Benn Lawson

An empirical taxonomy of purchasing functions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the different patterns of purchasing function configuration, and the relationship between such patterns and organisational performance.Design/methodology/approach – Despite considerable attention, there is little evidence showing the current situation toward the development of purchasing functions within organisations. Through quantitative data collected from 151 UK purchasing executives, cluster analysis is used to uncover and characterize four purchasing function configurations.Findings – Four configurations, termed strategic, capable, celebrity, and undeveloped, were identified according to the characteristics they possess. Significant differences in supplier‐ and organisational‐related performance outcomes were found across these four purchasing function configurations. Purchasing skills were also shown to be a precondition for purchasing to exert influence within the organisation.Research limitations/implications – A cross‐sectional survey provide...

Performance Measurement in Strategic Buyer-Supplier Relationships: The Mediating Role of Socialization Mechanisms

Purpose – Close links between buyers and suppliers are increasingly cited as a critical differentiator of high and low performers in global supply chains. While the application of performance measures to manage supplier relationships has been well‐identified and encouraged in the literature, comparatively little research exists on the inter‐organizational socialization mechanisms that underlie the flow of learning and information within supply chains. The authors aim to develop a model positing that socialization mechanisms play an important role in mediating the relationship between supplier performance measures and performance outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – A structural equation model, using a sample of 142 manufacturing and service firms based in the UK, tests this hypothesised model.Findings – The theoretical framework was supported, with results indicating that socialization mechanisms fully mediate the effects of supplier performance measures (communication and operational‐based) on firm per...

Supply chain management: theory and practice – the emergence of an academic discipline?

Purpose – To introduce the special issue focusing on the question: is supply chain management (SCM) an emerging academic discipline?Design/methodology/approach – A brief discussion of the papers in the special issue.Findings – Outlines how the papers stimulate debate on the nature and development of SCM and indicates that there is an intense research effort being conducted around the world in this field.Originality/value – Provides a summary of the perspectives considered within the issue.

Strategic purchasing, supply management practices and buyer performance improvement: an empirical study of UK manufacturing organisations

Purchasing is increasingly seen as an important strategic activity of the firm. However, there is little evidence examining the effects of strategic purchasing on a firms inter-organisational supply management practices and performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of strategic purchasing on the supply management practices of socialisation, supplier integration and supplier responsiveness, together with relationship performance. Using empirical data collected from 111 United Kingdom purchasing executives, a structural equation model is used to test the theoretical framework. The results provide support for four of the six hypotheses developed. Strategic purchasing was found to have an indirect, significant effect on improving buyer performance, acting through supplier integration. Strategic purchasing also had a significant effect on the use of socialisation mechanisms, but not on supplier responsiveness. Our research indicates that close, long-term supplier relationships can lead to the creation of relational rents. Implications for future research and suggestions for improving the rigour of strategic purchasing research are made.

An organizational entrepreneurship model of supply management integration and performance outcomes

Purpose – The role of supply managers in driving corporate performance is changing, with an increased emphasis on supply market intelligence, collaboration, inter‐organizational partnerships, and operational integration with supply partners. These traits are also mirrored in the research on entrepreneurial settings and firms. The purpose of this paper is to explore the parallels between supply management roles, and the entrepreneurial skill sets and mechanisms that have been identified in prior research.Design/methodology/approach – A structural equation model, using a sample of 151 manufacturing and service firms based in the UK, tests this hypothesised model.Findings – The theoretical framework was supported, with results indicating that entrepreneurial behaviours (supply market intelligence and supply management influence) contribute to integration within the firm and with suppliers, in order to drive performance improvement.Practical implications – The results provide support for purchasing managers s...

Impact of technological, organizational and human resource investments on employee and manufacturing performance: Australian and New Zealand evidence

This paper reports on the relationships between facets of integrated manufacturing – consisting of total quality management, just in time and advanced manufacturing technology – various organizational improvement initiatives (such as in leadership, teams, human resource management and benchmarking), and employee and manufacturing performance. Results from a survey of 1024 Australian and New Zealand manufacturing sites indicate that the integrated manufacturing facets of total quality management and just in time are significantly associated with organizational and human resource practices, while advanced manufacturing technology is weakly associated with a narrower range of practices. Organizational and human resource practices also explain significant additional variance in both employee and manufacturing performance, above that explained by integrated manufacturing facets. Further, by partitioning the large data set into three sections using manufacturing performance as a cutting variable, it was found that high-performing firms place considerably more emphasis on ‘soft’ human resource management practices and relied on total quality management principles half as much as low-performing firms. The implications of these findings for managers are then discussed.

Integrating Suppliers into New Product Development

OVERVIEW: New product development is becoming increasingly risky, expensive and reliant on disparate knowledge bases spread across multiple firms. Many organizations are devolving design responsibility to their suppliers in order to meet these challenges, yet may lack appropriate knowledge of “best practice” in managing supplier integration. For example, how to adjust their management practices to the timing of supplier integration and the degree of design responsibility award to suppliers. A survey of 134 global industrial organizations, and their efforts to integrate suppliers into their new product development processes, shows that early assessment of supplier capabilities and setting joint technology goals can improve the effectiveness of NPD project teams, and lead to improved product design and financial outcomes for the firm.

Sourcing Strategy, Supplier Relationships and Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation of UK Organizations

This article conceptualizes and empirically examines buyersupplier relationships in respect of supply sourcing strategies, relationship characteristics and firm performance. Two sourcing strategies available to organizations are examined, critical and leverage, which in turn, influence the approach to managing the supplier relationship (arms-length or collaborative). We argue that different relationship approaches are appropriate to achieving different performance outcomes. A structural equation model, using a sample of 142 manufacturing firms based in the United Kingdom, is used to test this hypothesized model. The results indicate that a critical sourcing strategy requires collaborative supplier relationships in order to achieve higher relationship and business outcomes, while leverage sourcing strategies have a direct impact on these same performance outcomes. In addition, a leverage strategy was associated with increased levels of supplier power, though this power was found not to have a significant effect on performance. Our study provides support for the importance of aligning sourcing strategies to particular supplier relationship approaches in order to improve firm performance. Managerial implications of these findings and future directions for research are then offered.

The Effect of Socialization Mechanisms and Performance Measurement on Supplier Integration in New Product Development

This article examines the effect of socialization mechanisms and supplier performance measurement on the level of supplier integration in new product development and subsequent firm performance outcomes. Prior research has found socialization mechanisms and performance measures to be effective in managing supplier relationships, though research examining their impact within a product development context has been limited. Socialization mechanisms, such as supplier conferences and on-site visits, help establish communication and information-sharing routines necessary to achieve supplier integration in the product development process. Using performance measures to evaluate a supplier helps focus managerial attention on areas such as innovation and communication that are important to integration success. A structural equation model, using a sample of 142 manufacturing firms based in the United Kingdom, indicates that the level of supplier integration in new product development is positively influenced by socialization mechanisms and innovation-focused measures of supplier performance, but not significantly associated with the use of communication measures. In turn, increased levels of supplier integration led to improvements in both collaboration outcomes and business performance. Socialization mechanisms were also found to have a direct effect on collaboration outcomes achieved by the firm. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.

Determinants of knowledge transfer in inter‐firm new product development projects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors which determine the degree of knowledge transfer in inter‐firm new product development (NPD) projects. The authors test a theoretical model exploring how inter‐firm knowledge transfer is enabled or hindered by a buyers learning intent, the degree of supplier protectiveness, inter‐firm knowledge ambiguity, and absorptive capacity.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 153 R&D intensive manufacturing firms in the UK automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical, electrical, chemical, and general manufacturing industries was used to test the framework. To analyse the data, two‐step structural equation modeling in AMOS 7.0 was used.Findings – The results indicate that a buyers learning intent increases inter‐firm knowledge transfer, but also acts as an incentive for suppliers to protect their knowledge. Such defensive measures increase the degree of inter‐firm knowledge ambiguity, encouraging buyer firms to invest in absorptive capacity as a means to ...