Vikram Bhakoo

Adding value through outsourcing: Contribution of 3PL services to customer performance

– The aim of this research is to understand how customers perceive their logistics service providers in terms of achieving the claimed benefits of outsourcing. This paper is based on research focusing on the state of the 3PL (Third Party Logistics) industry in Australia., – A set of typical business outcomes to which logistics outsourcing is expected to contribute were identified. Customers were asked to rate the contribution of their principal 3PL to these performance indicators. We used competitive priorities of 3PLs, the services provided by them and technologies used by them as predictors and performed regression analysis for each of these., – The results indicate that customers of 3PLs place significant value on the services they provide, technologies they use and objectives that transcend just low cost. The implication of this final finding shows that customers see a focus on service based solutions as providing a set of benefits beyond mere cost control., – The main limitation of this paper is that it is confined to Australia. So, any extensions of the findings to other regions of the world should be done with caution., – The practical implication of the study is that it provides support for the potential for an effective set of arrangements with 3PLs to help organizations to move out of the world of pure cost based competition, and into one where they could compete on multiple dimensions., – This study provides evidence from customers of logistics service providers indicating that 3PLs provide them with a means for competing through greater flexibility, at the same time as enabling better‐cost management. In this sense, customers see 3PLs as providing them with a potential pathway to more innovative business models.

Collaborative management of inventory in Australian hospital supply chains: practices and issues

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the nature of collaborative arrangements that partners in Australian hospital supply chains use to manage inventories.Design/methodology/approach – A case study involving a supply chain network of ten healthcare organisations (three pharmaceutical manufacturers, two wholesalers/distributors and five public hospitals) was studied. Data included 40 semi‐structured interviews, site visits and examination of documents.Findings – This study highlights the existence of a variety of collaborative arrangements amongst supply chain partners such as the “Ward Box” system (a variant of the vender managed inventory system) between wholesalers/distributors and hospitals. The materials management departments were more willing than their pharmacy counterparts to participate in a variety of partial and complete outsourcing arrangements with wholesalers/distributors and other hospitals. Several contingent factors were identified that influenced developm...

Collaborative implementation of e‐business processes within the health‐care supply chain: the Monash Pharmacy Project

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the implementation of e‐business processes in the procurement area of a healthcare supply chain when multiple stakeholders are involved.Design/methodology/approach – A single longitudinal case study spanning three years is presented using data collected from interviews, participant observation, and documentary analysis.Findings – This study identifies the lack of consistency and poor data quality as well as the global nature of suppliers as key issues in the e‐business implementation in the healthcare supply chain. It also points out the need for collaboration and trust for a successful implementation.Practical implications – This study provides practitioners with a useful guide to the various technology‐related, management, and business issues that can arise during the implementation of e‐business processes in the context of supply chains involving multiple stakeholders.Originality/value – This study is distinctive on two grounds: the longit...

Revisiting the outsourcing debate: two sides of the same story

Although outsourcing of organisational functions has become a popular practice amongst organisations, the literature provides a myopic and simplistic view of the phenomenon by focusing on either single functions or taking monadic views of a single party. The design of our study overcomes these weaknesses by including the following features: a range of organisational functions were included; the unit of analysis was the outsourcing contract; the level of analysis was at the dyadic level where both service providers and receivers presented their views and the approach was a qualitative one. In practice, this involved interviews with managers in service receiving and providing organisations that were in charge of 10 separate outsourcing arrangements. Using agency theory as a theoretical anchor, we contribute to the outsourcing debate by highlighting its complexity and areas of convergence and divergence between service receivers and providers, thereby suggesting a contingent approach towards implementation of outsourcing arrangements.

The impact of host country regulatory quality on the value creation process in e-business supply chains

The use of e-business (EB) applications has reshaped an organisations’ supply chain structure. EB applications have enabled supply chain organisations to integrate their upstream and downstream supply chain processes to reach higher performance outcomes. Employing the resource-based view and contingency perspective as theoretical anchors, we propose and test a model of the relationship between EB applications, supply chain integration and financial performance that is moderated by a country’s regulatory quality. Cross-country data have been collected from 637 organisations through the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey research initiative. We hypothesise that the efficacy of the EB value creation process depends on the regulatory quality of the country that companies are located in. Results indicate that EB has a stronger impact on supply chain integration and supply chain integration has a stronger impact on financial performance, if the companies are situated in countries with high quality regulatory levels.

Supply chain structures shaping portfolio of technologies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of how the supply chain structure (i.e. degree of vertical integration) of a focal organization shapes the breadth of its portfolio of technologies. Design/methodology/approach – In total, three case studies were conducted involving key players in the Australian mass grocery retail sector. Each had a distinct supply chain structure (i.e. totally vertically disintegrated, partially vertically integrated and totally vertically integrated). Each supply chain case study included manufacturers or suppliers, transport and logistics service providers, wholesalers/distributors, as well as the mass grocery retail organizations. Interviews with key personnel from these organizations and other relevant information informed the findings and conclusions. Findings – The information technologies employed by the three focal case organizations and their extended trading partners varied in terms of level, type, complexity and sophistication. The autho...

The Role of Managerial Values and Perceptions in Business Sustainability Decision-Making

In a globalised economy, the choices managers make often entail far-reaching consequences for societal stakeholders and the natural environment. Prior research on business sustainability analyses f...