The role of distributors in product supply channels : theory and practice

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (p. 178-184).by Scott D. Freedman.M.S

Dysfunctional market or insufficient creditworthiness? : an exploration of financial constraint experienced by small, medium and micro enterprises in South Africa

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 212-228 ).The existence and prevalence of financial constraints has been extensively discussed in the international economic literature, and is implicit in debates on the performance and needs of South Africa’s Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). However, there is little solid research measuring financial constraints among South African SMMEs. In addition, the reasons advanced for their financial constraints are often speculative and anecdotal rather than the result of sound research. The hypothesis of credit rationing, resulting from information asymmetries, is well established in theory but an additional explanatory hypothesis, the fragile financial structure of SMMEs, is often voiced by the South African finance community. With South African data being scarce and patchy, none of these hypotheses has been validated by empirical studies. The most likely reason for these gaps in literature is not a lack of interest, but the considerable difficulty of raising reliable data from SMMEs, a joint result of confidentiality, widespread informality in the sector, and the limitations of publicly available statistics in developing countries. Surveys of banks or SMMEs raise risks of partiality and limited ability of respondents to provide quantitative data, while accounting data are characterised by limited usability and reliability. This thesis attempts to address those challenges by exploring primary and secondary sources of data, combining the respective strengths of interview and financial data

The determinants of retailer power within retailer manufacturer relationships evidence from the Irish food manufacturing industry

This research investigates the determinants of retailer power within retailer-manufacturer relationships by specifying and testing three models of retailer power. It is based on a sample of 55 Irish food manufacturers and their experiences of relationships with Irish and British retailers. The study adopts the view that the existing body of research into relationships with retailers is fragmented, and that a more complete understanding of these power relations may be obtained by simultaneously focusing on three sets of factors. The factors are industry specific, firm and product specific, and relationship specific. Much of the existing empirical work investigating power relations implicitly assumes power to be unidimensional through the measures employed. Consequently, the current study investigates retailer power, measured as a unidimensional construct. However, the work proceeds to explicitly acknowledge that power is multidimensional by examining retailers' power over manufacturers' product related and margin related activities. In examining these two dimensions of power, findings ofa more strategic nature are obtained. The analysis draws on the importance French and Raven (1959) attributed to observability as a determinant of power. While neglected throughout the power literature, observability, by introducing monitoring activities, provides a bridge with the transaction cost literature. In this way, specific investments, and the role of retailers' branding strategies, are incorporated into our study of power. The relationship between retailers' monitoring activities and power is specified. Proceeding from monitoring activities, the analysis sheds light on the determinants of inter-firm integration between retailers and food manufacturers. The role of specific investments, symmetric dependency, brand portfolio and retail influence on price are highlighted. The analysis of retailers' product related power supports the role of retail concentration, product shelf-life, manufacturer specific investments and retailers' product monitoring activities. Examining retail margin related power points to the importance of retail concentration, own brand penetration, the importance of economies of scale in manufacturing, product shelf life and manufacturer specific investments. Finally, retail power, measured as a unidimensional construct, is found to be related to own brand market penetration, the importance of economies of scale in manufacturing, manufacturer specific investments and retailers' monitoring activities

Modeling of selection of supply sources for hospitals

Most of the hospitals in the USA carry out their purchasing of supplies, including pharmaceuticals, through Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO). GPO is an organization, which aggregates procuring volumes of their member hospitals and negotiates low prices from manufacturers or vendors. According to 2013 statistics, 98% of hospitals in U.S. are purchasing their bulk health care products through GPOs, and it saves U.S. health care industry approximately $36 billion annually. Through these hospitals enjoy advantages by purchasing through their GPOs, there are some disadvantages such as paying membership fees to their GPOs, restricting the purchasing power of the hospitals outside their GPOs, making it more complicated to buy better or advanced products from new vendors. As various political and economic factors are forcing hospitals merge into large hospital associations, the concept of self-contracting or managing supplies directly, comes into the picture. In this research, the concepts of healthcare supply chains with GPOs are described in detail. Purchasing systems under self- contracting are then discussed. Three possible options for the hospitals are then examined, namely, continuing current purchasing through their GPOs, direct purchasing from manufacturers (self –contracting), and finally, forming an association with other hospitals and purchasing through this association. The preferable options are discussed under the concepts of Game Theory. This research also examines the changes needed in the supply chain if any of the above new options is selected. A regular supply-chain consists of Hospital, GPO, and vendor or manufacturer. As healthcare delivery systems are merging into one group or forming hospital associations, they have an additional option of carrying out their purchasing through these associations. In this work, it is assumed that the individual hospitals take their decisions based on total costs of supplies, and they chose the supplier by comparing the various options available. In this research, these questions are answered by following a game-theoretic model, by making some assumptions. Concepts of game theory such as Nash equilibrium, Mixed Strategy Nash Equilibrium (MSNE), etc. are discussed