Global organizational learning in the supply chain: A low versus high learning study

The authors examine the effects of organizational learning on customer orientation and relationship commitment in the global supply chain. To examine the effects of exposure to organizational learning, the authors test the hypotheses in low-versus high-learning groups in two different samples. The user sample consists of 175 users, representing the international strategic business units of one U.S.-based multinational corporation (i.e., strategic business units located outside the home country of the United States). The buyer sample consists of the corporate buyers of 200 multinational corporations, and the focus is on their supply chain activities worldwide. The authors examine the activities and relationships between (1) users and buyers (as perceived by the users) and (2) buyers and suppliers (as perceived by the buyers) in the supply chain. Overall, the results suggest that facets of organizational learning have a positive influence on customer orientation and relationship commitment in the global supply chain. In addition, attending learning seminars to increase understanding and use of organizational learning concepts appears to have a positive effect on the supply chain relationships

Organizational learning in global purchasing: A model and test of internal users and corporate buyers

This research examines a model centered on organizational learning in purchasing. Two different studies are conducted to test the hypotheses among purchasing users (Study 1) and buyers (Study 2). The user sample consists of users representing 355 strategic business units of a Fortune 500 multinational corporation. The buyer sample consists of corporate buyers of 200 multinational corporations drawn from the membership directory of the National Association of Purchasing Management (NAPM). In each study, the focus is on the learning relationships between corporate buyers and internal users in the purchasing organization. Based on the two studies, the results suggest that organizational learning in the purchasing process is influenced by the organizational culture factors of localness, transformational leadership, and openness. Organizational learning has a positive effect on information processing in the purchasing system, which, in turn, has a positive influence on the cycle time of the purchasing process

Corporate Perceptions of the Business Case for Supplier Diversity: How Socially Responsible Purchasing can ‘Pay’

socially responsible purchasing, supplier diversity, business case, ethnic minority purchasing programmes,