Bryan Ashenbaum

Organizational alignment and supply chain governance structure: Introduction and construct validation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce and validate two new constructs with the potential to sharpen our understanding of how and why firms integrate their internal supply chains and assess the governance structure of their supply chains. The first construct, organizational alignment (OA), is a reflective scale measuring the extent to which upper management attempts to foster integration between internal supply chain functions. The second, supply chain governance structure (SCGS), is a formative index, and is a first attempt at developing a measurement instrument to assess SCGS along multiple dimensions.Design/methodology/approach – Following a literature review, measures of OA and SCGS are conceptualized. These instruments are used to collect data, after which they are refined and validated through parallel scale development (OA) and index construction (SCGS) processes.Findings – OA shows acceptable content and construct validity, and SCGS shows acceptable results for content and item specif...

Connecting strategy‐linked outsourcing approaches and expected performance

Purpose – This study aims to examine the connection between strategy‐linked outsourcing goals and measures of outsourcing performance. The strategies of growth, cost, and differentiation (core competence) are examined in terms of their relationship with goal achievement and cost performance measures.Design/methodology/approach – Regression analysis and ANOVA were applied to survey data collected from 165 purchasing executives.Findings – Findings support a positive relationship between goal intensity for a single strategy and achievement of goals related to that strategy. Findings also suggest that firms with high commitment to growth and cost strategies tend to achieve cost‐related performance at higher levels than firms with a lower commitment to same. Finally, the findings also suggest that firms pursuing a single or dominant strategy achieve lower levels of cost saving performance, as compared with firms pursuing a “balanced” approach that emphasizes two or three different strategies in roughly equal m...

Understanding the Impact of Proactive Personality on Job Performance The Roles of Tenure and Self-Management

The current study investigated the moderating impact of job tenure and the mediating process of self-management on the relationship between proactive personality and performance. Using a sample of 95 sales executives, results indicated a significant interaction between proactive personality and job tenure. In addition, there was an indirect effect of self-management behavior on the relationship between proactive personality and performance. Such findings suggest that a proactive personality may be differentially related to performance dependent on job tenure and that self-managing behaviors may be a key linking mechanism between proactive personality and performance. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.

E-procurement in services: the lagging application of innovation

E-procurement packages hold great potential to streamline processes and reduce purchasing costs. Interestingly, there appears to be a significant lag in the adoption of services e-procurement packages vis-a-vis goods e-procurement packages. A review of the extant literature on services e-procurement suggests the following four-category schema: (1) articles focusing on application service providers (2) articles focused on application users (3) articles focused on spend categories, and (4) valuation and viability studies. This schema is then used to frame a discussion of possible explanations for this observed lag in the adoption of an innovative and beneficial technology.

Purchasing-logistics integration and supplier performance: an information-processing view

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a purchasing-logistics integration (PLI) conceptualization along two dimensions: mutual responsibility and integrative efforts. This conceptualization is then tested as to whether it provides any insights for supplier performance. Design/methodology/approach Information-Processing Theory is used to posit hypotheses linking the dimensions of PLI with various measures of supplier performance. Hypotheses are then tested with a dyadic data set of purchasing and logistics managers, using multiple regression methods. Findings Purchasing managers found mutual responsibility to positively influence supplier delivery speed, whereas logistics managers found it to positively influence supplier price performance. Generally speaking, purchasing managers perceived a stronger linkage between formal integrative efforts (liaison roles and joint reward systems) and supplier performance, whereas logistics managers perceived this linkage to be stronger for informal integrative efforts such as information exchange and collaboration. Research limitations/implications Study results are cross-sectional in nature and consist of three major industry groupings. The dyadic data were analyzed separately to avoid significant data loss. Practical implications Supply chain managers will find the areas where purchasing and logistics managers overlap in their perceptions (as well as where they differ) useful. In addition, an understanding of how PLI influences supplier performance should help improve organizational effectiveness. Originality/value PLI is a highly important, yet understudied, internal connection. This study provides a useful framework in helping academics and practitioners better understand this crucial internal connection, and how it relates to the performance extracted from suppliers.

Purchasing as a boundary-spanning function: effects of communication patterns on organisational permeability

A hallmark of the modern age is the expanded use of informal communication methods in professional and business relationships. Based upon theoretical insights from the organisational permeability and boundary literature, we develop and test a set of hypotheses exploring the changing nature of communication patterns between the purchasing function and its internal and external partners. Our results suggest that while external communications tend to have higher levels of formality than those with internal partners, both internal and external communication patterns trend towards less formality over time, with external formality dropping more markedly than internal formality. Furthermore, we find that trends in formal and informal communication patterns influence perceptions of supplier performance.