Luc Cassivi

Collaboration planning in a supply chain

Purpose – To analyze how e‐collaboration tools affect different partners along the supply chain, and to categorize firms according to their level of collaboration planning within a supply chain environment.Design/methodology/approach – First, a field study, which focuses on one large telecommunications equipment manufacturer and a few strategic first‐tier suppliers, provides the basis to fully understand the e‐collaboration methods and the various issues and concerns of the different members of the supply chain. It is followed by an electronic survey conducted with 53 firms worldwide acting in the same supply chain, which constitutes the second phase of the study.Findings – Different roles may be attributed to collaboration tools such as facilitating access to information, which affects knowledge creation capabilities, and assisting in the design of flexible supply chains. Furthermore, three separate groups with different levels and types of collaboration planning were identified. These groups appropriate...

The role of joint collaboration planning actions in a demand‐driven supply chain

Purpose – Drawing on the operations and information systems literature as well as concepts tied to buyer‐seller relationships, the objective of this exploratory research is to measure the influence of joint collaboration planning actions on the strength of relationships, interorganizational information systems (IOISs) use and firm flexibility. The path model proposed in this study also posits that joint collaboration planning actions and the strength of relationships positively affect IOISs use, which in turn positively affects firm flexibility.Design/methodology/approach – Empirical evidence is gathered through an electronic survey conducted with 53 suppliers in a single supply network in the telecommunications equipment industry.Findings – The present study demonstrates that joint collaboration planning actions positively and significantly impact the strength of relationships. The results also show that IOISs use mediates the impact of joint collaboration planning actions and of the strength of relation...

Safeguarding mechanisms in a supply chain network

Purpose – Building on the transaction cost theory and power structure literature, this paper aims to investigate the extent to which firms use two safeguarding mechanisms (supply chain relational investments and electronic collaboration) in different network dependency contexts in order to protect their portfolios of business relationships.Design/methodology/approach – Empirical evidence is gathered though a survey data conducted with 159 firms in the wireless communication sector. The paper tests the assumption that the two safeguarding mechanisms are used to a greater extent in interdependency‐intensive networks than in other supply chain contexts.Findings – This empirical study suggests that: in a network‐dependent context, relational investments allow firms to safeguard their portfolios of relationships; electronic collaboration seems to be a safeguarding mechanism for firms in downstream‐dependent network contexts; in general, firms appear to use both relational investments and electronic collaborati...

E-collaboration within one supply chain and its impact on firms’ innovativeness and performance

The central premise of this paper is that e-collaboration plays a major role in achieving a sustainable competitive edge. In particular, we propose to examine the relative efficiency of electronic collaboration tools and to assess their impacts on the innovativeness and performance of individual firms positioned along a single supply chain. Empirical data from both the upstream and downstream perspectives for firms positioned at different points of one supply chain suggest that e-collaboration and its impacts create a one-sided benefit for the upstream side of the chain: the overall efficiency of e-collaboration tools is higher and the impacts of e-collaboration are more beneficial when used with suppliers than when used with customers. The results also point to a stage model for implementing collaboration tools in a supply chain: efficiency is higher for e-collaboration tools that support strongly that collaboration tools can have significant impacts on the supply chain and that these tools need to be implemented progressively, both upstream and downstream, thereby yielding different and, most probably, cumulative benefits over time.

Joint collaborative planning as a governance mechanism to strengthen the chain of IT value co-creation

Drawing on the relational view of the firm, this paper examines the chain of IT-based co-creation of value and how joint collaborative planning between partners can strengthen this chain. Using data from51suppliers in the telecommunication equipment industry, our analysis demonstrates that the greater the partner-specific IT investments made by the firm, the greater its use of supply chain collaborative systems (SCCSs) with those partners and the greater the firm uses SCCSs with partners, the greater its benefits, through the generation of relational rents. Further investigation also shows that partner-specific IT investments is not a predictor of firm benefits and hence confirms the hypothesized chain of IT-based co-creation where IT investments encourage IT use, which in turn creates business value. Finally, our findings also show that joint collaborative planning between partners is an important governance mechanism, anchored on control and trust, that can strengthen the relationship between SCCSs use and firm benefits by impacting the other sources of relational rents tied to the use of SCCSs. This contribution should give academics and practitioners alike a better understanding of how both SCCSs and joint collaborative planning can foster the co-creation of value.

Electronic commerce and supply chain integration: the case of the telecommunication equipment industry

Purpose – This paper presents an analysis of the impact of electronic commerce on firms in the telecommunications equipment industry.Design/methodology/approach – Using the OECDs value chain methodology, electronic commerce initiatives identified in the optical connectivity value chain were analyzed for each of the four layers of the chain, namely network operators, system integrators, assemblers and sub‐assemblers.Findings – The findings from our case studies indicate that electronic commerce initiatives primarily influence process and relational innovations through supply chain collaboration. The real benefits of electronic commerce come from end‐to‐end visibility in the supply chain, and from the implementation of demand‐pull strategies for all levels of the optical connectivity equipment value chain.Research limitations/implications – Future research should concentrate on the impact of various emerging electronic marketplaces in demand‐driven integrated supply chains.Originality/value – Results revea...

The Role of Collaboration on Process, Relational, and Product Innovations in a Supply Chain

This article focuses on the impact of strategic and tactical collaborative actions as well as e-collaboration tools efficiency on process and relational innovations, which in turn should influence product innovations. The results of this study show that tactical collaborative actions, rather than strategic actions, are more geared towards leading firms to innovate. Findings also suggest that relational innovation has an effect on product innovation for the upstream perspective, while process innovation influences product innovation for the downstream perspective.

Collaborative e-product development and product innovation in a demand-driven network: the moderating role of eCRM

Customer relationships, product development, data integration and demand-driven supply chains are key concepts for companies that wish to remain competitive in today’s global economy. To address this important information management issue, the present study examines how, within a demand-driven network context, an eCRM can influence the interorganizational product development process between a manufacturer and its key customers. The theoretical model, built on research related to a technology assimilation model based on Fichman’s (2000) work, was tested on data from 104 manufacturers in the wireless equipment sector. The results show that the adoption of an eCRM does not moderate the relationship between collaborative e-product development involving a manufacturer and its key customers and product innovation within the manufacturer itself. Moderated regression analyses also demonstrate that, among the manufacturers that have adopted an eCRM, the impact of collaborative e-product development by the manufacturer and its key customers on product innovation within the company will be stronger when investments in the eCRM implementation, internal integration of the eCRM, and eCRM usage are higher than lower. Finally, the findings show that investments in the eCRM implementation, internal integration of eCRM and eCRM usage are also antecedents of product innovation within the manufacturer. This contribution, at the intersection of the CRM and product development research streams, should give academics and practitioners alike a better understanding of the role of eCRMs in the product development process.

IT project management resources and capabilities: a Delphi study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the most important IT project management resources and capabilities, and rank them according to the extent to which they are valuable, rare and inimitable.Design/methodology/approach – Using a Delphi methodology, the data collection process was conducted with the collaboration of members of academia and professionals with expertise in IT project management.Findings – The top ten most important resources/capabilities in IT project management were identified, the majority of which were capabilities; 80 per cent of the identified resources/capabilities were the same in the panel comprised of members of academia and the panel of professionals. Results showed that the two most valuable, rare and inimitable IT project management resources/capabilities were: the capability to understand and manage the needs, expectations, priorities and interests of project stakeholders; and the firms capability to align IT projects to the strategy and business objectives of th...

The role of life cycle concepts in the assessment of interorganizational alignment

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the alignment between the information‐processing needs and capabilities during interorganizational relationships through the lenses of both the product and the business relationships life cycle concepts, and the types of information exchanged.Design/methodology/approach – This paper follows up on a previous empirical study conducted in the automotive sector, investigating the electronic collaboration within the supply chain of a large European Automotive Supplier (EAS). Out of the 61 respondents from this previous study, four illustrative cases are selected to further investigate their information alignment, where each case involves one specific relationship between EAS and its business partners based on the supply chain collaboration classification provided by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA).Findings – The conclusion is that the phenomenon is bimodal and requires that the different information‐processing needs and capabilities associated wi...