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While numerous articles have stressed the importance of developing and maintaining supply networks, there is still a dearth of studies that address how supply networks arise and change over time. The purpose of this article is to describe and conceptualise how a firm initiates the development of a supply network, and how the structure of the firm's supply network and supply base change over time as a consequence of the type and duration of initiative taken?

Empirically, the article is based on a longitudinal, single case study, which is real‐time, theory‐led and contextual. The case study concerns the efforts of a main contractor (within the construction industry) who changed its sourcing strategy, initiated the development of a supply network, and restructured part of its supply base. Theoretically, the article reviews both supply base and supply network management literature, highlights important issues related to both concepts, and discusses similarities and differences between them.

It is possible to discern between supply network initiatives of more permanent versus more temporary character. Supply network initiatives of a more permanent character comprise the establishment of, for example, organisational structures, functions, manuals and (explicit) routines aimed at continually supporting the maintenance of the supply network. Supply network initiatives of a more temporary character are organised as projects and aim to set in motion a process that may result in the creation of a supply network which develops over time without institutionalised network support structures. A single temporary supply network initiative is useful to consider in relation to the pre‐initiative stage, the ongoing initiative stage and the post‐initiative stage of the initiative. Furthermore, supply networks may be managed through an emergent series of temporary supply network initiatives aimed at supporting the supply network as it emerges over time in a changing context.

Managers may benefit from considering whether a supply network initiative is of a more permanent or a more temporary nature. If it is of a more temporary character, managers may consider analysing the initiative in its pre‐initiative, ongoing initiative, and post‐initiative stages in order to reflect on and learn from the initiative. Furthermore, if the initiative is temporary but form part of a planned or an emerging sequence of initiatives, managers may search for and consider earlier initiatives which may be viewed as “experiments” in a emerging trial‐and‐error learning process aimed at managing supply networks.

The article illustrates how a temporary supply network initiative can be used as a means to instigate reform of a supply base.

President Trump's tenure was accompanied by a series of protectionist measures that intended to reinvigorate US-based production and make manufacturing supply chains more “local”. Amidst these increasing institutional pressures to localise, and the business uncertainty that ensued, this study investigates the extent to which manufacturers reconfigured their supply bases.

Bloomberg's Supply Chain Function (SPLC) is used to manually extract data about the direct suppliers of 30 of the largest American manufacturers in terms of market capitalisation. Overall, the raw data comprise 20,100 quantified buyer–supplier relationships that span seven years (2014–2020). The supply base dimensions of spatial complexity, spend concentration and buyer dependence are operationalised by applying appropriate aggregation functions on the raw data. The final dataset is a firm-year panel that is analysed using a random effect (RE) modelling approach and the conditional means of the three dimensions are plotted over time.

Over the studied timeframe, American manufacturers progressively reduced the spatial complexity of their supply bases and concentrated their purchase spend to fewer suppliers. Contrary to the aims of governmental policies, American manufacturers increased their dependence on foreign suppliers and reduced their dependence on local ones.

The research provides insights into the dynamics of manufacturing supply chains as they adapt to shifting institutional demands.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the theory and practice of supply chain management in terms of how an organisation should structure its supply base to be resilient to supply uncertainties and disruptions. An empirical assessment of supplier response diversity is demonstrated, and the following research question posed: Is response diversity of suppliers positively associated with supply chain resilience, more positively than mere supplier diversity is?

Resilience is operationalised as the maintenance of sales of two food products in 27 southern Finnish retail stores during two distinct disruptions. Response diversity is operationalised as 1) diversity in the personnel sizes of slaughterhouse suppliers of pork under domestic strikes and as 2) evenness in the proportions of imports and domestic supply of food oil under global price volatility. A five-step quantitative assessment is performed.

Response diversity is positively related to the maintenance of sales, more positively than diversity of individual suppliers is.

Response diversity is an advancement to the theory of supply chain resilience and supply base management, and access to big data increases practical potential.

Empirical assessments of response diversity of suppliers provide buyer companies an effective means to enhance their supply base management for resilience.

The proposed approach is useful for teaching and for authorities to enhance food security.

This first assessment of response diversity of supply chain operations presents an important advancement in the theory and practice of supply base management for resilience.

Developing the right sourcing strategy in managing the firm’s supplies is critical for today’s managers. They realize the long‐term impact of their sourcing strategies (make or buy, supply‐base structure, and nature of customer‐supplier relationship) on the profits and the efficient functioning of the organization. The study examines and evaluates changes in these strategic choices. The study revealed the following: small and lower labor productivity firms rate their internal suppliers better than external suppliers; obtaining supplies nationwide from a limited number of suppliers is the prevalent supply‐base structure; and customer‐supplier relationship is deepening.

This study aims to propose a quantitative approach to reduce the number of suppliers in an organization. This method is based on grouping, and different parts are grouped based on the capabilities they need and are allocated to suppliers who have these capabilities. In this regard, an integrated model for supplier reduction and grouping of parts using a group technology-based algorithm is proposed.

Design science research methodology was used in this study. The main problem under investigation is a large number of suppliers in an organization’s supply base. The proposed model was used to solve this problem in the electric motor industry.

The results of implementing the proposed model in the electric motor industry showed that reducing suppliers had a significant effect on reducing cost, increasing information sharing, increasing supplier innovation and technology, enhancing the relationship between buyers and sellers and reducing risks in the production process.

From a managerial point of view, reducing the number of suppliers plays an important role in the company’s overall strategy, and seems to be a prerequisite for building a strong supplier partnership and an effective supply chain, and will have many benefits for the focal company and suppliers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, grouping and formation of product families have never been performed based on the similarity of the operational capabilities required for producing parts, and it has not been addressed as a solution for reducing suppliers.

The nature of buyer‐supplier relationships has been closely linked to nation specific explanations and concern has been expressed in literature regarding the transferability of co‐design best practices to different firms and countries. On the other hand, many attempts to isolate best practices and to apply them on a global scale have been proposed in the literature. Contributes to the issue by analysing a controversial case study based on the Italian automotive industry. Results show that few aspects of the Japanese contextual features and American ones existed when the major Italian car maker decided to outsource component design and dramatically change its supply chain management approach. Moreover, despite the massive involvement of suppliers at a very early stage of the car maker new product development process, not all the best practices deemed to be necessary when implementing a co‐operative buyer‐supplier relationship have been applied. Argues that these results lead us to question the very nature of effective buyer‐supplier relationships as described by the dominant literature and suggests implications for practitioners and for future research.

The supply chain (SC) model is commonly utilized in manufacturing and has also been adapted to a variety of service industries with similar goals. However, in a few service industries, most notably academic libraries, the SC model is rarely implemented, despite the fact that SC management best practises have been shown to boost stakeholder satisfaction, revenue and decrease total expenses. This research aims to discuss the development of the entities of an academic library SC model and present the verifying/validation process of the model.

In this research, both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been used. System thinking method used to develop the conceptual SC model of the academic library and fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) used to validate the developed model.

This research explores the functions and components that need to develop and validate the academic library SC model.

The outcome of this research is to construct a valid SC model of an academic library which could be a strategical tool for ensuring a quality service for the library users and the stakeholders because this model shows a holistic view of all entities of the academic library SC.

This paper aims to create a deeper understanding of the make or buy decision process, the criteria for the selection of a certain relationship type, and the differences between alternative relationship types in FM services.

The paper is based on literature review and qualitative research. Empirical data were collected from both clients and service providers using semi‐structured interviews, practical observations, informal discussions and focus group interviews.

When FM service activities entail strategically important skills and knowledge and when outsourcing may have a profound effect on the clients' ability to satisfy the end‐users needs, vertical integration is chosen. Respectively, a collaborative approach is recommended in cases where the service is of high importance for the client's or end‐user's business, there is a need to share sensitive or strategic information, the purchasing volume is high or the management of the purchasing situation is difficult because of the complexity of the purchased service package or market conditions. From the relationship management point of view, three different types of relationships (i.e. arm's length relation, operational partnering and strategic partnering) can be recognized in the FM services context.

The sourcing portfolio model, which can be used as an analytical tool to support the selection of an appropriate governance model for different service packages, is introduced. Additionally, the results aid the development of appropriate action plans for the management of different kinds of relationships.

This paper contributes to creating an enhanced understanding of outsourcing decisions and different types of relationships in the FM services context for both researchers and practitioners.

This study aims to develop a moderated mediation model to explain the practices of supply base management and how they can achieve innovation performance, and the authors explore the boundary conditions of this implementation mechanism.

The authors used the bootstrap procedure to conduct empirical tests on 328 Chinese manufacturers to verify the proposed model.

The results showed that supplier innovation focus, supply-base structuring and long-term relationship focus have a positive impact on innovation performance through supplier innovativeness, and the mediation performs differently under technology and demand uncertainty.

The authors only focused on innovation performance, and it does not explore the links between supply base management and other performance outcomes. This study involves part of the supply network which is easier to manage, i.e. supply base. The authors ignored the importance of other members in supply network. Finally, the data obtained in this study belong to the cross-sectional data during the same period but it accomplishes the research aim well.

The focal firm needs to improve their supply base composition, establish permeable organizational boundaries, and build long-term strategic partnerships characterized by equality and trust with suppliers to stimulate supply base members to make innovative contributions.

This study complements the implementation path of manufacturers around innovation, emphasizing multidimensional characteristics of supply base management. And this study clarifies the mechanism and boundary conditions between supply base management and innovation performance.

The study investigates how supply base structural complexity influences both supply chain agility and resilience. It employs Normal Accident Theory and Portfolio Theory to disentangle the effects of three structural facets of complexity – numerousness; technical and functional diversity; geographical distribution of suppliers – on the two capabilities simultaneously.

The study is grounded in the Italian footwear industry. 31 manufacturing firms with their global supply base have provided a cross-sectional time series database over a 10-year period (310 observations).

The results show that supply base numerousness has nonlinear effects on both supply chain agility and resilience. The directions of these effects are opposites. They also show that supply base diversity has an inverted U-shaped effect on supply chain agility while it is insignificant for resilience. Finally, the results show that suppliers' geographical dispersion is detrimental to both capabilities.

This is the first study that considers the multifaceted effects of supply base complexity on both supply chain agility and resilience. In doing so, it also sheds light on some of the most common trade-offs that firms address when they seek a balance between different strategies, such as increasing agility without damaging supply base resilience and vice versa. Considering the resource constraints firms normally face, by disentangling the dual effects of each complexity facet, this study helps decision-makers to develop scalability and leverage the supply base characteristics in order to survive and prosper in uncertain markets.