The current trend in manufacturing industry is for large companies to focus on core competencies and to outsource more design and manufacture. Combined with the rationalization of the supplier base, this has meant that companies are increasingly dependent on key suppliers to continue providing competitive subsystems and sub-assemblies which incorporate advanced product and process technology. S...

The emergence of B2B spot markets has greatly facilitated spot trading and impacted supply chain structures as well as the way commercial transactions take place between firms in many industries. While providing new opportunities, the B2B spot market also exposes participants to a price risk. This new business landscape raises some important questions on how the supplier and manufacturer should...

Purpose A firm's ability to cascade sustainability requirements further down lower-tier suppliers might be affected by inter-firm power relations. This study aimed identify the sources of focal firms and first- investigate how they may affect their along multi-tier supply chains. Design/methodology/approach multiple case 24 companies was conducted in In total, 42 informants from five companies,...

The paper analyses non-cooperative behaviour in a two-echelon decentralized supply chain, composed of one supplier and n retailers. For sufficient supply from the supplier, we build the approximate decision model of their base stock level, in which the suppliers reactions are not considered, and its non-cooperative behaviour is obtained. For insufficient supply from the supplier, much more comp...

With the dramatic increase in direct foreign investment (DFI) in China over the past two decades, understanding the role of DFT in her economic development has become essential. This thesis focuses on the impact of the clustering of DFI on urban economic development through a case study of the Economic and Technological Development Zone (ETDZ) and High-tech Industrial Park (HTIP) in Qingdao, Sh...

We consider a make-to-stock supplier who operates a production facility with limited capacity. The supplier receives orders from customers belonging to several demand classes. Some of the customer classes share advance demand information with the supplier by announcing their orders ahead of their due date. However, this advance demand information is not perfect because the customer may decide t...

Purpose This study aims to how first-tier suppliers (FTs) operate as boundary-spanners between the focal firm and second-tier (STs) in extending sustainability-oriented supplier development (SSD) initiatives up supply chain. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory multi-case approach apparel industry is adopted, comprised of four cases focused on occupational health safety issues. The paper ...

Group buying involves cooperation and competition among multiple retailers, strategic inventory can affect this relationship. To investigate the interaction between them, we consider a two-tier distribution channel consisting of one supplier two competing retailers who hold inventory, explore effect on operational decisions profits all members supply chain. In research, make major contribution ...

Existing Sustainable Supply Chain Management frameworks attempt to incorporate each tier of the end-to-end supply chain. However, the firm or buyer-supplier dyad is predominately used as a unit of analysis, leaving a gap regarding how indirect suppliers affect firm sustainability. To fill this gap we pose two research questions: What role do indirect suppliers play in firm sustainability? And; ...