‘Never let a good crisis go to waste’ – The 2020 Business Information Review Survey: Part III

Part III of the 2020 Business Information Review survey, this is the world’s longest running conversation about business information services and their management, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The third installment of the 2020 survey captures the participants’ reflections on a range of topics that are shaping their operations including supplier relations, client engagement as well as providing a summary of their 2021 priorities.

A Narrative Approach to Corporate Relations: The Historical Background on Telenor’s Success

This article examines the development of buyer-supplier relations in the telecom sector. The literature on telecoms in Scandinavia has been dominated by the narrative praising the trusting and collaborative relations between Telia, the Swedish public telephone operator (PTO), and Ericsson, the equipment supplier. The Norwegian PTO, Telenor, diverted from this path and was a pioneer in preferring competitive tenders and arm’s length relations with its suppliers starting in the 1970s. The article argues that Telenor’s history and nationality had a significant impact on its business strategy. In addition, the article examines why some business narratives persist while others remain unknown. One finding is that shareholder-friendly narratives have a handicap because they focus on self-interest and money, and not societal values.

Pengaruh Strategi Pembelian Terhadap Performa Perusahaan di Jabodetabek Dengan Integrasi Pembelian Sebagai Variabel Moderasi

This study was conducted to analyze the effect of purchasing strategies, namely negotiations, relationships with suppliers, cost management, and supply management on company performance in Jabodetabek which is moderated by purchasing integration. This research was obtained from primary data in the form of questionnaire results that were distributed for five months (February 2019-June 2019). This questionnaire was filled in by respondents who worked as procurement in a company located in Greater Jakarta. Respondents will fill out a questionnaire using a Likert scale with a scale of 1-6, namely "Strongly Disagree" and 6 is "Strongly Agree".The conclusion of this research is negotiation, supplier relations, cost management, and supply management have a significant effect on company performance in Jabodetabek. Purchasing integration moderates the effect of supplier relationships on company performance in Jabodetabek. However, the integration of purchasing does not moderate the effects of negotiation, cost management and supply management on the company's performance in Jabodetabek.

Bibliometric Analysis of Supplier Management: The Theme and Cluster Perspectives

This paper conducted a bibliometric analysis based on 4687 papers on supplier management from 1997 to 2017. Through a comparative analysis of the four stages using Bibexcel and Ucinet6 software, this paper explores the evolution of supplier management from the theme and cluster perspectives. The results show that supplier management research has made breakthroughs in both breadth and depth. Representative research themes, such as “sustainable supply chain”, “corporate social responsibility”, “knowledge management”, etc., have gradually penetrated into the field of supplier management. Research related to “supplier selection” and “supplier relations” have always been of the highest strategic importance, and themes in “supplier relations” cluster such as “trust” and “commitment” have gradually attracted more and more researchers’ attention. The “inventory” cluster has also been a research focus, and the structural stability and maturity of the cluster have gradually improved. The “innovation” cluster is a relatively “open” cluster, and its impact on the entire research filed of supplier management has been gradually increasing. More importantly, the “sustainability” cluster is an evolving cluster, research themes related to “sustainability”, such as “green supply chain”, “sustainable supply chain” and “green supplier selection”, will play an increasingly important role in the field of supplier management.

Does supplier opportunism lead to buyer opportunism? A social capital perspective

Purpose In light of increasingly tight buyer–supplier relationships, opportunism is a problem of increasing relevance. So far, opportunism has mainly been researched as a detrimental action by suppliers and interpreted with an institutional economics lens. Recent conceptual work, however, has argued more for a behavioral approach to operations management, suggesting benefits of taking a social capital perspective on opportunism. Based on a large empirical sample of buyer–supplier relations, this paper aims to provide an empirical study using social capital as theoretical lens. Further, it analyzes both supplier and buyer opportunism at the same time. Design/methodology/approach The paper, through following a quantitative approach, considers the interacting dyad of buyer and supplier opportunism, its antecedents as well as its performance implications. Findings Findings did not support the expectation that supplier opportunism will be countered by buyer opportunism in a single relationship. However, social capital in the form of cognitive and relational capital has been found as a good predictor of opportunism. This study proposes new measures for structural capital. Further the study confirms the detrimental effect of opportunism on performance of the buyer–supplier relationship, highlighting the mediating role of innovation as building block of relational competitive advantage. Research limitations/implications Previous studies on opportunism in buyer–supplier relations were mostly transaction cost-oriented, thus neglecting the behavioral aspects of exchange processes. Introducing social capital theory revealed to be a rewarding amplification of the perspective. Next, most research up till now was focused on explaining supplier opportunism only. This study contributes by analyzing both sides of the interacting dyad. Finally, this research closes a research gap by not only explaining the occurrence of opportunism but by also testing its performance outcomes. Accordingly, this study contributes to the opportunism literature, social capital theory development and to the management of buyer–supplier relations. Practical implications Building up cognitive and relational capital is likely to be a tool to reduce the danger of opportunism – both with the partner firm, as well as inside the own organization. As such, firms need to make sure that both forms of social capital are present to a higher extent. If this is not the case, opportunistic actions on both buying and supplying side might occur which have damaging impacts on the generation of innovation as well as the achievement of strategic advantages. Originality/value While previous studies have focused on explaining supplier opportunism, an analysis of both sides of the interacting dyad between buyer and supplier opportunism is missing. Not only does this research provides further insights with regard to the latter, but further considers the role of social capital as underlying factor explaining both buyer and supplier opportunism. Also, this research answers the call on more research about the relation between opportunism and performance, specifically focusing on innovation and strategic advantage generation.