The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

http://www.emerald-library.com

IJOPM
19,7

650

Developing the concept of

supply strategy
Christine M. Harland, Richard C. Lamming and
Paul D. Cousins
University of Bath, Bath, UK

Keywords Economic conditions, Globalization, Strategy, Supply

Abstract This article proposes a conceptualisation for supply strategy an explanation for how
organisations arrange and conduct themselves within modern economic environments, in order
to satisfy markets in the long and short terms. After an explanation of the emerging global
environment within which organisations must compete, the previous approaches to explaining
this area of business are explored and found to be insufficient for the new context. There follows a
conceptualisation and an account of new, supporting research a Delphi survey, conducted to
test, extend and validate some of the features of the concept. Finally, some suggestions are made
for the further development of supply strategy as a useful subject area for managers and
researchers.

International Journal of Operations &

Production Management,
Vol. 19 No. 7, 1999, pp. 650-673.
# MCB University Press, 0144-3577

Introduction
For some time, the traditional bodies of knowledge within management
literature have been evolving and expanding, resulting in a blurring of their
boundaries and some substantial overlaps in their content. This is clearly
evident in the fields of knowledge that deal with the primary activities involved
in adding value through procuring and using resources to make, sell and
deliver products or services for consumption by end customers. Indeed, the
concept of value itself is no longer solely the preserve of economics; writers in
several fields of study have observations to make about its nature.
While these bodies of knowledge have been evolving quickly, the rate of
evolution in business practice appears to have been even greater. The worldwide recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s forced firms to re-examine, at
the strategic level, the ways in which they sought to add value and reduce costs
throughout their entire business. The resultant changes brought about largescale programmes of retrenchment and organisational ``down sizing'', cost
reduction drives (some clearly novel in their approach), quality improvement
initiatives and inventory reduction programmes (see, for example, Womack et
al., 1990; Slack, 1991). Widespread study and observation of Japanese practices
between 1945 and 1990 fuelled this process as the apparently superior
efficiency of so-called ``lean'' production was revealed (Schonberger, 1982, 1987;
Womack et al., 1990).
Within operations, managers have been pressured into constantly seeking
new methods of adding value, either through improved performance of their
product or through the development of the ``service package'' and service
delivery system that surround it (Normann, 1984). At the same time, they have
had to find ways of reducing costs without impacting on their product or

service package. Each of these drivers has led firms to a focus on techniques to
manage operations beyond the firm boundary, as it has become clear that the
individual firm is an insufficiently inclusive focus for identifying
improvements in systems.
This article reviews the dominant business trends over the last ten to 15 years
that have revealed the emergence of a more holistic, integrated approach taken by
leading companies; specifically, the trend towards globalisation in co-operative,
inter-organisation networks is explored. We reflect on the various business
subject areas whose proponents are attempting to catch up with business
practice, and we propose the concept of ``supply strategy'', which integrates many
aspects and approaches within various subject areas, adding a new overarching
and differentiating logic. First the global business context is examined.
The business context: globalisation of competition
Business strategists such as Porter (1990), Kogut (1985), Hamel and Prahalad
(1989) and Kanter (1994), have identified a trend towards globalisation in most
industries. Extensive international competition is a well established feature of
most business sectors (Jarillo, 1993) with an increasing number of companies
selling their products and services in a variety of geographical markets.
Furthermore, some companies, including Canon, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Xerox,
Electrolux, Honda, Motorola and Samsung, are now manufacturing and selling
mainly outside their country of origin (Marquadt and Reynolds, 1994). This is
not merely an increase in international trade, nor is it simply an example of the
increasing power of multi-national businesses. These businesses and others,
such as Unilever and Whirlpool, are hailed as global businesses; they appear to
take a strategically different, more holistic approach.
``Globalisation'' is still a relatively recent business term; it is only during the
last decade that a substantial body of work in the area has evolved, serving to
highlight the fundamental differences between global and traditional
international businesses. Porter (1990) sought to identify national strengths,
suggesting that a globalised economy would be best supported by an evolved
system of specialisation and international business trade between nations.
International business is apparent in many forms; Kanter (1994) provided a
useful summary of the traditional approaches to international business. Until
relatively recently, she observed, exporting meant selling product overseas and
was managed by a separate export department; off-shore production was a way
of exploiting low cost, unskilled labour in someone else's territory; international
management involved expatriating managers overseas for secondments to set
up projects or run off-shore sites. Kanter described these varieties of
international business as an old-fashioned mindset, still at the core of
international development programmes within many companies and
governments, whereby foreign buyers are sought for products already
developed for home markets. A global strategy, however, must take into

Concept of
supply strategy

651

IJOPM
19,7

652

account all the company's markets and operations together, viewing them
within an integrated framework. Increasingly this framework includes cooperation with other firms.
Globalisation and co-operation
It is apparent that to compete globally requires global co-operation (Perlmutter
and Heenan, 1986). Ouchi (1981) expressed the view that globalisation
mandates strategic alliances with parties whose interests run parallel. Few
companies operating in Europe, the Pacific Rim and the Americas can afford to
sustain on their own the necessary infrastructure to support excellent research
and development, manufacturing and service in all regions. For example,
Fujitsu was able to penetrate Western markets through licensing, outsourcing
and joint venture alliances with Siemens and STC in Europe and Amdahl in the
USA (Hamel and Pralahad, 1989).
The observation that firms are co-operating rather than trying to do everything
themselves is supported by evidence of a reversal in the previous tendency to
integrate vertically. Since the mid 1980s, as firms have increased strategic cooperation, a trend towards vertical disintegration has been reported in a range of
industries (Thackray, 1986; Porter, 1987). In addition to the increased capability of
attaining global coverage, co-operating firms, rather than vertically integrated
firms, have been able to reduce the risk of becoming locked into inappropriate
technologies (Miles and Snow, 1987). This has given rise to increased attention
being paid to the concept of ``core'' and ``non-core competencies'' (Hamel and
Pralahad, 1989), the latter being seen as appropriate activities to ``outsource'' to
other companies (Snow and Miles, 1992). This echoes the well known operations
strategy concept of ``focus'' (Skinner, 1969), in which firms concentrate on a
limited, manageable number of tasks at which they becoming increasingly
competent. The web of relationships that results from focused operations and cooperation can be termed an inter-organisational network.
Global, co-operative networks
Increasing global co-operation, allied with vertical disintegration and focus on
core activities gives rise to the view that firms may be considered to be a ``nexus
of contracts'' (Reve, 1990) and ``network organisations''. Cunningham and
Culligan (1991) argue that networking may provide a significant source of
competitive advantage through complementary action and the harnessing of
synergistic potential of the network in pursuit of a common goal. Savage (1990)
contrasted organisational characteristics of traditional bureaucratic
organisations and network organisations, as shown in Table I.
In addition to highlighting the shift in competitive thrust from vertical
integration to outsourcing and alliances, Savage also identified that the
strategic focus of network organisations is on innovation. The relationship
between the increasing importance of a strategic focus on innovation and
integration within the network with customers has been highlighted in
strategic management thinking and practice (Whittington, 1993).

Dimension

Bureaucratic organisation

Network organisation

Critical tasks
Relationships
Levels
Structures
Boundaries
Competitive thrust
Management style
Culture
People
Strategic focus

Physical
Hierarchical
Many
Functional
Fixed
Vertical integration
Autocratic
Compliance and tradition
Homogeneous
Efficiency

Mental
Peer-to-peer
Few
Multi-disciplinary teams
Permeable
Outsourcing and alliances
Participative
Commitment and results
Diverse
Innovation

Source: Savage (1990)

Recent studies of large, high performing inter-organisation networks such as

Toyota (Womack et al., 1990; Fruin, 1992), Nike (Lorenzoni and Baden-Fuller,
1993), Benetton (Jarillo and Stevenson, 1991), Corning (Lorenzoni and BadenFuller, 1993), Nissan (Nishiguchi, 1994), SweFork (Dubois, 1994), McDonald's
(Jarillo, 1993), Volvo (Kinch, 1992) and Apple (Jarillo, 1993; Lorenzoni and
Baden-Fuller, 1993) describe firms that appear to have managed their
operations strategically across inter-organisation boundaries giving rise to
enhanced innovative performance.
For example, Benetton was the first fashion apparel manufacturer of any
scale that was able to change its product range during the fashion season to
satisfy consumer demand, particularly for the colour of garment that emerged
as fashionable for the season. Benetton achieved this through what appears to
have been an integration of what have been traditionally viewed as logistics,
operations management, purchasing and supply management, industrial
marketing and service management, conducted in a coordinated, integrated
inter-organisation network of which it owned very little. The distribution
channels Benetton employed extended to the retailers who were governed by a
strict, franchise-like service and financial package. Part of the package included
point-of-sale information systems, connected directly to Benetton's own
systems, which quickly transmitted sales data. Through redesigning the
operations process layout, Benetton moved the dyeing part of the process to a
much later stage in the operation; instead of weaving fabric in pre-dyed wool,
many garments were manufactured un-dyed so that a flexible response could
be made to demands for particular colours. In the upstream part of the network,
a complex structure of groupers, contractors and sub-contractors that were
predominantly small businesses or individuals, was used flexibly to respond to
the demand for different garment styles; parts of the network were ``turned on
or off'' according to demand changes (see Jarillo and Stevenson, 1991;
Christopher, 1992).
A further example of a firm that appears to have strategically managed its
operations within an inter-organisation network is Toyota. Womack et al.

Concept of
supply strategy

653
Table I.
Dimensions of
bureaucratic and
network organisations

IJOPM
19,7

654

(1990) described how Toyota designed distribution channels to the customers

for their cars to capture demand information and vital product quality and
performance data over the vehicle's life. This information was captured
through direct, face to face sales contacts. The manufacturing and product
design operations within Toyota were designed and managed to respond
quickly to the information transmitted back from the downstream part of the
network. Meanwhile, Toyota developed its upstream supply network to
respond in a just-in-time fashion to changes in demand (Lamming, 1993). More
recently this ``leanness'', originally observed in Toyota, has been identified in
many other examples outside the automotive industry and Japan and has been
termed by Womack and Jones (1996) as ``lean thinking''.
There appear to be common features in these studies of high performing
firms. First, they are examples of global, inter-organisation networks, all
exhibiting a focus on end customers served by the network and a strategic
intent to improve the network to serve them better. Secondly, they appear to
have rationally and strategically changed the structure and infrastructure of
their inter-organisation networks to fulfil this strategic intent by supplying end
customers more effectively. Thirdly, this restructuring has been conducted
through inter-organisation collaboration both upstream and downstream in the
total supply network. The importance of this third feature was echoed by the
CEO of Whirlpool, David Whitwam, who stated:
Until you stop thinking about retailers as customers and start thinking about them as part of
the process, you're going to be delivering the wrong kinds of products. For too long, we
viewed the retailer as a customer ... Today we don't treat each other as customer/supplier. We
see ourselves as partners trying to solve a consumer need (Maruca, 1994).

These three features a strategic intent to focus on end customer value,

purposeful action, and implementation through collaborative networks are
features of what Campbell and Wilson (1996) define as a ``value-creating
network''. They distinguish between value-creating networks and other
governance structures by defining the former as purposeful co-operation
between independent firms along a value-added chain creating competitive
advantage by delivering superior customer value. These are in contrast to other
types of network, such as social networks, which develop from personal rather
than deliberate, purposeful company contact.
It appears that the trends towards globalisation, a focus on core activities,
outsourcing of non-core activities, partnering and forming strategic alliances,
lean thinking, operations and supply, and network organisations and networks
of organisations are all inextricably connected. It also appears that decisions
taken in high performing networks have not been driven by management
theory: instead, it is a case of academic understanding playing catch-up with
business practice. This catch-up is evident in traditional business subject areas
that have been progressively extending their subject boundaries to account for
more integrated and holistic business practice. The next section provides an
overview and examples of subject development in the areas of operations

management, purchasing and supply management, logistics, industrial or

relationship marketing and service management, to give a flavour of the
extending boundaries of academic subjects.
Expanding academic subject boundaries
The research referred to above in the discussion of globalisation has been
performed by academics from a broad range of traditional business subject
areas, notably operations management, purchasing and supply, logistics,
service management, materials management and industrial marketing, all of
which appear to have been expanding their domain of interest, reflecting the
integration within and across businesses that has been identified within
business strategy as occurring in the changing global business context. This
section provides examples of work in each of these areas that demonstrates the
extending and overlapping business subject boundaries.
Operations management
The expansion of operations management is evident through its
internationalisation and its externalisation beyond the firm boundary. The
increasing interest in international operations is evident in the work of Keegan
(1989), Dubois and Oliff (1992), Shi and Gregory (1994) and as examples, who
have provided classifications and definitions of different types of operations
strategy, according to international location decisions and practices. Whilst
they do not use common terminology, they all broadly differentiate between
domestic, regional, multinational and world-wide locations. These international
location and plant focus categorisations are combined in Table II, in a
development of the table produced by Shi and Gregory (1994), to emphasise the
differences between multi-domestic and global orientations.
It can be seen in Table II that a global orientation results in different
business and plant strategies from those associated with a multi-domestic
orientation, though international locations may be the same. Globalisation is
thus defined here by operations strategists as a world-wide strategic vision that
includes but extends beyond the facilities location decision, providing a
strategic context for the future of operations. The importance of interorganisational co-operation in internationalisation of operations is evidenced,
for example, in the work of Bennett and Xia (1994). Globalisation and cooperation were incorporated into operations strategy thinking by Shi and
Gregory (1994) who emphasised the need for a ``whole world view'' and a
``process of moving from an independently managed business, serving local
markets, to networks of businesses serving ... chosen markets''.
In addition to internationalisation of operations management, the subject
has been expanding through externalising its boundaries of consideration.
Whilst the predecessor of operations management production management
concentrated on operations within the boundary of the firm, more recent,
broader definitions of operations management, such as that adopted by Slack et
al. (1995), have included parts of the management of the input side, notably

Concept of
supply strategy

655

IJOPM
19,7

Operations
location
Domestic

656

Regional

Multi-national

World-wide

Domestic/multi-domestic orientation

Global orientation

Home country operations. Domestic

customers and suppliers. General
purpose or no focused plant
strategy.
The world is divided into regions
containing common requirements,
culture and practices. Operations
are located in each region, tailored
to that region, with a market plant
strategy. Little evidence of links
between each region
Multiple locations dispersed
internationally, taking advantage of
low cost resources. May adopt a
general purpose plant strategy or a
strategy focused on product or
process. Sourcing may be local or a
combination of local/international
Market plant strategies with
maximum market coverage worldwide. Separate, autonomous plant
strategies

Home country operations. Global

sourcing. Global marketing and
distribution. Product or process
plant strategy
Operations are regionally divided
but the site strategies are product
or process plant strategies. Each
site can therefore serve the rest of
the word. Sourcing is global

Table II.
Taxonomy of
international operations
Source: Adapted from Shi and Gregory (1994)
strategies

Corporate value-adding chains are

located to exploit optimal
resources and strategic capability.
Global logistics and global
sourcing. Global brands
Product/market, product and
process plant strategies providing
global products as well as global
brands

purchasing and its interface with suppliers, and the output side, notably
physical distribution management and its interface with customers, thereby
externalising consideration beyond the firm boundary. The externalisation of
operations strategy was originally evident in the ``commercial chain'' provided
by Hayes and Wheelwright (1984), shown in Figure 1.
As operations strategy was externalised, moving beyond the boundary of the
firm into the immediate commercial chain, so vertical integration and sourcing
were added to its array of decision categories to determine structure (Hayes and
Wheelwright, 1984) or process choice (Hill, 1989), and infrastructure of the
operation. These strategic decisions were formed, in theory, rationally and
normatively to meet competitive priorities, such as quality, dependability, cost
and flexibility (Hayes and Wheelwright, 1984) or order-winning/qualifying
criteria (Hill, 1989). Based partly on normative guiding principles of Chandler
(1962) and Ansoff (1965), but more particularly the economic analysis of markets
aw
Material
Fabricators
Material
Producers

Figure 1.
The commercial chain

Component
Parts
Producers

Source: Hayes & Wheelwright (1984)

Manufacturer /
Assembler

Wholesalers /
Distributors

Retailers

Consumers

and administrative hierarchies that Williamson (1971) developed, operations

strategy involved the creation of rational plans, largely focused on economy.
Williamson's view that ``a strategising effort will rarely prevail if a program is
burdened by significant cost excesses in production, distribution or organisation''
underpins the traditional focus of operations on costs and efficiency.
Within the consideration of vertical integration and sourcing, Hayes and
Wheelwright (1984) posed the following questions:
(1) What boundaries should a firm establish over its activities?
(2) How should it construct its relationships with other firms suppliers, distributors and
customers ``outside'' its boundaries?
(3) Under what circumstances should it change its boundaries or these relationships, and
what will be the effect on its competitive position?

Hayes and Wheelwright saw vertical integration as a way of increasing the

value-added component of a firm's total revenue, enabling it to ``exercise
greater control over its costs, final selling prices and ultimate profitability''
thereby demonstrating the Williamsonian economic underpinning of their
strategy formulation approach.
Stuedel and Desrulle (1992) argued that the key factor in global competition
has been the reduced ability of the firm to pass on cost increases to the
consumer in the form of increased market prices; this has placed further
pressure on operations managers to find efficiencies from other parts of their
total business process primarily the supply-side. For example, despite its
strong oligopolistic nature, the global automotive industry has been markedly
proactive in pursuing focused cost reductions; there are many examples from
General Motors, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Ford on the success of cost
reduction through the use of a ``lean'' strategy (Womack et al., 1990; Womack
and Jones, 1996).
The relevance of lean operations
The ideas behind the ``lean'' approach originated from extensive empirical
research conducted in the International Motor Vehicle Programme (IMVP) at
MIT (Womack et al., 1990; Lamming, 1993). Womack and Jones' later work
(1996) was based on case studies of more than 50 companies in a range of
industries, including Pratt & Whitney, Porsche and Toyota. Lean principles are
based on banishing waste in networks as a way of creating wealth for an
organisation, essentially stretching operations management principles of
efficiency beyond the boundary of the firm. However, they also focus on value
for ultimate consumers, defining, as a starting point, what was required from
the entire system supplying them.
Whilst the majority of the empirical research on which ``lean'' was based was
conducted in the automotive sector, Womack and Jones (1996) suggest that the
principles are generally applicable to ``humdrum but essential daily activities
which account for the great bulk of all consumer spending and economic
activity in advanced economies'' and discuss what they term ``dreams'' of

Concept of
supply strategy

657

IJOPM
19,7

658

perfection in long-distance travel, the routine cures aspects of medical care,

food production and distribution, construction and short range personal
mobility. Whilst not using this specific terminology, these dreams involve some
``hub'' of an inter-organisation network taking responsibility for co-ordinating
and redesigning the network to serve the consumer better.
Whilst the principles of lean are well reasoned, they cannot be fully
embraced in academic subject development without the essential theoretical
underpinning required for the existing, functional business subject areas to
recognise their own shortcomings in explaining and understanding holistic,
global, inter-organisation networks. ``Lean'' may not yet be viewed as
management theory but, as Womack and Jones conclude, it is a way of thinking
about value for the customer and how to create it and remove waste. Once
again, this is a case of management practice, captured by empirical research,
leading management theory.
It is evident, therefore, that operations management has acknowledged the
importance of extending its boundaries beyond the firm to consider operations
in a chain of supply which may be vertically integrated or a chain of
relationships with other firms. The focus, however, remains the firm itself and
its place and behaviour within the described environment. Operations
management thus appears to be limited to the idiosyncrasies of focal firm
thinking, where factors outside the firm are considered externalities, defined in
terms of their relationships to the firm. In contrast, recent work in purchasing
and supply management has accentuated relationships, rather than firms, as
more appropriate focuses for managerial attention in the new global, cooperative context. The next section reviews this shift in thinking.
Purchasing and supply management
Purchasing and supply management traditionally dealt with what are now
classified as ``adversarial'' or ``arms length'' dyadic (customer-supplier)
relationships within transaction management (see, for example, Baily and
Farmer, 1985), thereby viewing purchasing predominantly as a firm-based set
of activities. Much of the research attention within the field until the late 1980s
was concentrated on elevating the purchasing function from being considered
operational and clerical, to a strategic level (see, for example, Farmer, 1972;
Spekman, 1981; Caddick and Dale, 1987).
The desire on the part of some of its proponents for purchasing to be seen as
strategic has not been supported in practice by the manner in which the
function has been conducted or managed. On the one hand, skill levels have
repeatedly been found to languish at clerical levels, while the limitations of the
transactional or buying mentality appear to prevent purchasing from breaking
though to a level of strategic vision. Purchasing, it must be concluded, is
naturally focused on the buying and acquisition process, which may itself be
strategic. When attempts are made to lift it to the level of addressing the
business context described above, it is found wanting.

More recently the focus of attention has shifted to the significance of cooperative buyer-seller relationships to enable purchasing to support a firm's
strategic positioning (Landeros and Monczka, 1985; Macbeth and Ferguson,
1994). During this time, purchasing and supply management extended its
boundaries of consideration to the buyer/supplier relationship rather than the
buying firm's control of suppliers as external entities.
The combination of focusing more on collaborative relationships and the
increasingly strategic role of purchasing has resulted in a rise in prominence of
strategies of supply base reduction and relationship management within the last
few years (Lamming, 1993; Nishiguchi, 1994; Burt and Pinkerton, 1996). The
relationship focus has, however, enabled firms to restructure the way that they
do business. Organisations are increasingly focusing on ``buy'' as opposed to
``make''[1]. This is also clearly evident in the proliferation of ``outsourcing''
strategies (Wilcox et al., 1995). Nishiguchi (1994) argues that relationship
management, in conjunction with a ``buy'' (as opposed to ``make'') strategy can
allow firms to integrate and achieve the benefits of just-in-time, improved
quality, technology acquisition and development with increased levels of service.
Just as operations management, underpinned by new institutionalist
economics, focused largely on cost reduction, so too did purchasing and supply
management in its consideration of supply relationships. Lamming (1993)
suggested that neither the model for relationship management apparently
being adopted in the west, nor the Japanese model, developed for a specific set
of national circumstances over a period of 50 years, would be sufficient for
effective collaboration; he proposed a model for ``lean'' supply[2] as a means of
developing and exploiting relationships between customers and suppliers. As a
consequence ``lean supply'' approaches have become widely evident in research
in purchasing and supply management.
The relevance of lean supply. The concept of lean supply and subsequent
theoretical developments in the area of relationship management (Lamming,
1993; Macbeth, 1995; Hines, 1994; Lamming et al., 1996) have led firms to
conclude that they will more readily attain long-term cost reduction (via
product or process re-engineering) by forming closer working relationships
with ``key'' suppliers. Increasingly, discussion has focused on relationship
management as a means of gaining competitive advantage (Lamming et al.,
1996; Macbeth and Ferguson, 1994) across industries including automotive
(Lamming, 1993; Womack et al., 1990), Japanese textile industries (Dore, 1983)
and high technology industries (Sako, 1992; Nailbuff and Brandenburger, 1996).
These closer, longer-term, more collaborative buyer-supplier relationships
were termed, by some, as ``partnerships''. The search for closer co-operation and
integration is evident not only with customers; suppliers are increasingly being
viewed as partners, becoming more deeply involved in co-operative problem
solving, e.g. in new product development. There has been an observed shift away
from multi-sourced adversarial trading with suppliers, towards single or dual
sourcing, resulting in a reduction (or ``rationalisation'') of supplier bases used by
firms (Morgan, 1987; Hakansson, 1987; Lamming, 1989; Cousins, 1999

Concept of
supply strategy

659

IJOPM
19,7

660

forthcoming). Closer, longer-term relationships with suppliers are evident in some

industries, reported notably in the Japanese automotive industry (Womack et al.,
1990; Lamming, 1993; Nishiguchi, 1994), the Japanese textile industry (Dore,
1983), craft based Italian industries (Lorenzoni and Ornati, 1988) and various
Swedish manufacturing industries (Hakansson, 1987). This has caused
increasing dependence on suppliers and the relationships with them (Sabel et al.,
1987; Christopher, 1992; Slack, 1991; Schonberger, 1986). The terms ``partnership''
and ``partnership sourcing'' have been used to refer to these closer, longer-term
relationships with suppliers (Macbeth and Ferguson, 1994; Hines 1994).
However, from the mid 1990s purchasing and supply management has been
externalised beyond the immediate buyer/supplier relationship to consider
networks of supply, notably in the work of Nishiguchi (1994), Hines (1994),
Lamming (1993) and Burt and Doyle (1994) who particularly focused on
Japanese based co-ordination of supply chains extending beyond the immediate
supplier. Supply base rationalisation, it is argued, allows more intense process
development with the remaining suppliers, resulting in more rigid and robust
inter-organisation networks for supply (Easton and Quayle, 1990).
Consideration of networks for supply in the area of purchasing and supply
management has run in parallel to, and to a limited extent in concert with,
development of the network concept in industrial or relationship marketing.
Industrial, or relationship marketing
The work of the group of academic researchers known as the industrial
marketing and purchasing (IMP) group originally concentrated predominantly
on management of dyadic relationships (e.g. Hakansson, 1982; Ford, 1997;
Hakansson and Snehota, 1989). The IMP group developed models of dyadic
relationships that provided a language and structure for interaction, in terms of
the bonds, ties and links between actors, resources and activities, and an
understanding of the context of interaction. As with the purchasing and supply
management work on collaborative supply strategies, the IMP work,
particularly the empirical research, has continued to concentrate on dyadic
relationships although the umbrella term of ``networks'' has been used to frame
the connectedness between actors. IMP have reasoned that rational network
strategies are not feasible; players within networks are seen merely to cope
with the network and manage relationships, thereby indicating a fundamental
philosophical difference in approach to strategy compared to harder, more
rational approaches found in operations management.
The relationship marketing approach, including that of networks, appears to
fall short of the necessary focus on multi-organisational strategy that is
proposed here as necessary to manage firms in the new business context.
However, another subject area born largely from marketing and physical
distribution management logistics has appeared to explore more interorganisation issues.

Logistics
Logistics has been defined as:
the process of strategically managing the procurement, movement and storage of materials,
parts and finished inventory (and the related information flows) through the organisation and
its marketing channels in such a way that current and future profitability are maximised
through the cost-effective fulfillment of orders (Christopher, 1992).

However, other logistics authors, notably Bowersox et al. (1992) concluded that
logistics ``reaches out to encompass customers and suppliers''. Writers on
logistics have paid less attention than those in operations management to the
transformation operation itself, and less than those in purchasing and supply
management to inter-organisational relationships with the upstream supply
network, focusing instead on the need to keep materials moving in a chain of
supply from one part of the business to another and through downstream
channels of distribution to customers.
Originating during the Second World War as the application of operational
research techniques to military resource movement, the subject of logistics has
focused historically on optimisation of efficiency in inventory management,
project management and scheduling (Buffa, 1976). Much of the development of the
subject has been focused on physical distribution management and materials
handling using OR principles and techniques. Another substantial area of
research has been the application of industrial dynamics to the management of
materials in inter-organisation chains of companies (Towill, 1991, 1992). This
work has included consideration of upstream suppliers, though again has not
considered aspects beyond materials and information aspects of flows between
organisations.
Logistics, therefore, has concerned itself primarily with volume and timing
aspects of materials and information flows, predominantly from manufacturers
downstream and has paid less attention to other flows between organisations,
particularly in upstream supply relationships. In common with operations
management, logistics has also paid little attention to behavioural, softer
aspects of inter-organisational business. Much of the development of research
on these issues has emanated from the field of service management.
Service management
Writers on service management have attempted to integrate operations
management with marketing, relating particularly to services. The
intangibility of service operations, coupled with the customer contact
dimension of service provision, has apparently driven service management to
embrace consumer behaviour thinking, including consideration of customer
expectations, perceptions of performance and customer satisfaction (Zeithaml
et al., 1990; Berry and Parasuraman, 1991; Brogowicz et al., 1990; Gronroos,
1990; Davidow and Uttal, 1989; Haywood-Farmer and Nollet, 1991). It has, as a
consequence, incorporated ``softer'' behavioural aspects of operations (see for
example Parasuraman et al., 1985), consideration of which is less evident in the
perspectives of operations management and logistics.

Concept of
supply strategy

661

IJOPM
19,7

662

Whilst research in service management has externalised more than

operations management in its focus on understanding customers and their
requirements, it has paid less attention to suppliers. The intangible nature of
services and the lower significance of materials and their management within
services than in manufacturing are likely causes of this lack of attention to
supply side issues. .
Summary of previous approaches
Each of the subject areas briefly described above has partially contributed to
current understanding of operations within inter-organisational, global,
networks by focusing on either particular structural parts of these networks
(such as upstream towards the original supply source or downstream towards
ultimate consumption) or particular streams or processes running through the
networks (such as the management of volume and timing of material flow). No
one business subject area has provided an integrated, holistic concept that joins
what are essentially bodies of work relating to the operating parts of business
conducted in inter-organisation, co-operative, global networks, whether that
operation is manufacturing, supplying, distributing or providing a service.
This brief overview of disparate, though related, bodies of work, serves to
provide a grounding for the more recent theoretical development, born out of
observations of what appears to be a more holistic approach taken by the
relatively small number of high performing businesses described earlier. These
high performing businesses operate in global, co-operative, inter-organisation
networks and, it is argued here, have been able to stretch their own boundaries
of influence through a rational, strategic approach focused on doing operations
better within whole networks of supply. We have given a label to the
theoretical development that forms the focus of the rest of this article supply
strategy as it appears that the existing labels, or brands, of operations
management, purchasing and supply, logistics, industrial/relationship
marketing and service management cannot be sufficiently extended to explain
these recent developments in business practice.
The concept of supply strategy
The concept of supply strategy integrates various existing bodies of knowledge
and concepts, to form a holistic, strategic perspective of management of
operations, stretching across inter-organisational boundaries. Central to the
concept of supply are the purchasing, use and transformation of resources to
provide goods or service packages to satisfy end customers today and in the
future, and the organisational structuring decisions that accommodate global
markets. End customers are defined as the ultimate decision makers within a
supply network; i.e. those that make a product or service differentiation
decision (Harland, 1996a). This does not imply that it is simply the end
customer who controls supply through demand; innovative offerings often
create and shape demand.

Supply strategy relates to the integration of supply activities within firms, in

dyadic relationships, in chains of firms and in inter-organisational networks.
These have been expressed as different systems levels of supply (Harland,
1996a) as shown in Figure 2. Common to all these levels is the flow of supply
and the activities and decisions associated with that flow.
Elsewhere, we have traced the history of the development of supply through
these levels (Harland, 1996a). From the early 1980s the brand name of supply
chain management was used variously to refer to each of these levels. The
reasons for moving from supply chain management to supply strategy are to
broaden the concept, extending it beyond the materials and information flows
orientation of much of the work to a more strategic domain, and to overcome
the confusion caused by the label being used to represent purchasing
relationships, internal supply issues and logistics issues all at once.
It has been argued previously that a rational, normative approach to supply
strategy is feasible and evident in business practice (Harland, 1996b). It is
proposed, therefore, that supply strategy can build on and externalise the rational
operations strategy approaches, to extend them to inter-organisation networks.
Table III builds on the ``strategy, structure, and infrastructure'' elements of
operations strategy and provides a supply network interpretation for these.
The concept of supply may therefore be summarised as a holistic approach
to managing operations within collaborative inter-organisation networks,
allowing the formulation and implementation of rational strategies for creating,
stimulating, capturing and satisfying end customer demand through
innovation of products, services, supply network structures and

Concept of
supply strategy

663

LEVEL 1 Supply within the firm boundary

LEVEL 2 Supply in a dyadic relationship

LEVEL 3 Supply in an inter-organisational chain

LEVEL 4 Supply in an inter-organisational network

Source: Adapted from Harland (1996a)

Figure 2.
Levels of supply

IJOPM
19,7

664

infrastructures, in a global, dynamic environment. Collaboration is not defined

in a restrictive sense; strategies may range from close interfacing (verging on
integration) to marriages of convenience.
It has been noted earlier that business practice is changing rapidly and
profoundly, causing radical changes in strategies, structures and
infrastructures within inter-organisation networks of supply. In the remainder
of this article, we focus on the future of supply which is expected to occur in
this dynamic, rapidly changing context.
To consider and predict the future of supply, a Delphi study[3] was
undertaken with a group of senior executives who all played significant roles
relating to supply in their fields; the group included chief executives, directors
and senior managers of private and public sector manufacturing and service
organisations, the chief executive of a major trade association and a Member of
Operations strategy

Supply network strategy

Competitive
priority

Of the operation:
Price (cost)
Dependability
Flexibility
Quality

Structure

Capacity size, volume, timing

Facilities
Production equipment and
systems

Of the end customer and each supply

network actor
Price (cost)
Delivery speed
Flexibility
Product quality
Innovation
Range
Service quality
reliability
responsiveness
competence
access
courtesy
communication
credibility
security
understanding/knowing the customer
tangibles
Capacity size, volume, timing
Supply network actors configuration
Supply network facilities configuration
e.g. fleet, buildings, materials handling
systems
Do-or-buy
Supply network human resource
policies
Supply network quality systems
Supply network operations planning
and control
New product/service development
Network organisation
Performance measurement

Infrastructure
Table III.
Extension of operations
strategy elements to
supply network
strategy

Internal/external sourcing
Human resource policies
Quality systems
Production planning and control
New product development
Organisation
Performance measurement

the United Kingdom Parliament with responsibility for a parliamentary

manufacturing industry group[4]. The study was designed and facilitated by
the authors, in conjunction with researchers from the Universities of Bath,
Brighton and Cambridge[5]. The next section outlines the aims, objectives and
methodology of the study and summarises the findings, particularly relating to
the future of supply.
The future of supply a research study
Aims and objectives of the study
The aim of this study was to project ahead, 20 years into the future, and capture
visions of the context of supply and the implications for supply strategy,
structures and infrastructures.
The specific objectives included:
.
to encourage senior executives from a range of sectors (public and
private) to offer views of the future and to debate them;
.
to avoid industry specific-visions by encouraging the participants to
construct visions of industries other than their own; and
.
to draw out common themes that might impact on supply strategies for
the future.
Methodology
A methodology based on various qualitative environmental forecasting techniques
was used for this study. Qualitative environmental forecasting incorporates the
subjective judgements of individuals or groups, recognising that key decision
makers may have some influence on future developments. One such method is the
so-called ``Delphi'' method, in which members of a panel of experts are questioned,
separately and repeatedly, about their views on likely future developments in a
particular area. A Delphi study is carried out in rounds; between each round the
experts review the combined views of their co-panellists. This allows learning
within the panel; the members move, over time, towards common views which
form the basis for predictions the results of the Delphi study.
Conventional Delphi studies use focused experts whose views, while
authoritative in their own subject areas, may actually be constrained by the
nature of their specific expertise. In this study, panel members were selected not
because of their specific expertise but because they were senior executives in
their field and were known to be strategic creative thinkers. In fact, many of
them had experience in a wide variety of sectors. The selection of experts was
intended to evoke visions of the future that sector specialists may not have
conceptualised, and to derive more generalised visions that might affect supply,
across sectors. For this ``quasi-Delphi'', then, study participants were given a
sector in which they did not operate and were asked to envision changes in the
context for supply changes that might impact on people and on business
and ways in which supply systems might change, with regard to new product
or service developments, and changing supply structures and processes.

Concept of
supply strategy

665

IJOPM
19,7

666

Example sectors were chosen to provide focus for the envisioning, rather
than to yield sector-specific predictions. These were:
.
transportation;
.
defence;
.
food;
.
financial services; and
.
entertainment.
The methodology also incorporated a mapping technique, to help in forming
consensual visions and to prioritise them.
Finally, the prioritised consensus views were used as the basis for scenario
creation. Scenarios are written or oral stories that develop possibilities, given a
set of conditions. Creators of scenarios extrapolate the essence of these
conditions to derive possible visions of the future. The academic team created
conditions for a scenario, which were presented to the participants. After the
quasi-Delphi study and the prioritisation of the views formed by consensus,
each participant in the study was asked to present a short story or scenario that
considered the visions created by the panel and reflected on their own roles.
This was entitled ``A Day in the Life'' and projected ahead how someone in their
specified role might have to operate in 20 years time.
Results of the study
The results are presented here in two sections. First, views and predictions are
presented about the changing context within which supply might be conducted
in 20 years time. This is followed by a discussion on the implications for the
future of supply in the new environment.
The context for supply
Societal changes and the supply context. Much of the discussion about the
changes impacting on people and society related to the increasing divide
between the ``Haves'' and the ``Have-nots''. More concentrated sectors of wealth
were predicted, resulting in a polarisation in the developed world between the
15 per cent ``Haves'' and the 85 per cent ``Have-nots''. It was expected that today's
underdeveloped countries would be catching up on consumption of goods and
services currently taken for granted in the developed world, such as car
ownership, air travel, telecommunications and ownership of consumer durables.
``Haves'' would be multi-skilled, flexible people who would have several careers
in their lifetime, always improving their education and knowledge.
It was also predicted that a further societal division would be more
pronounced the division between two groups labelled ``Hermits'' and
``Groupies''. A combination of many changes would enable and encourage some
people to become more reclusive hence ``Hermits''. These changes would
include the enabling information technologies that would allow people to work,
shop and communicate from home, the increasing number of single person

households, which would increase independence and more self centred

behaviour, and the rise in violent crime, causing a substantial increase in
importance of personal security. ``Groupies'' would still value face-to-face social
networking, though this would not necessarily have to be work related.
``Hermits'' were characterised as being totally dependent on the Internet and
having reclusive lives that would suit their own body clocks rather than the
demands of other people or businesses. They would work, shop, eat and
communicate when they wanted to. They would demand a broad array of home
delivered goods and services with increasing demand for variety, quality,
speed and flexibility. Much of their leisure time would be spent using the
Internet for virtual reality services of all types virtual skiing holidays
including simulator packages, delivery of all food and drink, and the ability to
simulate social contacts were discussed as examples. ``Groupies'' would also
demand a range of home delivered goods and services but would still value the
social contact of shopping, eating and leisure activities. Mundane activities,
such as personal financial transactions, would be demanded on a 24 hours a
day basis by all sections of the population.
Political changes and the supply context. The major political changes relating
to the supply context debated included greatly increased international
collaboration in the public sector, with individual nations or groups of nations
outsourcing some activities subject to high economies of scale, such as defence,
to a smaller number of global organisations, such as NATO. More international
agencies and political structures to combat international problems such as
terrorism and drugs were predicted. This greater international collaboration
would be facilitated through information technology developments, largely
based on the Internet.
International awareness and action on environmental issues would cause
legislative responsibility and mandatory open information sharing about
environmental protection. This would result in such measures as legal
obligations for all manufacturers to take responsibility for disposal and
recycling of products and packaging.
Despite the apparent current backlash against it, genetic engineering of food
would be politically facilitated to allow food to be grown in more inhospitable
climates and to reduce problems of perishability.
Business changes and the supply context. Substantial changes to industrial
sectors were predicted, blurring the boundaries of sectors. For example,
convergence of sectors such as transport and telecommunications would
increase, with the development of smart public transport systems and smart
vehicles. Education and entertainment would continue to converge with home
based, ``fun education'' being provided on the Internet. Food and
pharmaceuticals would converge with increasing development of nutritionally
beneficial food. Telecommunications and entertainment would converge with
the development of substantially more home based virtual reality

Concept of
supply strategy

667

IJOPM
19,7

668

entertainment packages. Integration across industries would also occur

because of the diversification of large, global players moving into other sectors
through brand strength, e.g. Virgin's move into financial services.
It was predicted that a small number of large, powerful, global players
would dominate each market but they would be reliant on international
networks of businesses, many of them SMEs, and many freelance individuals
who would provide business services more easily over the Internet. The
development of computer/telecommunications-based automatic language
translation facilities will enable the international connections to occur. There
would be an increased role for large integrators of networks integrators
would connect various players across traditional sectors to put together total
packages. For example, integrators would connect entertainment supply chains
with service providers taking a fee per view, with an automated royalty system
distributing funds back up the supply chain.
Economies of scale would cause the growth of international information hubs,
such as those holding personal financial information. Databases of knowledge
and access to databases will become the most important business resource.
Business travel in the developed world will reduce with many business
meetings being replaced with virtual meetings over the Internet. However,
senior executives and business network creators would still meet face-to-face to
establish and maintain trust in inter-business networks. The current trend of
downsizing firm locations would continue with firms having fewer permanent
employees and encouraging and facilitating more home working.
Implications for the future of supply
Globalisation, as a trend, was predicted to continue, based largely on the
management of knowledge-related barriers to entry and economies of scale,
and facilitated through the Internet. The increasing divide between the ``Haves''
and the ``Have-nots'', ``Hermits'' and ``Groupies'' in developed markets, combined
with the catching up of the underdeveloped world, would continue to cause
global businesses to differentiate offerings for different territories and different
segments; global offerings and even global brands might become less
important than meeting local needs with culturally specific goods and services.
The core of global inter-organisation networks would be long-term
partnering with key players, such as information hubs. However, the developed
Internet would allow ``log-on'' access to SMEs and individuals who would pick
up available work, add value for a period of time and a fee, then log-off,
enabling others to continue.
Firms were conceived as becoming more dynamic as changing sets of
competencies and knowledge rather than fixed functional structures. Senior
executives roles would be concerned with facilitating relationships between
different stakeholders in the entire chain of supply; this was described as
making sure that the ``plumbing'' was in place.
Some supply chains would be very innovative with each link adding
substantial value. Management of these supply chains would need to be

comprehensive gaining and maintaining a position from which it was

possible to facilitate and influence them would be very important. Upstream
links in the supply chain would provide the technological/innovative
advantage and downstream links would provide the customisation in terms of
differentiated packaging, presentation and delivery of offerings. Others would
be competitive and would need to remain more responsive to market forces
value would find its own way to end customers, via ``the line of least resistance''.
The demand for a far greater range of customised new products and services
would lead to the creation of new supply systems within dynamically changing
supply networks. For example, food networks would change substantially.
``Customer-convenient'' home delivery systems would proliferate. Food
products and ingredients would be delivered to the home. (Currently, firms
predicting how home shopping will be implemented are already considering
homes having secure bunkers with separate sections for frozen, chilled and
ambient foods into which food can be delivered). The number of ``Cook on
board'' fast food providers was expected to increase for the supply of nutritious
ready meals direct to customers in their homes. Automotive supply networks
would change globally with the developed world moving more to
environmentally sound solutions of greater use of high speed, efficient, mass
transit systems and reduced travel through home working. The remaining
underdeveloped world might require less environmentally sound (and thus less
onerous) cars and travel options. Defence supply networks would change as
personal security increased in priority and internationally collaborative
networks of military defence increased.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the views of the future provided by the experts in
this study appear to suggest a substantial change in the nature of industries,
firms, supply chains and business relationships over the next 20 years. The role
for managers appears to be a more dynamic balancing act, maintaining their
own organisation's viability and prosperity, within a much more complex
network, the survival and success of which are of critical importance to its
constituent firms. Strategic supply becomes a matter of knowing whom to
include in the network and managing the complex web of relationships
required. This echoes views expressed in social network theory, notably the
work by Burt (1992): ``a player who knows how to structure a network to
provide high opportunity knows who to include in the network''.
The challenge for businesses over the next 20 years is to provide a clear
vision of supply as the over-arching purpose of business operations, focusing
the attentions of managers and stakeholders on the implications of the
developments such as those discussed in this study. To meet this challenge it
will be necessary to formulate a supply strategy.
Conclusions
The plethora of subject titles within the management discipline might appear to
discourage researchers from proposing a new one. It is our contention, however,
that the fundamental changes in the business environment faced by firms are

Concept of
supply strategy

669

IJOPM
19,7

670

not sufficiently addressed by the previous approaches discussed above, in

either their original or extended forms. Thus supply strategy fills a need within
the agenda of explanation and development which theorising provides.
The research described above suggests that this business environment is
likely to continue in its developing complexity and challenge: our proposal that
a single firm focus, or that of the firm and its externalities, is insufficient,
appears to be borne out.
The challenge now is to structure the theories that contribute to supply strategy,
to build the frameworks that will enable their explanation, and to establish
trajectories for the developments in management practice that may be expected to
emerge as a result of those theories. This is the subject of our current research.
Notes
1. See for example, Dirrheimer and Hubner (1983); Kumpe and Bolwinjin (1988); Gadde and
Hakannson (1990); Childe (1987); Wilcox et al. (1995).
2. Originally termed the ``post-Japanese'' model, see Lamming (1993) pp. 179-93.
3. The Delphi technique was considered to be especially appropriate in the light of our
revelations concerning academic research ``catching up'' with business practice, as
discussed above.
4. The Delphi Study was sponsored by Computer Sciences Corporation whose contribution is
gratefully acknowledged.
5. The contributions of Professor John Bessant, CENTRIM, University of Brighton and Dr Nick
Oliver, Judge Institute of Management, University of Cambridge are gratefully acknowledged.
References
Ansoff, H.I. (1965), Corporate Strategy, Penguin, Harmondsworth.
Baily, P. and Farmer, D. (1985), Purchasing Principles and Management, 5th ed., Pitman, London.
Bennett, D. and Xia, H.C. (1994), ``Sino-foreign high technology joint ventures: some factors
affecting performance'', Proceedings of 4th International Conference on Management of
Technology, Miami, Florida, February/March.
Berry, L.L. and Parasuraman, A. (1991), Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality, Free
Press, New York, NY.
Bowersox, D.J., Daugherty, P.J., Droge, C.L., Germain, R.N. and Rogers, D.S. (1992), Logistical
Excellence: It's Not Business as Usual.
Brogowicz, A.A., Delene, L.M. and Lyth, D.M. (1990), ``A synthesised service model with
managerial implications'', International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 1
No. 1, pp. 27-46.
Buffa, E.S. (1976), Operations Management: the Management of Productive Systems, Wiley, New
York, NY.
Burt, D.N. (1994), Proactive Procurement: The Key to Increased Profits, Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, NJ.
Burt, D. and Doyle, M. (1994), The American Keiretsu: A Strategic Weapon for Global
Competition, Business One, Irwin, IL.
Burt, D.N. and Pinkerton, R.L. (1996), A Purchasing Manager's Guide to Strategic Proactive
Procurement, AMACOM, New York, NY.
Burt, R.S. (1992), Structural Holes, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.

Caddick, J.R. and Dale, B.G. (1987), ``The determination of purchasing objectives and strategies:
some key influences'', International Journal of Physical Distribution and Materials
Management, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 5-16.
Campbell, A.J. and Wilson, D.T. (1996), ``Managed networks: creating strategic advantage'', in
Iacobucci, D. (Ed.), Networks in Marketing, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.
Chandler, A.D. (1962), Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial
Enterprise, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Child, J. (1987), ``Information technology, organisation and the response to strategic challenges'',
California Management Review, Fall, pp. 35-50.
Christopher, M. (1992), Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Pitman, London.
Cousins, P.D.C. (1999 forthcoming), ``Supply base rationalisation: myth or reality?'', European
Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, Vol. 5 No. 1.
Cunningham, M.T. and Gillingham, K. (1991), ``Competitiveness through networks of
relationships in information technology product markets'' in Paliwoda, S.J. (Ed.), New
Perspectives on International Marketing, Routledge, London.
Davidow, W.H. and Uttal, B. (1989), ``Service companies: focus or falter'', Harvard Business
Review, July/August.
Dirrheimer, M. and Hubner, T. (1983), ``Vertical integration and performance in the automotive
industry'', paper presented at the Future of the Automobile Forum, MIT, Boston, MA.
Dore, R. (1983), ``Goodwill and the spirit of market capitalism'', British Journal of Sociology, Vol.
34 No. 4, pp. 459-82.
Dubois, A. (1994), ``Organising industrial activities an analytical framework'', Dept of Industrial
Marketing, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg, Sweden.
Dubois, F. and Oliff, M. (1992), ``International manufacturing configuration and competitive
priorities'', in Voss, C. (Ed.), Manufacturing Strategy Process and Content, Chapman Hall,
London, pp. 239-57.
Easton, G. and Quayle, M. (1990), ``Single and multiple network sourcing network
implications'', Research and Developments in International Industrial Marketing and
Purchasing: Proceedings of 6th IMP Conference, Milan.
Farmer, D. (1972), ``The impact of supply markets on corporate planning'', Long Range Planning,
Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 10-15.
Ford, D. (Ed.) (1997), Understanding Business Markets, 2nd ed., Academic Press, London.
Fruin, M. (1992), The Japanese Enterprise System, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Gadde, L.E. and Hakansson, H. (1990), ``The changing role of purchasing'', Research
Developemnts in International Industrial Marketing and Purchasing: Proceedings of 6th
IMP Conference, Milan.
Gronroos, C. (1990), Service Management and Marketing, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA.
Hakansson, H. and Snehota, I. (1989), ``No business is an island: the network concept of business
strategy'', Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 187-200.
Hakansson, H. (1982), International Marketing and Purchasing of Industrial Goods: An
Interaction Approach, Wiley, New York.
Hakansson, H. (Ed.) (1987), Industrial Technological Development: A Network Approach, Croom
Helm, London.
Hamel, G., Doz, Y. and Prahalad, C.K. (1989), ``Collaborate with your competitors and win'',
Harvard Business Review, January-February.
Harland, C.M. (1996a), ``Supply chain management: relationships, chains and networks'', British
Journal of Management, Vol. 7, March, pp. S63-S80.

Concept of
supply strategy

671

IJOPM
19,7

672

Harland, C.M. (1996b), ``Supply network strategies: the case of health supplies'', European Journal
of Purchasing and Supply Management, Vol. 2 No. 4, pp. 183-92.
Hayes, R.H. and Wheelwright, S.C. (1984), Restoring our Competitive Edge: Competing Through
Manufacturing, Wiley, New York.
Haywood-Farmer, J. and Nollet, J. (1991), Services Plus: Effective Service Management, Morin,
Boucherville, Quebec.
Hill, T.J. (1989), Manufacturing Strategy: Text and Cases, Irwin, Homewood, IL.
Hines, P. (1994), ``Creating world class suppliers: unlocking mutual competitive advantage'',
Financial Times, Pitman, London.
Jarillo, J.C. (1993), Strategic Networks: Creating the Borderless Organisation, Butterworth
Heinemann, Oxford.
Jarillo, J.C. and Stevenson, H.H. (1991), ``Co-operative strategies: the payoffs and the pitfalls'',
Long Range Planning, Vol. 24 No. 1.
Kanter, R.M. (1994), ``What thinking globally really means'', Harvard Business Review, ``Global
Strategies'', Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA
Keegan, W.J. (1989), Global Marketing Management, 4th ed., Prentice-Hall International,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Kinch, N. (1992), ``Entering a tightly structured network strategic visions or network realities'',
in Forgren, M. and Johanson, J. (Eds), Managing Networks in International Business,
Gordon & Breach, Philadelphia, pp. 194-214.
Kogut, B. (1985), ``Designing global strategies: comparative and competitive value added chains'',
Sloan Management Review, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 15-28.
Kumpe, E. and Bolwjin, P.T. (1988), ``Manufacturing: the case for vertical integration'', Harvard
Business Review, March/April, pp. 75-81.
Lamming, R.C. (1993), Beyond Partnership: Strategies for Innovation and Lean Supply, PrenticeHall, Hemel Hempstead.
Lamming, R.C. (1989), The Causes and Effects of Structural Change in European Automotive
Components Industry, International Motor Vehicle Programme, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA.
Lamming, Cousins and Notman (1996), ``Beyond vendor assessment: the relationship assessment
project'', European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management.
Landeros, R. and Monczka, R.M. (1985), ``Co-operative buyer-supplier relationships are a firm's
competitive strategy'', Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 9-18.
Lorenzoni, G. and Baden-Fuller, (1993), ``Creating a strategic centre to manage a web of partners'',
working paper, School of Management, University of Bath.
Lorenzoni, G. and Ornati, O. (1988), ``Constellations of firms and new ventures'', Journal of
Business Venturing, Vol. 3, pp. 41-57.
Macbeth, D.K. and Ferguson, N. (1994) Partnership Sourcing, Pitman, London.
Marquardt, M. and Reynolds, A. (1994), The Global Learning Organisation, Irwin, New York, NY.
Maruca, R.F. (1994,) ``The right way to go global: an interview with Whirlpool CEO David
Whitwam'', Harvard Business Review, March/April.
Morgan, I. (1987), ``The purchasing revolution'', McKinsey Quarterly, Spring, pp. 49-55.
Nailbuff, B.J. and Brandenburger, A.M. (1996), Co-opetition, Harper Collins Press, London.
Nishiguchi, T. (1994), Strategic Dualism: the Japanese Advantage, Oxford University Press, New
York, NY.
Normann, R. (1984), Service Management: Strategy and Leadership in Service Business, John
Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.
Ouchi, W. (1981), Theory Z, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1985), ``A conceptual model of service quality
and its implications for future research'', Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, Fall, pp. 41-50.
Perlmutter, H.V. and Heenan, D.A. (1986), ``Co-operate to compete globally'', Harvard Business
Review, March/April.
Porter, M.E. (1987), ``Managing value from competitive advantage to corporate strategy'',
Harvard Business Review, May-June.
Porter, M.E. (1990), Competitive Advantage of Nations, Macmillan Press, London.
Reve, T. (1990), ``The firm as a nexus of internal and external contracts'', in Williamson, O.E. and
Aoki, M. (Eds), The Firm as a Nexus of Treaties, London.
Sabel, C., Herrigel, G., Kazis, R. and Deeg, R. (1987), ``How to keep mature industries innovative'',
Technology Review, Vol. 90 No. 3, pp. 26-35.
Sako, M. (1992), Prices, Quality and Trust: Inter-Firm Relations in Britain and Japan, Cambridge
University Press.
Savage, C. (1990), Fifth Generation Management, Digital Press, Burlington, MA.
Schonberger (1987), World Class Manufacturing: The Lessons of Simplicity Applied, Free Press,
New York, NY.
Schonberger, R.J. (1982), Japanese Manufacturing Techniques: Nine Hidden Lessons in Simplicity,
Free Press, New York, NY.
Shi, Y. and Gregory, M.J. (1994), ``International manufacturing strategy: structuring world-wide
manufacturing network'', Working Papers in Manufacturing, No. 11, Cambridge
University.
Skinner, W. (1969), ``Manufacturing missing link in corporate strategy'', Harvard Business
Review, May-June, pp. 136-45.
Slack, N. (1991), The Manufacturing Advantage, Mercury Business Books, London.
Slack, N., Chambers, S., Harland, C., Harrison, A. and Johnston, R. (1998), Operations
Management, Pitman, London.
Snow, C.C. and Miles, R.E. (1992), ``Managing 21st century network organisations'',
Organizational Dynamics, Winter.
Spekman, R. (1981), ``A strategic approach to procurement planning'', Journal of Purchasing and
Materials Management, Winter, pp. 3-9.
Stuedel, H.J. & Desrulle, P. (1992), Manufacturing in the 1990s: How to Become a Mean, Lean,
World Class Competitor, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, NY.
Thackray, J. (1986), ``America's vertical cutback'', Management Today, June.
Towill, D.R. (1991), ``Supply chain dynamics'', Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Vol. 4 No. 4,
pp. 197-208.
Towill, D.R. (1992), ``Supply chain dynamics the change engineering challenge of the mid
1990s'', Proceedings of Instn of Mech. Engrs, Vol. 206, pp. 233-45.
Whittington, R. (1993), What is Strategy and Does it Matter?, Routledge, London.
Wilcox, L., Fitzgerald, G. and Feeny, D. (1995), ``Outsourcing IT: the strategic implications'', Long
Range Planning, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 59-70.
Williamson, O.E. (1975), Markets and Hierarchies, Free Press, New York, NY.
Womack, J.P, Jones, D.T. and Roos, D. (1990), The Machine That Changed the World, Maxwell
Macmillan.
Womack, J.P. and Jones, D.T. (1996) Lean Thinking, Simon and Schuster, New York, NY.
Zeithaml, V.A., Parasuraman, A. and Berry, L.L. (1990), Delivering Quality Service: Balancing
Customer Perceptions and Expectations, Free Press, New York, NY.

Concept of
supply strategy

673