrences in firms' performnace across the clusters so obtained.

This research employes survey method and data is collected from 128 manufacturing companies in India. Valid and reliable measures of strategic sourcing, supply chain agility and organizational performance are developed. Factor structure and initial validity is determined and K‐Means cluster analysis is applied for clustering firms based on their level of supply agility. Multiple regression and ANOVA is used for hypotheses testing.

Strategic suplier partnership, sourcing flexibility, supplier evaluation and trust in supply chain members are the key dimensions of strategic sourcing. Result shows the significant effect of strategic sourcing and its diemnsions on supply chain agility and firms' performance.

Data is collected from single node/respondent of supply chain and further research can be carried out by using mutiple node data of each supply chain to make the research more meaningful and generalisable.

Findings are useful to develop and measure the competitive capabilities of strategic sourcing and guide the organisations to enhance supply chain responsiveness and organisational performance.

The paper provides strategic diemnsions of sourcing and their measurement scales. Provide evidence regarding the impact of strategic sourcing on agility of supply chains and performnace.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the behavioral tendencies of supply managers when they are faced with uncertainty in making multi-tier sourcing decisions.

This paper uses the literature on multi-tier supply chains and behavioral decision making to develop a theoretical framework for examining factors influencing a supply manager’s decision to retain control over sourcing in the multi-tier context. An experimental vignette methodology is used to gather data from 259 supply managers.

Results suggest that supply managers choose to exert less multi-tier control when they have high levels of interpersonal trust in the tier-1 supplier’s sales representative. This effect is accentuated by a high level of familiarity with potential lower-tier suppliers. Under high levels of familiarity with potential lower-tier suppliers, supply managers will exert greater levels of multi-tier sourcing control as the behavioral uncertainty of the tier-1 supplier increases.

Buying firms can enhance their understanding of supply managers’ multi-tier sourcing decision making and the potential biases associated with it. Suggestions for a more effective use of multi-tier sourcing are provided in the Discussion section.

Multi-tier sourcing is an increasingly important area of research, and this paper is the first to examine individual supply managers’ behavioral decision making in the multi-tier context. This paper also contributes to the outsourcing literature by investigating behavioral factors influencing the outsourcing of sourcing activities.

Global sourcing can bring many benefits to organisations, but it can also expose them to a number of risks. The purpose of this study is to understand how managers assess global sourcing risks across the entire supply chain and what actions they take to mitigate those risks.

A multiple case study approach was used, involving 15 cases in seven different industries. Each case consisted of interviews with managers directly involved in the global sourcing decision, supported by documentary evidence. A cross‐case analysis was conducted to analyse patterns across different industries.

The study revealed that most companies do not have a structured supply chain risk management and mitigation system. Nevertheless they do use a number of informal approaches to cope with risk. The paper proposes that a multidisciplinary approach is required when dealing with global sourcing risks. It presents a classification of risks covering four categories: supply risk, process and control risks, environmental and sustainability risks, and demand risks.

The paper addresses a research gap concerning managers' approaches to assessing and mitigating supply chain risk in a global context. In this context, this study proposes a new categorisation for global sourcing risks and offers a characterisation of global sourcing risk mitigation strategies applicable to different industries.

The purpose of this paper is to uncover how buying companies use sourcing intermediaries to manage supply risks in global sourcing.

The authors carry out an explorative qualitative study of the clothing industry, interviewing key respondents who occupy different positions in the supply chain, including sourcing intermediaries, retailers, and brand marketers.

Sourcing intermediaries carry out a broad range of supply risk management functions, including design availability and support, and the operation of high risk markets. The authors identify different sourcing intermediary types, characterised by the set of functions they handle.

By analysing a limited set of in‐depth interviews in one industry the authors have traded off broader analytical generalization for in‐depth exploration and theory building. Therefore, future research should test the findings in other industries and across broader populations.

Sourcing intermediaries carry out valuable supply risk reducing functions in global sourcing and must be considered as alternatives to direct sourcing or international purchasing offices.

The paper contributes by identifying the supply risk management functions that sourcing intermediaries carry out for buying companies. The paper also contributes by uncovering different types of sourcing intermediaries, determined by the collection of functions handled.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate two potentially key drivers of a firm's supply chain agility, namely strategic sourcing and firm's strategic flexibility. Despite some theoretical and conceptual works suggesting that some elements of these two constructs may relate to agility, this has not yet been assessed together empirically. This study aims to address this gap in the literature.

This study involves an empirical investigation of a theory‐based model based on the competence‐capability framework, and a dynamic capabilities theoretical perspective, where the internal competencies of strategic sourcing and firm's strategic flexibility relate to the dynamic capability of the firm's supply chain agility. This investigation also includes the testing of a possible mediation effect of firm's strategic flexibility on the relationship between strategic sourcing and the firm's supply chain agility. The model is tested utilizing data from 144 US manufacturing firms via partial least square methodology.

The results of the empirical study indicated that both strategic sourcing and firm's strategic flexibility were significantly related to the firm's supply chain agility. In addition, while a full mediation effect was not found on the part of strategic flexibility, there was evidence for partial mediation.

Given that the data are from specific US industries, the generalizability of current findings to other industries or countries may require additional investigation.

Given the attention paid to agility in terms of its importance to responding to business uncertainty, and more recently, as an important capability in managing supply chain disruption risks, this paper investigates how strategic sourcing and flexibility can contribute to agility.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically identify different types of sourcing strategies applied in the apparel industry, and to explain how various sourcing strategies are related to the apparel firm's characteristics, prerequisites and supplier performance.

This paper is based on a survey that was sent out to Swedish apparel firms. Commonly applied sourcing strategies, in terms of supply markets and supply channels, are first derived using cluster analysis. These strategies are then linked to relevant firm characteristics, prerequisites and supplier performance measures, where significant differences between groups of firms applying various sourcing strategies are targeted.

Five commonly applied sourcing strategies are identified. Further, several significant differences – with respect to product issues, organizational issues and supplier performance – are found between the firm groups.

Several future research areas in conjunction with this study can be derived by widening or changing the scope. For instance, other industries as well as apparel industries in other countries can be targeted and thus provide valuable comparisons.

Assessing the contextual appropriateness of sourcing strategies provides a strategic sourcing benchmark for firms across industries. Notably, apparel firms' experience in exploiting low‐cost supply markets may provide valuable insights for firms that just recently have recognized the potential of these markets.

This paper provides a contextual understanding of how various sourcing strategies are utilized in the Swedish apparel industry, and thereby contributes to the general conception of sourcing strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a foreign invested manufacturing company’s (FIMC) components sourcing process evolves in order to improve its supply chain outcomes in the context of China’s processing trade.

Grounded in the theory bases of the international sourcing process and supply chain integration, this study utilizes a single-case-study approach with a small- to medium-sized FIMC engaged in China’s processing trade.

This study identifies three stages of the components sourcing process: simple assembly stage, components localization stage and supply chain integration stage. In addition, the case study suggests that the type of processing trade evolves from processing with supplied materials to processing with imported materials as the sourcing process proceeds through the three stages and the internal and external environments change.

To our knowledge, this paper is the first to focus on an FIMC’s components sourcing process in the context of China’s processing trade. It contributes to a better understanding of how FIMCs progress through the components sourcing process and apply different types of processing trade in China to maximize their supply chain outcomes.

The main objective of this study is to investigate an impact of organizational culture on supply chain risk and strategic sourcing. It also examines the relationship between organizational culture and strategic sourcing. By collecting 159 survey responses from supply, executives and managers of U.S. manufacturing firms, it provides empirical evidence that organizational culture and strategic sourcing mitigate supply chain risks. Organizational culture also makes a positive impact on the implementation of strategic sourcing. This study emphasizes the importance of cultural impacts to supply executives and managers in supply chain risk management.

Although noticeable improvements have been made in global health in recent years, the distribution is uneven throughout the world and many developing and low-income countries lack access to required medicine and vaccines. Thus, a model to strategically source vaccines for these nations can contribute a great deal. This paper aims to present an extensive review of strategic sourcing literature, and to identify the criteria and available models in making strategic sourcing decisions. The purpose is to develop a decision making framework for future empirical study of humanitarian aid networks, more specifically, sourcing and distribution of vaccines in developing countries.

A thorough review of several purchasing and supply chain management (SCM) journals was conducted to identify the strategic criteria in making sourcing decisions, hence “strategic sourcing”. In line with this, a number of sourcing strategies were reviewed to find the relevant strategic criteria. Secondary data from practice were also investigated for special characteristics of vaccine supply chains in humanitarian aid networks. Articles were then scrutinized and results categorized in order to develop a framework for future empirical studies.

The findings show the historical development of strategic sourcing and the criteria in making strategic sourcing decisions. More recent studies, while taking a look back in history, have revealed a mix of strategies for more flexible models. Quality has been noted to be a strategic criterion for sourcing vaccines and this has caused the supply market to be dispersed on a global scale.

Considering the extensive number of academic publications, due to the focus of this study being sourcing within humanitarian aid networks, a number of academic journals in logistics/SCM/sourcing were reviewed.

A decision making framework is presented for sourcing vaccines within the humanitarian sector. The criteria in making strategic sourcing decisions are further re-evaluated and a base model proposed. The framework will be used for further research on sourcing in the humanitarian aid sector as well as practical implications.