THE WAY TOWARDS OPEN INNOVATION: AIRBUS MULTI-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS

In times of crisis, innovation is a key to differentiation and thus to the survival of businesses. However, actions taken by managers to stimulate creativity are essentially within the framework of a conventional closed innovation made only internally. Yet, open innovation is a much more efficient and economical way to develop new products, new materials, new technologies and new methods. It requires that partner organizations operate in an open network in which they can work together, each bringing their expertise and talents. This is usually the purchasing function, transverse and connected to the business environment, which can best orchestrate this open innovation by selecting the best suppliers to work with them within new models of integration more or less advanced. The case study of the company Airbus, developed during a participant observation of one year, will define the role of the procurement function in this open innovation approach and the benefits, hazards and limits of this strategy. Examples of the design of the A380 and of the Technocampus EMC² environment illustrate the integrated supplier relationship management method combined with open innovation

IMPLEMENTING A SUSTAINABLE PURCHASING POLICY: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY IN THE COLAS GROUP

This article addresses the contribution of the purchasing function to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Indeed, the purchasing function is playing an increasingly important role in businesses, averaging over 60% of turnover. Simultaneously, managers integrate societal and environmental challenges in the management of internal and external relations. Sustainable purchasing policies, aimed at changing practices throughout the value chain, are deployed. Suppliers are therefore gradually mobilized to implement more responsible practices, and invited to commit themselves through sustainability charters and certification. That leads to the research question: how to implement a sustainable purchasing policy aligned with the corporate strategy? The CSR approach represents a particularly difficult challenge for some companies, as in the construction and civil engineering sector. The Colas Group, world leader in road construction, faces this difficulty that implies radical changes in its relations with its suppliers. Faced with the image of environmental pollution, landscape destruction, illegal labor, and endangerment of its workers, the Colas Group has implemented a progressive, rigorous and structured sustainable approach. Through participatory action research during a one year immersion, a case study of the Colas Group has been developed to analyze this approach and determine its benefits and limits. The particularly difficult context of the implementation of this sustainable purchasing policy – in a multinational, in a post-merger period, in an unfavorable sector and during an economic crisis – implies potential transferability of some practices studied in this specific case

A New Business Model For Electronic Marketplaces

The use of electronic marketplaces contrary to expectations still remains marginal in the ‘Francophone’ business landscape. Despite convincing arguments discussed in the scholarly, professional and trade literature, the credibility of marketplaces is constantly undermined in practice as they have to incessantly fend off rumours about bankruptcy in France and elsewhere. Moreover, the term ‘marketplace’ can cover a multitude of business relationships and it is currently difficult to compare offers and distinguish across a range of services. The purpose of this paper is therefore to put forward a typology by identifying, analysing and classifying the Francophone marketplaces, i.e. 225 marketplaces, in the fall of 2007. The proposed typology enables us to (1) highlight their diversity and the types of economic models that underpin their value chain (2) observe that the majority neglects certain high-added value services for which demand is great, and favours services which are hardly cost-effective and for which supply is much higher than demand, and (3) anticipate future evolutions by examining the strategic moves that a minority of them are already making

INFORMATION SYSTEMS CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SUSTAINABLE PURCHASING POLICY

Sustainability has become a central corporate concern as well as a key factor of success in terms of both image and productivity. In turn, the purchasing function is crucial to the definition and implementation of a sustainability policy. It drives a company’s sourcing activities and connects its other functions (i.e. internal customers) to external suppliers and providers. In short, sustainable purchasing plays a key role in global strategy and therefore requires high performance tools. Information systems, which have come under heavy criticism due to their negative environmental effects, can provide support services while also stimulating and disseminating sustainable purchase policies. This is because despite their poor reputation, purchasing information systems - which are usually designed to manage transactions and generate quick and significant gains through costcutting – have evolved to become virtual communities of practice where purchasers collaborate with one another and with internal or external partners to create sustainable value. The present study combines a literature review with a qualitative study to illustrate this emergence and show how information systems can and will contribute to the development of corporate sustainable purchasing policies. Using an exploratory approach and constructivist positioning, a “business forecasting” method is implemented to suggest a possible future for sustainable purchasing management, along with a new role for information systems. Towards this end, a scenario is co-constructed by 12 purchasing function experts responding to questions about their customs and practices and talking about their experiences, the effects of the rising wave of environmentalism, the problems they face in implementing and optimizing information systems and their professional. They also offer a few predictions and suggest new methods and modes of coordination. The study traces the development of new and innovative modes of sustainable purchasing management. These are aligned with a company’s global strategy thanks to the use of innovative information systems facilitating the dissemination of policies that purchasing departments implement both internally and externally through the integration of suppliers. Purchasing functions and information system departments work together to reduce the environmental footprint of technology and to exert greater influence on collaboration and teamwork by building an economic environment that is more viable and livable and also fairer. The originality of this article resides both in its sophisticated methodology, which associates several complementary approaches, and in its conclusions, which anticipate a probable future

Intelligent recruitment: how to identify, select, and retain talents from around the world using artificial intelligence.

This research analyzes how digital technologies contribute to improving the successive stages of the recruitment process: identifying, selecting, and retaining talented people. E-recruitment is an emerging and polymorphous phenomenon that starts with identification of candidates on social networks, continues through gamification of recruitment and job interviews with chatbots, and ends by matching a candidate and a job using artificial intelligence. These technologies are particularly useful for social businesses looking to recruit not only skilled people, but above all employees who have behaviors and values that match their mission. The methodology is based on grounded theory, participant observation, and qualitative data collection. A multiple case study is designed to analyze, compare, and combine several technologies dedicated to recruitment: (1) a social network with LinkedIn, (2) a MOOC with Udacity, (3) a serious game called Reveal from L'Oréal, (4) a chatbot called Ari from TextRecruit, and (5) a massive data analysis matching system with Randstad.tech. The discussion examines the respective performance and limits of these tools and their convergence via a progressive integration that leads to an uberization of recruitment. Managerial recommendations are formulated to support recruiters in their adoption of e-recruitment

Intelligent purchasing : How artificial intelligence can redefine the purchasing function

Artificial intelligence (AI) can affect all of a company's functions, not least the purchasing department. In addition to automating and optimizing existing processes, AI opens up new opportunities for purchasers to undertake new, strategic, collaborative, enduring missions. AI enables complex, strategic decision-making in an unpredictable, hostile environment. This article analyzes to what extent AI can improve the performance of the purchasing department. First, a review is undertaken of how AI is used in purchasing. Thereafter, the research follows an exploratory, inductive, and qualitative approach based on a multiple case study of the following technologies: (1) the Synertrade automated international purchasing system; (2) the Silex matching system; (3) SAP Ariba decision support; (4) Jaggaer supplier relations management; and (5) the Ideapoke collaborative ideation and innovative project management platform. The present study's contributions lie in its redefinition of the purchasing function, of the purchaser's role, of supplier relationship management policy, and of interdepartmental collaboration, involving, for example, Marketing and R

The Role of Emotions and Motivations in Sport Organizations

In sport organizations, a stance aimed at creating a positive emotional and social climate may be necessary. This study examines athletes' individual psychosocial factors that are linked to sports practice and sports performance. These factors include individual motivation, emotions, and beliefs. The main objective is to create a hierarchy of emotional and motivational factors that sport organizations can use to increase athletes' commitment. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to do so. This method enables analysis of priorities and criteria to support decision-making. The results show that motivation, defined here as the drive that leads individuals to develop plans to achieve their goals by balancing short- and long-term goals, and emotion regulation, defined as the capacity to be aware of and manage one's emotions to reach a balanced emotional state, are the most important criteria to generate this commitment within sport organizations

Market Collaboration: Finance, Culture, and Ethnography after Neoliberalism

In the wake of the disasters of March 2011, financial regulators and financial-risk management experts in Japan expressed little hope that much could be done nor did they take great interest in defining possible policy interventions. This curious response to regulatory crisis coincided with a new fascination with culturalist explanations of financial markets, on the one hand, and a resort to what I term “data politics”—a politics of intensified data collection—on the other. In this article, I analyze these developments as being exemplary of a new regulatory moment characterized by a loss of faith in both free market regulation and state-led planning, as well as in expert tools. I consider what might be the contribution of the anthropology of financial markets and ultimately argue for what I term a “collaborative economy” as a way to retool both financial and anthropological expertise