Original Articles
As organizations are increasingly challenged to find new sources of profit improvement, cost reduction becomes a top priority on the business agenda. Expectations for cost reductions are ongoing and influence both new and existing products and services. The costs for new product and service introductions are managed differently than ongoing cost reductions. Purchasing plays a central role, with different goals, in cost control for new products and services versus ongoing cost savings. This research uses a case study methodology to understand the conflict purchasing faces in managing both new product costs and ongoing cost reductions. Due to goal incongruence between new product development and ongoing savings initiatives, purchasing may act in its own best interest, rather than in the best interest of the organization or team. This is both a contracting and an information uncertainty problem, creating an opening for passive opportunism by purchasing. Thus, agency theory and information processing theory (IPT) are combined to examine how information uncertainty can be reduced and contractual goal alignment improved in these situations. The outcome of this research is to expose potential goal misalignment between new product development cost processes and ongoing cost savings, and suggest theoretically grounded methods for reducing the potential conflict.
The full article can be found here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jscm.12217
The Article above has also appeared in our Spotlight Series, in which the article authors discuss their research, the background and theory to the article. Additionally they discuss how their research and findings could impact future research.
we talk to Leonardo Marques about the paper he co-authored with Tingting Yan and Lee Matthews entitled “Knowledge diffusion in a global supply network: A network of practice view”
“This study investigates how knowledge diffusion occurs in a globally dispersed supply network, wherein buying firms and suppliers often do not have strong relationships and competitive tensions prevail. We elaborate the Network of Practice (NoP) view by examining a global supply network in the food sector that is as an exemplar of high global dispersion. This paper provides several novel insights into global knowledge diffusion. We introduce the NoP concept of homophily into the field of supply chain management to explain knowledge diffusion within global supply networks. We take a longitudinal perspective to show that although prior contractual ties (relational homophily) and co-location (location homophily) initially drive knowledge diffusion, inthe long-term, shared practices (practice homophily) are the principal driver of knowledge diffusion. We demonstrate that buying firms’ assurance of procedural justice, together with the predominance of geographically dispersed suppliers and the emergence of nexus members, can help dampen supplier resistance to knowledge diffusion. The study shows that knowledge diffusion in a global supply NoP occurs in two complementary forms - broadcasting forums and action groups - which vary in breadth, depth, and tie diversity. Ultimately, we present vertical (buyer-supplier), horizontal (supplier-supplier), and diagonal (non-competitive) relationships as important refinements of the NoP view that characterize a global supply NoP. Overall, our findings offer a path for buying firms to establish adequate online infrastructure to support the emergence of decentralized and self-organized knowledge diffusion in a globally dispersed supply network.”
The full article can be found here:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jscm.12214
https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12214
The Article above has also appeared in our Spotlight Series, in which the article authors discuss their research, the background and theory to the article. Additionally they discuss how their research and findings could impact future research.
In this weeks spotlight, we talk to Evelien Reusen about the paper she co-authored with Kristof Stouthuysen Filip Roodhooft, Alexandra Van den Abbeele and Hendrik Slabbinck entitled “Imitation Of Management Practices In Supply Networks: Relational And Environmental Effects”
“This study investigates the imitative use of management practices across a multitier supply network. Although imitation may take the form of any management practice, operationally, we focus on whether the buyer's control practices used with first‐tier suppliers results in similar control practices being used by these first‐tier suppliers with the second‐tier suppliers. Drawing on institutional theory, we identify relational context (i.e., affective commitment) and environmental context (i.e., environmental uncertainty) as two important factors influencing the extent to which such imitation takes place. Using unique survey data of vertically linked supply chain triads, we generally find support for the occurrence of imitation and more so in cases of high affective commitment. The results regarding environmental uncertainty further reveal selectivity in imitative behavior, calling attention to the level of deliberateness in imitation decisions in supply networks. Besides contributing to theory on imitative behaviors in the supply chain, this study also generates practical implications on the spread of management practices across multiple tiers.”
The full article can be accessed here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jscm.12216
In this weeks spotlight, we look at Fabrice Lumineau and Nuno Oliveira recent research entitled “Reinvigorating the study of opportunism in supply chain management”.
“Opportunism is a core issue in supply chain management. However, assumption‐omitted testing and a focus on general opportunism as opposed to specific forms of opportunism have stubbornly limited our understanding of this construct. Grounded in a review of empirical studies of opportunism, we identify empirical challenges that perpetuate conceptual limitations in the study of opportunism in supply chains. Hence, we provide suggestions about research designs and data sources that support an agenda that steers research to refine and develop the theory about opportunism. Our call for a reinvigoration of the study of opportunism supports rigor – by discussing research design and data sources – and relevance – by identifying topics for future supply chain research.”
Full details can be found here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jscm.12215
https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12215