<p>Purchasing is a function that has developed form a more clerical function to a function of strategic importance over the last 20 years. As a result of this development we have observed that many fi rms engage in supplier development activities as a part of their purchasing strategy.</p><p>This thesis consists of four different essays describing various aspects of supplier development and an essay that summarise and connects the four essays as well as giving a broad introduction to the fi eld of research.</p><p>Small and medium sized firms are of special interest when studying supplier or supply chain since they are important links in their supply chains but have fewer resources and therefore limited possibilities to develop by themselves. In the thesis three of the essays describe different ways in which this can be conducted.</p><p>Positive benefits from supplier and supply chain development reported in the thesis are lower costs, shorter lead times, increased competence and an overall improved competitiveness.</p>

Purchasing is a function that has developed form a more clerical function to a function of strategic importance over the last 20 years. As a result of this development we have observed that many fi rms engage in supplier development activities as a part of their purchasing strategy. This thesis consists of four different essays describing various aspects of supplier development and an essay that summarise and connects the four essays as well as giving a broad introduction to the fi eld of research. Small and medium sized firms are of special interest when studying supplier or supply chain since they are important links in their supply chains but have fewer resources and therefore limited possibilities to develop by themselves. In the thesis three of the essays describe different ways in which this can be conducted. Positive benefits from supplier and supply chain development reported in the thesis are lower costs, shorter lead times, increased competence and an overall improved competitiveness.

Background:  As enterprises focus on their core competence, outsourcing other activities other firms can do better, the necessity of managing supplier relationships and upgrading the inter-firm relationships become evident. Supplier development as a potential attempt, tries to fill the gap between ideal criteria and the particular suppliers’ actual capabilities and performance in the supply chain. The buying firms initiate the supplier development efforts in order to increase their abilities to create and deliver a superior value to their own customers. In this respect, it is essential to investigate the practices and story of what the buyer and the supplier do in relation to supplier development and what factors contribute to the success of the program and benefits of the dyad. Furthermore, acknowledgment of difficulties that might bring failure in the SD should be taken into consideration so as to possibly avoid them. The supplier development is widely neglected a dyadic view in literature review. The importance of this study is adding the supplier’s standpoint to the buyer’s view in order to achieve the dyadic perspective associated with the practices, the success factors and the barriers. Purpose: This research aims to identify and describe the practices of supplier development in buyer-supplier dyads. The success factors of the supplier development program and the barriers to the supplier development programs are also investigated based on the buying and supplying firms’ perspectives. The main goal is to contribute to a better understanding of the supplier development from a dyadic standpoint. Method: This study is conducted from an interpretivism standpoint with the use of a deductive approach and qualitative strategy. A holistic multiple-case study of two plastic manufacturing firms as the buyers and their three main suppliers (three dyads) is applied in Iran. The empirical data is gathered via 6 different semi-structured interviews. The empirical evidence is analyzed by using within-case, cross-case and pattern matching analysis. The study considers the ethical issues; harm to participant, informed consents, invasion privacy and deception. The research quality is based upon trustworthiness and authenticity.   Result, conclusion: Thanks to within-case analysis which generates the dyadic view with respect to practices, success factors and barriers to supplier development, amazing result is achieved that rarely mentioned by the previous research. A number of conflicting views between the buying firm and the supplier is found due to dyadic investigation which demonstrates the gaps between the buyer and supplier’s perceptions in dyadic relationship. The dyads are simultaneously involved in both direct and indirect supplier development practices. Based on the level of buying firm’s involvement in supplier development activities, the dyads partially follow the degree of sequence from low, moderate to high involvement levels. Each dyad can eliminate or keep the lower level of buyer’s involvement activities when they start the moderate and high level of buyer’s involvement practices. However, the specific position cannot be identified for a particular dyad and the supplier development activities are scattered in all three levels. Based on the dyadic standpoint, the factors that contribute to success of the supplier development program in each dyad can be seen as buyer-, supplier-specific and interface success factors. In this regards, this dyadic multiple-case study confirms the reviewed literature associated with success factors and finds supplier’s top management support and previous supplier development experiences as the additional factors in supplier-specific area that contributes to the successful inter-firm relationship and the supplier development that are not pinpointed by the previous studies. Barriers to the supplier development are factors which hinder the success of the supplier development program. According to the literature review, the barriers could be divided into buyer-, supplier- specific as well as buyer-supplier interface barriers. This study partially confirms the previous studies and reveals some surprising results. One of the most useful findings of the research is that only one barrier in buyer-specific category is verified by one of the dyadic cases. However, in addition to identified barriers, lack of supplier’s top management support and supplier’s indolence are seen as the supplementary supplier-specific barriers to the supplier development. Interestingly, there are other types of barriers that cannot be found in the previous research which is categorized as context barriers. This type includes those kinds of barriers that are originated in the context of relationship in a dyad.

Background: Sustainability is the need of the time, everyone in the society should play a role in making a more sustainable environment. Organizations as demanded by the whole society need to be more sustainable in order to achieve survival and success. The sustainable development of a company is inseparable from a sustainable supply management. Supplier development is one of the critical parts in supply management which can contribute to the buying firm and its suppliers’ sustainable development. With different strategies in supplier development life-cycle stages and the sustainability considerations in supplier development practices are significant in corporate sustainable development. Purpose: The intention of this thesis is to empirically study what strategies in supplier development practices are implemented in Ericsson and how sustainability is taken into consideration. By studying supplier development practices in Ericsson empirically, this thesis intended to deepen knowledge of supplier development practices in the telecommunications industry. Method: This thesis is a qualitative research study which utilizes the single-case study methodwith multiple interviews. The empirical findings were supported by both primary and secondary data. The interviews were conducted with semi-structured ways under the framework of the interview’s ethical considerations and interview guide. Conclusion: There are different strategies which include both direct and indirect strategies in different supplier development life-cycle stages in Ericsson. Sustainability is taken into consideration in designing, recruiting, implementing, evaluating and rewarding stages of supplier development life cycle. The findings have contributed to deepen the knowledge of supplier development practices empirically in the telecommunications industry.

The main proposition of this study is to examine Volvo Powertrain's procurement ofproduction equipment in order to find solutions that can prevent delays in futureprocurements. The conditions of the case leads to the theoretical field of supplierdevelopment, which emphasizes the advantages of closer collaborations between thebuying company and their supply chain. Through focus groups with Volvo-personneland interviews with supplier representatives, a step-by-step examination is made ofprior procurement projects. The knowledge generated from the examination is theninterlaced with theory concerning supplier development, which results in a line ofconclusions of Volvo Powertrain’s procurement process and the possibilities to takesupplier development into consideration for future procurements. Finally,recommendations to Volvo Powertrain is provided in the form of an updatedprocurement model called Volvo Equipment Procurement Model.

Globalization and associated economic changes have led to a lot of opportunities and hazards that companies are facing. Especially the increased role of customer demands and the interconnected shift from seller markets to buyer markets were the driving factors and incentives for the research work of this Master Thesis. One quite new strategy that companies tend to apply in order to meet the occurring challenges is supplier development. By reason of the actuality of this topic, it was of high worth to investigate, especially when it comes to the lack of theoretical findings about challenges, difficulties and problems. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to find out which problems can occur in the process of supplier development, and how they can be solved. Hereby, the focus was laid on the furniture retail industry, as it is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sweden. For the empirical research the retailers Ikea and Mio were selected, because they play a very important role within the Swedish furniture retail industry due to the fact that they are the two biggest when it comes to market shares. Furthermore, the suppliers Bitc Möbel AB, Lundbergs Möbler and AB Wilo were chosen in order to examine their dyadic relationship with Mio. For the purpose of investigating the supplier development within the dyadic relationship of Ikea and its supplier, Bodilsen a/s was interviewed. Almost during the whole research of this thesis a lack of knowledge occurred. It was noticed that only few references exist regarding this topic, therefore the objective of this thesis was to attach importance to this issue, illustrate further problem areas and possible solutions. Hereby, a conceptual model was created that served as a basis for the empirical part. After collecting empirical data, a close analysis was accomplished. In the end, suggestions for companies to improve their supplier development were made and a final model was generated in order to illustrate the results of the study. The Swedish furniture retail industry is exposed to a strong price pressure and stress of competition, which makes it necessary to improve companies’ performance in order to withstand the competition and to succeed in the end. Its proximity to end customers makes a continuous product development necessary, which can only be successful when working closely together with manufacturers. Therefore, deploying supplier development is a recommendable strategy, but one should be aware of challenges that can occur. The results of this thesis provide support for the improvement of supplier development, especially when it comes to problem areas and correspondent solutions within dyadic relationships. Supplier development is an up-to-date topic and plays a crucial role within the fast changing business environment. It was chosen to raise the reader’s interest and to give an insight into current economic developments. The Swedish furniture retail industry turned out to be very interesting for the topic of this Master Thesis. Finally, there is nothing more to say than: ‘Enjoy the trip through the Swedish furniture industry!’ / Research questions: Which are the potential problem areas of Supplier Development within dyadic relationships in the Swedish furniture retail industry? Which possible solutions for these problem areas can be found in order to improve Supplier Development?

<p>Globalization and associated economic changes have led to a lot of opportunities and hazards that companies are facing. Especially the increased role of customer demands and the interconnected shift from seller markets to buyer markets were the driving factors and incentives for the research work of this Master Thesis. One quite new strategy that companies tend to apply in order to meet the occurring challenges is supplier development. By reason of the actuality of this topic, it was of high worth to investigate, especially when it comes to the lack of theoretical findings about challenges, difficulties and problems. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to find out which problems can occur in the process of supplier development, and how they can be solved. Hereby, the focus was laid on the furniture retail industry, as it is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sweden. For the empirical research the retailers Ikea and Mio were selected, because they play a very important role within the Swedish furniture retail industry due to the fact that they are the two biggest when it comes to market shares. Furthermore, the suppliers Bitc Möbel AB, Lundbergs Möbler and AB Wilo were chosen in order to examine their dyadic relationship with Mio. For the purpose of investigating the supplier development within the dyadic relationship of Ikea and its supplier, Bodilsen a/s was interviewed.</p><p>Almost during the whole research of this thesis a lack of knowledge occurred. It was noticed that only few references exist regarding this topic, therefore the objective of this thesis was to attach importance to this issue, illustrate further problem areas and possible solutions. Hereby, a conceptual model was created that served as a basis for the empirical part. After collecting empirical data, a close analysis was accomplished. In the end, suggestions for companies to improve their supplier development were made and a final model was generated in order to illustrate the results of the study.</p><p>The Swedish furniture retail industry is exposed to a strong price pressure and stress of competition, which makes it necessary to improve companies’ performance in order to withstand the competition and to succeed in the end. Its proximity to end customers makes a continuous product development necessary, which can only be successful when working closely together with manufacturers. Therefore, deploying supplier development is a recommendable strategy, but one should be aware of challenges that can occur. The results of this thesis provide support for the improvement of supplier development, especially when it comes to problem areas and correspondent solutions within dyadic relationships.</p><p>Supplier development is an up-to-date topic and plays a crucial role within the fast changing business environment. It was chosen to raise the reader’s interest and to give an insight into current economic developments. The Swedish furniture retail industry turned out to be very interesting for the topic of this Master Thesis. Finally, there is nothing more to say than: ‘Enjoy the trip through the Swedish furniture industry!’</p> / <p>Research questions:</p><p>Which are the potential problem areas of Supplier Development within dyadic relationships in the Swedish furniture retail industry?</p><p>Which possible solutions for these problem areas can be found in order to improve Supplier Development?</p>

Purpose To investigate under which conditions SCD’s work with implementing a lean mindset and behaviour at key suppliers is successful. To help fulfilling the purpose this thesis aims to answer the question: What affects how the production unit of a Scania key supplier adopts a lean mindset and behaviour with focus on continuous improvements? Methodology An exploratory multiple case study with a qualitative data analysis and inductive approach. The cases consist of five Swedish first-tier suppliers to Scania CV AB, and a pilot case study conducted at Scania, Södertälje. Result The case study resulted in a categorisation of suppliers into three groups based on their characteristics and ability to adopt a lean mindset and behaviour: Group I:  Lack of direction, inconsistent management culture, no deeper understanding or interest in lean, no involvement or responsibility of operators in improvement work, a tendency to copy tools and methods given by external help directly into the organisation. Group II:  Strong sense of direction, strong management culture, a personal interest in lean and improvements, an “us and them” culture between managers and operators, and a strong sense to develop tools and working methods in-house and be very restrictive with applying external thoughts in the organisation. Group III: Clear long-term direction; primarily evident among managers, clear targets on an operational level to guide the rest of the organisation, a supportive management culture, an expectation on operators to perform improvement work, and openness to external help but a strong sense of filtering and adapting to the own organisation. Conclusion Our conclusion is that SCD is variously successful due to that the same approach has been used despite different needs of the suppliers. The recommendation is to analyse suppliers with tools provided in this research and adapt the development approach to specific supplier needs: Group I: No prioritisation of long-term development of this group. Group II: Provide guiding from experience to management team, focus workshop on operators and their nearest contact points. Group III: Provide possible solutions to specific problems.

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Denna studie syftar till att undersöka CSCM och om etablerade SCM koncept och metoder från tillverkningsindustrin kan användas inom CSCM. För att besvara syftet har frågeställningarna “hur skiljer sig förutsättningarna för SCM och CSCM?”, “är SCM koncept och metoder överförbara från tillverkningsindustrin till byggnadsindustrin?”, “vilka SCM koncept och metoder verkar inte lämpliga för CSCM?” och “vilka koncept och metoder från traditionell SCM framstår som användbara för CSCM?”. Den teoretiska referensramen består av ett urval vedertagna SCM koncept och metoder som har sitt ursprung i tillverkande industri och teori om CSCM. Teorierna har använts för att analysera empirin som är av kvalitativ karaktär för att uttömmande presentera sex respondenters verkliga bild av CSCM och användning av SCM koncept och metoder.    Studien kommer fram till slutsatsen att SCM koncept och metoder från tillverkande industri kan användas inom byggnadsindustrin, men att det krävs modifikationer för att bättre passa byggindustrins unika karaktär. Ett koncept och som inte rakt av lämpar sig för CSCM är JIT eftersom byggarbetsplatser inte är anpassade för att ta emot stora antal leveranser som ofta är konsekvensen av JIT. Men om JIT anpassas till CSCM genom användning av samlastningsterminaler för att minska antalet transporter visar det sig vara en omtyckt metod av respondenterna. Analysen visar även att det sker en omställning inom CSCM där användning av IT blir allt vanligare, men är fortfarande inte helt etablerad. Utifrån analyser verkar det finnas ett behov av mer utvecklade samarbeten inom CSCM där direkt leverantörsutveckling inte var vanligt enligt respondenterna. Detta tycks bero på byggindustrins tidsbegränsade och decentraliserade projektkaraktär som inte låter samarbeten utmynna i något större. Respondenterna upplever en hög supply risk inom sin CSCM och använder bland annat terminaler för att minska denna. Outsourcing av logistik till en tredje part är ett koncept som används inom CSCM för att öka effektivitet genom möjliggörande av fokus på kärnkompetenser. / This study aims to investigate CSCM and whether established SCM concepts and methods from the manufacturing industry can be used in CSCM. To answer the purpose, we asked the research questions "how do the conditions for SCM and CSCM differ?", "are SCM concepts and methods transferable from the manufacturing industry to the construction industry?", "which SCM concepts and methods do not seem suitable for CSCM?" and "which concepts and methods from traditional SCM appear to be useful for CSCM?". The theoretical framework consists of a selection of well-known SCM concepts and methods originating from the manufacturing industry and CSCM theory. The theories have been used to analyze the empirical data, which is qualitative in nature, in order to comprehensively present six interviewees' real picture of CSCM and the use of SCM concepts and methods.   The study concludes that SCM concepts and methods from the manufacturing industry can be used in the construction industry, but that modifications are required to better suit the unique nature of the construction industry. One concept that is not directly suitable for CSCM is JIT, because construction sites are not adapted to receive large numbers of deliveries as JIT often implies. However, adapting JIT to CSCM through the use of co-loading terminals to reduce the number of transports proves to be a popular approach by the interviewees. The analysis also shows that there is a transition in CSCM where the use of IT is becoming more common but is still not fully established. Based on the analysis, there seems to be a need for more developed collaborations in CSCM where direct supplier development was not common according to the interviewees. This seems to be due to the time-limited and decentralized project nature of the construction industry, which does not allow collaborations to lead to anything major. The interviewees perceive a high supply risk in CSCM. Terminals, among other things, are used to reduce the supply risk. Outsourcing of logistics to a third party is a concept used in CSCM to increase efficiency by enabling a focus on core competencies.