Suppliers' opportunity enactment through the development of valuable capabilities

Available online: http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/840/1/Johnsen_output_3.pdfInternational audienceThe purpose of this paper is to describe the development and application of a theoretical framework to examine the connections between different types of suppliers, their capabilities and opportunities in customer relationships, and the illustration of these connections through the findings from empirical case studies of small and medium-sized suppliers in the metal industry in Denmark. Multiple case studies involving 17 small and medium-sized suppliers within the Danish metal industry were undertaken. By focusing on the development of capabilities that are "valuable" to customers in specific types of supply, small and medium-sized suppliers may improve their responses to opportunities in their customer relationships. Further investigation is needed on the longer-term impacts of valuable capabilities on opportunity enactment by suppliers, and the examination of key issues arising from these findings across different industries and countries. Small and medium-sized suppliers, their customers and government agencies involved with suppliers should advocate and actively support the development of valuable capabilities to enhance the effectiveness of suppliers' relationship and network strategies and their potential to seize opportunities. This study highlights that different types of suppliers require different types of current and future valuable capabilities to seize opportunities and sustain current customers or develop new customer relationships

Supplier and retailer collaboration over the creation of me-too and own brand private labels

This paper investigates how business development takes place through grocery retailers’ collaboration with suppliers. The private labels account for up to over 40 % of grocery retailing in Western countries. Grocery retailers have until recently mainly used private labels as cheaper versions of manufacturer brands, but now seem to use private labels in a proactive strategy competing with other grocery retailers and manufacturer brands on both quality and price. We claim this shift in strategic orientation for private labels demands changes in the pattern of collaboration between retailers and their private label suppliers. Departing from a strategic understanding of grocery retailers’ collaboration with their suppliers this paper investigate and compare collaboration between two types of private label suppliers and grocery retailers. The paper contributes to supplier development theory with a new understanding of collaboration between grocery retailers and various types of private label suppliers. The relevant management implications are described for both retailers and private label suppliers

Drivers and Barriers for Industry 4.0 Readiness and Practice: A SME Perspective with Empirical Evidence

The technological development is moving rapidly enabling manufacturing companies with new possibilities for digital transformations to offer products and services to current and new markets at competitive costs. Such modern technologies are, among others, discussed under the umbrella term Industry 4.0. This paper reports on the results of a questionnaire-survey of 308 small and medium-sized manufacturers about their readiness for digitalized manufacturing and their actual practice in this area. The paper provides empirical evidence for that perceived drivers for Industry 4.0 lead to increased Industry 4.0 readiness, which, in turn, leads to a higher degree of practicing Industry 4.0. The paper also finds that barriers make companies less Industry 4.0 ready but this apparently does not have any significant impact on Industry 4.0 practice. The results are of importance for companies in planning transformation processes towards digitalized processes

Knowledge networks for adoption of additive manufacturing: The role of maturity

Additive manufacturing (AM) has had a significant impact on manufacturing processes in many industries. The implementation of AM technology, however, involves several knowledge-related challenges, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We explore this topic by developing a theoretical model with the hypotheses that acquiring AM knowledge from networks is associated with competitive advantages from AM, and that this relationship can partly be explained by AM maturity. We test our model through a survey of Danish manufacturing SMEs. The findings show that AM knowledge acquisition from networks is positively associated with competitive advantages from AM, where around 40 percent of this relationship is explained by higher AM maturity. Furthermore, the findings suggest that different types of knowledge networks have different effects on AM maturity and competitive advantages from AM

Crea.Blender: A Neural Network-Based Image Generation Game to Assess Creativity

We present a pilot study on crea.blender, a novel co-creative game designed for large-scale, systematic assessment of distinct constructs of human creativity. Co-creative systems are systems in which humans and computers (often with Machine Learning) collaborate on a creative task. This human-computer collaboration raises questions about the relevance and level of human creativity and involvement in the process. We expand on, and explore aspects of these questions in this pilot study. We observe participants play through three different play modes in crea.blender, each aligned with established creativity assessment methods. In these modes, players "blend" existing images into new images under varying constraints. Our study indicates that crea.blender provides a playful experience, affords players a sense of control over the interface, and elicits different types of player behavior, supporting further study of the tool for use in a scalable, playful, creativity assessment.Comment: 4 page, 6 figures, CHI Pla

Global integrator firm' task: to connect demanding customers and global suppliers. How to develop connecting, translating and product developing capabilities

Abstract not available

Global integrator: how an entreprenurial firm bridges a network of global suppliers and customers

Abstract not available