Supply Chain in the Public Procurement Environment: Some Reflections from the Indian Railways

AbstractThis paper provides analysis of supply chain management framework in the public procurement environment through a case study of the Indian railway. The paper provides some insights about the evolution of supplier relationship management and its impact on key performance indicators. Its also provides an integrative framework for management of public procurement. The paper builds on extensive review of literature and follows a case study methodology. The unit of analysis is the Indian Railway's material management function. Analysis uses data of over a period of five years. The finding highlights that supplier relationships with the Indian railway have been geared around arms-length philosophy. The current symptoms of inefficiencies are reflected in high cycle time, high costs associated with supplier selection process, poor accountability, blurring of responsibility and poor value creation for all the stakeholders. The current procurement mechanisms are not crafted around development of long term strategic partnerships. This study is filling the gaps in literature by presenting the challenges of supply chain management in the public procurement environment. Insights from developing country like India can be applied to other public procurement systems. The paper deals with sensitive issue of public procurement system. The findings would be useful for policy makers in developing mechanisms for instilling insights of business management into the realms of public management. The study is first of a kind to provide a conceptual framework for understanding building blocks of the supply chain management in the public procurement environment

Buyer focus: evaluation of a new concept for supply chain integration

The goal of integrated supply chains is to remove barriers to ease the flow of materials and information. This article concentrates on an important barrier: shared resources in a supply chain. The removal of these shared resources is closely related to the recently introduced concept of buyer focus. Buyer focus is described as the singling out of resources in order to supply one buyer along the whole range of its products. The value of buyer focus for supply chain integration is evaluated and in two cases illustrated. This article suggests that there are two extreme configurations in supply chains. On the one hand, suppliers with buyer-focused operations to enable high levels of integration in order to cope with uncertainty in volume, mix and leadtime. On the other hand, shared resources and low levels of integration, which are more likely in supply chains that are dominantly cost driven.

Supply chain management as the key to a firm’s strategy in the global marketplace

Purpose: This research aims to analyze the intersection of two literature streams: that of strategy and supply chain management (SCM). This review should create a better understanding of “strategic SCM” by focusing on relevant theories in the strategic management field and their intersection with SCM to develop a joint research agenda. Design/Methodology/Approach: We conducted a correspondence analysis on the content of 3,402 articles from the top SCM journals. This analysis provides a map of the intellectual structure of content in this field to date. The key trends and changes were identified in strategic SCM research from 1990-2014 as well as the intersection with the key schools of strategic management. Findings: The results suggest that SCM is key to a successful deployment of strategy for competing in the global marketplace. The main theoretical foundations for research in this field were identified and discussed. Gaps were detected and combinations of theoretical foundations of strategic management and SCM suggest four poles for future research: agents and focal firm; distributions and logistics strategic models; SCM competitive requirements; SCM relational governance. Research limitations/implications: Scholars in both the strategy and the SCM fields continue to search for competitive advantages. Much recent research indicates that strategic SCM can be a critical source for that advantage. One of the limitations of our research is that the analysis does not include every journal that published an article mentioning SCM. However, the 34 journals selected are reputed to be the most influential on SCM and focused primarily on SCM. Practical implications: The map of the intellectual structure of research to strategic SCM highlights the need to combine different theoretical approaches to the complex phenomenon of SCM. Practitioners should consider the supply chain as an informal organization and should devote time and resources to build a shared advantage across the supply chain. They should also consider the inherent benefits and risks that sharing Originality/value: The paper demonstrates that strategic SCM needs a balanced and rigorous combination of theoretical approaches to deliver more theory-driven evidences. Our research combines both a qualitative analysis and a quantitative methodology that summarizes gaps and then outlines future research from a large sample of articles. This methodology is an original contribution to this field and offers some assistance for enlarging the sample of future literature reviews

The influence of customer integration, integrated information technology, and relationship commitment on performance: a mediating and moderating analysis in supply chain management context

Esta investigación amplía el creciente cuerpo de la literatura sobre la integración de la cadena de suministro. A partir de diferentes teorías, desarrollamos hipótesis que proponen relaciones positivas entre la tecnología de información integrada, la integración de clientes, el compromiso relacional y el rendimiento financiero. Además, investigamos los roles complementarios del tamaño del departamento de TI y el apoyo de la alta dirección. Los resultados a partir de una muestra de 205 empresas de Egipto indican que la tecnología de información integrada y la integración de clientes pueden mejorar el rendimiento financiero. Adicionalmente, los resultados muestran un efecto mediador positivo de la integración de clientes en la relación entre tecnología de información integrada y el rendimiento financiero. Además, se confirma que el tamaño del departamento de TI y el apoyo de la alta dirección están relacionados significativamente con la tecnología de información integrada. Finalmente, nuestros resultados también muestran un efecto positivo directo del compromiso relacional en la integración de clientes, así como un efecto moderador positivo del compromiso relacional en la relación entre la tecnología de información integrada y la integración de clientes.This research extends the developing body of literature on supply chain integration. Theorizing from the supply chain integration literatures, we develop hypotheses proposing direct, mediating, and moderating relations between integrated information technology, customer integration, relationship commitment, and financial performance. Also, we investigate the complementary roles of IT department size and top management support. Our findings from a sample of 205 firms in Egypt indicate that integrated information technology and customer integration can improve financial performance. In addition, our results show a mediating and positive effect of customer integration on the relation between integrated information technology and financial performance. Also, information technology department size and top management support are significantly related to integrated information technology. Finally, our results also show a direct and positive effect of relationship commitment on the customer integration, and a moderating and positive effect of relationship commitment on the relationship between integrated information technology and customer integration

Mapping the evolutionary stages of asymmetrical supplier-buyer relationships: evidence from the Turkish textile industry

The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate asymmetrical relationship development stages by examining four relationship constructs from small textile suppliers’ perspective and identifying areas for improvement. This study adopted a multiple case study method for investigating the research question. Prior studies into business-to-business marketing have explored asymmetry in dyadic relationships that resulted in limited understanding to our knowledge. The research findings contributed to the understanding of how small suppliers identify critical relationship characteristics that help them to develop symmetries through initial, development and sustainment stages in size asymmetry

Value appropriation in business exchange: literature review and future research opportunities

Purpose – Value appropriation is a central, yet neglected aspect in business exchange research. The purpose of the paper is to generate an overview of research on active value appropriation in business exchange and provide the foundation for further research into value appropriation, as well as some initial guidance for managers. Design/methodology/approach – Literatures investigating value appropriation were identified by the means of a systematic review of the overall management literature. Findings – The authors provide an overview and comparison of the literatures and find that they apply diverse understandings of the value appropriation process and emphasize different mechanisms and outcomes of value appropriation. Research limitations/implications – Based on the literature comparison and discussion, in combination with inspiration from alternative business exchange literature, the authors propose four areas with high potential for future research into value appropriation: network position effects, appropriation acts and behaviors, buyer-seller relationship effects, and appropriation over time. Practical implications – Boundary spanning managers acting in industrial markets must master the difficult balance between value creation and appropriation. This review has provided an overview of the many managerial options for value appropriation and created knowledge on the effects of the various appropriation mechanisms enabling managers to secure company rents while not jeopardizing value creation. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this paper represents the first attempt at reviewing the management literature on value appropriation in business exchange. The authors provide overview, details, comparisons, and frame a research agenda as a first step towards establishing value appropriation as a key phenomenon in business exchange research.Chris Ellegaard, Christopher J. Medlin, Jens Geersbr

Buyer-supplier partnership in agile supply chains: A conceptual view

The purpose of this paper focuses on achieving agility within the supply chain and seeks to examine the impact of developing an integrated buyer-supplier partnership on achieving agility. It also aims to investigate the moderating role played by information sharing and technology in achieving such a goal. Supply chain management and agility have both been received great attention in recent years. In a highly dynamic and complex business market place the customer is demanding more choice and companies need to possess the means to rapidly adjust to market changes in order to satisfy its customers in an effective manner. Agility has been introduced to the supply chain context to enable companies to face the business environmental changes and deal with them effectively. The methodological approach used in this paper is an analysis and critique to the existing literature, as an initial step for developing the empirical study for the paper

The effect of cost information on buyer-supplier negotiations in different power settings.

buyer-supplier negotiations; cost information;

The effect of cost information on buyer-supplier negotiations in different power settings.

We investigate the influence of cost information on buyer-supplier negotiations in different power settings. Based on exchange theory, we expect that buyers with detailed cost information and less power than their opponent may try to (re)gain control over their own outcomes by sharing information. The results of our experiment indicate that the performance disadvantage of less powerful buyers is less pronounced when the buyer has detailed cost information and that this result can be explained by the buyer's negotiation behavior.Behavior; Control; Cost; Exchange; Information; Negotiations;