Claudia Rebolledo

The telecommunications equipment industry in the 1990s: from alliances to mergers and acquisitions

Abstract The changes that took place in the telecommunications equipment industry during the 1990s can be attributed to both the introduction of new technologies and regulations and to the dynamics of demand and the industry. These changes led to many types of collaborative arrangements between firms ranging from contractual agreements and joint ventures to mergers and acquisitions. Based on 947 arrangements made by the 21 leading equipment manufacturers from 1992-1999, we examine the dynamics of governance structures. Moreover, we demonstrate that while the beginning of the period is characterized by very open contractual agreements, a trend towards mergers and acquisitions developed later on. In less than ten years, the cooperative strategies of the main equipment manufacturers underwent major changes in their form of governance. These dramatic changes may be explained by the dynamics of demand and technologies in different sectors of the market.

Improving operational performance through knowledge exchange with customers

Drawing upon a knowledge-based view of the supply chain, this study analyses the antecedents and consequences of tacit and explicit knowledge transfer, from the suppliers standpoint. The proposed conceptual model is tested using survey data from a sample of 218 Canadian manufacturers. Results show that the exchange of tacit and explicit knowledge in the context of a relationship between a supplier and a customer has a positive impact on the suppliers operational performance. As expected, tacit knowledge exchange appears to have a stronger impact on performance than explicit knowledge exchange. Results also confirm the importance of the level of integration and inter-firm trust for the exchange of both types of knowledge. Although many studies of knowledge transfer in the supply chain have been published to date, no empirical study has specifically examined the simultaneous effect of both types of knowledge.

The Potential of Information Technology in Facilitating Relationship Marketing

Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore the role of information technologies in facilitating a relationship-marketing orientation. On the basis of conceptual and empirical contributions, we propose that while the use of IT can improve customer knowledge, it does not facilitate me acquisition of me other elements required to develop long-term relationships with customers and clients (i.e., trust, commitment and personalization). Our survey of top managers supports our contention that the use of IT does not suffice to facilitate marketing orientation.

The effects of absorptive capacity on operational performance within the context of customer-supplier relationships

Companies evolve in an environment characterized by constant innovation and where knowledge is recognized as a strategic resource. Relationships among various business partners constitute a pool of valuable, rare, and inimitable knowledge. The literature nevertheless reveals that the exchange of knowledge is difficult to convert into performance improvement within the framework of customer-supplier relationships. How can this be explained? In this article, we propose a conceptual integrative model suggesting how suppliers can improve their performance through the acquisition of knowledge within the framework of relationships developed with their customers. At the heart of this model, absorptive capacity emerges as a key variable distinguishing firms that have difficulty exchanging knowledge from those with a real aptitude for recognizing the value of new external information, assimilating it, and applying it to maintain a competitive advantage. By adopting the supplier’s perspective, this paper offers an innovative perspective on the study of links between absorptive capacity (relative and absolute), knowledge acquisition, and performance improvement.

Fostering Innovation through Customer Relationships

Firms are facing highly competitive markets characterized by strong volatility in customer demand, increasingly short product life cycles, and an accelerated pace of introduction of technological innovation. This context obliges companies to increase and reinforce their capacity to develop new products and features. In this article we examine how suppliers can improve their innovativeness through relationships developed with their customers. Using survey data from Canadian manufacturers, we found that supplier innovativeness is associated with the deployment of interaction mechanisms and cultural proximity. Our results also uncover the importance of supplier’s absorptive capacity.

L’impartition de services logistiques : une perspective canadienne

RESUMÉ Le Canada, et encore plus particulièrement le Québec, manifeste un retard depuis près de 20 ans en ce qui concerne le recours à l’impartition logistique. Le présent article combine une enquête quantitative et qualitative pour analyser cette question. Un sondage réalisé auprès de 173 entreprises québécoises permet de constater que cet écart tend à se maintenir puisque nos répondants ont peu recours à cette pratique. Les activités logistiques les plus imparties sont, de loin, le transport ainsi que le dédouanement et le courtage en douanes. Les autres activités logistiques sont très peu imparties. Des entretiens avec des gestionnaires de grandes entreprises manufacturières ou de distribution ayant participé au processus de décision d’impartir des activités logistiques de leur organisation nous amènent à conclure que l’environnement législatif concernant les relations de travail et le niveau de syndicalisation deviennent des freins au recours à un prestataire de services logistiques.

Exploring sources of competitive advantage among logistics service providers in the Americas

ABSTRACT This article describes differences among logistics service providers (LSPs) in their resource management decisions as they seek competitive advantage in an uncertain business environment. Using the resource-based theory and dynamic capabilities as theoretical backdrop, the authors find that four case LSPs in the Americas structure and bundle their resource portfolios to build capabilities, which they leverage to create and maintain value. Leveraging strategies and performance levels, which are influenced by environmental context, differ among the firms. This research enhances understanding of the constructive impact of resources and capabilities on LSP performance.

Convincing a Supplier to Be Its Preferred Customer: A Case Study (Extended Abstract)

To perform well, firms need competent suppliers who are ready to invest time and resources. However, the best suppliers can choose the clients that they prefer to work closely with; therefore, clients have to compete for these suppliers’ attention and find ways to become more attractive. Developing different relationships with suppliers according to the role they are expected to play for the firm is vital (Bensaou 1999) and, regardless of the nature of the relationship, it is important to define and implement appropriate operating procedures to develop a cooperative advantage (Kanter 1994) or a collaborative advantage (Dyer 2000). Marketing strategies used by clients to attract customers are well studied; the “other side” of the attractiveness issue exists as well (Brokaw and Davidson 1978; Leenders and Blenkhorn 1988). More recently, the related concepts of customer attractiveness, supplier satisfaction, and preferential customer status have interested several researchers in supply management. In this empirical research, we decided to focus on the concept of “preferred customer.” Since this concept is complex and strongly determined by contextual factors, we chose the case study method as an explanatory method (Johnston et al. 1999; Dubois and Araujo 2007), to understand how a purchasing firm can convince a supplier to be its preferred customer.

Manager son attractivité pour devenir client privilégié d’un fournisseur. Une étude de cas

RÉSUMÉ Pour créer de la valeur, les entreprises acheteuses doivent travailler avec les fournisseurs qui répondent le mieux à leurs besoins. Or, ces fournisseurs ont la plupart du temps le choix de leurs clients. Il faut donc les convaincre de devenir client privilégié afin d’obtenir des avantages par rapport aux concurrents. Cette approche est d’autant plus cruciale quand l’entreprise acheteuse n’est pas, du fait de son volume d’achat, un client privilégié potentiel. À l’aide d’une étude de cas, cet article étudie le management de cette attractivité et le rôle du service achats dans cette démarche.

Something old, something new, something borrowed

The Ninth International Meeting for Research in Logistics (RIRL 2012) was hosted by HEC Montréal from August 15 to 17, 2012. Since 1995, these biennial international meetings allow us to focus on present and future developments in the research on logistics. For the ninth edition, RIRL gathered 70 papers by researchers from four continents. RIRL 2012 reflected the diversity and vitality of research in the fields of logistics and supply chain management (SCM). Emergent subjects such as resilience, risk management, healthcare management, urban logistics, and sustainability shared place with more established topics such as supply management, collaboration, thirdparty logistics providers, and reverse logistics, without forgetting the traditional domains of transportation, retailing, and inventory management, which were also present at the conference.