روش ادغام در روابط مشتری، تامین کننده: تحقیقات تجربی در صنعت لوازم خانگی ایتالیا

The paper explores the management of customer–supplier relationships through the adoption of a set of practices supporting integration in interface processes. A classification of relevant integration techniques (i.e. decisions on how to manage interface processes) and tools (i.e. assets or resources that support the adoption of techniques) is provided: techniques are grouped into the operations, technological and strategic domains, while tools are divided into the information technology, management and organization classes. An in-field research in the Italian industry of components for household appliances provided the ground to measure the diffusion of techniques and tools in the relationships between component manufacturers and appliance OEMs. The study found that the most adopted are the techniques related to operations management, coherently with the industry priorities, while the diffusion of technological and strategic techniques is low. Tools, on the other hand, have generally a low diffusion rate, except for vendor rating systems and e-procurement. Analyzing firms’ efficiency and effectiveness performances, it is possible to notice how the best performing firms are the ones adopting the higher number of techniques and tools in all domains, while efficiency-oriented companies focus their integration practices (that are actually light) in the logistic domain, and growth-oriented companies give great importance to coordination in new product development and strategic planning.

Managerial practices in buyer–supplier relationships are continuously evolving, due to endogenous and exogenous changes occurring at an increasing speed to market needs, competition and environment. Globalization, increased product variety, speeding up of technological innovation and shortening of product life cycles contributed to increase the complexity in configuring and managing intra-firm and inter-firm processes. Processes such as procurement, inbound logistics, internal operations and logistics, distribution and new product development involve now many different actors, inside and outside the company, and require several different skills: this scenario pushes companies to modify their supply chain strategy. In particular, long-term customer–supplier agreements are substituting in some cases the short-term adversarial approach, usual in the past. This might follow the trend in manufacturing companies of outsourcing an ever increasing part of the business, in order to focus on core competencies (Ellram, 1995): coordination and partnering with suppliers become, then, a strategic issue. Different authors in literature have described and analyzed the potential benefits of buyer–supplier strategic partnerships: among others Carr and Pearson (1999), Cooper et al. (1997), Ellram (1997), Kalwani and Narayandas (1995), McLeave (1999) and Watts and Hahn (1993). A synthetic view of their findings is provided in Table 1. Table 1. Potential advantages of long-term relationships for customers and suppliers Interface process Advantages for customers Advantages for suppliers New product development Increased innovation Reduced time-to-market Reduced cost of projects Improved quality of projects Reduced risk of projects Joint investments in R&D Joint investments in R&D Operations Increased level of customer service Reduced financial cost of stocks Increased overall quality Increased flexibility Reduced risk through long-term planning of production capacity, more reliable orders and forecasting Reduced costs through better inventory control, scale and learning economies Management and strategic planning Reduced costs through reduced complexity Increased supplier loyalty through mutual dependence Reduced time spent looking for new suppliers of stipulating contracts Focus on core competencies Reduced administrative costs through the focus on few key customers Reduced risks thanks to the certainty of consolidated customers Help in developing capabilities and support to growth Table options Moreover, the centrality of customer arises the need to deliver a superior and customized service as a major competitive lever: the focus in supply chains thus shifts from the efficient use of resources to the effective response to serviced market segments (De Maio and Maggiore, 1992). Supply networks arise, in which firms cooperate in innovating, producing and distributing products, competing with other networks on service, quality and cost together: the joint performances of a network will determine its possibility to succeed in the market. Integration among supply chain actors in shaping and managing interface processes can act as a lever for success, by developing skills, technology and market opportunities. An interesting framework for the strategic design and improvement of supply networks is proposed by MIP (2001). This paper will focus on the tactical and operational practices (hereafter called techniques and tools) supporting integration in buyer–supplier relationships. Its objectives are: (a) to provide an original classification of actions supporting buyer–supplier integration, (b) to assess empirically the diffusion of these actions in a particular industrial context, (c) to find and justify some links among specific courses of action adopted by firms and their performances. Section 2 provides the classification framework of integration practices; Section 3 shows the results of an empirical research in the Italian industry of components for household appliances, evaluating the diffusion of the various integration actions. Section 4 further analyses the data obtained in order to investigate the relation among integration practices and company performances. Finally, Section 5 draws some conclusions of the work and identify paths for future research.

This paper presented a review of managerial practices in supply chain relationships and assessed their diffusion in the Italian industry of household appliances. The framework of buyer–supplier relationships proposed in Section 2.1 is meant to show how buyer–supplier relationships consists of a series of managerial devices applied at tactical and operational levels. Integration techniques have been classified into three domains: operations management, technology management and strategic planning. Subgroups have been identified, accordingly to the interface process referred by the techniques (see Table 3). Following the same approach, integration tools have been classified accordingly to the related domain (information, management and organization), and then divided into families (see Table 4). An empirical research was performed in Italy among component suppliers for household appliances: the sector is relevant not only for its dimensions, but also for the major role Italy plays in Europe as the main producer of white goods. As stated in Section 3.5, techniques and tools for buyer–supplier integration do not present a broad diffusion in the studied industry, due mainly to firms’ financial dimensions and cultural attitude. Integration is mainly achieved in the operations domain, coherently with the responsive configuration of the supply chain, while coordination in new product development is lighter and strategic coordination quite rare. To analyze the relations among integration practices and firms’ performances, two aggregate indicators of efficiency (the average sales per employee) and of effectiveness (the growth rate of sales) have been considered. They allowed to divide the sample into four subgroups. Broadly speaking, the empirical data suggest that integration in the area of operations is a driver for internal efficiency, while strategic coordination and integration in the new product development process create the opportunities for growth. Companies performing above the average in both areas—the Stars—show in fact an adoption profile of techniques and tools richer than the average: integration in the area of operations is tight, as in new product development. The Growth Oriented companies (firms excelling in effectiveness) also present a quite high diffusion of techniques and tools, with particular attention (compared to the other groups) devoted to strategic planning techniques. Cost oriented companies (privileging efficiency) limit their integration practices to the operations area and very lightly to new product development, while the Underperformers present a high diffusion of integration techniques and tools at least in some domains: they may not have developed them coherently with their strategy or they may not have internalized the benefits. Case studies confirmed that to a technique- and tool-adoption profile coherent with firms’ strategic objectives and with the exchange context, may correspond superior operational and financial performances, as the example of pumps for washing appliances shows. Finally, directions for further research can be traced as follows: • Assessment of the diffusion of techniques and tools should be extended to other industries, to analyze the relation among competitive priorities, supply chain structures and the diffusion of managerial practices in customer–supplier relationships; • Further research should be focused on evaluating more deeply the relation among integration practices and firms’ efficiency and effectiveness performances. That should be made by enlarging the survey sample, in order to obtain statistically sound results, and by investigating a larger amount of indicators, measuring both companies’ overall economic performances and process performances (operational and economic). Performing the study in different industries it will be possible to generalize the results achieved.