Paul Ireland

Supply chains, markets and power : mapping buyer and supplier power regimes

Part I: Power in Supply Chains and Markets Part II: Power Regimes in Supply and Value Chains Part III: A Research Agenda for Analysing Business Power

Managing appropriately in construction power regimes: understanding the impact of regularity in the project environment

This paper investigates the impact of lean and partnering approaches to supply management in the construction industry. The paper outlines how the project environment that is endemic in the construction industry creates power regime structures that are often resistant to lean and partnering approaches to sourcing and business relationship management. Drawing on two case studies – one for mechanical and electrical products and the other for prefabricated restaurant subunits – the paper shows that what is appropriate in one context may not be an appropriate or realistic sourcing or business relationship choice in another. The paper concludes that only in supply chains with high levels of extended buyer dominance and/or interdependence, and with regular volumes, is a lean/partnering approach feasible.

Satisficing dependent customers: on the power of suppliers in IT systems integration supply chains

Provides both a descriptive and an analytical understanding of the supply chain for IT systems integration. It explains which firms in the chain have power and how this impacts upon value appropriation. The article is structured around three parts. The first is a descriptive mapping of the supply chain based on the key functional stages. The second is a descriptive mapping of the corresponding value chain based on the revenues and gross profit margins typically being earned at each functional stage. The final section contains a discussion of the structures of power and the competitive dynamics, and by extension the appropriation of value, in the chain. Buyer ignorance and information asymmetries are identified as the key factors in this case that determines the appropriation of value.

OVERCOMING DEMAND MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS: THE SCOPE FOR IMPROVING REACTIVE AND PROACTIVE SUPPLY MANAGEMENT IN THE UK HEALTH SERVICE

This paper demonstrates, using empirical cases from the National Health Services (NHS), how existing practices in demand specification, procurement and supply management fail to address the significant problems caused by the misalignment of demand and supply. When examining internal demand management a number of problems arise including: product overspecification, premature establishment of design and specification, frequent changes in specification, poor demand information, fragmentation of spend, maverick buying, inter-departmental power and politics, and the risk-averse nature and culture of the organisation. It is argued that unless these problems are addressed and eliminated the NHS will not be in a position to select the most appropriate reactive or proactive approach from the range of sourcing options available. An improvement path that NHS Trusts might follow to achieve more efficient and effective procurement and supply management is outlined.

Special issue for the Logistics Research Network Conference (LRN2002)

The wide range of papers presented at the Logistics Research Conference in Birmingham, 2002, shows both the role and importance of logistics and supply chain management for companies in today’s highly competitive supply chains. The papers were written by academics, researchers and practitioners and showed the need for research to develop, produce and test new models and strategies, to report on research findings and applications, to propose and investigate new ideas and to disseminate them to both the research community as well as to business at large. The theme of the conference, jointly organised by Birmingham’s three universities, was ‘‘collaboration for innovative supply chain solutions’’. There is general acknowledgement of the need for greater collaboration within and between supply chain processes (internal and external to the organisation), but we are not necessarily putting this into practice. While the conference papers demonstrated the breadth, depth, context and internationalism of current work in logistics and the supply chain, it was clear that many of the methods, models, problems and proposed solutions are appropriate across different types of function, businesses and industries. Further, the papers show that the field of supply chain management is still rather new and subject to different definitions and understanding based on our backgrounds. Authors usually see the supply chain in terms of their first discipline. Such diversity is reflected in the work of the Logistics Research Network; encouraging greater dissemination and collaboration between members within the research community and businesses through its seminars, workshops, conferences and journal. The way that the conference was organised by the three universities is evidence of such a collaborative approach. The papers chosen for this special conference edition of the International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications illustrate the range and diversity of work currently being carried out in the fields of logistics and supply chain management. They help to illustrate the three aspects of activity: research, application and informed comment or proposal. A short comment on each of the papers appears below. One of the problems of increased complexity in supply chains is that it is often accompanied by an increase in risks to the individual member companies. These are