Alain Spalanzani

Supply chain risk management in French companies

The risk thematic is not new in management, but it is a recent and growing subject in supply chain management. Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) plays a major role in successfully managing business processes in a proactive manner. Supply chain risk has multiple sources including process, control, demand, supply and environment. Supply chain management, faced with these risks, requires specific and adequate responses such as techniques, attitude and strategies for management of risk. This paper is based on an empirical study of 142 general managers and logistics and supply chain managers in 50 different French companies. It demonstrates that for organizations to be effective, SCRM must be a management function that is inter-organizational in nature and closely related to strategic and operational realities of the activity in question. Moreover, the findings of our empirical study suggest that effective SCRM is based on collaboration (collaborative meetings, timely and relevant information exchanges) and the establishment of joint and common transverse processes with industrial partners.

Effect of firm characteristics, supplier relationships and techniques used on Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM): an empirical investigation on French industrial firms

Recent years have witnessed a focus on managing risks in supply chains. On the one hand, there are many cases where events like natural disasters, strikes and terrorism have significantly influenced the performance of organisational supply chains and in turn their competitiveness. And on the other hand, operational activities and strategic decisions of the firms (concerning, for e.g. supply, procurement, production, delivery, commercialisation, demand management, planning, etc.) can be different than expected and so create uncertainties. Uncertainties, whether they are external or internal, impact organisations leading to increased supply chain risk. Realising the potential implications of these situations on supply chain competitiveness, an attempt has been made to define risks and their sources and to identify the management that can help reduce the negative impact of risks on supply chains. In this paper, a framework for supply chain risk management (SCRM) is proposed and is applied using the data collected from 164 French companies, in manufacturing sector. The literature review, theoretical framework and empirical research undertaken in this work have led to identifying critical success management for SCRM. The focus of this paper is the inter-organisational management of supply chain risk: the collaborative relationship (with industrial and supply partners) can be considered as an efficient way to make SCRM. The paper finishes with a summary of the findings and conclusions, along with suggestions for future research projects.

Innovative supply chain practices: the state of French companies

Purpose – This research aims to explore innovation in supply chain management. Innovation has often been studied in supply chain relationships and specifically from a product point of view. The authors aim to observe innovation by focusing on the different practices and collaborations suppliers and customers are developing to improve their competitiveness and the performance of the whole supply chain.Design/methodology/approach – A review of previous literature on innovation in supply chain management is presented and the authors design an interview guide for their data collection that is developed from their previous literature review on innovation in supply chain management. Data are collected from 68 innovations in French companies and subsequently analyzed to identify the major elements of innovations in supply chain management.Findings – The key findings of the paper identify the major components affecting innovative supply chain practices and SC performance. The results suggest that innovation is es...

Developing collaborative competencies within supply chains

In a context of ever changing markets, developing more and more agile supply chains have become a necessity for most companies evolving in a global environment. The review of the literature on supply chain collaboration shows that the ability to develop an agile and demand-driven supply chain is directly linked to the various partners interacting in a supply chain and their ability to collaborate. This paper presents a new approach to interenterprise collaboration via the concept of collaborative competencies. Through empirical evidence based on two case studies, we put forth a four-dimensional framework which may help serve to analyse collaboration design and establishment within integrated supply chains.

Absorbing uncertainty within supply chains

One of the main challenges companies are facing today is how to deal with uncertainty in operations management, particularly in the case of downstream markets. Models of this struggle have evolved over time, and their design has undergone considerable transformation. This article aims to provide a conceptual framework for better understanding how firms struggle with uncertainty in the supply chain context. By exploring different models and theories, the results indicate that collaboration between the trading partners of a supply chain becomes a necessary way to improve results in the relationships upstream, as well as downstream. Theories such as transaction cost theory, structuration theory or gift theory provide different vantage points that lead to the revisiting of traditional approaches to interorganisational collaboration.

IS/IT as supplier selection criterion for upstream value chain

Purpose – This exploratory research aims to examine and evaluate the importance of IS/IT criterion in the suppliers selection process. The paper attempts to assess if there is superior supply chain performance arising from the integration of this criterion and to determine difficulties companies face resulting from this deployment.Design/methodology/approach – A review of previous literature on supplier selection is presented and the authors designed a structured questionnaire for their data collection. Data were collected from 90 French companies and subsequently analyzed to understand the IS/IT criterion used for supplier selection along the upstream value chain.Findings – The results suggest that IT/IS is a significant supplier selection criterion within supply chain context because of the rapid proliferation of information sharing across upstream chains.Research limitations/implications – Since this empirical investigation has been limited to French companies, further studies can be done for compariso...

Value creation and supplier selection: An empirical analysis

In order to increase their competitiveness amid a growing internationalisation, many companies outsourced a part of their activities by the late 1980s and 1990s. This outsourcing process has transformed organisational boundaries and created supply chains where suppliers and sub-contractors are essential parts of these chains. There is a growing tendency to select these partners and, consequently, they are fewer in number and tend to be found farther and farther from the network leader. This geographical distance between the company and its suppliers affects the organisational density of the network and raises the problem of cooperation−coordination in the buyer−supplier relationships. The objective of this chapter is to examine the criteria used in the suppliers’ selection process and thereby in the supply chain. More specifically, in the context of distributed supply sources and partnership objectives, the geographical distance between the company and its suppliers raises the problem of organisational density and increases the need for partnership cooperation−coordination in the supply chain.

Structuration de la chaîne logistique amont et processus de sélection des fournisseurs : quelle place pour les TIC ?

La recherche d’une compétitivité de plus en plus grande dans les années 1980 et la mondialisation des années 1990 ont amené les entreprises à externaliser nombre de leurs activités et à délocaliser leurs unités de production. Le phénomène d’externalisation a eu pour conséquence un déplacement des frontières des entreprises par la création de réseaux de partenaires, dont l’articulation donne lieu à la formation d’une chaîne logistique ou supply chain composée d’un panel fournisseurs et sous-traitants. Les partenaires de cette chaîne sont à la fois de plus en plus sélectionnés, réduits en nombre, et de plus en plus éloignés géographiquement de la firme « pivot » donneuse d’ordres. Cet éloignement pose un problème de densité organisationnelle et fait émerger avec une plus grande intensité le problem de la coordination-coopération entre chacun des maillons de la chaîne logistique. La question générale posée dans cet article est celle des critères qui fondent actuellement le choix des fournisseurs et donc la construction d’une chaîne logistique. Plus spécifiquement, dans un contexte d’éloignement des sources d’approvisionnement et de recherche de partenariat, cette étude cherche à évaluer l’importance des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) en tant que critère de choix d’un fournisseur. On essaiera de répondre à deux questions : quel est, en 2007, le poids relatif des TIC par rapport aux autres grands critères classiques ?Quels sont les outils TIC que les entreprises privilégient dans la selection de leurs fournisseurs ?

Review, typology and evaluation of traceability technologies: case of the French forest supply chain

ABSTRACT The use of supply chain management and traceability systems are increasingly important in the forest industry. The adoption of traceability technologies and labelling procedures has become key element to promote the principles of sustainable development in the French forest. This later suffers from a misuse of resources, which negatively impacts the forest ecosystem including the economic competitiveness and biodiversity. However, opting for a suitable technology that resists to the forest environment and does not require a major organisational change is a major challenge for the entire forest supply chain’s partners. For this reason, throughout this paper, we suggest a multi-criterion assessment grid to better choose an effective and efficient traceability system, which might include one or more technologies. Thus, our main objective is to review, typologise and evaluate six technologies that could be used in the forest supply chain.

Renforcer l’orientation durable de la chaîne logistique : cas de l’industrie forestière

RÉSUMÉ Le déploiement d’un écolabel est un moyen incontournable pour promouvoir les principes du développement durable dans les chaînes logistiques dites « durables ». Ainsi, l’émergence des écolabels suscite un intérêt grandissant dans le monde académique et industriel, Pour mieux concevoir et gérer une chaîne logistique durable. Une démarche de labellisation peut garantir la transparence et la crédibilité d’un groupe d’entreprises, liées par une charte du développement durable vis-à-vis de leurs clients. La mise en place d’un écolabel nécessite une méthodologie de mise en œuvre rigoureuse. L’objectif de notre article est donc de proposer une démarche de labellisation dans le contexte de l’industrie forestière au Québec, de façon à mettre en valeur la dimension écologique du bois tout en fournissant un moyen pour mieux réunir tous les acteurs autour d’un enjeu majeur. Dans cette optique, la présente recherche, épaulée par une exploration terrain, a permis de faire ressortir un ensemble de facteurs et un plan d’action opérationnel afin d’amener les entreprises forestiéres québécoises à s’orienter vers la mise en place d’une labellisation.