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Executive Briefings
The SCMRG Executive Briefings are aimed at providing managers with a topical view of contemporary issues in supply chain management. Briefings are produced monthly, and examine topics such as strategic sourcing, relationship management, performance management of suppliers, and developing strategic purchasing capability.
We encourage submission of original supply chain research to be considered as part of the Executive Briefing series - download a copy of the Executive Briefing author guidelines (PDF Acrobat)
As SCMRG.com went live on December the 1st the Executive briefings can now only be downloaded by members of the SCMRG. To view the full papers you must be a member of the SCMRG website. If you would like to become a member please contact the SCMRG team.
August 2007
The Role of Risk in Environment- Related Supplier Initiatives
Firms are facing intense environmental pressures along global value chains, often accompanied by high levels of risk. This briefing will discuss the role of risk in greening supply chains and the motives for undertaking different sorts of environment-related supplier initiatives. Recommendations for managers are also made.
Business Environmental Soundness and Green Supply Chain Management
Environmental awareness is becoming increasing central to the thinking of today’s organisations. It is now imperative that businesses incorporate a basic level of environmental awareness strategy into their supply chain practices. This briefing looks at how and why this level of environmental awareness may differ across organisations. Some recommendations for managers are then made.
July 2007
Integrating Knowledge Management into New Product Development
Most of the research studies in New Product Development (NPD) are descriptive, outlining the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of successful new products. This paper will go beyond the surface of these CSFs to investigate how a knowledge resource can be generated from these factors through a more rigorous approach to the process of knowledge management (KM). It has been evidenced that the ineffective management of the NPD process is strongly linked to the high failure rate of new products. The study has revealed that the NPD Process is not only a sequential list of activities as revealed by several studies, but also a complex and dynamic process closely linked to KM.
June 2007
… you can’t please all the people all of the time
This briefing examines the link between strategy, performance management, customer satisfaction and service offering in the home delivery retail sector supply chain. It discusses the impact that the service offering has upon customer satisfaction and explains the importance of the functional silos that comprise the operation and the effect that they can have on performance. A case study is used to demonstrate how a strategic view of the supply chain can lead to competitive advantage and to examine how the service offering with the closest contact point with the customer exerts the greatest leverage.
May 2007
The Snake and the Old Woman: Managing Collaboratively Competitive Relationships
This briefing will discuss the development of relationship management strategies. It is shown that managers can manipulate levels of certainty and dependency within product/service level relationships to maximise individual value capture.
March 2007
Sharing Knowledge with Your Suppliers: Enablers & Barriers
Sharing knowledge within supply bases an
increasingly important challenge for purchasing
professionals. This briefing looks at some of
the critical factors, such as trust, cooperation,
and relationship duration and their impacts on
the ability to transfer knowledge between buyer
and supplier. Some suggestions for appropriate
resource allocation are made
February 2007
Good Fences, Good Neighbours? Socialization in Buyer-Seller Relationships?
Building high-performing supply chains is increasingly dependent on the strength of the social ties that exist between buyer and their key suppliers. This briefing examines how socialization mechanisms can contribute to building such linkages and developing 'relational capital' to improve business performance. We show the critical role of informal socialization mechanisms in improving relationship performance. Suggestions for managerial action are made.
January 2007
How well do your Supply Managers' Influence?
This executive briefing argues that interpersonal skill and personal effectiveness are critical enablers of mature supply chain management business processes. The briefing questions conventional wisdom of incremental evolution of SCM processes and suggests an alternative, discontinuous construct, which may provide a more practical model for companies seeking to transition from a tactical operational supply chain focus to achieve a more strategic impact.
December 2006
The Transformation of the Music Industry Supply Chain
This briefing analyses the impact of the internet on supply chain management in the music industry. The internet is challenging the traditional power and dominance of the major record labels, and this briefing discusses research examining these four dimensions of strategic change: (1) governance mechanisms, (2) co-ordination structures, (3) the choice of actors and (4) the structuring of supply chain activities. Recommendations for managers are also made.
November 2006
To Be or Not to Be - The Dilemma of Strategic Supply Chain Management
Many firms espouse the virtues of strategic supply and collaborative relationships but few achieve their potential. Exactly what is the secret to unlocking the benefits of supply chain management? This briefing suggests that the importance of supply functions is determined by the strategic needs of the organisation itself. An empirical framework is tested and presented to help think about the various types of strategy-driven supply chain collaborations.
October 2006
Customisation for Free? The Impact of Mass Customisation on Manufacturing Trade-offs
Mass customisation is heralded as marking the end for trade-offs between customisation and other competitive priorities. However, evidence supporting this proposal is anecdotal. This briefing examines the impact of product customisation on four competitive priorities: cost, quality, delivery and flexibility. The results show that customisation is not always 'free', and then outlines some important implications for firms embarking upon a mass customisation strategy. Recommendations for supply managers are also made.
September 2006
Linking the Chain: Aligning Sourcing Strategy and Supplier Relationships
While we know much about sourcing strategy and supplier relationship management as independent fields, little research exists on how these two factors relate. This briefing illustrates the importance of aligning a firm's sourcing strategy with the appropriate type of supplier relationship. The challenge for purchasing professionals is to align the appropriate relationship processes to deliver the desired outputs.
August 2006
White Paper: Developing Collaboratively Competitive Business Relationships
This white paper reviews contemporary research on supplier relationship management, and provides a methodology for practitioners to help understand and manage their inter-firm relationships. The review draws together several models including relationship positioning approaches and a product positioning matrix. The report concludes with implications for managers and offers suggestions for future developments of relationship management strategies.
July 2006
What you measure is not necessarily what you get
This briefing discusses the effects on firm performance of using formal performance measurement systems to monitor suppliers, versus informal 'socialisation mechanisms' which help build interpersonal linkages across supply chain partners. We show that performance metrics alone do not improve firm performance, but rather, it is the way people work and communicate in conjunction with these measures that is important.
June 2006
A Typology of UK Purchasing Functions
This executive briefing, the first in the series, discusses the changing role of the purchasing function. Despite rapid changes in the expectations and practices of purchasing functions, few studies have empirically examined how the characteristics of purchasing functions have adapted. This briefing presents evidence of the different configurations of practices that exist within the purchasing functions of UK organisations.
