Simon Croom

The impact of e‐business on supply chain management

Purpose – E‐business systems and processes that use ubiquitous platforms such as web browser and internet have a profound impact on the management of inter‐organisational processes. Consequently, a major implication of e‐business is its impact on supply chain management. This paper focuses on the developments in e‐business system adoption and deployment in support of supply chain management.Design/methodology/approach – The research conducted for this paper was empirical in nature, involving an interview study with a large sample of organisations and selected case study visits. Analysis of the impact of e‐business on supply chain strategy also examines three representative areas of supply chain management – procurement, customer relationship management, and fulfilment process.Findings – E‐business systems deployment was also seen to act as a significant catalyst for each of the three areas examined, although this paper presents only the findings from the exploratory study.Originality/value – From the rese...

E‐service: enhancing internal customer service through e‐procurement

E‐business developments represent a significant step in the evolution of inter‐organisational systems (IOS). Their impact on external supply chains is a major area of discussion and analysis in the literature, principally examining issues of governance structure and process efficiencies. This paper, however, addresses issues relating to the impact of e‐business developments on internal customer service with a focus on electronic procurement introduction – in other words it concentrates on the intra‐organisational system dynamics of e‐business. The procurement process is the basis for one of the primary internal customer‐provider interfaces and thus presents a valid and useful domain of study in internal customer service. In contributing to the emerging e‐service field the article first contends that much of the recent research into e‐service has taken a primarily external customer focus. However, reports suggest that the potential of e‐business comes from applications both within and between businesses. Consequently, this paper focuses on the findings relating to internal e‐service obtained from an extensive, primarily qualitative and exploratory, research programme incorporating 97 organisations. The article concludes that internal customer satisfaction is central to the success of e‐procurement deployment and is a significant determinant of the cost benefits to be gained from its adoption.

Restructuring supply chains through information channel innovation

This paper examines the optimisation of purchasing for maintenance, repair and operating supplies (MRO) through purchase process re‐engineering. In particular, the use and development of the Internet as a channel for procurement of MRO items was examined from a transaction cost perspective. The focus of this paper is on the impact of Web/Internet based electronic commerce on the structure of MRO supply chains. The paper provides a discussion of the theoretical basis for analysis of the impact of e‐commerce on supply chain structure, and presents existing literature in the area. The empirical research involved a series of semi‐structured interviews with UK, European and US based manufacturers, retailers, government bodies, and service organisations. Respondents ranged from experienced users of e‐procurement to organisations just starting out on their pilot investigations of the contribution of Internet trading to their purchasing efficiency. The impact on supply chain configuration of greater information transparency may be posited to be one which will lead to increased outsourcing, improved procurement processes and more strategic management of MRO purchases.

The dyadic capabilities concept: examining the processes of key supplier involvement in collaborative product development

Abstract The increased use of suppliers in the new product development process has important implications for the strategic performance of organisations. In this paper an analysis of supplier collaboration in the development process is deployed to support the development of a dyadic (or two-level) capabilities analysis of the strategic management of the innovation process. By setting an organisations competencies within the context of their customer or supplier interactions this paper supports the view posited by Ford et al. (1986) that interaction defines the value of assets and resources. In a study of collaboration in the UK auto industry, it was found that both operational and relational competences are critical factors in the performance of the new product development process. Thus, the ability of customers and suppliers to develop both structured and ad hoc processes of interaction is shown to be important to the development process from early supplier selection process.

Re-investigating business excellence: Values, measures and a framework

This paper revisits the nature of business excellence, explores the conceptual development and suggests a normative framework that better supports the measurement, management and delivery of competitive performance at the ‘world-class’ level. It stresses the importance of the firm-specific and situation-sensitive means of evaluation for excellence. The proposed model has four dimensions of operational excellence, strategic fit, capability to adapt and unique voice, which represent correspondingly the classical school, strategic school, dynamic school and individual school of business excellences. The major implication of the research is to understand business excellence from a balanced perspective. Empirical evidence from a mini-case is discussed to demonstrate the applicability and the potential business benefits.

The development of strategic capabilities ‐ an interaction view

Concerns the nature of strategic capabilities from a network (rather than single‐firm) context. Augments what may be termed the predominantly structural and inward‐looking bias of much of the existing literature by integrating issues of network theory and organizational learning into the authors’ conceptual frames. Contends that this is necessary in order to understand more clearly the processes through which strategic development takes place, and especially to appreciate the sources of transformational change.

Benchmark to escape from Lake Wobegon

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate whether an employee reports an accurate view of the relative performance level of the organisation for which they work.Design/methodology/approach – Utilizes a survey of 2,517 senior managers, managers and team leaders from 120 different organisations in nine different countries.Findings – There is significant and consistent overestimation of performance with 75 percent of the management team reporting that their organisation is above average, and only 5 percent rating their organisation as below average compared to its competitors. A very significant finding is that where there is likely to be a greater degree of knowledge of competitors performance estimation improves.Practical implications – The implication of this misrepresentation of the true position is to make it less likely that an improvement initiative will succeed as managers will not be sufficiently motivated to improve an apparently satisfactory status quo. The paper calls for greater focus both on th...

Developing a Forensic Approach to Process Improvement: The Relationship Between Curriculum and Impact in Frontline Operator Education

The authors present a comparative study of 2 in-company educational programs aimed at developing frontline operator capabilities in forensic methods. They discuss the relationship between the application of various forensic tools and conceptual techniques, the process (i.e., curriculum) for developing employee knowledge and capability, and the impact on process improvement. The authors conclude that the use of e-learning via online learning management support and associated media has a positive impact on learner retention and application of concepts and techniques.

Does customer or competitor performance drive operations prioritisation

Abstract The purpose of this research is to identify the impact on operations managers of their perceptions of customer requirements and competitor performance on their determination of operations priorities. Data were obtained from a multiple respondent survey. Analysis involved an ordered choice model. The process of strategic prioritisation differs according to the specific performance dimension. Quality-based objectives are focused on the voice of the customer; cost-based objectives are influenced by a balance of importance to customer and performance against competitor. Other criteria (flexibility, dependability, speed) objectives are more influenced by perceptions of competitive benchmarking. This large sample survey of operations managers’ perceptions offers a valuable insight into their motivation for focusing on different operations criteria.

Connecting Factory to Theatre: Lessons from a Case Study

This chapter examines the case of a service operation positioned as a ‘high-end’ service: Cinepolis Luxury Cinema in Del Mar, California. The cinema opened in 2011 offering a premium quality movie environment with luxuriously comfortable reclining seats, high quality audio-visual technology and a full dining service. It had been profitable in its first year of operation, yet there remained some intriguing challenges posed by the operations because of decisions and approaches to its service design and execution.