This research study investigated the influence of maintaining a partnership form of relationship between a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) multinational company and its core suppliers, on their abilities to achieve supply chain agility. It took place within the Middle East region, where the in-depth case study used for data collection was Unilever (North Africa Middle East). The research also focused on the role played by information technology within Unilever’s (North Africa Middle East) partnership with its core suppliers and the achievement of a high level of agility within their supply chain. In addition to these two main aims, the research also focused on exploring the required attributes of supply chain agility within FMCG industry and also to explore the attributes of buyer-supplier partnership required to help the companies working within this type of industry to achieve agility within their supply chain. To achieve the aims and objectives of this research, this study used qualitative methods for collecting rich and valuable data. Several data collection methods under the umbrella of the in-depth case study approach were used. The methodological approach used by the research was the Grounded Theory approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1990-1998). Data was collected from the case study managerial level in Unilever’s (North Africa Middle East) main clusters within the Middle East in three different rounds, using semi-structured interviews. Data was also collected from five core suppliers for Unilever (North Africa Middle East). The research also used other data collection means, such as documents collected during the researcher’s visits to the case studies and observation. Data was analysed using the steps and procedures of the Grounded Theory approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1990-1998). Data analysis took place in three interrelated iterative steps: open coding process, axial coding process followed by the selective coding process, leading to the generated theory of the research. The findings of the study, as presented in the research’s generated theory, showed that the partnership, with its attributes explored during the research, between Unilever (North Africa Middle East) and its core suppliers can be considered as the starting driver helping the companies working within this type of industry to achieve a higher level of supply chain agility, through the attributes explored during the research. The generated theory also showed that the role played by information technology can be considered as the catalyst in this equation. It played the role of channelling the relationship between the two concepts: buyer-supplier partnership and supply chain agility. Information technology can be considered as the catalyst because the evidence indicates that without it the relationship between Unilever (North Africa Middle East) supplier partnership and supply chain agility would struggle to be achieved. In more detailed, 43 open codes had been derived from the first analysis coding process, and which were derived under the main pre-determined themes: FMCGs industry-based features, Buyer-supplier relationships, Information sharing and information technology, and Agility. These 43 open codes provided the basis for stages 2 and 3 of the analysis. In the axial coding process (the second data analysis), the axial sub categories and the axial categories were determined and the axial paradigm model was used in the analysis. In the final coding process: the selective analysis, the core category of the research was determined to be ‘Partnership existence with core suppliers’. The relationship of this core category with the other elements in the paradigm model namely: casual conditions, context, intervening conditions, action/interactional strategies, and consequences. The research has its own Theoretical, Methodological, and Managerial contributions. Among these contributions is that it can be considered a novel research, using a grounded theory approach to generate a theory, showing the relationship between buyer-supplier partnership and supply chain agility in this dimensional manner.

Este trabalho aborda a estratégia na relação com os fornecedores em empresas de alta tecnologia e produtos complexos. Para tanto, foi tomado o caso da fabricação de aeronaves produzidas pela Embraer, que se destacou pela sua estratégia de parceria com seus fornecedores, principalmente na linha dos produtos das Famílias ERJ 145 e E-Jets. No entanto, na sua última linha de produtos, o que se percebe é uma estratégia diferenciada no seu modo de se relacionar com seus fornecedores, o que levou à questão da pesquisa. O presente trabalho discute as opções de relacionamento com fornecedores, do simples fornecimento ao compartilhamento de investimentos e riscos, e as racionalidades subjacentes. As técnicas utilizadas para elaborar o trabalho foram observação direta e pesquisa em dados secundários, revistas especializadas, web sites vinculados à indústria aeronáutica e associações, artigos acadêmicos e documentos da empresa. Além disso, foram conduzidas entrevistas semi-estruturadas, com empregados e ex-empregados da empresa, inclusive diretores. Os resultados mostram que, apesar de as grandes empresas como Boeing e Airbus terem adotado o modelo de parceria de risco desenvolvido pela empresa em estudo, esta hoje adota um modelo híbrido, com foco em lições anteriormente aprendidas na relação com fornecedores. / This paper discusses the strategy for relationship with the suppliers at high-tech and complex product companies. Therefore, the case studied was the manufacture of aircraft produced by Embraer and its unique strategy of partnering with suppliers, mainly when dealing the products of the ERJ145 and E-Jets families. In the company\'s latest line of products a particular strategy is observed in terms of relationship with suppliers, which led to our research question. This paper discusses the options of supplier relationships, from simple supply to shared investments and risks, and the rationales that underly them. The techniques used in this study were direct observation and research on secondary data, journals, websites linked to the aircraft industry and associations, academic papers, and the company\'s documents. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with both current and former employees. The results show that despite the fact that large companies like Boeing and Airbus use the partnership model of risk adopted by the company under study, Embraer is currently adopting a hybrid model focusing on lessons learned earlier in its supply chain.

This research investigates the relationship between supplier capabilities, inter-firm governance and buyer-supplier collaboration. The research focuses on three functional capabilities (Research and Development (R&D), Production and Support services capability), two governance mechanisms (Contractual and Relational governance) and three types of buyer-supplier collaboration (Information sharing, Collaborative product/service development and Collaborative problem solving). A theoretical framework is developed which first examines the multiple mediation effect of contractual and relational governance on the relationship between capability and collaboration type, and second, explores the relative strength of the indirect effect through contractual and relational governance. Survey based research methodology is used to empirically test the hypotheses in this research. Data are collected from a total of 120 SMEs in the UK aerospace industry. Bootstrapping based techniques are used to analyse the data and to examine the proposed relationship between capability, governance and collaboration. The empirical findings indicate that although both contractual and relational governance are important in order to link the supplier capability with collaboration, the individual effect of contractual and relational governance varies in different combinations of capabilities and collaboration types. The potential contribution of this research is twofold: first, in terms of academic contribution, this study combines the arguments of Resource Based View and Transaction Cost Economics to provide a holistic view in explaining the interrelation between capability, governance and buyer-supplier collaboration; Second, in terms of practical contribution, this study improves the understanding of practitioners in both buying and supplying firm regarding the alignment of interfirm exchange processes with capabilities to achieve better performance in collaboration.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-09-26T13:05:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tiago Silva de Souza_.pdf: 989483 bytes, checksum: 54a4ff4a17ced1ad3c89fe08ea1cc911 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-26T13:05:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tiago Silva de Souza_.pdf: 989483 bytes, checksum: 54a4ff4a17ced1ad3c89fe08ea1cc911 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-14 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Institutional voids are typically found in emerging economies. When governments lack in essential facilities, in order to ensure the well function of their supply chains, companies have to properly deal with this situation by themselves. An example is a situation happening in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, since 2013, where a sequence of investigations focused on the dairy industry. Due to a lack of regulation, milk was the target of adulterations throughout the supply chain processes of the companies. The frauds affected processes of companies from different sizes and nationalities. However, in this context, a local cooperative called Cooperativa Languiru, one of the leader dairy companies in the state, has different practices with its suppliers and was not affected by this contingency. Thus, the purpose of this research, through a case study, was to analyze the relationship between a dairy buying company and its suppliers in this environment of regulatory institutional voids. Aiming to have a wider perspective, this qualitative study explored how the lack of institutions affected the sector. As results, it was verified that political and economic interferences affect the chain as well as political lobby acts. Likewise, the lack of inspectors and infrastructure impact the well-functioning of it. Nevertheless, the close relation between the Cooperativa Languiru with its suppliers abled the company to have record results without having situations in terms of adulteration. Thus, this study proposed a research framework conceptualizing that firms must closely manage their relations with suppliers in order to deal with institutional voids.

This thesis focuses on product design change in the fast fashion market and its impact on supplier companies. Theorizing from the relationship between product design and suppliers within an overarching framework of the supply chain and product design literatures, the research develops what impact product design changes have on supplier companies and how those changes connect to the performance of supplier companies. The multiple case study draws on interview data with 20 participants from a famous high-street fashion retailer and eight of its suppliers. This research validates that product design changes in the fast fashion market have physical and non-physical impacts across supplier company departments, and shows that these impacts connect significantly to the performance of supplier companies. This research contributes to the supply chain and product design literatures by providing an understanding of how product design changes create chain-like-effects, both internally and externally to supplier companies. This can catalyse supplier company strategy, which mitigates product design change to avoid this chain-like-effect. Practically, this thesis offers guidance for retailers and suppliers in creating solutions for the problems that they encounter during the product design change process by revealing the cause and effect relationship of product design changes and supplier companies. The results are currently limited to the fashion industry, and they are yet to be generalised to other buyer-driven commodity chains. Future research should focus on best practices for management to deal with the impact of product design change and in consideration in other industries.

<p>Till följd av marknadens utveckling har beroendet av informationsutbyte och samverkan i olika nätverk ökat. De senaste årtiondenas fokus på informationsutbyte och samarbete ledde till att Supply Chain Management uppstod. Flera forskare har karakteriserat lyckad styrning av samverkan som en kärnkompetens som krävs för att vara konkurrenskraftig. Ägande och kontrollfunktioner som tidigare låg inom samma verksamhet har förändrats och tillämpningen av VMI har uppkommit. VMI innebär att leverantören övertar ansvaret för lagerstyrningen hos kunden. Samarbetet kräver effektivt informationsflöde inom försörjningskedjan och ett bättre informationssystem, vilket ökar möjligheten att förbättra kedjans effektivitet. Vi hade, med den här utgångspunkten i åtanke, för avsikt att besvara problemformuleringen: Hur hanteras information i VMI-styrda relationer inom koncerner? Syften med undersökningen var att undersöka hur lagerstyrning i form av VMI fungerar i en koncern, förklara hur VMI påverkar informationsflöde och relationer i en koncern samt att analysera betydelsen av VMI för informationsutbytet. Efter teoretiska studier genomfördes en undersökning på en koncern där VMI har införts och givit resultat. Resultaten från intervjuerna har sedan analyserats och vi har kommit fram till följande. För att hantera information i VMI-styrda relationer krävs att det finns bra system, en tydlig ansvarsfördelning och förtroende mellan parterna.</p>

Small and medium sized companies are important to the European economy and considered as the true backbone of the European economy, being primarily responsi-ble for wealth and economic growth. Further, the purchasing function of small and medium sized companies had become more and more important to firms within the creating of competitive advantages. Additional, former research emphasizes the need of companies to engage in closer relationships in order to survive in nowadays business environments. These three issues, - SMEs, its purchasing performance and the relationships the small and medium sized firms are engaged with are interrelated and therefore the essences of the thesis. The thesis is limited to the manufacturing industry due to the potential wide area of small and medium sized companies. The purpose of the thesis is to examine the purchasing practices of small and me-dium sized enterprises with a focus on strategic considerations and supplier relation-ships. The research project is developed with four single case studies. Participating companies were two small sized manufacturing companies and two medium sized manufac-turing companies, defined according to the definition of the European Commission. The study is built on a critical review of former literature and research findings within the purchasing area and the area of small and medium sized companies. The find-ings from literature review (frame of references) and the findings from the empirical study were connected in order to fulfill the purpose of the thesis as well as the developed research questions. In the analysis, the characteristics of SMEs purchasing process were outlined. Evi-dence for strategic consideration were found and the characteristics of the companies relationships where established. Small and medium sized enterprises have developed its purchasing performance po-sitively in the comparison to former research findings. By using business technology systems, strategic planning and deliberations and finally through building close and long-term relationships, manufacturing SMEs found a suitable ways to perform its purchasing activities successful and found its place in sophisticated supply chains.

Till följd av marknadens utveckling har beroendet av informationsutbyte och samverkan i olika nätverk ökat. De senaste årtiondenas fokus på informationsutbyte och samarbete ledde till att Supply Chain Management uppstod. Flera forskare har karakteriserat lyckad styrning av samverkan som en kärnkompetens som krävs för att vara konkurrenskraftig. Ägande och kontrollfunktioner som tidigare låg inom samma verksamhet har förändrats och tillämpningen av VMI har uppkommit. VMI innebär att leverantören övertar ansvaret för lagerstyrningen hos kunden. Samarbetet kräver effektivt informationsflöde inom försörjningskedjan och ett bättre informationssystem, vilket ökar möjligheten att förbättra kedjans effektivitet. Vi hade, med den här utgångspunkten i åtanke, för avsikt att besvara problemformuleringen: Hur hanteras information i VMI-styrda relationer inom koncerner? Syften med undersökningen var att undersöka hur lagerstyrning i form av VMI fungerar i en koncern, förklara hur VMI påverkar informationsflöde och relationer i en koncern samt att analysera betydelsen av VMI för informationsutbytet. Efter teoretiska studier genomfördes en undersökning på en koncern där VMI har införts och givit resultat. Resultaten från intervjuerna har sedan analyserats och vi har kommit fram till följande. För att hantera information i VMI-styrda relationer krävs att det finns bra system, en tydlig ansvarsfördelning och förtroende mellan parterna.

As demands on companies’ accountability have increased, researchers have turned their attention towards the social auditing practice and studied its role in companies supply chains. This study highlights a theory gap, questioning existing praise and criticism correlated to the categorization of social auditors. By comparing two different social audit categories, namely the independent and internal auditors, this paper contribute with a broader understanding of the similarities and differences between the two audit types. This study addresses the research question; how does the independent and internal social audit type support companies’ work with improving social standards in the supply chain? The theoretical framework includes aspects within the area of social auditing, buyer-supplier relationships and theories regarding the categorization of the two audit types. The study draws upon a qualitative approach investigating two cases with different social auditors, finding that both auditor types have their strengths and weaknesses, and therefore support companies in different ways. Referring to this tradeoff, this study concludes that the praise and criticism correlated to the two audit classifications of independent and internal auditor might not be completely valid, which calls for further research.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the functioning of knowledge sharing in the supply chain of Taiwan IT industry and face the current practice of modular component outsourcing with a theoretical threat of architecture change and modularity trap. Today, modularity and component outsourcing became almost an prerequisite for an successful IT company. Product architectures are widespread and well defined. It is however the question nobody dares to ask – what if this changes? How can the Taiwan suppliers make sure, that they will still be in the game even if the rules change? How can they assure that their position as the cutting edge component providers won`t be taken by someone else? The basic premise of the research is, that the relationship management of supplier and buyers often seen in countries with Confucian tradition can overcome this threat thanks to deeply rooted trust and good and opened communication patterns. This paper first introduces the Supplier-buyer relationship theory and background on its functioning within the New Product Development (NPD) area. The study also touches on the issue of Early Supplier Involvement (ESI) into the New Product Development. Next the theory on Modularity and Modularity Trap are introduced. Based on the literature review, I construct an research framework, consisting of two bodies: The architecture as a variable and Buyer-supplier relationship and NPD. The major conclusions of this study are (1) The architecture of the product to be developed is an important driver on the supplier-buyer relationship creation. (2) To build the relationship with buyers is important step for the suppliers, but it can only be build around technology that is important for the buyer. (3) Supplier`s understanding of architecture knowledge of its buyers is crucial. (4) The main reason to invite supplier into New product development is buyers technological distance between what they can have and what they want to have. (5) Product Complexity (number of parts and their interconnections within the product) have a positive influence on the supplier role creation. (6) All buyers have a rather good component knowledge. (7) The management alignment will be greatly influenced byt architectural attributes of the product to be developed.