Supply chain innovation
- Innovation Dynamic nature, incremental to radical terms of innovation effect,
more than invention or idea but, perceived as actual implementation in a SC
o Incremental small continuous improvements, master data management,
process optimizations.
o Radical includes implementation of direct distribution by using principles of
postponement, reengineering business processes by state-of-the-art
information tech, and the implementation of cross-functional teams in order
to speed up the time-to-market processes.
o Not static elements but are triggered by the
companies’ dynamic interaction with their
business environments.
o Characteristics development and
implementation of new processes, one-time
change that creates the basis for continuous
improvements, relatively long development
and implementation period, top-down and
bottom-up participation, cross-functional
scope.
- Supply chain innovation model
o Processes activities to produce a specific output of value to the customer.
Make transactions more efficient and effective and structure inter-firm
relations.
Customer relationship management
Customer service management
Demand management
Order fulfillment
Manufacturing flow management
Supplier relationship management
Product development and commercialization
Return management.
o Technology that can be applied in isolation or in combination with other tech
or elements in the SCI model.
Application e-procurement auctions can improve market structure,
market behaviour, and market performance.
Not technology itself is innovation but its application in a SC context.
o Network structure both vertical and horizontal. Innovation might be
perceived differently by members of SC
, Vertical structure number of suppliers/customers represented within
each tier.
Horizontal structure number of tiers across the SC.
Coopetition in Supplier Networks
- A traditional supply chain based on the belief maximum competition, under the
discipline of the free market, would promote a healthy supply base which secures
low prices and on-time delivery.
o Focus on open-market negotiations heavily based on price competition
eventually replaced by a new paradigm that shifted the focus of competition
dyadic buyer-supplier level to a network of co-operating firms.
o Over-embedded supplier relations revealed an inverted curvilinear
relationship between social capital and the buying firm’s performance.
Over-embeddedness can reduce the buyer’s ability to make objective
decisions and lead to an increase in supplier opportunism.
- Triadic relation between one buyer and two suppliers. From a structural network
perspective, cooperation is understood as a direct link between two companies that
suggests competition when at least one of the three following conditions is met.
o 1. Two firms can supply a product for equivalent functionality
o 2. Firms require similar scarce resources or input
o 3. Two firms have overlapping and complementary tech such that learning
and value-appropriation incentives exist.
Important competitive tensions do not escalate and might
undermine the potential for joint value creation.
- Uncertainty of the division of value between buyer and seller leads to buyers
deciding to distribute their business to a larger number of suppliers instead of
maximizing joint value creation through deep relationships with single or few
suppliers.
- Coopetition is desirable and paradoxical since a simultaneous focus on cooperation
and competition causes conflicts and tensions.
o Accept rather than deny or suppress the contradictory nature of paradox and
seek to create synergies between elements.
o Managing approaches or responses are either built on a structural separation
of contradictory elements or acceptance of the coexistence of these elements
and the search for synergies between elements.
o Can not be broken down into antecedent-process-out-come relationships
among core constructs but needs to be studied as a process reflecting cyclical
dynamics.
- Strategies for managing coopetition.
o Acceptance addressed both elements simultaneously, offers the highest
potential for synergistic outcomes of cooperation and competition higher
cost efficiencies and profit margins.