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Increasingly, studies are reporting supply chain analytical capabilities as a key enabler of supply chain agility (SCAG) and supply chain performance (SCP). This study investigates the impact of environmental dynamism and competitive pressures in a supply chain analytics setting, and how intangible supply chain analytical capabilities (ISCAC) moderate the relationship between big data characteristics (BDC's) and SCAG in support of enhanced SCP.

The study draws on the literature on big data, supply chain analytical capabilities, and dynamic capability theory to empirically develop and test a supply chain analytical capabilities model in support of SCAG and SCP. ISCAC was the moderated construct and was tested using two sub-dimensions, supply chain organisational learning and supply chain data driven culture.

The results show that whilst environmental dynamism has a significant relationship on the three key BDC's, only the volume and velocity dimensions are significant in relation to competitive pressures. Furthermore, only the velocity element of BDC's has a significant positive impact on SCAG. In terms of moderation, the supply chain organisational learning dimension of ISCAC was shown to only moderate the velocity aspect of BDC's on SCAG, whereas for the supply chain data driven culture dimension of ISCAC, only the variety aspect was shown to moderate of BDC on SCAG. SCAG had a significant impact on SCP.

This study adds to the existing knowledge in the supply chain analytical capabilities domain by presenting a nuanced moderation model that includes external factors (environmental dynamism and competitive pressures), their relationships with BDC's and how ISCAC (namely, supply chain organisational learning and supply chain data driven culture) moderates and strengthens aspects of BDC's in support of SCAG and enhanced SCP.

The aim of this paper is to expand the knowledge of buyer‐supplier relationships by investigating the extent to which organisational cultural fit between a buyer and supply chain participants influences performance.

The study was conducted in a FMCG supply chain. A cultural dimensions questionnaire was used in a focal organisation (the buyer) and it identified best and poorest performing supply chain. The results were analysed using a series of ANOVA's within the respective supply chains. The findings were then triangulated via qualitative methods.

The findings demonstrate that complementarity rather than congruence between the supply chain partners achieved successful performance outcomes. Organisations in the high‐performing supply chain had significantly different cultural profiles, reporting significant statistical differences across all six cultural dimensions. Organisations in the low‐performing supply chain had almost identical profiles across all six cultural dimensions with significantly lower mean scores across each dimension.

The deconstruction of organisational culture into its constituent dimensions in a supply chain provides insights for academics. Propositions are presented which provide a platform for further studies. Future studies could develop these findings by using a larger sample, over a longer period of time, and adding mediating variables that impact supply chain outcomes.

Managers should pay attention to cultural evaluation within the supplier selection process as well as finance or strategic evaluations. A shared supply chain culture of norm‐based trust and openness may yield better outcomes and reduced conflict and uncertainty throughout the supply chain.

This is one of the first papers to deconstruct and measure organisational cultural fit empirically in a supply chain context.

Organizations are identifying strategic supply chain relationships as a major source for competitive advantage. Interest in the concept is becoming prevalent in many industries, including new product development within the engineering sector. Collaborative supplier relationships are being used in new product development as a tool to share the development burden and reduce the development life cycle. The purpose of this paper is to develop a business process to act as a roadmap for optimum supplier integration.

An Engineering case organisation (Genco Inc.) is explored to provide an understanding of the extent and timing of supplier involvement, within new product development. Subsequently a high level business process is developed to govern early supplier integration, within a product development phase gate model.

The findings suggest and the business model strives to create a more holistic view of supplier integration; extending the scope beyond the individual firm‐centric factors, the paper develops the importance of supplier collaboration, design for supply chain and consideration of the overall value network. The business process creates a move towards defining supplier commodity types pre‐project launch, strategically timing and managing the extent of supplier integration.

The business process can be used to govern supplier integration by categorising commodity type. Each supplier classification can be phased into the development project to maximise the efficiency of development collaboration. The resulting process also acts to share accountability to create future roadmaps and accountability for future competitive advantage.

Currently, to the best of the authors' knowledge, an individual case organisation has not been documented with regards the extent of supplier involvement or timing, nor has an early supplier involvement (ESI) business process been developed.

The purpose of this paper is to replicate the taxonomic study of Miller and Roth and to validate its applicability in a small newly industrialised country.

An empirical survey of manufacturing companies in Ireland was conducted using a research instrument that replicated the questions asked in the original 1994 study. Data was collected using mail questionnaires posted to 874 manufacturers. A total of 199 respondents were used for this study. The study tested two central hypotheses using advanced statistical data analysis techniques, such as canonical discriminant analysis.

The results of the research identified three clustered strategic groups (Best Value, Budget and Multi Focus) which were different from those of Miller and Roth: caretakers, marketeers and innovators. The study supported the dynamic nature of manufacturing strategy, and shows how new manufacturing strategies evolve over time and differ between regions.

Further research should replicate this study in other small newly industrialised countries. Given the recently changed nature of the economy within Ireland, a longitudinal study would provide useful insights into the dynamics of manufacturing capabilities.

The study provides important insights into manufacturing strategy within a small newly industrialised country. The results suggest that manufacturing strategies appear to change depending on the country of plant location. The manufacturing strategies may be attributed to the unique business environment, challenges and constraints of the country.

There is a scarcity of taxonomy studies in general, and there is a dearth of such studies in small newly industrialised countries such as Ireland. Through identifying a new taxonomy the study contributes to the existing literature on manufacturing strategy, and challenges the global applicability of taxonomies developed in the USA.

The purpose of this article is to examine how electronic commerce can fundamentally change the inter‐organisational processes at the interface between the buyer and supplier.

First, an overview is provided of the evolution of B2B commerce and the typical business models that have been developed. Second, a number of factors are identified which impact on the buyer‐supplier interface in B2B commerce. Finally, the conclusions will examine the implications for managers involved in B2B commerce who have to interact across organisational boundaries.

Electronic commerce not only enables the redesign of internal organisational processes but is extended into both the buyer and supplier organisations. Innovations in electronic commerce have a key role to play in managing inter‐organisational networks of supply chain members. It is also found that in many instances electronic commerce is radically changing the way in which organisations have traditionally traded. As well as impacting the external trading arrangements between buyers and suppliers, electronic commerce is also affecting the traditional roles of the functions involved in managing the buyer/supplier relationship.

It is essential for top management to understand that the internet is more than a tool or technique, but rather something that is woven into the fabric of the organisation and the relationship with its environment. Adopting such an approach represents a drastic change from traditional management thinking and, more importantly, for management's behaviour.

This paper provides an improved understanding of how the internet represents a powerful technology for commerce and communication at the buyer‐supplier interface. This will be a useful insight for academics and practitioners alike.

The purpose of this paper is to develop, and explicate the significance of the need for a systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value.

Embracing a systems perspective, this paper examines the interrelationship between IT and other organisational factors at the organisational level and its impact on the business value of IT. As a result, a systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value is developed. An example of enhancing IT business value through developing systemic capabilities is then used to test and demonstrate the value of this framework.

The findings suggest that IT business value would be significantly enhanced when systemic capabilities are generated from the synergistic interrelations among IT and other organisational factors at the systems level, while the system’s human agents play a critical role in developing systemic capabilities by purposely configuring and reconfiguring organisational factors.

The conceptual framework advanced provides the means to recognise the significance of the need for understanding IT business value systemically and dynamically. It encourages an organisation to focus on developing systemic capabilities by ensuring that IT and other organisational factors work together as a synergistic whole, better managing the role its human agents play in shaping the systems interrelations, and developing and redeveloping systemic capabilities by configuring its subsystems purposely with the changing business environment.

This paper reveals the nature of systemic capabilities underpinned by a systems perspective. The resultant systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value can help us move away from pairwise resource complementarity to focusing on the whole system and its interrelations while responding to the changing business environment. It is hoped that the framework can help organisations delineate important IT investment considerations and the priorities that they must adopt to create superior IT business value.

Research studies have revealed that supplier involvement in the design process is not widely practised. Aims to discuss the lack of an appropriate customer‐supplier interface to assess the suitability of suppliers with reference to design criteria.

The paper proposes a mechanism for evaluating supplier involvement during product development. The assessment tool includes four types of indices to measure supplier involvement in design, namely: satisfaction index, flexibility index, risk index, and confidence index. These indices measure the extent to which both the customer requirements and the supplier capabilities match or mismatch and therefore reflect the potential or risk of signing a project contract.

Analysis within a multinational telecommunications company indicates that the selection methodology assists in reducing the product development timeframe since it automates the evaluation process and provides the procurement team with a flexible and responsive tool for assessing prospective suppliers.

Additional work is required to investigate the integration of other design factors, such as accessibility, degree of innovation and relationship type.

The methodology has been refined and a prototype internet site has been developed to demonstrate a proof‐of‐the‐concept. A number of benefits and limitations of the system are identified.

First, it identifies the need to define design‐related criteria for supplier involvement during the product development process. Second, a methodology is proposed which takes into consideration the ability of suppliers to provide solutions beyond the requirements specified by the customer and provides a mechanism for measuring the degree of uncertainty or risk associated with using a supplier.