Viktoria Sundquist, Kajsa Hulthén and Lars Erik Gadde
Partnering has been at the top of the management agenda in the construction industry for many years as a means of improving performance. Previous research shows that partnering…
Abstract
Purpose
Partnering has been at the top of the management agenda in the construction industry for many years as a means of improving performance. Previous research shows that partnering has not reached the desired level of strategic partnering, but stopped at project partnering. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical framing for transformation from project partnering towards strategic partnering with suppliers.
Design/methodology/approach
The framework is based on two building blocks: a case study of a contractor involved in implementing strategic partnering with four of its suppliers and a literature review dealing with partnering in construction; and models for close and long-term buyer-supplier collaboration in other contexts.
Findings
Transformation towards strategic partnering should preferably be based on extension of project partnering in two dimensions: extension in time through relationship development with suppliers and extension in space through increasing network orientation across projects.
Practical implications
Succeeding with relationship development and network orientation requires contractors to abandon two significant aspects of established construction logic that serve as significant implementation barriers. Competitive bidding in single projects needs to be replaced by collaboration over series of projects. The decentralisation of authority to the project level needs to be supplemented with increasing centralised decision making.
Originality/value
Previous research showed that despite the considerable interest in partnering there is a lack of systematic theorizing of the phenomenon. This paper contributes to theoretical anchoring through the combining of the case study and the literature review in the abductive approach applied.
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Anna Dubois, Kajsa Hulthén and Viktoria Sundquist
The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse how different ways of organising transport and logistics activities in construction impact on efficiency. The paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse how different ways of organising transport and logistics activities in construction impact on efficiency. The paper scrutinises three particular transport and logistics configurations: the de-centralised coordinated configuration, the on-site coordinated configuration and the supply network coordinated configuration.
Design/methodology/approach
Three configurations are derived from the literature and from case studies. The efficiency of the three configurations is analysed on three levels of analysis: the construction site, the supply chain, and across supply chains and construction sites.
Findings
The paper concludes that there are possibilities to enhance efficiency on all three levels of analysis by widening the scope of coordination beyond the individual construction site.
Practical implications
The analysis points to efficiency potentials in applying the supply network coordinated configuration, although this configuration puts high demands on collaboration amongst the actors involved.
Originality/value
The paper provides illustration, and explanation, of the efficiency potentials involved in the three configurations.
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Victor Eriksson, Anna Dubois and Kajsa Hulthén
The purpose of the paper is to analyse how transport activities are embedded in supply chains and networks.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to analyse how transport activities are embedded in supply chains and networks.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is empirically grounded in a single case study that describes and analyses a supply chain of a particular product, Geocloth, focussing on how transport activities are organised in the supply network.
Findings
The paper concludes that transport activities are embedded in two related settings – the supply chain setting and the transport network setting – with implications for how adjustments can be made to increase transport performance. Furthermore, the paper shows how transport performance can be analysed as a function of how business relationships are connected vertically (i.e. how transport activities are sequentially connected within supply chains) and horizontally (i.e. how transport activities are connected across supply chains with regard to joint resource use).
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the understanding of how transport is integrated in supply networks by focussing on the connections between business relationships in supply chains and by pointing to how transport activities are embedded both in supply chain settings and in transport network settings.
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Victor Eriksson, Kajsa Hulthén and Ann-Charlott Pedersen
The aim of this paper is to investigate how the efforts of improving transport performance within the scope of one business relationship are embedded in a transport service triad…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate how the efforts of improving transport performance within the scope of one business relationship are embedded in a transport service triad, which, in turn, is embedded in the wider supply network.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framing originates from the IMP approach with a specific focus on the concept network horizon, and literature on triads. The study is explorative and applies a qualitative design and a case study approach to illustrate how three actors engage in a change initiative to improve transport performance.
Findings
The paper concludes that it is crucial to get counterparts aware of the importance of expanding and defining their network horizons for a certain change initiative. Interaction among actors is important to create awareness and expand its own as well as others’ network horizons for a certain change. Three generic facets are proposed: overlapping network horizons, partly overlapping network horizons and non-overlapping network horizons.
Practical implications
The framework offers a tool to managers in terms of the concept of network horizon that can help to understand the challenges when dealing with change in supply networks and to understand where to deploy resources to cope with change.
Originality/value
This study adds to the literature by explicating facets of the concept of network horizon, especially when firms are faced with a change, how they are affected by this change and how they can cope with the related challenges.
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Dan Andersson, Anna Dubois, Victor Eriksson, Kajsa Hulthén and Anne-Maria Holma
The purpose of the paper is to identify and discuss the transport service triad (TST) as a key unit of analysis to understand the operations and conditions for change in freight…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to identify and discuss the transport service triad (TST) as a key unit of analysis to understand the operations and conditions for change in freight transport systems at the micro level, i.e. at the level of analysis where business decisions and change interaction take place.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framing is rooted in the IMP approach and in the literature on triads. A case study approach is used to illustrate the TST by analyzing a case involving a wholesaler of installation products, tools and supplies, a main construction company and a transport service provider.
Findings
The paper shows how the connections between the business relationships in the TST, influenced by connections to relationships outside the triad, impact on the efficiency in freight transport. The paper illustrates how analysis of TSTs can be applied in micro-level studies of change in freight transport systems and in supply networks.
Research limitations/implications
The triadic approach is instrumental to understand change in the transport system because it includes all relevant parties and relationships of concern, as well as the logic framing of their actions. However, while arguing that TSTs are generic to their nature, each TST is unique and needs to be identified and analyzed in its specific context.
Practical implications
The suggested framework may contribute to an understanding of the embeddedness of transport services in supply/business networks. The framework may support the development of new ways of operating and creating value for customers and offering sustainable transport solutions.
Originality/value
From the transport policy makers’ perspective, micro-level analysis is important to understand behavioral adjustments to new policies.
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Lars-Erik Gadde and Kajsa Hulthén
The purpose of this paper is to analyse how theories evolve within scientific fields: why they receive attention and why they eventually become less attractive.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse how theories evolve within scientific fields: why they receive attention and why they eventually become less attractive.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a literature review and focusses on the theoretical structure developed by Wroe Alderson. His contributions were highly appreciated and generally considered as “the” marketing theory. However, in few years his broad perspective was more or less neglected within the field where it was developed. At the same time, Alderson’s basic thinking was adopted by the evolving IMP approach. The specific objective of the study is to analyse why researchers in marketing abandoned Alderson, while IMP adopted many of his ideas.
Findings
The paper illustrates significant aspects of the evolution of theories. First, the paper shows how well-established conceptualisations, like Alderson’s total systems approach, may lose impact when the focus of research shifts. Alderson’s holistic framing was found too broad and all-encompassing to be useful when research attention was directed to specific aspects of marketing management and the socio-behavioural approach to distribution. Second, the paper shows in what respect IMP found support in concepts and models presented by Alderson in the challenging of fragmented mainstream framings of the business landscape.
Originality/value
This paper relates the rise and fall of Alderson’s concepts and frameworks to the evolution of theories of other schools-of-thought. Furthermore, the study shows how Alderson’s ideas were adapted to other research fields than where it was originally developed.
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To provide a framework for understanding and analyzing economizing in differentiated distribution networks.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a framework for understanding and analyzing economizing in differentiated distribution networks.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is conceptual and reviews and develops some of the concepts and ideas provided by Wroe Alderson. The developed framework is then used in combination with some principle empirical examples from the PC industry to illustrate how the framework can be used in order to understand economizing in differentiated distribution networks. The paper also brings forward some methodological concerns regarding the use of the transvection concept in an empirical setting.
Findings
The paper concludes that by using a transvection approach three key concepts with regard to economizing in differentiated distribution networks can be identified; crossing points, sorting, and uniformity. These are interrelated and together they provide insight with respect to the logic of economizing in these kinds of networks.
Originality/value
The paper brings forward some “old” Aldersonian concepts in a “modern” setting and shows how these concepts can be used to understand economizing in differentiated distribution networks. The transvection is reintroduced as a useful concept for analyzing distribution structures, and the author found, in particular, that the concept is highly useful for understanding today's modern distribution arrangements.