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This paper aims to identify problems caused by cultural differences between Japan and China that face supply chain managers by applying Japanese-style supply management practices within supply networks in China and present solutions to this problem.

A single, longitudinal case study conducting two waves of data collection (i.e. interviews and observation) plus the collection of much archival data was performed. It goes beyond the dyad by examining supply management of a Japanese company’s supply chain up to three tiers in China.

The four supply cultural differences between Japan and China, which caused the cultural clashes between JVCo and some of its suppliers were revealed and a model of adaptation of Japanese supply management to the Chinese business system was developed. Adaptation involves creating new supply management practices out of selective adaptation, innovation and change of existing Japanese and Chinese supply management practices rooted in different Japanese, Chinese and Western cultures. A list of organisational factors affecting the adaptation has also been provided.

Due to the adoption of a single case study method, caution should be given to generalising the findings to all Japanese firms.

The Japanese, Chinese and Western managers were provided with insights on how to mitigate the problems caused by cultural differences within supply relationships in China and some innovative ideas on how managers from all three cultures could blend the elements of the three cultures to form a hybrid culture and reduce cultural clashes.

This is one of the few attempts to study the transfer of Japanese supply management practice to China. Organizational theory (i.e. transfer of organizational practice and hybridization) is applied and provides a robust framework to explain the supply management practice. This study also answers the call for a global supplier relationship management paradigm.

This short informal paper introduces a research project carried out at The Centre for Business Research, based at Brighton Business School entitled: “Total Quality Management in the Supply Chain”. The project is funded by the ACME Directorate of the Science and Engineering Research Council.

Purchasing has enjoyed a change of image in recent times. Once regarded as a peripheral, cost‐obsessed activity, it is now widely recognized as a potentially vital strategic discipline. Yet the ways in which many efficiency and financially‐based measures are employed reflect the outdated idea that purchasing is an add‐on cost to a business. A new approach to measurement is required that supports and reflects purchasing's value‐adding contribution.

This article proposes a conceptualisation for supply strategy – an explanation for how organisations arrange and conduct themselves within modern economic environments, in order to satisfy markets in the long and short terms. After an explanation of the emerging global environment within which organisations must compete, the previous approaches to explaining this area of business are explored and found to be insufficient for the new context. There follows a conceptualisation and an account of new, supporting research – a Delphi survey, conducted to test, extend and validate some of the features of the concept. Finally, some suggestions are made for the further development of supply strategy as a useful subject area for managers and researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the linkage effect provides a better understanding of export‐led growth hypothesis in developing countries.

The literature review on the externalities of export‐led growth implied a hypothesis that the higher the linkage effect of export manufacture or industry is, the greater the externality effect and the faster the export growth of it will be in developing countries. The export growth pattern of the Hong Kong electronics industry and some selected data from China's export manufactures have been used to verify the hypothesis.

The findings have strongly supported the research hypothesis at both the product and industry level.

In the ELG model, it is the externality and the linkage effect of export that lead to the output growth of an economy. The findings have illustrated that the ELG model cannot simply be based on the effect of the amount of export or the export growth rate, rather the externality and the linkage effect of export should also be incorporated into the model.

To explore and identify the strategic approaches firms may follow in their pursuit of value transparency (VT) in inter‐organisational relations in supply networks.

Through the use of game theory an understanding of the difficulties of co‐operation and information transfer is developed. Game theory and marginal analysis facilitate an advanced application of VT.

While the article acknowledges the limitations of prescriptive precision in strategy matters, it is not proposed that firms would follow any single part of the outlined strategies. However, through rational analysis of the strategic options presented it may be possible to foresee potential negative outcomes, and through structuring undesirable scenarios managers may be able to reduce the risk of their occurrence.

A model is proposed that aids firms in the selection of supply partners for VT and VT modes. Recognising that certain conditions will be more likely to support a more rapid and extensive adoption of VT, the paper identifies the role that aspects of organisations' economic environments may play.

The article acknowledges the limitations of modelling and game theory‐based approaches but suggests that through considering the interests and benefits of the other party, practical insights may be developed and the likely outcomes of various scenarios considered.

The articulation of supply networks, as an extension of supply chains, seeks to accommodate and explain the commercial complexity associated with the creation and delivery of goods and services from the source of raw materials to their destination in end‐customer markets. In place of the simplistic, linear and unidirectional model sometimes presented for supply chains, the supply network concept describes lateral links, reverse loops, two‐way exchanges and so on, encompassing the upstream and downstream activity, with a focal firm as the point of reference. A review of classifications of supply networks reveals that none of the existing approaches appears adequate for managers facing the practical problems of creating and operating them on a day‐to‐day basis. This research identifies differing emphases that may be required for managing within supply networks, according to the nature of the products for which they are created. Taking an established categorisation of supply chains as its starting point, the research first develops the conceptual basis, using strategy literature, and then tests the resultant initial model in 16 case studies. Finally, a new categorisation for supply networks is presented, using the type of product as a differentiator.

For advanced manufacturing technologies to be exploited fully in the UK automotive industry strong, long‐term links must exist between the vehicle builders and their component suppliers. The resolved model presented here approximates to these links, but is itself affected by new technologies to the extent that new developments in the technical field provide opportunities for co‐operation in the operational areas. If the links between vehicle builders and their suppliers are to become stronger then points of contact between the organisations must reflect a strategic partnership and not a purely commercial connection. Contact is required at the engineering level, the purchasing level and the policy‐making level. The nature of purchasing changes in this situation from a price‐fixing operation to a capacity/technology matching function.

This research aims to assess the risks and benefits of outsourcing for organisations, sectors and nations. The literature on outsourcing contains little evidence of research on holistic issues of its impact at systems levels beyond the firm, notably sectors and nations.

A Delphi study with senior strategists from private and public sectors captured perspectives and specific observations on benefits and risks of outsourcing. Emergent issues on outsourcing policy, strategy and decision‐making processes were synthesised into a framework for analysing factors associated with outsourcing.

The findings suggest that a more holistic view of outsourcing is needed, linking local, organisational issues with sector and national level actions and outcomes. In this way, aggregate risks and benefits can be assessed at different systems levels.

Future research might address the motivations for outsourcing; currently there is little research evidence to assess whether outsourcing is a mechanism for failing to solve internal problems, and moving responsibility and risk out of the firm. Additionally most outsourcing research to date has concentrated on an activity either being “in” or “out”; there is little research exploring the circumstances in which mixed models might be appropriate.

The framework provides an aid to research and an aide memoire for managers considering outsourcing.

This paper contributes to knowledge on understanding of outsourcing at different systems levels, particularly highlighting the implications of outsourcing for sectors and nations. Previously most research has focused at the level of the firm or dyadic relationship.

As firms struggle to cope with an increasingly turbulent and uncertain economic environment there is widespread recognition of the importance of organisational learning. One option is to look at the potential of shared learning between firms, where common interests and interdependence provide motivation for experience sharing and other forms of synergy in learning. A particular version of inter‐firm learning is the use of supply chains as a mechanism for upgrading and transferring “appropriate practice” and this article reports on exploratory research on this theme. It draws on a literature survey and a detailed study of six UK supply chains at various stages of implementing supply chain learning.