Supplier competitive advantage in inter-firm business relationships:is Keiretsu really a source of competitive advantage for Japanese automotive suppliers?

This paper explores how firms create and sustain competitive advantage in the inter-firm business relationships from a supplier’s perspective. Ultimately, this paper draws its attention to keiretsu partnerships and how it is perceived by Japanese automotive suppliers. Four main theoretical perspectives (resource based view, industrial organisation, transaction cost economics, and relational network) were considered when developing a conceptual framework based on competitive capability, market diversification, and level of engagement. The framework was examined against two best-practice automotive component suppliers. Later, primary data was also gathered through an interview with a CEO and a survey questionnaire with 11 Japanese companies. As a result, this paper classified these 11 companies into four supplier groups based on tier level (1 and 2) and affiliation condition. Findings propose that there may be little benefit in being an affiliated tier 1 supplier, and that independent tier 2 suppliers may be more competitive than affiliated ones.

Re-engineering materials management: a case study on an Indian refinery

Materials management function is always a major concern to the management of any industrial organisation as high inventory and an inefficient procurement process affect the profitability to a great extent. Problems multiply due to a very current business environment in India. Hence, existing materials planning and procurement processes and inventory management systems require a re-look with respect to a changing business environment. This study shows a radical improvement in materials management function of an Indian petroleum refinery through business process re-engineering (BPR) by analysing current processes, identifying key issues, deriving paradigm shifts and developing re-engineered processes through customer value analysis. BPR has been carried out on existing processes of “materials planning and procurement” and “warehousing and surplus disposal”. The re-engineered processes for materials management function trigger a few improvement projects that were identified by the group of executives who took part in the re-engineering exercise. Those projects were implemented in an integrated framework with the application of the state of art information technology tools.

Relacionamentos industriais como mecanismos de coordenação de competências : casos da indústria de moldes para plásticos.

Doutoramento em Ciências Empresariais.