Improving sustainability performance through supplier relationship management in the tobacco industry

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how tobacco manufacturing companies can improve their sustainability performance via effective supplier relationship management (SRM). Design/methodology/approach: This study has adopted a single case study of an international tobacco company. The primary data involved semi-structured interviews with participants from the case company who are familiar with sustainable SRM in the tobacco industry and are engaging in various techniques to improve sustainability performance. Findings: The drivers for sustainable SRM commonly identified in literature are observable within the case company. There is also clear evidence of integrating sustainability in its SRM processes. However, the perception of sustainability as a requirement to meet stringent regulations limits its scope and drive in pursuing sustainable SRM. It has also limited supplier sustainability evaluation and performance metrics. Furthermore, the findings of this paper reinforce the importance of a procurement team’s ability to work with other functional teams in implementing sustainable SRM. The findings also contribute to the emerging literature on the impact of sustainability on supplier segmentation and multi-tier supplier management. Research limitations/implications: This study provides insight into the varying SRM methods used in the tobacco industry to ensure compliance and improve sustainability performance. However, further research is required to explore the generalisability of the findings of this study derived from a single case study. Originality/value: The tobacco industry is an under-researched industry, particularly in terms of sustainable operations and supply chain management practices. The findings of this study seem to be relevant to those comparable industries with stringent regulations as well

Knowledge-oriented supplier relationship management (SRM)

Siirretty Doriast

SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT DALAM PENDEKATAN CONTIGENCY DAN BEST PRACTICE

The supplier relationship is one important type of cooperation between and among firms. Supplier relationship management (SRM) is a part of the overall supply chain management process. Over the past several years, there has been significant shift in the way organization approach supplier relationship management. Recent year have seen an increased interest and involvement in partnership model. Several authors said that partnersip will deliver superior performance. The “best practice” model of supplier management is based on intepretation of the succesfull Japanese automaker Toyota. But empirical evidence suggested that the arm’s length model is still common inpractice. Some theoretical writing has supported a contingency approach. The paper defines conceptof SRM, theoretical foundation and shifting on SRM. This paper also presents debate from bestpractice and contingency approach.Keywords: Supplier Relationship Management, Shifting on SRM, Contigency Approach, BestPractice Approac

Analisis Implementasi Supplier Relationship Management pada UMKM dan Perannya Terhadap Kualitas Pemasok dan Kinerja UMKM di Indonesia

Pemasok memiliki peranan penting dalam berjalannya suatu usaha. Dalam Supply Chain Management (SCM) terdapat proses bisnis yang berfokus terhadap pengelolaan hubungan suatu perusahaan dengan pemasoknya, yaitu Supplier Relationship Management (SRM). Pada sejumlah penelitian terdahulu, penerapan SRM ini telah terbukti memiliki pengaruh terhadap kinerja perusahaan. Namun, penelitian terkait SRM yang telah dilakukan pada umumnya hanya dilakukan terhadap perusahaan besar. Padahal, perekonomian di Indonesia hingga saat ini masih sangat didominasi oleh usaha mikro, kecil dan menengah (UMKM). Mengingat adanya perbedaan dalam pola relasi pembelian antara pembeli dan pemasok pada perusahaan besar dengan perusahaan kecil, penelitian ini dilakukan dengan tujuan untuk mengeksplorasi peran dari implementasi SRM terhadap kualitas pemasok dan kinerja usaha UMKM di Indonesia. Dari penelitian ini juga diharapkan dapat menghasilkan usulan terkait aktivitas SRM yang dapat diterapkan oleh UMKM sehingga dapat meningkatkan kualitas pemasok dan kinerja usahanya.Penelitian ini dilakukan dari perspektif UMKM sebagai buyer firm. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah penelitian kuantitatif dengan menyebarkan kuesioner pada pelaku UMKM di Indonesia dan memperoleh 171 tanggapan yang dapat diolah. Praktik SRM yang diteliti dalam penelitian ini adalah identifikasi key supplier, information sharing, decision synchronization dan evaluasi supplier. Metode yang digunakan untuk menguji hipotesis model dalam penelitian ini adalah PLS-SEM dengan menggunakan perangkat lunak SmartPLS v3. Sebelum dilakukan pengujian hipotesis, dilakukan pengujian reliabilitas dan validitas model pengukuran dan model struktural. Dari hasil evaluasi model pengukuran dan model struktural, maka diperoleh model akhir yang kemudian digunakan untuk pengujian hipotesis.Pengujian hipotesis pada penelitian ini memberikan hasil bahwa praktik SRM secara simultan memiliki pengaruh signifikan terhadap kualitas pemasok, dan kualitas pemasok memiliki pengaruh signifikan terhadap kinerja UMKM. Dari keempat praktik SRM yang diuji pada penelitian ini, diperoleh hasil bahwa supplier evaluation memiliki efek terbesar terhadap kualitas pemasok, sedangkan information sharing memiliki efek terendah terhadap kualitas pemasok.Kata Kunci: PLS-SEM, Supplier Relationship Management, UMKM, Supplier

Managing supplier relationships in a new product development context

Organizations can no longer rely solely on their own resources to innovate and look for strategic interactions beyond their organizational boundaries, allowing them to improve the quality of their own internal resources by investing in core competencies while contracting out other knowledge domains. From a theoretical perspective the focus of research has shifted towards supplier relationship management (SRM) and early supplier involvement in new product development (NPD). Even though much research has been done in these areas, a more comprehensive study investigating the constructs that determine the quality of a relationship still has to be done. Furthermore, the existing research has largely focused either on the role of SRM with regard to NPD performance or on knowledge transfer and its impact on NPD performance. Research encompassing these two important aspects of the NPD process is still lacking. Thirdly, our study expands the field of research beyond the automotive industry, by focusing on consumer product industry. Lastly, how SRM affects knowledge transfer and in turn NPD performance has yet not been researched. Our findings confirm the positive relationship between relationship quality, knowledge transfer and NPD performance. Managing supplier relationships leads to a higher quality relationship which contributes to the performance of NPD projects. Secondly, a total of thirteen constructs have been identified to be decisive for the quality of a relationship. These constructs act on either an individual or organizational level. Our study underlines the importance of supplier relationship management in a NPD context and the developed research model can be used to predict the performance of a NPD project by measuring the quality of the relationship between buyer and supplier on these thirteen constructs

Implementing Supplier Relationship Management in the Manufacturing Sector of Ghana: A Factor And Principal Component Analysis

This study investigated how to implement Supplier Relationship Management to the manufacturing sector of Ghana; using selected manufacturing companies the in Eastern and Volta regions of Ghana as case study. Accelerated product cycles, vastly more sophisticated supply chains, rapid pace of process and systems change, and the need to work seamlessly with offshore suppliers have made effective supplier relationship management more demanding and more critical than ever before. However in Ghana, it has remained an uncharted territory for most manufacturing firms in Ghana. It was therefore important to assess how to implement SRM in the manufacturing sector of Ghana. The case studies for this study were the management of Volta Star Company Ltd, Akosombo Textiles and the Intravenous infusions Limited. Based on the simple random, purposive, and quota sampling techniques 60 managers from these companies were sampled. Their views were analysed with Factor Analysis and Principal Component Analysis. These tools were used to establish the relative importance of the SRM elements in their applicability to the manufacturing sector of the country. The relative importance of the elements of SRM to the Ghanaian manufacturing sector appeared in the following order: Resourcing, Technology, Segmentation, Accountability, and Process and governance. This is the order of priority that must be given to the SRM elements in the implementation plans of manufacturing firms in Ghana. Keywords: SRM, Resourcing, Accountability, Process and Governance, Segmentatio

Defining supplier relationship management system requirements for an EPC firm: a case study

Improved information technology has reduced the barriers to access international markets, businesses nowadays buy or sell from or to anywhere in the world. Globalization has also encouraged companies to do business far away from their domestic markets. Efficient logistics has enabled companies to manufacture their products in one country and sell it anywhere around the world. Additionally, outsourcing trends have made companies transfer non-core activities to other parts of the supply chains. All these factors have made the supply networks complex and spread all over the world, at the same time businesses have become more dependent on their suppliers. In order to efficiently manage these supply networks, companies have focused on the developing relationships with their suppliers. Supplier relationship management (SRM) has been researched and abundant authors have written about this subject. Many software companies have developed SRM system to assist companies in managing supplier relationships. Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) firms work with a large number of goods and services suppliers for any investment projects. The nature of this industry significantly differs from that of manufacturing industry; however, most of academic literature on SRM is focused on manufacturing industry. Most of the systems for supplier relationship management are built with manufacturing industry being the primary focus as well. The objective of this thesis is to define the requirements for SRM system for an EPC firm delivering processing facility investment projects. To define these requirements, 19 people from the case company, working in indifferent departments, were interviewed to gather the information regarding their needs. Elicited requirements were focused on supplier information management, requisitioning and operative purchasing, product catalogue management, and supplier performance management. Additionally, supplier relationship management activities that are of most interest to an EPC firm were identified as; supplier performance management, supplier selection process, and supplier evaluation

Supplier Relationship Management for Circular Economy: Influence of External Pressures and Top Management Commitment

Purpose: With considerable international awareness of circular economy (CE), the purpose of the study is to propose a theoretical framework, informed by institutional theory and upper echelon theory, to explain how top management commitment mediates the relationship between external pressures and supplier relationship management (SRM) practices for the circular economy. Design/methodology/approach: We test our hypotheses using cross-sectional data gathered using a survey of companies involved in sustainability practices. Findings: The results of the hierarchical regression and mediating regression analyses suggest that top management commitment positively mediates the effect of external institutional pressures on supplier relationship management. Originality/value: We advance existing theory by integrating institutional theory and upper echelon theory to explain SRM practices in sustainable supply networks. Furthermore, we offer guidance to managers who would like to engage in leveraging supplier relationship management in sustainable supply networks and outline future research directions