The impact of purchasing strategy-structure (mis)fit on purchasing cost and innovation performance

The organizational design literature strongly supports the notion of “structure follows strategy”, and suggests that a misfit between the two has a negative effect on performance. Building on this line of argument, we examine to what extent the (mis)fit between purchasing strategy and purchasing structure impacts purchasing performance. We focus on cost and innovation purchase category strategies, and examine how the deviation from an ideal purchasing structure defined along three dimensions (centralization, formalization, and cross-functionality) impacts purchasing performance. Analysing data collected from 469 firms in ten countries, we demonstrate that a strategy-structure misfit negatively impacts purchasing performance in both cost and innovation strategies. We also find that purchasing proficiency is a mediator in this relationship between misfit and performance. Our findings aid managerial decision making by empirically validating the necessity of having the right purchasing structure for successfully executing different purchasing strategies

Editorial: From judge to jury: the potential for crowd reviewing

In this editorial, we introduce the four best papers selected from the IPSERA 2021 conference for this special issue of the Journal. We discuss how a double-blind crowd review (CR) process was used as an alternative to the traditional "two reviewer " double-blind peer review system. After a brief review of the literature and the existing debate around academic peer review, we introduce the main characteristics of CR. Next, at the core of our discussion, we report on the results of a pilot CR project that we conducted to review JPSM articles associated with the 2021 IPSERA Conference. We describe in detail the review process, and we illustrate the feedback received from reviewers and authors on the CR process, as well as our perspective as guest editors. Finally, we draw some conclusions and present recommendations for CR in the Purchasing and Supply Management (PSM) field. The CR pilot contributes to the wider debate around peer-reviewing by offering insights into the experience of different stakeholders and by highlighting the benefits and pitfalls of CR

Purchasing and Supply Management at the Purchase Category Level: strategy, structure and performance

Over the past two decades, purchasing has evolved from a clerical function focused on buying goods and services at a minimum price into a strategic function focused on value creation and achieving competitive advantage (Gadde and Håkansson, 1994; Carter and Narasimhan, 1996; Krause et al., 2001; Rozemeijer et al., 2003; Cousins et al., 2006; González-Benito, 2007; Schoenherr et al., 2012). This transformation is the result of an increased understanding by the top management of firms that purchasing can contribute to organizational success in many dimensions such as financial performance (Carr and Pearson, 2002; González-Benito, 2007), innovation performance (Handfield et al., 1999; Van Echtelt et al., 2008), and environmental performance (Bowen et al., 2001, Krause et al., 2009). More recent trends such as global sourcing, strategic alliances, and joint innovations with suppliers (Monczka et al., 2010; Schoenherr et al., 2012) have also contributed to the changing role of purchasing

Purchasing and Supply Management at the Purchase Category Level: strategy, structure and performance

Over the past two decades, purchasing has evolved from a clerical function focused on buying goods and services at a minimum price into a strategic function focused on value creation and achieving competitive advantage (Gadde and Håkansson, 1994; Carter and Narasimhan, 1996; Krause et al., 2001; Rozemeijer et al., 2003; Cousins et al., 2006; González-Benito, 2007; Schoenherr et al., 2012). This transformation is the result of an increased understanding by the top management of firms that purchasing can contribute to organizational success in many dimensions such as financial performance (Carr and Pearson, 2002; González-Benito, 2007), innovation performance (Handfield et al., 1999; Van Echtelt et al., 2008), and environmental performance (Bowen et al., 2001, Krause et al., 2009). More recent trends such as global sourcing, strategic alliances, and joint innovations with suppliers (Monczka et al., 2010; Schoenherr et al., 2012) have also contributed to the changing role of purchasing

Embracing supply base complexity: the role of strategic purchasing

This paper investigates the link between supply base complexity (SBC) and purchasing performance using data from 209 firms in Turkey. Regarding detail SBC, the results suggest that supplier differentiation and spatial complexity reduce purchasing performance in firms with low and high strategic purchasing, respectively. In contrast, horizontal complexity and supplier interaction improve purchasing performance in firms with high strategic purchasing. Regarding dynamic SBC, the results illustrate that both delivery complexity and supplier instability reduce performance, but only in firms with low strategic purchasing. The findings highlight that SBC is not always detrimental and the outcomes are contingent on strategic purchasing

Order from Chaos: A Meta-Analysis of Supply Chain Complexity and Firm Performance

Increased globalization, varying customer requirements, extended product lines, uncertainty regarding supplier performance, and myriad related factors make supply chains utterly complex. While previous research indicates that supply chain complexity plays an important role in explaining performance outcomes, the accumulating evidence is ambiguous. Thus, a finer-grained analysis is required. By meta-analyzing 27,668 observations across 102 independent samples from 123 empirical studies, we examine the link between supply chain complexity and firm performance. While the preponderance of evidence from previous studies identifies supply chain complexity as detrimental to firm performance, our results illustrate that although supply chain complexity has a negative effect on operational performance, it has a positive effect on innovation performance and financial performance. Furthermore, we also distinguish among different levels of supply chain (i.e., upstream, downstream, and internal) and observe nuanced findings. Finally, our findings also reveal moderating effects of construct operationalization and study design characteristics. We discuss implications for theory and practice and provide avenues for future research