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Supplier relationship impacts on postponement strategies

Supplier relationship impacts on postponement strategies
Supplier relationship impacts on postponement strategies

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the supplier relationship on postponement implementation in the buying firm. The links between three supplier relationship constructs and three postponement constructs are hypothesised and tested through structural modelling. These hypotheses are then tested using empirical data of a sample of 219 manufacturing firms. The findings suggest that the ability of the buying firm to delay product design decisions (postponement in product design) is positively related to the level of supplier commitment, supplier expectation of a continuing relationship with the buyer, and level of joint buyer and supplier actions. However, the buying firm's ability to delay purchasing decisions about which items to order or how many to order (postponement in purchasing operations) was only positively related to the level of joint buyer and supplier actions. By contrast, the buying firm's ability to delay the final product configuration (postponement in production operations) was not directly affected by those aspects of the supplier relationship investigated. These findings give greater insight into how different aspects of supplier relationship impact different types of postponement than previous research and have significant implications for practice.

Postponed product design, Postponed production, Postponed purchasing, Supplier relationship
0020-7543
2134-2153
Saghiri, Soroosh Sam
6bfd600c-bdd1-4dde-9f33-d3f138e85e9d
Hill, Alex
9a64b138-7d33-4c10-b745-84ac60feb752
Saghiri, Soroosh Sam
6bfd600c-bdd1-4dde-9f33-d3f138e85e9d
Hill, Alex
9a64b138-7d33-4c10-b745-84ac60feb752

Saghiri, Soroosh Sam and Hill, Alex (2014) Supplier relationship impacts on postponement strategies. International Journal of Production Research, 52 (7), 2134-2153. (doi:10.1080/00207543.2013.857053).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the supplier relationship on postponement implementation in the buying firm. The links between three supplier relationship constructs and three postponement constructs are hypothesised and tested through structural modelling. These hypotheses are then tested using empirical data of a sample of 219 manufacturing firms. The findings suggest that the ability of the buying firm to delay product design decisions (postponement in product design) is positively related to the level of supplier commitment, supplier expectation of a continuing relationship with the buyer, and level of joint buyer and supplier actions. However, the buying firm's ability to delay purchasing decisions about which items to order or how many to order (postponement in purchasing operations) was only positively related to the level of joint buyer and supplier actions. By contrast, the buying firm's ability to delay the final product configuration (postponement in production operations) was not directly affected by those aspects of the supplier relationship investigated. These findings give greater insight into how different aspects of supplier relationship impact different types of postponement than previous research and have significant implications for practice.

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More information

Published date: 2014
Keywords: Postponed product design, Postponed production, Postponed purchasing, Supplier relationship

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 472782
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/472782
ISSN: 0020-7543
PURE UUID: 6fae51fe-37f7-4a4e-9b14-4ca8f7eb16bc
ORCID for Soroosh Sam Saghiri: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3100-3207

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Date deposited: 19 Dec 2022 17:32
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:17

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Contributors

Author: Soroosh Sam Saghiri ORCID iD
Author: Alex Hill

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