According to Christopher (2000), in a lot of sectors, the competition is a question of supply chain against supply chain. The winner in term of competitive advantage should be the…
Abstract
Purpose
According to Christopher (2000), in a lot of sectors, the competition is a question of supply chain against supply chain. The winner in term of competitive advantage should be the one, who is able to obtain more than the competitor from the available resources. In strategic literature, Dyer and Singh (1998) are the first who introduced the concept of “relational competency” to explain why some companies gain their competitive advantage not directly from their internal resources but mainly because they are able better to combine external resources.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a case study.
Findings
The author describes the different phases and strategic decisions in the building of a real supplier eco-system.
Research limitations/implications
It is a sole case study.
Practical implications
This study is a description of a success story.
Originality/value
This study is a description of an external resource management in action.
Details
Keywords
Lamiae Benhayoun, Marie-Anne Le-Dain, Tarik Saikouk, Holger Schiele and Richard Calvi
Buying firms involve suppliers early in New Product Development (NPD) projects to benefit from their capabilities. The authors investigate the joint impact on project performance…
Abstract
Purpose
Buying firms involve suppliers early in New Product Development (NPD) projects to benefit from their capabilities. The authors investigate the joint impact on project performance improvement, of the social capital established throughout the project, and the strategic preferred buyer/supplier statuses awarded prior to the project, from the buyer's perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose a conceptual model underlining the complementary contribution to project performance of social capital dimensions and of preferred partners' statuses resulting from social exchange expectations. The model is analyzed with Partial Least Squares using 80 responses of purchasers and R&D managers involved in collaborative NPD projects with suppliers.
Findings
The relational capital built during the project has a positive central role, with a direct impact on NPD project performance and mediating effects through cognitive and structural capitals. The preferred partners' statuses have strong direct impacts on performance, and mediating effects that do not completely supplant the social capital's contribution.
Practical implications
The implications for the efficient management of supplier involvement are twofold. First, the authors encourage strategic investments of buying firms to acquire preferred buyer's status and to support preferred supplier programs. Second, the authors alert them on the importance of establishing trust and shared cognition during the project.
Originality/value
This study captures NPD project performance from the social angle of buyer–supplier relationship management. It demonstrates the complementarity of relationship management at the strategic and operational levels, before and during the project unfolding.
Details
Keywords
Richard H. Blum and Michael Ricks
As part of the work of the Symposium a workshop was convened to consider the potential role of, and issues arising from, the expansion of previously political intelligence…
Abstract
As part of the work of the Symposium a workshop was convened to consider the potential role of, and issues arising from, the expansion of previously political intelligence agencies into fighting international, organised economic (entrepreneurial) crime.
Richard Ek and Mekonnen Tesfahuney
In the Western thought tradition, the tourist has not been a subject worthy of intellectual musings and philosophical deliberations. Indeed, the tourist has been portrayed in…
Abstract
In the Western thought tradition, the tourist has not been a subject worthy of intellectual musings and philosophical deliberations. Indeed, the tourist has been portrayed in primarily derisive ways. Nietzsche’s remark, “Tourists—they climb mountains like animals, stupid and perspiring, no one has told them that there are beautiful views on the way,” epitomizes the dominant attitude. Why does the figure of the tourist elicit such negative reactions? Do the sentiments perhaps imply something else, or is the tourist a doppelgänger, not anomalous or marginal but normative—a paradigmatic figure? If so, then what can be said of the poetics and politics of the tourist conceptualized as a paradigmatic subject?
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Keywords
IN my recent notes on “The Librarian's Tools” I glanced rapidly at the major types of reference works, mainly bibliographical, today available to the librarian and, through him…
Abstract
IN my recent notes on “The Librarian's Tools” I glanced rapidly at the major types of reference works, mainly bibliographical, today available to the librarian and, through him, to the student and the general public. Any such survey shows that the field is a rich one, deserving of rather more thorough gleaning than it receives at many hands—and the more detailed the survey, the more impressive are the existing tools of the librarian found to be. It is therefore with deep admiration of the systematic bibliographer's laborious devotion, and in no carping spirit, that I point to the gaps which are also revealed by the same process of analysis. It is indeed paradoxical, but none the less true, that although the available facilities are great and insufficiently used, yet many additional bibliographies are needed, to say nothing of more general works of reference.
MANY and sundry are the worries which fall to the lot of the librarian, and the matter of book‐repair is not the least among them. The very limited book‐fund at the disposal of…
Abstract
MANY and sundry are the worries which fall to the lot of the librarian, and the matter of book‐repair is not the least among them. The very limited book‐fund at the disposal of most public library authorities makes it imperative on the part of the librarian to keep the books in his charge in circulation as long as possible, and to do this at a comparatively small cost, in spite of poor paper, poor binding, careless repairing, and unqualified assistants. This presents a problem which to some extent can be solved by the establishment of a small bindery or repairing department, under the control of an assistant who understands the technique of bookbinding.
Joachim Schopfel, Stéphane Chaudiron, Bernard Jacquemin, Hélène Prost, Marta Severo and Florence Thiault
Print theses and dissertations have regularly been submitted together with complementary material, such as maps, tables, speech samples, photos or videos, in various formats and…
Abstract
Purpose
Print theses and dissertations have regularly been submitted together with complementary material, such as maps, tables, speech samples, photos or videos, in various formats and on different supports. In the digital environment of open repositories and open data, these research results could become a rich source of research results and data sets, for reuse and other exploitation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
After introducing electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) into the context of eScience, the paper investigates some aspects that impact the availability and openness of data sets and other supplemental files related to ETD (system architecture, metadata and data retrieval, legal aspects).
Findings
These items are part of the so-called “small data” of eScience, with a wide range of contents and formats. Their heterogeneity and their link to ETD need specific approaches to data curation and management, with specific metadata and identifiers and with specific services, workflows and systems. One size may not fit for all but it seems appropriate to separate text and data files. Regarding copyright and licensing, data sets must be evaluated carefully but should not be processed and disseminated under the same conditions as the related PhD theses. Some examples are presented.
Research limitations/implications
The paper concludes with recommendations for further investigation and development to foster open access to research results produced along with PhD theses.
Originality/value
ETDs are an important part of the content of open repositories. Yet, their potential as a gateway to underlying research results has not really been explored so far.