Quality Management (QM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) have been considered as two of the most important business strategies. They have become the prerequisite for success and competitive advantage in the global market. Supplier Integration is a subset of supply chain, and supplier relationship is no longer a competition, but competition and cooperation. Integration capabilities between suppliers can be regarded as a competitive advantage. The better supplier integration capabilities, the better supply chain performance. That would further enhance the competitiveness of enterprises. This paper explores the relationship between QM practices and Supplier Integration of supply chains. The entire population of suppliers to aerospace industry in Taiwan was surveyed to measure use of QM practices. QM is modeled as a second-order construct reflected by six QM practices (small group problem solving, top management leadership for quality, information and feedback, process management, customer focus, and supplier involvement). The results showed supplier involvement is the only factor which has statistically significant effect on supplier integration. Our study reflects the underlying fact of the aerospace industry in Taiwan; i.e., it is a manufacturing industry with no design capability. For a manufacturing industry without design capability, supplier involvement is the most important construct for effective supply chain management.

This study was conducted to explore the external sources of knowledge that are present around the eco-innovation firms. Our study has focused on eco-innovations with the aim  to find sustainable solutions, leading the reduction in greenhouse gases, on the extraction of renewable energy sources, since studies have indicated a link between the industrialization and the impact on the climate.  The purpose formulated for this study was to explore the external sources of knowledge that are present around the eco-innovation firms. By conducting this exploratory study we will contribute to existing research by adding empirical evidence to identifying what the external sources of knowledge are and further explore what kind of knowledge eco-innovation firms gain from these external sources. The participating companies in the study was chosen since they represent Swedish firms in the development of eco-innovations with the goal to minimize the environmental impact.  We conducted the thesis with a qualitative approach and the empirical data was gathered from four different companies in the field of wave and tidal power. The four interviews were executed through telephone interviews with both the researches acting as interviewers. The respondents were either the CEO of the company or a board member, since these persons were most likely to possess the relevant information for this study.  In our study we have found the external sources of knowledge to be of significant importance to the eco-innovation firms. Based on our theoretical framework, we have identified the external assets as suppliers, customers, competitors, governmental actors and research institutions. These external sources have different importance depending on the character of the knowledge that is gained. The external sources showed to contribute with important knowledge in areas of R&D capabilities, technology development, market orientation and regulation. By assessing the external sources of knowledge firms will unlock great potential knowledge that would otherwise be very costly. A conclusion was that as eco-innovation firms acquire knowledge by their external assets in parallel there are signals, unconsciously communicated going out to the external environment. Since our study has shown that academic experience among the founders seemed to have been helping the firms in their contact with governmental actors in order to attract subsidies and in the approval process for test sites, this indicates that what seems to be communicated from within the eco-innovation firms to their external environment is certain legitimacy, credibility and reputation that strengthen the relationship with governmental actors. This study was performed as a multiple case study on four different eco-innovation firms working with development of technology to extract energy from renewable energy sources in terms of wave and tidal power. Our choice to only interview one person on each firm, due to a limited time frame and resources, might make it hard to generalize the findings since there is a possibility of biased data. Other limitations that make it hard to draw to much from the results are the fact of focusing on a limited area on eco-innovation in only one country, since regulations play an important role this might differ between different countries.

New Product Development is a key strategy for company performance. Competencies involved in those projects are numerous and varied. Companies increasingly involve their suppliers in codevelopment projects to gather the most relevant knowledge, improve product quality and reduce time to market. Different levels of supplier involvement are defined in literature: white, gray and black box according to their responsibilities. This master thesis focuses on  he collaboration between supplier and customer in the case of New Product Development.  eflecting on existing literature, this master thesis first proposes a new taxonomy of boundary spanning, based on four main areas: knowledge transfer, knowledge translation, knowledge transformation and coordination. Secondly, each area is broken down into collaborative activities, which in turn are linked to the proper Information Technologies (IT). Finally, this typology is successfully confronted to two case studies.

New product development is a challenging process which plays a significant role for the rise of the competitiveness of a firm. This process benefits from cooperative relations in the supply network of the firm, such as the collaboration in buyer- supplier relations. The automotive industry presents a good example for studying buyer supplier relations. The positive effects of supplier involvement in product design and development process have been discussed intensely in the literature due to the exceptional success of OEMs &ndash / Original Equipment Manufacturers- in the Japanese automotive industry. This study analyzes the role of suppliers in the automotive sector, the buyer-supplier interface and relations, and new product development process specific to the automotive industry in order to highlight the outcomes of supplier involvement in product development process especially during the design phase. A descriptive questionnaire study on the Turkish automotive supplier industry was conducted. The questionnaire was completed by 25 supplier firms who are members of the Association of Turkish Automotive Parts &amp / Components Manufacturers (TAYSAD) and 5 OEM firms. The questionnaire results show that the level of supplier involvement in the product design phase is low compared to the other project phases such as introduction to the project, prototype production, pre-launch, and mass production. Following this preliminary study, two in-depth interviews were conducted with one OEM and one supplier representatives, and more detailed information on suppliers&rsquo / involvement in product design was gathered. Keywords: Supplier Involvement, Automotive Industry, Product Development, Collaborative Design

abstract: Original equipment manufacturers (buyers) are increasingly involving suppliers in new product development as a means to increase efficiency and expand capabilities. To realize such benefits, however, the two firms need to have appropriate communication and goal structures to minimize friction while maximizing design quality. In addition, the effectiveness of the inter-firm interaction process, i.e. their collaboration quality, is also a key success factor. This study draws from Information Process Theory to propose that higher technical and relational uncertainty requires more inter-firm communication. The misalignment between communication intensity and uncertainty reduces both design quality and design efficiency. Goal incongruence, which always lowers project performance, is less harmful for projects with high technical uncertainty due to the potential of the conflict resolving process in improving decision quality and efficiency. Finally I use Hackman's theory of work group effectiveness to propose that collaboration quality fully mediates the effects of communication intensity and goal congruence on project outcomes. The study used an empirical survey of manufacturers as the primary method of data collection. Manufacturers that integrate and assemble complex and discrete products are the target population. Design engineers and project managers from manufacturers were my target respondents. Both SEM and hierarchical regression were used to test the conceptual model. The dissertation made five theoretical contributions. First, I introduced the concept that there is an optimal level of inter-firm communication intensity, exceeding which lowers design efficiency without improving design quality. Second, I theoretically defined and empirically operationalized two types of uncertainty, one on the project level and one on the inter-firm level, which were shown to moderate the effects of inter-firm communication and goal structures on collaboration outcomes. Third, this study examined the conditions when goal congruence is more effective in improving collaboration outcomes. Fourth, this study nominally and operationally defined collaboration quality, a theoretical construct which measure the effectiveness of inter-partner interactions rather than mere existence or amount of certain activities pursued by partners. Finally, I proposed several enhancements to existing construct measures. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Business Administration 2011

The entry of China into the globalized world and onto the stage of the global automarket has presented auto manufacturers with the largest ever market opportunity. While global competitive forces drive firms to develop product innovation through their global supply chains, the approach of global auto manufacturers and their first tier suppliers has been to bring existing technology into China. Only recently has the supply chain in China become integrated into the global product innovation cycle. While innovations generated by supply channel relationships, as opposed to individual partners, are playing an increasingly important role in the success of all supply chain partners, there has been limited research in the literature on how supply chain relationships cultivate the process of such innovation generation, particularly in China. Correspondingly, this study explores how multinational suppliers can develop adaptive product innovation in order to create a sustainable competitive advantage in China and how the protection of their knowledge helps them sustain it. Drawing on the knowledge-based view and transaction cost economics, and integrating those with behavioural governance and the institution-based view this study identifies drivers of product innovation for MNC suppliers in their relationships with Chinese OEMs, investigates the influence of supplier involvement and knowledge protection on supplier product innovation and examines the outcomes in the specific context of the Chinese automotive industry from the first-tier supplier perspective. Survey results of 170 multinational automobile suppliers in China indicate support for most of the hypotheses. Specifically, knowledge protection is found to have an impact on product innovation in the context of the auto industry in China. Supplier involvement in co-design and co-development with an automotive OEM customer has an inverted U-shaped relationship with product innovation. Furthermore, trust and technological uncertainty are found to drive greater product innovation. In addition, the institutional environment moderates the effect of product innovation on performance. Overall, this study enhances the understanding of how MNC suppliers can acquire local knowledge, develop products adapted to the local market requirements and foster product innovation while retaining their knowledge and know-how and minimizing negative effects of spill-overs to the local competition in the automotive industry in China.

This thesis explores the supplier perspective of supplier involvement in product development. Supplier involvement in product development is crucial for many companies to increase resource flexibility, access competence, reduce costs and time to market, among others. The existing literature focuses primarily on the customer perspective of supplier involvement, e.g., challenges and critical factors customers should consider. A few studies have focused on the supplier perspective. This research gap is addressed in this thesis by studying the conditions influencing the suppliers’ involvement in customers’ product development. This thesis explores two research questions: “What are the challenges suppliers experience when being involved in customers’ product development?”, and “What mitigating mechanisms and critical factors influence suppliers’ involvement in customers’ product development?”. The identified challenges originated [FF1] both from the customer and the supplier, indicating that both types of challenges must be focused on. The study also identified interdependencies between the challenges, implying that one challenge may lead to the occurrence of other challenges. The study suggests mitigating mechanisms to deal with the identified challenges. The identified critical factors influenced both the efficiency and effectiveness of supplier involvement in product development, e.g., lead-time, development cost, product quality, and cost. The study indicates that adopting a dual perspective and considering the challenges and critical factors for both the customer and the supplier, can support the involved supplier. The results build on findings from a case study including four SMEs.

Submitted by Luciano Carvalho (luccar@gmail.com) on 2014-03-14T14:19:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Luciano Castro de Carvalho.pdf: 1514970 bytes, checksum: 90788ec79c03971a7e24d2b17f5b2023 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by PAMELA BELTRAN TONSA (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2014-03-17T14:45:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Luciano Castro de Carvalho.pdf: 1514970 bytes, checksum: 90788ec79c03971a7e24d2b17f5b2023 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-03-17T14:46:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Luciano Castro de Carvalho.pdf: 1514970 bytes, checksum: 90788ec79c03971a7e24d2b17f5b2023 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-26 / This study aimed to verify the influence of the supply chain agents on the new product development’s performance when those agents are analyzed jointly. The motivation for this goal rose up from some studies that claimed for the consideration of the supply chain integration as a multi-dimensional construct, encompassing manufacturing, supplier and customer involvement into NPD; and due to the lack of information about the individual influences of those agents on new product development’s performance. Under these considerations, we built an analytical model based on Social Capital and Absorptive Capacity Theory, raising hypotheses from the literature review and connecting constructs as cooperation, supplier involvement into NPD, customer involvement into NPD, manufacturing involvement into NPD, anticipation of new technologies, continuous improvement, NPD’s operational performance, NPD’s marketing performance and NPD’s business performance. To test the hypotheses we also considered three moderating variables, as environmental turbulence (low, medium and high levels), industry (electronics, machinery and transport equipment) and location (American, European and Asian countries). To run the model, we used the data from High Performance Manufacturing (HPM)’s project that covers 339 companies from electronics, machinery and transport equipment industries placed in eleven countries. We tested the hypotheses through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) including multi-group moderation for the three moderating variables mentioned previously. The main results pointed out that the hypotheses regard to cooperation were confirmed in environments with medium level of turbulence while the hypotheses related to NPD performance was not rejected in electronics and machinery industry, in low levels of environmental turbulence and in Asian countries. Moreover, we found out that, under the same conditions, suppliers, customers and manufacturing influence differently on new product development performance. Thus, supplier involvement influences directly the operational performance and influences indirectly the marketing and business performance in low levels of environmental turbulence, in transport equipment industry and in American and European countries. Likewise, customer involvement influenced directly the operational performance and indirectly the marketing and business performance in medium and high levels of environmental turbulence, in the machinery industry and in Asian countries. Suppliers and customers don’t influence directly the marketing and business performance and don’t influence indirectly the operational performance. Surprisingly, manufacturing involvement didn’t influence any kind of new product development’s performance in all scenarios presented. / Este estudo buscou verificar a influencia dos agentes da cadeia de suprimentos no desempenho do desenvolvimento de novos produtos quando os agentes são analisados em conjunto. A motivação desta pesquisa veio de estudos que alertaram para a consideração da integração da cadeia de suprimentos como um constructo multidimensional, englobando o envolvimento da manufatura, fornecedores e clientes no desenvolvimento de novos produtos; e devido à falta de informação sobre as influencias individuais destes agentes no desenvolvimento de novos produtos. Sob essas considerações, buscou-se construir um modelo analítico baseado na Teoria do Capital Social e Capacidade Absortiva, construir hipóteses a partir da revisão da literatura e conectar constructos como cooperação, envolvimento do fornecedor no desenvolvimento de novos produtos (DNP), envolvimento do cliente no DNP, envolvimento da manufatura no DNP, antecipação de novas tecnologias, melhoria contínua, desempenho operacional do DNP, desempenho de mercado do NPD e desempenho de negócio do DNP. Para testar as hipóteses foram consideradas três variáveis moderadoras, tais como turbulência ambiental (baixa, média e alta), indústria (eletrônicos, maquinários e equipamentos de transporte) e localização (América, Europa e Ásia). Para testar o modelo foram usados dados do projeto High Performance Manufacturing que contém 339 empresas das indústrias de eletrônicos, maquinários e equipamentos de transporte, localizadas em onze países. As hipóteses foram testadas por meio da Análise Fatorial Confirmatória (AFC) incluindo a moderação muti-grupo para as três variáveis moderadoras mencionadas anteriormente. Os principais resultados apontaram que as hipóteses relacionadas com cooperação foram confirmadas em ambientes de média turbulência, enquanto as hipóteses relacionadas ao desempenho no DNP foram confirmadas em ambientes de baixa turbulência ambiental e em países asiáticos. Adicionalmente, sob as mesmas condições, fornecedores, clientes e manufatura influenciam diferentemente no desempenho de novos produtos. Assim, o envolvimento de fornecedores influencia diretamente no desempenho operacional e indiretamente no desempenho de mercado e de negócio em baixos níveis de turbulência ambiental, na indústria de equipamentos de transporte em países da Americanos e Europeus. De igual forma, o envolvimento do cliente influenciou diretamente no desempenho operacional e indiretamente no desempenho de mercado e do negócio em médio nível de turbulência ambiental, na indústria de maquinários e em países Asiáticos. Fornecedores e clientes não influenciam diretamente no desempenho de mercado e do negócio e não influenciam indiretamente no desempenho operacional. O envolvimento da manufatura não influenciou nenhum tipo de desempenho do desenvolvimento de novos produtos em todos os cenários testados.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:51:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissMMO.pdf: 1788461 bytes, checksum: c91e5052b5a23718a605943ed35a8163 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-09 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / The capacity of introducing new products in the market has been considered as an important factor for companies competitiveness. This is the reality of the food industry that adopts technological and organizational changes in their productive processes, the materials supply and the products distribution, mainly for products differentiation. These changes evidence the suppliers and distributors growing to the food processed supply chain. Then, the importance of this study: its contribution for the understanding of the supplier s paper in the new beverage development process. Besides, the researched theme has relevance considering the shortage of works that analyze the relationship of ingredients suppliers in the food chain. It is had as presupposition, based on the literature, that the supplier involvement in the product development process propitiates time and cost reduction in the product development, quality improvement of the acquired materials and larger access facility and technology application. The analysis of the suppliers involvement in the supply chain focused in their participation in the buyer s new product development process, narrowing to the ingredients suppliers. This work was developed with multiple cases studies in four companies of the segments of no alcoholic drinks (fresh juice and powdered soft drinks) and drunk milky and a common ingredient supplier to those companies. Those segments were chosen due to the great growth of the demand by these products, given the appeal of their functional (health) and convenience (comfort). It was observed, mainly, that the responsibility degree of the supplier in the product development is function of its technical competence (knowledge and experience). It was also verified that the supplier s participation that happens in the initial phases of the new beverage process development, facilitates the access and technology application in the food product development process. / A capacidade de introduzir novos produtos no mercado tem sido considerada como importante fator de competitividade das empresas. Esta é a realidade da indústria de alimentos que adota mudanças tecnológicas e organizacionais em seus processos produtivos, no suprimento de seus materiais e na distribuição de seus produtos, principalmente para diferenciação de produtos. Estas mudanças evidenciam a crescente integração dos fornecedores (a montante) e de distribuidores (a jusante) à cadeia de suprimentos de processadoras de alimentos. Daí importância deste estudo: sua contribuição para a compreensão do papel do fornecedor no processo de desenvolvimento de novas bebidas. Além disso, o tema pesquisado tem relevância considerando a escassez de trabalhos que analisam a relação de fornecedores de ingredientes na cadeia de alimentos. Tem-se como pressuposto, baseado na literatura, que o envolvimento do fornecedor no processo de desenvolvimento de produto propicia redução de tempo e de custos no desenvolvimento de produtos, melhora da qualidade dos materiais adquiridos e maior facilidade de acesso e aplicação de tecnologia. A análise do envolvimento de fornecedores na cadeia de suprimento focou na sua participação no processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos junto ao cliente industrial, restringindo-se aos fornecedores de ingredientes. Este trabalho foi desenvolvido com estudo de múltiplos casos em quatro empresas dos segmentos de bebidas não alcoólicas (sucos pronto para beber e refresco em pó) e bebidas lácteas e um fornecedor de ingrediente comum às empresas. Esses segmentos foram escolhidos devido ao grande crescimento da demanda por estes produtos, dado o apelo de serem funcionais (saúde) e de conveniência (comodidade). Observou-se, principalmente, que o grau de responsabilidade do fornecedor no desenvolvimento de produto é função de sua competência técnica (conhecimento e experiência). Constatou-se também que a participação do fornecedor que ocorre nas fases iniciais do processo de desenvolvimento de novas bebidas, facilita o acesso e aplicação de tecnologia no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos alimentícios.

För att möta kundernas strikta krav på korta ledtider och krav på lågkostnadsprodukter med hög kvalitet, har många organisationer kommit att bero allt mer på underleverantörer för att utveckla konkurrenskraftiga produkter. Omfattningen av leverantörsintegrering kan beskrivas med mängden ansvar en leverantör får i beställarens produktutveckling och hur samarbetet ser ut mellan parterna. Graden av ansvarsdelning kan innebära allt från rådgivning till fullständigt ansvar för alla processer i produktutvecklingskedjan. Perspektivet i detta arbete har fokuserat på underleverantören och hur den kan skapa värde i beställarens produktutveckling. Vidare syftar denna rapport att ta reda på vilka faktorer som påverkas beroende på när en leverantör integreras i produktutvecklingen. Rapporten undersöker specifikt hur faktorer som tid till produktion, utvecklingskostnader och produktkvalitet påverkas av tidig integration med leverantören. Arbetet bygger på en förstudie av tidigare forskning inom integration av underleverantörer i produktutveckling samt en kvalitativ intervjustudie med två svenska företag. Företagens relation till varandra är kund och leverantör. Arbetet kommer fram till slutsatsen att tidig integration och nära samarbeten med en underleverantör kan ha positiva effekter på pris och kvalitet, men mindre tydliga effekter på tid till produktion. Arbetet visar även vikten av bra kommunikation mellan leverantör och kund för bättre resultat i produktutvecklingen. Faktorer som geografisk plats, mängden resurser som båda parter investerar påverkar dessa resultat i stor utsträckning. / In order to meet clients' demands for short development times and cheap products with high quality, many organizations are relying more and more on suppliers to develop products that can compete on today's ferocious global marketplaces. The focus of this paper is on the supplier and how it can affect the client’s product development positively. Furthermore, this paper aims to conclude which factors that are affected when the supplier is integrated into the client’s product development. This report looks at how specific factors such as time to production, development costs and quality of the products are affected by early integration with the supplier. The scope of supplier integration can be defined by the amount of shared responsibility of the product development between the supplier and the buying organization. The level of shared responsibility can mean everything from strictly consulting to complete responsibility of the entire product development process. This paper is based on a study of previous research of supplier integration into product development, including a qualitative interview study with two Swedish companies. The internal relationship of the two companies that take part in this study is that of client and supplier. The conclusions are that early integration and close cooperation with suppliers have positive effects on price and quality, but only marginal effects on development times. The paper shows that regular communication between client and supplier generates better results in product development. Factors such as geographical location and the amount of resources that both parts invest affect these results.