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Unprecedented changes sweeping the world during the last few years have given rise to the need for the development and adoption of contingency strategies. This requires firms to have strategic flexibility in every aspect of their operation. Vendor development strategies constitute an important component in achieving this flexibility. Attempts to draw up an explicit conceptual link between generic business unit strategies and generic vendor development strategies. Proposes a vendor structure framework with three dimensions representing vendor structure scope, vendor structure relationship and vendor structure focus. Uses the framework to develop certain generic vendor development strategies. Considers the four generic strategies suggested by Porter, namely industry‐wide cost leadership strategy, industry‐wide differentiation strategy, segment cost leadership strategy and segment differentiation strategy and, for each one of these, proposes appropriate vendor development strategies.

This paper aims to review the methods used by an automotive manufacturer in enhancing the supply chain management (SCM) system through a set up termed product and vendor development (PVD) programme. PVD was developed to eliminate problems faced due to late delivery and poor quality of supplies and availability of supplies at the lowest possible costs.

The paper explores the step‐by‐step methodologies that have been employed by the PVD.

Results overtime show that the PVD has improved the SCM system especially in the areas of quality and delivery services, other services and cutting costs that manufacturers had to face due to problems that arose in the shortcomings of the supply services.

The PVD has managed to promote the localization programme and has also been able to establish qualified vendors through the structured vendor performance evaluation.

Findings also establish that the PVD team is the key to success for development of the PVD programme.

The paper presents an original discussion about viewing PVD programme from a successful automotive manufacturer. The structured PVD programme helps the team better understand the product development process involving supplier selection and supplier performance measure.

Illustrates a case story detailing the customer‐vendor co‐operation in a project concerning the beta test of hardware and software at a radiology department. A qualitative analysis of the project has unveiled that contextual conditions like the nature of the technology, the organizational structure at both the customer and the vendor side, the development strategy, and the project organization were very important forces during the project. Technologically, the project was more complex than usually was seen at the hospital because it concerned both biomedical and administrative aspects. Conflicting interests in particular on the part of the customer side as well as between the customer and the vendor affected the course of the project. Methodologically, the project lacked a proper strategy for the co‐operative process. There was no formalized project organization which otherwise could have provided different conditions for the project.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a strategic conflict analysis, based on the graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR), that is applied to information technology outsourcing (ITO) in a real-world software development and implementation process in Brazil.

Because the idea of this study is to answer “why” the ITO conflicts occur and “how” they can be avoided, the case study methodology was adopted. The software GMCR II was used to analyze the interactions between an IT vendor and an IT client.

The results suggest that a lack of relational governance is a critical issue that could be handled to improve the interaction between those involved.

The main results are restricted to the case study and cannot be generalized. Moreover, a specific limitation of this paper pertains to the use of the GMCR and the consequent difficulty for IT vendors and IT clients to work with a large number of actions and to set preferences for several states of conflict.

The strategic analysis of outsourcing conflicts provides a holistic view of the current situation that may assist the client and vendor in future decisions and identify guidelines to ensure successful ITO. Therefore, this paper provides an effective guide for clients and vendors to better manage conflicts and establish a contingency vision to avoid such disputes.

The ITO conflict is analyzed using the GMCR, considering both perspectives of the outsourcing process (vendors and clients).

This paper relayed an important line of Mark Hepworth’s work, which engages with information technologies and development. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a subfield of library and information science (LIS) for development to reclaim the role of information services and systems for social change in rural areas. The paper looked at the extent of development gained with the advent of mobile phones.

Rather than undertaking traditional large-scale, quantitative, context-independent and survey-type research, the paper employed capability approach and semi-structured interviews to ascertain the experiences that mobile phone kiosk vendors in the rural Congo had of mobile phones.

It was found that mobile phones should be geared towards the liberation, and not utilization or commodification of humans and their needs and that mobile phones were not a catalyst of human basic capabilities.

Since the method employed is an in-depth qualitative analysis of mobile phone kiosk vendors, obtained results can be used to enrich or inform mobile phone experiences in other settings and groups.

This paper provided empirical evidence as to how an important group of mobile phone users could harness development with their mobiles.

Most LIS literature has presented mobile phones along the lines of information freedom or access, mass subscription, adoption rates, technological and entrepreneurial innovation, micro-credits, etc. However, the paper placed the topic development at the heart of LIS debates.

The purpose of this research is to investigate development competitions in England in order to uncover any shortcomings and point to improvements. A “development competition” is a sale by tender of publicly‐owned land with development potential where bidders also submit designs.

First, an interview survey of local authorities in north‐east England; second an interview survey with developers in north‐east England; third a questionnaire survey of local authority estates officers and fourth an interview survey with London based property consultants.

Despite their theoretical attractions, some competitions have problems. Conflict exists between professions and agencies. Development competitions encounter difficulties between developer appointment and construction which may lead to delay or the developer pulling out.

The data collected are biased in favour of the financial/property perspective. Further research is therefore still required.

Despite its practical significance, no literature exists on this specific topic. The results reveal delays, disputes and sub‐optimal use of resources. Further research is needed leading to new official guidance covering all aspects of this process.

Large numbers of competitions are held in the UK each year. The disposal of sites in this way has become more significant due to the concentration of activity on brown‐field land. In future, the need to assemble urban land using compulsory purchase powers is likely to make competitions more frequent. These results, which highlight best practice, will be of interest to all professional people involved.

The purpose of this paper is to help library technology staff understand the process of beta testing software, determine if it is appropriate for them to engage in the process, and provide suggestions on how to the time invested in the process.

The paper explains what beta testing is, why it should be used and how to become a beta tester.

The paper reveals that beta testing is not convenient for everyone, but those taking place in these activities should be thorough, positive and generous in order to maximize the return on investment in this kind of testing.

While beta testing new software features can take a significant amount of time, the resulting benefits of early access to new features and improved vendor‐staff relations can make it a worthwhile investment.

The paper provides useful information on beta testing software.

This paper aims to investigate disastrous failures in high-value, high-risk IT procurement among US public agencies. The goal is to understand the cause of the failures and explore the role of procurement in IT public investments.

The establishment of the maturity model is based on the relevant literature review and IT procurement failures at four different US public agencies. The data is gathered through multiple sources, including documents, archival records and interviews.

The findings add to the public procurement literature and highlight the catalyst role of procurement maturity in the success of IT public procurement. They also call for public agencies to grow procurement maturity and increase procurement impact throughout the procurement process.

The proposed model was primarily based on four Information Technology (IT) procurement failures. Investigations on IT procurement successes and on a larger scale are necessary to further validate and expand the model.

The proposed model can help public agencies identify where they are in their IT procurement journey and formulate plans to reduce the likelihood of IT procurement failure.

The proposed model helps public agencies achieve IT procurement success, which leads to timely policy implementation, huge federal savings and better use of taxpayer money.

This paper provides an effective framework for public agencies seeking to overcome high-value high-risk IT procurement challenges and achieve IT procurement success.

Companies are increasingly changing their IT sourcing arrangements. Such changes often involve significant costs. The purpose of this paper is to explore and explain IT sourcing as a dynamic organizational phenomenon and to gain a deeper understanding of the drivers and outcomes of IT sourcing changes at organizational level.

A qualitative approach with interpretive analysis of historical data. Data are collected from companies through interviews and review of public documents where available.

The underlying tendencies of change are either primarily associated with institutional processes, or with what we term “IT‐driven” considerations. The perceived success of IT outsourcing in companies is dependent on these underlying tendencies.

This is an exploratory study and the findings on the underlying tendencies in change will be helpful in further theory development and research on IT outsourcing changes.

Knowledge coming from such research could help companies make more effective decisions about IT sourcing changes and set realistic expectations.

The dynamic perspective taken in this paper is different from the perspectives taken in earlier research where the researchers took cross‐sectional views of IT outsourcing arrangements. This paper shows the importance of re‐examining the reasons for change using the more encompassing concept of orientation.

The paper describes and analyses the introduction of just‐in‐time (JIT) production at Proton Cars, Malaysia. The paper examines the means of introducing JIT and the present scope of JIT within the company. The relevance of some existing models of JIT to the Malaysian experience is assessed. The apparently transitory nature of JIT at Proton is investigated and found to be developed as a strategic approach. The strategy is to create an indigenous base of suppliers capable of supplying world markets. The methodology involved literature review, observation of the operations at the Proton plant, interviews and discussions with Proton staff at all levels and interviews with suppliers. Secondary data were collected.