Strategic purchasing and supplier partnerships—The role of a third party organization

Coordinating multi-level collective action: how intermediaries and digital governance can help supply chains tackle grand challenges

Purpose

Driven by increasing concerns for sustainable development and digitalization, intermediaries have emerged as relevant actors who can help supply chains tackle grand societal challenges. They can also trigger significant changes in structure, shape and governance models of supply chains. The goal of this research is to advance the understanding of supply chain intermediation and digital governance as coordinating mechanisms for enabling multi-level collective action to address the world's grand challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual research paper that uses a vignette approach, where real examples are described to help question and expand theoretical insights and provide a basis for future research. The examples are drawn from past and ongoing extensive primary and secondary data collection efforts in diverse types of supply chains.

Findings

Three contexts are proposed to illustrate how intermediaries and digital governance can play a key role in helping supply chains tackle grand challenges. The first and second context highlight the differences between material and support flow intermediaries in a triadic supply chain relationship. The third context illustrates intermediation within a multi-level network which can be industry-specific or span across industries. The three contexts are evaluated on the level of intervention, the focus on material or support flows, and traditional or digital governance. The specific Sustainable Development Goals which can be tackled through intermediary intervention are also indicated.

Originality/value

Intermediaries are often hidden actors in global supply chains and have received limited attention in the academic literature. The conceptual foundation provided in this manuscript serves as the basis for future research opportunities. Three main avenues for further research in this domain are proposed: (1) novel forms of intermediation beyond economic and transactional arrangements; (2) novel forms of digital governance; and (3) translating multi-level collective action into sustainable development outcomes. Research on intermediation driven by sustainable development and digitalization trends can spur empirical advances in sustainable supply chain and operations management with important societal impact.

Supplier diversity for socially responsible purchasing: an empirical investigation in Brazil

Purpose

Based on a critical lens, this paper aims to empirically evaluate the adoption of programs to buy from minority suppliers (MS) and their outcomes in Brazil, considering a multi-stakeholder approach (buying companies, suppliers and third parties).

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected via an exploratory survey involving 109 buying companies and two case studies with 21 in-depth interviews.

Findings

It was revealed that supplier diversity (SD) in Brazil is still developing, and is more rhetoric than a practice promoting real change. The current traditional procurement mindset, the role of third parties, and the focus on supplier selection, rather than on supplier development prevents a social impact that could reduce inequality between MS and their counterparts.

Originality/value

Previous studies were focused on buying companies' perspective in advanced countries that have clear regulation for SD. By exploring the phenomenon in a country with great economic disparities and no regulation, and using a critical lens, this study highlights the difference between desired and effective implementation of social initiatives that promote inclusiveness.

Structural transformation of fuzzy analytical hierarchy process: a relevant case for Covid-19

Covid-19 has posed difficult and challenging situations to the supply chains and companies are in fix how to choose the vendors under the uncertainty and complexity in recent years. Therefore, this research aims to incorporate structural transformation of the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) that is most appropriate for the uncertainty and disruption caused by Covid-19 like situation for ensuring supplies from vendors. The conventional approaches for vendor selection and evaluation use numerous multi-criteria decision-making tools that may not ensure reliability in a dynamic situation caused due to Covid-19. In this research, Fleiss’ Kappa method ensures the reliability of responses from eight respondents by using pairwise comparisons and assigning weights as envisaged in FAHP. In addition to determine the reliability of responses, a step under FAHP has been altered. This alteration is demonstrated in the vendor selection case in the Covid-19 scenario. The research suggests a plausible system required to address the uncertainties associated with Covid-19 to select and evaluate vendors by modifying a FAHP. The proposed altered mechanism can be incorporated in a similar type of other decision-making circumstances such as Covid-19, where the decision-makers are more than one, and the situation is very dynamic. The study is likely to facilitate information management, algorithmic development in decision making, or machine-driven decisions in uncertain conditions. The study offers managerial implications to purchase managers to accommodate and combine multiple factors and responses concerning the vendor performances for their evaluation, thus making a process more reliable.

The Requirements of Strategic Purchasing of Health Services for Cancer Patients: A Qualitative Study in Iran

The strategic purchasing creates dynamics and providers' competitiveness among the internal market of governmental sector with ensuring appropriate payments and promoting quantity-quality of service delivery that lead to improve the health system efficiency. This study aimed to determine the requirements for the strategic purchasing of health services for cancer patients in Iran. As a qualitative research with a framework analysis, this study was conducted in Iran from July 2018 to February 2019. The participants were included some administrating managers, experts, and specialists of insurance selected purposefully by snowball sampling method. The framework analysis of the study included 5 steps. Data were saturated after 21 semistructured interviews. The main findings included 3 main themes (supply management, insurance trusteeship, and financial performance) and 14 subthemes (strategic purchasing infrastructures, practical guidelines, trusteeship structure, service package, service quality, service quantity, role of other organizations and groups, training, establishment of an insurance thought, strategic management, communication, price, efficiency and effectiveness, and resource provision). The strategic purchasing model of health services increases the power of service purchasers and payment based on defined priorities, resulting in providers' coordinating for care provision, enhancement of financial performance and cancer patients' better access to health services, improvement of life quality, and financial protection.

An Influence of Group Purchasing Organizations on Financial Security of SMEs Operating in the Renewable Energy Sector—Case for Poland

European countries are increasingly using renewable energy. Poland is an outsider of such solutions. The Polish energy sector is primarily based on energy produced from coal. However, environmental changes and regulations of the European Union are forcing the increased use of energy from renewable sources. Renewable energy is an industry that is still developing in Poland. At the same time, Poland is a country where the political decisions of the government over the last few years have resulted in a significant limitation of the possibilities of renewable energy development. These actions have also resulted in lowering the profitability of the currently operating renewable energy enterprises, especially those from the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises. An opportunity for SMEs operating in the renewable energy sector is to merge into industry purchasing groups. The aim of the article—and at the same time the research question—is: Is it financially safer for renewable energy companies to operate within purchasing groups compared to companies operating independently in this industry? Traditional ways of purchasing can be transferred to integrated purchasing systems, which will be created by purchasing groups associating renewable energy companies. For this purpose, the financial effects of the implementation and functioning of the purchasing groups in the renewable energy sector in relation to entities operating independently were examined. In the research of renewable energy SMEs, a comparative analysis of key indicators determining the possibility of continuing the activity of these entities was made. The following indicators were examined: current financial liquidity ratio, return on sales, operating cycle, cash conversion cycle, share of receivables in current assets, share of inventory in current assets, turnover ratios, level of receivables, liabilities and profitability. The scientific literature is dominated by studies on purchasing groups in the pharmaceutical and construction industries. Thanks to the research conducted, it has been indicated that the renewable energy industry can also improve its profitability, and thus the possibility of safe continuation of operations by extending the business model to inter-entity cooperation within purchasing groups. Increasing the efficiency of individual entities of the renewable energy industry within purchasing groups becomes particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical analyses and their graphic presentation present the significant impact on the safety and profitability of renewable energy entities in the form of purchasing groups.

Effect of supplier development activities on performance outcomes: an empirical study

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of supplier development activities (SDAs) in the context of three major performance outcomes (POs), i.e. supplier performance improvement (SPI), buyer’s competitive advantage improvement (BCAI) and buyer-supplier relationship improvement (BSRI).

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted of 214 manufacturing organizations and the data were analyzed using factor analysis, correlation analysis and multiple hierarchical regression analysis.

Findings

This paper categorizes the identified 28 SDAs and 33 POs into five and three major categories of SDAs and POs, respectively. The results indicate a significant relationship between each aspect of SDAs and POs, except investment. The effect of each category of SDA is determined through a developed framework.

Research limitations/implications

This present study analyzes the SDAs and POs from the buyer’s point of view. A paired buyer and supplier data may provide some additional information about the relationship between SDAs and POs.

Practical implications

The outcome of this study will provide significant information for managers and academicians who are involved in outsourcing.

Originality/value

For the first time, the relationship and effect of each category of SDAs was analyzed in combination with three major POs, i.e. SPI, BSRI and BCAI.