Coordination, Cooperation, and Collaboration: Defining the C3 Framework

The term C3 refers to the framework of coordinative, cooperative and collaborative relationships within the realm of external supply chain partnerships. Each unique partnership offers both benefits and challenges within a supply chain and must be aligned with company and supply chain strategy in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. This paper aims to fill the current void in supply chain literature concerning C3 by defining each term based upon current supply chain research as well as give the most prevalent characteristics and differences between each “C” in this phase model. This research is then compared to the industry through a case study of a major international retailer. Finally, we propose a set of propositions that organizations can use to assess at what level their external relationships reside within the phase model as well as how companies move and evolve their relationships between the levels and what the trigger mechanisms are in this evolution

The Strategic Supply Chain Management in the Digital Era, Tactical vs Strategic

The perspective of procurement and supply chain management is changing dramatically; traditionally, it was seen as a support function; however, the procurement function is receiving increased attention and investment as an essential contributor to the strategic success and a business enabler. While an end-to-end digital supply chain is an opportunity as it unleashes the next level of strategic growth and involves minimal investment in infrastructure, it is still a challenge to optimize and transform. Furthermore, the recent pandemics and geopolitical disruptions of Covid-19, the Ukraine-Russian war, Brexit and the US-China trade war; have structurally changed the global economy and revealed a new risk assessment that will result in the re-introduction of buffers, boundaries across industries and a partial return to regionalization with sort of de-globalization in which existing just-in-time getting replaced by just-in-case strategy

Cooperation models for Supply Chain Management

Working in Supply Chains or Supply Networks (SN) requires to efficiently manage the information flow all along the network, and as a consequence, to define efficient coordination/cooperation mechanisms between partners. This problem is usually considered according to two main points of view: centralised planning of the SN using an APS (Advanced Planning System), or point-to-point relationship, each point being possibly managed by an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. The autonomy of each partner makes the centralised planning solution difficult, while in point-to-point relationship, it seems to be implicitly considered that a high level plan (Sales and Operation Planning-SOP) is generated by the final assembler, like in the automotive or aircraft industry, and is used for building a Procurement Planning which is sent as forecasts to the partners/suppliers. Iteratively, this procurement planning should allow the suppliers themselves building their SOP, and then generating forecasts for their own suppliers. Therefore, the main stream of the information flow should cross the chain from its end to its beginning, whereas the material flow goes in the reverse direction. This global framework seems to be considered as consistent on its own, independently from the characteristics of the involved partners. After having performed a number of case studies in various SN, we do believe that the characteristics of the companies involved in the SN have a deep influence on information processing and especially on the way the procurement planning is built and processed, setting into question the ideal case of an unidirectional information flow. In this paper, we suggest to define taxonomies of companies which in our opinion influence information processing all along the SN. We then suggest a generic model for coordination based on these taxonomies. Typical coordination situations will be discussed in order to show that these models may provide an efficient way to improve the use of Information and Communication (IC) tools with the final goal to define more realistic Procurement Plans within the Supply Networks

Coupling Performance Measurement and Collective Activity: The Semiotic Function of Management Systems. A Case Study

Theories about management instruments often enter dualistic debates between structure and agency: do instruments determine the forms of collective activity (CA), or do actors shape instruments to their requirements, or are instruments and concrete activity decoupled, as some trends of new institutionalist theory assume? Attempts to overcome the dualistic opposition between structure and activity stem from diverse sources: actors’ networks theory, structuration theory, pragmatism, theory of activity, semiotics. Performance measurement and management systems can be defined as structural instruments engaged in CA. As such they constrain the activity, but they do not determine it. Reciprocally, they are modified by the way CA uses them and makes sense of them. The central thesis of this paper will be that it is impossible to study the role of performance measurement as a common language in organizations independently from the design of the CA in which it is engaged. There is a not deterministic coupling between structure (i.e. management technical tools) and CA (i.e. business processes). The transformation of CA entails a transformation in the meaning of the “performance” concept, in the type of measurement required and in the performance management practices. The relationship between performance measurement and CA is studied here in the production division of a large electricity utility in France. The research extended over several years and took place when two new management systems were simultaneously implemented: a new management accounting system and an integrated management information system (ERP), both in the purchasing process. The new management accounting system was designed by the purchasing department; the new management information system was designed by the operational departments. Whereas the coherence between both projects could have been given by their common subordination to the rebuilding of CA (the purchasing process), their disconnection from concrete CA opened the possibility of serious dissonances between them. Both the new performance management system and the new ERP met difficulties to provide common languages, since the dimension of CA was taken for granted and consequently partly ignored in the engineering of both systems. When CA incurs radical transformations, actors’direct discursive exchanges about it, “collective activity about collective activity”, become necessary to ensure a flexible and not deterministic coupling between CA and new management systems. This reflexive and collective analysis of the process by actors themselves requires the establishment of “communities of process”, which can jointly redesign the CA and its performance measurement system. We conclude that performance measurement can be a common language as far as there is a clear and shared understanding of how CA should concretely take place and should be assigned to the different categories of actors.Business Process; Collective Activity; Community of Process; Management Instruments; Performance Measurement; Semiotics; Theory of Activity

The Effect of Information and Communication Technology on Procurement Enhancement. A Case Study of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital – Kumasi.

The emergence of technology and its advancement has completely changed ways things are done in the business world.  The proliferation of the internet and related technologies today have made it possible and simple for companies to do business over the internet and it’s even easier and faster with both supplier as well as customers. With the advent of electronic business (e-business), most companies including the public sector have instituted various forms of applications such as e-procurement and many others.  According to Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) manual, e-procurement is defined as using the internet to operate the transactional aspects of requisitioning, authorizing, ordering, receiving and payment processes for the required goods, works and services. This study assesses the effect of ICT on procurement enhancement functions and its strategic operating resources for Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital’s (KATH) procurement processes. A non-probability sampling method (purposive) was used with both primary and secondary sources to obtain data and was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and adoption of Microsoft Excel 2007 for creation of the charts and figures. From the study, it was found out that KATH was using e-procurement system alongside the traditional system of purchasing items.  Also the introduction of e-procurement has brought some changes in KATH’s procurement system even though e-procurement is not hundred percent utilized in KATH procurement processes. It is therefore recommended that KATH reduce manual paper-based purchases to reduce errors and use electronic purchase orders in order to eliminate repetitive work and certain corrupt practices associated with manual tendering. Keywords: Supply Chain management, e-procurement, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Traditional Method, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital’s (KATH

Managing multi-tiered suppliers in the high-tech industry

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-135).This thesis presents a roadmap for companies to follow as they manage multi-tiered suppliers in the high-tech industry. Our research covered a host of sources including interviews and publications from various companies, consulting companies, software companies, the computer industry, trade associations, and analyst firms among others. While our review found that many companies begin supplier relationship management after sourcing events, we show that managing suppliers should start as companies form their competitive strategy. Our five step roadmap provides a deliberate approach for companies as they build the foundation for effective and successful multi-tiered supplier relationship management.by Charles E. Frantz and Jimin Lee.M.Eng.in Logistic

Time, Place, Space, Technology and Corporate Real Estate Strategy

Few corporations take a strategic approach to managing real estate. This survey finds that corporate real estate managers and service providers in Australia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States continue to fulfill a traditional transactional role within their organizations. Real estate is not cooperating with other parts of the organization to provide their companies with flexibility that could increase competitiveness. While the use of technology is growing, real estate managers remain uncertain about its role in their future. Corporate real estate managers believe that to be effective in the future they will need strategic planning skills and business knowledge.