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This paper aims to demonstrate how public procurement can be strategic.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted following the protocol from Pagani, Kovaleski and Resende (2015), called Methodi Ordinatio, to select the relevant literature on this topic. The analysis of papers selected was carried out following the procedures of categorical content analysis (Bardin, 1977).

In all, 68 full papers were analyzed from Science Direct and Web of Science. The results present the main characteristics of publications analyzed and the authors propose some categories of strategic practices related to public procurement that are in turn related to: sustainability, partnerships and supplier management, information systems and technology and other issues.

The main limitations of this paper are: the publication period considered of the articles selected is from January 2012 to March 2017; the databases Science Direct and Web of Science are selected as the sources of articles; the Methodi Ordinatio is used as the basic protocol of the SLR and, consequently, the inclusion and exclusion criteria described in the steps of the protocol are used.

Showing how the public procurement can be strategic, this paper highlights the benefits of best procurement practices; similarly, it highlights those practices adopted by the private sector, which can highly contribute to the creation of value in public services that are aligned with the concept of obtaining “the best value for money”.

The incorporation of strategic practices in public procurement can result in the best expenditure of public resources and the reduction of corruption in the process of procurement.

This paper contributes to synthesize the knowledge on strategic procurement, a topic exploited by few people in the public organizations. It differentiates from other literature reviews already published, considering that these studies do not deal, specifically, with public procurement and, also, do not use protocols of SLR. Moreover, this paper indicates a future agenda of research, which can aid researchers and practitioners acting in this field of knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for identification, categorization and prioritization of lean techniques adopted in a hotel supply chain.

A survey tool is used for the identification of lean techniques that are relevant to a hotel supply chain. The targeted sample includes experts from 50 four- and five-star hotels in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that confirmed experience in implementing lean practices across hotels supply chain. A Supplier-Inputs-Process-Outputs-Customers (SIPOC) chart and experts’ opinion are used to allocate and categorize the identified lean techniques across the construct of the hotel supply chain. Finally, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used to prioritize the criteria and sub-criteria of adopted lean techniques.

Study results have identified six main categories of lean practices and 19 specific lean techniques as relevant to a hotel supply chain. The identified categories include JIT, Kaizen, Quality, Inventory, Maintenance and Standardization. The study found that JIT and Kaizen take the top priority among the identified categories of lean practices. In line with that, on-time service to customers, effective improvement system and on-time delivery from suppliers were found to be the three most relevant lean techniques to a hotel supply chain.

The study has targeted a representative sample of hotels with experience in implementing lean practices. Study findings have several implications to researchers and practitioners for effective adoption of lean techniques within a hotel supply chain. However, the accuracy and credibility of results obtained from this research including SIPOC allocation and lean categorization are highly dependent on the accuracy and credibility of collected empirical data from surveyed hotels within the study context. Results of AHP prioritization also depend on the credibility of judgements made by the hotels’ supply chain experts.

The study provides the hospitality industry with a structured approach that can help in a prioritized adoption of most relevant lean techniques across the hotel supply chain to reduce wastes, create value, increase efficiency and improve the service level. Study findings can be used by hotel management to direct and focus the effort of lean capacity building, resources allocation and implementation plans.

Limited research is available on lean management in the context of a hotel supply chain. Also, most of the previous research is focused on lean impacts, while academics and practitioners agree that the identification and prioritization of most relevant lean techniques is crucial to the successful implementation of lean management for waste reduction and value creation. This research addresses this important issue in hotel supply chains and proposes a structured approach for effective lean adoption.

This study aims to investigate how natural resource-seeking as a type of strategic intent influences foreign direct investment (FDI) location choice. Grounded in the strategic intent approach and institution theory, the authors developed an interactive conceptual framework by integrating natural resource-seeking intent (NRI) with regulatory institutional factors.

The authors developed an interactive conceptual framework by integrating NRI at a firm level with regulatory factors of governmental support, political risk and economic freedom at country level. Using empirical data from a sample of 137 Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) projects in 19 Asian countries, statistical analysis was conducted using a conditional logistic regression technique.

Empirical findings from our study suggest that NRI has a strong influence on OFDI location choice of the Chinese firms. More importantly, the results demonstrate that influence of NRI on location choice is contingent on the regulatory forces both in the home and host countries settings. NRI is more likely to influence FDI location choice when government support from the home country is stronger and/or when political risk in a host country FDI is higher.

This is an empirical-based original study, and it contributes to the literature in several ways. First, the study enriches the strategic intent approach by demonstrating the contingency conditions from regulatory factors, especially home government support on a firm’s pursuit of NRI. Second, the study provides an explanation for the behaviour pattern of Chinese OFDI regarding their response to political risk in a host country. Third, the study demonstrates the influence of “institutional embededness” on the firm’s strategic intent. Managerial and policy implications are also discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model to analyze the relationships between three aspects of technical electronic commerce (EC)‐based information system (IS) resources; the supply chain process integration; and business value.

The paper is consistent with the perspective on IS‐enabled organizational capabilities and resource based view of the firm. A questionnaire‐based survey was conducted to collect data from 214 supply chain, logistics, or procurement/purchasing managers of leading manufacturing firms.

The findings suggest that supply chain process integration, a key EC‐enabled organizational capability, can enhance business value. We found that this capability serve as a catalyst in transforming technical EC‐based IS resources (technical quality of EC applications, EC advancements, and EC alignment) into higher value for a firm.

Among other limitations, this paper does not address human IS resources as the other potential determinants of firm's supply chain capabilities. Moreover, this study relies on cross‐sectional data.

The results suggest that supply chain process integration is an important intermediate organizational capability through which value of EC‐based IS resources can be materialized. The technical aspects of EC‐based IS resources need to be developed to effectively form supply chain capabilities.

The paper is perhaps one of the first to show theoretically and empirically how firms, in particular in developing countries, can generate business value from EC‐enabled supply chain process integration; also it broadens the scope of EC alignment in relation to process integration and business value to the entire supply chain.

This paper examines three issues. First, do multiple possible paths to high versus low new product performance (NPP) occur among European, high-tech, industrial manufacturing firms? Second, what are the upstream influences on high NPP? For example, what background factors affect the levels of the KSFs? Third, do consistent country-level differences occur among Austrian, German, and Swedish executives in their evaluations of antecedents and high-tech NPP? To probe these issues, a total of 771 chief operating officers and project managers participated in face-to-face long interviews (McCracken, 1988) covering 241 less and 264 more successful than average industrial NPD projects. The empirical findings support the propositions that: (1) multiple paths lead to high versus low NPP; (2) unique antecedent variables affect the KSFs for high NPP; and (3) for several upstream and direct influences, consistent national differences occur among executives’ assessments of NPP. A key implication of the study for NPD executives is to recognize the possibility of alternative paths leading to successful NPD.

This paper could have implications for both public service managers and academics alike. Some of the most difficult challenges facing public purchasers, including those associated with public sector procurement, purchasing consulting services, and purchasing department involvement are discussed. This paper presents insight into the beliefs of municipal purchasing department managers as they relate to meaningful involvement of their departments in consulting service acquisition processes. These research findings may assist others with developing the strategies necessary for increasing municipal purchasing department involvement in these acquisition processes in order to improve organizational effectiveness.

The impact of strategic procurement is driven by the contribution of the function to overall corporate performance and its interface relationships. The actual impact on corporate performance in the UK further and higher education sectors has been neither empirically substantiated nor rigorously examined. This research was carried out in UK fiscal year 1998/1999 with 60 UK further education (FE) and 40 UK higher education (HE) institutions participating. This paper provides empirical evidence that progress has been achieved in strategic procurement in FE and HE and suggests areas for continuous improvement.

The purpose of this paper is to describe collaboration between businesses, universities and industry associations in Australia with the aim of developing an appropriate set of competencies for supply chain professionals.

Three related initiatives are described involving questionnaire surveys (Initiatives 1 and 3) and a series of meetings involving representatives from businesses, universities and industry associations (Initiative 2).

Initiative 1 identifies that although supply chain professionals in Australia are highly educated, they had limited training in relation to supply chain management. Initiative 2 developed a set of 20 competencies for supply chain professionals and their importance was then assessed in Initiative 3. Generally, high importance is highlighted for the set of competencies. Maintaining momentum of the collaboration is identified as a challenge.

One specific limitation is the somewhat low response rates achieved for the two questionnaire surveys conducted: 15 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively. Australia is unique in many respects; hence generalisation of the findings is limited.

The paper identifies Australian industry needs reflected in the set of competencies developed. The paper highlights the value of collaboration between business, universities/colleges and industry associations.

This paper identifies a set of supply chain competencies considered highly important by supply chain professionals in Australia. These can be used by academic institutions in developing future programs, by businesses for assessing performance of supply chain professionals that they employ and by industry associations in developing appropriate services for their members.

The goal of this paper is to provide a broad foundation for future research in the area of strategic sourcing.

The foundation is derived by drawing from various well‐established organizational theories. Specifically, strategic sourcing was viewed from the perspective of institutional theory, resource dependence theory, network theory, systems theory, resource/knowledge‐based views of the firm, transaction cost economics, agency theory, strategic choice theory, sociocognitive theory, and critical theory.

By viewing strategic sourcing through the lens of ten organizational theories, this research provides multiple insights into many interrelated strategic sourcing questions, such as when to make, buy or ally, how many and which suppliers, and how to manage sourcing relationships. The paper offers a rich and diverse foundation to foster future theory‐building activities in sourcing and supply management research.

While some of these theory bases have been utilized, to some degree, in the supply management research, the paper offers a more holistic perspective of theoretical insights for strategic sourcing. Each of these organizational theories could be utilized as a foundation for future studies. Further, the paper offers competing and/or complementary theory bases to enhance possible insights into many strategic sourcing questions such as when to make, buy or ally.

The literature suggests public procurement professionals have different perspectives on supply chain management (SCM) vis-à-vis their private sector counterparts. Based on a recent survey of Canadian purchasers, this paper presents an empirical comparison of public vs. private views on SCM. The questionnaire is structured around a set of 54 topics, tools and techniques; along with four perspectives on the relationship between purchasing and SCM. Important findings from this survey of SCM professionals include: (1) public procurement professionals have narrow perspectives on SCM compared to their private sector counterparts; and (2) public sector professionals have different perceptions regarding the importance of topics, tools and techniques to support their performance on the job.