In the past three decades China’s rapid transition from a closed economy to become the factory of the world has astonished economists all over the world. Surveys among sourcing practitioners show that China is the most interesting market for sourcing and research points to lower costs as the main reason.This dissertation is an exploratory study of the role of the intermediary for Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that source from China. Three questions are discussed. The first question concerns why Swedish SMEs choose to source from China. Although costs are a major factor for the companies, it is usually other triggers that cause the change in strategy, such as management interest or pressure from a large customer. The second research question concerns how Swedish SMEs choose to source from China and how the role of the intermediary is related to this process. The study shows that finding a good supplier is not difficult. The companies use informal channels, references and sometimes unorthodox methods such as following the supplier of the raw material to find suppliers that deliver high quality goods. The problem is however to maintain a steady quality and on time delivery which is why intermediaries are introduced late in the relationship. The cases in this study show example of five different intermediated strategies; Direct, Service,Traditional, RepO and FICE/WFOE. The traditional intermediated strategy is the only strategy where there is little or no relation between buyer and supplier, whereas the other four strategies involve different degrees of interaction between all three actors in the dyad; the buyer, the supplier and the intermediary.The third research question concerned the role of the intermediary. The study shows that the respondents are influenced by their structural view on what role the different forms of intermediaries may take. Although the respondents discuss the importance of having a long-term view on the relationship with the supplier they continuously allow intermediaries to enter the relationship on a short-term basis for quality control. These quality control centers (QC) commonly work on a fixed commission based on services that has to be specified. When the buyers are trying to change their strategy to look for an intermediary with higher involvement they usually turn to internal intermediaries (i.e. subsidiaries). When deciding on a long term intermediary the buyer usually looks for competences that supplement their own knowledge – that is Chinese language, good knowledge of the Chinese market but also technological competence. What the western owned intermediaries in China stresses however is the need to find intermediaries to supplement the suppliers’ competences, so that they are able to translate the needs of the buyer’s customer and becomes a physical reminder that they are sent from the buyer. The case of QC, shows that if a company let the relationship with the intermediary develop through interaction they can become just as involved.The study is based on interviews with key informants at Swedish SMEs andat different types of intermediaries in China. The empirical data are presented infive themes developed through an iterative process of theoretical studies anddata collection. The first two themes are directly related to the first tworesearch questions. The third theme focuses on the sourcing process andactivities of four small Swedish design companies. The fourth theme displayshow the intermediaries in China discuss their role. Finally, the fifth theme pictures the supply chain of one focal company at five points in time when they are in the process of changing their supply chain to increase transparency. / Disputationen sker fredagen den 30 mars kl. 13.00 i sal B1014 på Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping

本研究主要是研究台灣廠商進行國際採購時，企業策略對零組件國際採購 策略之影響，進而探討國際採購策略對產品績效的影響，具言之，研究目 的分為下列七項：一．比較製鞋工業和資訊工業的零組件國際採購策略有 無明顯差異。二．探討公司特性對零組件國際採購策略的影響。三．探討 市場特性對零組件國際採購策略的影響。四．探討產業特性對零組件國際 採購策略的影響。五．探討附加價值鏈策略選擇對零組件國際採購策略的 影響。六．探討產品策略對零組件國際採購策略的影響。七．探討零組件 國際採購策略對產品績效的影響。本研究利用路徑分析得到以下結論：結 論一：對企業而言，國外市場的重要性將使得企業為因應國外市場需求而 增加對國外的採購，此外，製鞋業的外銷經驗亦對其 海外採購有 所幫助；企業在國內與外商合作，亦可經由該管 道協助進行國外 採購。結論二：不論是鞋類產品或是資訊產品，其產品生命週期愈長，則 產 品零組件變化程度較小，與供應商維持平均年限較長，且零 組件標準化程度較高。而產品本身改變程度較大，則易採取 零組件外包策略；對資訊業而言，製程改變所造成生產設備 的 改變程度較大，因此易使用海外外部供應商。結論三：資訊業進行國際採 購時並非以接近當地市場為目的，而是以 技術及生產方面為考量 ；製鞋業仍是以採購地點與價值活動 地點之地理距離為考量。結 論四：對資訊業而言，各地的採購比例大部分與採購關鍵零組 傢騿A製鞋 業亦同。 結論五：不論是資訊業 或是製鞋業，兩者創新程度高，則為了維持技 術優勢，將會與海 外供應商進行技術互惠合作；而產品標準 化程度增加，亦將會使 海外採購品的標準化程度增加；值得 注意的是，由於專業分工的 細密，外部海外專業供應商可提 供品質較好之零組件。結論六： 對製鞋業而言，海外採購對產品績效較有幫助。結論七：公司競爭能力及 規模，對於執行國際採購的能力確有幫助。