Ole Stegmann Mikkelsen

Sourcing from outside – six managerial challenges

Purpose – As companies become more aware of their role in the business network and their own value contribution hereto, the question of the companies’ sourcing strategy and use of suppliers has simultaneously come more and more into focus of their decision making. The purpose of this paper is to describe some managerial challenges on the sourcing side, which companies must address in order to be able to act appropriately in relation to their own role and the cooperation with others in the network. The paper aims to focus on managerial implications of deliberate strategic sourcing.Design/methodology/approach – Based on empirical observations, discussions with managers, and previous research the paper discusses six significant strategic managerial challenges that companies must address in their quest to form their role in the network.Findings – Strategic sourcing is not a stand alone activity, but an activity impacting the whole network. The paper pinpoints how important it is to address the raised manageri...

Going local: : A trend towards insourcing of production?

This article evaluates and discusses the trend towards insourcing of production that has been proposed in the media and in a few recent studies. The article sets the context of this trend, defining and relating key terms such as outsourcing and insourcing. Based on a large-scale survey conducted in Denmark, we provide empirical results focussing on the extent to which Danish manufacturing companies have outsourced and insourced and the extent of and reasons for outsourcing and insourcing from and to Denmark. The results show that although many companies have considered returning activities to Danish shores relatively few have actually taken such action. The article contributes large-scale empirical data from firms of different sizes and discusses whether or not the trend towards global and low-cost country sourcing is likely to see a reversal to local sourcing.

Offshoring and backshoring manufacturing from a supply chain innovation perspective

ABSTRACT This paper compares the practice of offshoring and backshoring of manufacturing from a supply chain innovation (SCI) perspective. The purpose is to advance the understanding of whether and how companies pursuing different globalisation strategies work differently with the SCI components, technology, and business processes. The results, based on a questionnaire survey in Denmark on relocation of manufacturing, indicate that companies reshoring manufacturing have invested more in manufacturing innovation and, to a higher degree, have reorganised their manufacturing resources compared with companies that either have offshored their manufacturing or maintained it at home.

Coopetition Segments in a Public-Sector Context: Insights from a Business Region

ABSTRACT The concept of coopetition is well-known in a private-sector context, but it is greatly neglected in a public-sector context. In continuation of this, the article sets out to explore and further position coopetition in the public sector. This is achieved through a study of coopetition among seven municipalities located in a Danish business region named the Triangle Region. The article concludes by identifying and describing four public-sector coopetition segments, and by providing a segmentation model to categorize and discuss different coopetition initiatives. Furthermore, the model can help public servants and politicians to prioritize coopetition initiatives and visualize their complexity.