Partnerships and collaborations between companies (OEMs) and suppliers are not new. Many companies rely on partnerships with key suppliers to improve operational effectiveness through minimized inventory, information and culture integration to boost their lean/ agile credentials. The Fractal Manufacturing Partnership (FMP) is new manufacturing strategy, whereby OEMs form relationship with key s...

In this paper we consider a single buyer who wants to outsource the manufacturing of aproduct to N potential suppliers. The buyer’s objective is to maximize the service level shereceives from the suppliers. The suppliers compete for the buyer’s demand based on acompetition parameter which the buyer announces along with an allocation rule. We modeleach supplier as a make-to-s...

In this paper the importance and the effects of technological opportunities, stemming from academic research, on the innovation activities of firms in the German automobile supply industry are investigated. We observe that the contribution of academic research to firms’ innovation activities is less important than the relevance of industrial sources but yet, the most likely partners for formal ...

Business-to-government (B2G) electronic auction (e-auction) markets are increasingly being used to create opportunities for suppliers to expand their market as well as trading activities. However, little has been done to understand the behaviour of suppliers participating in these markets. In this paper, we propose a framework to explain suppliers’ intention to participate, and the level of par...

Nowadays, many manufacturing companies have decided to use other companies’ competencies and outsource part of their manufacturing processes and business to suppliers globally in order to reduce costs, improve quality of products, explore or expand new markets, and offer better services to customers, etc. The decisions have rendered manufacturing organizations with new challenges. Organizations...

W consider a decentralized assembly system in which a buyer purchases components from several first-tier suppliers. We examine the dynamics of suppliers’ investments in cost-reduction initiatives over the life cycle of a product under different procurement approaches. We model the suppliers’ investment decisions under cost-contingent contracts, with wholesale prices determined on the basis of t...

A fair cost allocation scheme is critical for forming and sustaining horizontal cooperation that leads to cost reductions. In order to incentivize suppliers to cooperate in freight consolidation, we design a cost-sharing mechanism to solve a cost allocation problem arising in freight consolidation among small suppliers: that is, suppliers whose total demand fits into one truckload. This cost-sh...

In IT outsourcing alliances, the service suppliers acquire significant capabilities through repeated interaction with a variety and multitude of clients. This learning process is especially critical for the survival and growth of suppliers that are in the early or expansionary stages of their lifecycle. This research focuses on the dynamic strategy process by which suppliers acquire capabilitie...

E-business technologies present unique opportunities and challenges for businesses, and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are no exception. However, there is a rich body of the e-business literature concentrates on adoption concerns from SMEs buyers’ viewpoint, little research has so far been reported from the viewpoint of SME suppliers. Participation of SME suppliers needs to be ensured in ord...

As firms increasingly outsource to focus on their core competencies, effective supplier development has become a major strategic decision in order to maintain a network of competent suppliers. Supplier development can be seen as a capability-enhancing activity that an organization undertakes to improve its suppliers’ performance. This study conceptualizes supplier development as a knowledge-int...