Complex social networks have received increasing attention from researchers. Recent work has focused on mechanisms that produce scale-free networks. We theoretically and empirically characterize the buyer-supplier network of the US economy and find that purely scale-free models have trouble matching key attributes of the network. We construct an alternative model that incorporates realistic fea...

The aim of this paper is to identify antecedents to supplier integration in China. A deductive approach was deployed by building on a qualitative pre-study and various strands of SCM literature. All in all, 14 hypotheses were derived and subsequently tested by drawing on an empirical sample collected from 88 manufacturing firms operating in China. The data was then analyzed using partial least ...

Whilst there is much research material on buyer and supplier performance assessment and management, a relationship perspective can bring an added dimension, especially to the performance of close, mutual relationships. This article aims to bring a relationship performance understanding to the study of buyer–supplier exchange. Unfortunately, business-to-business relationships are assumed to enha...

We consider a general Informed Principal Problem in the context of procurement. Both the potential suppliers and the buyer hold some private information: each supplier knows his cost of production, the buyer knows how much each supplier’s product …ts her technical requirements. We derive the optimal auction in this environment, and analyze the implementation problem with special emphasis on thr...

This paper develops an analytical model that explores how important supply chain parameters affect the cost savings to be realized from collaborative initiatives such as vendor-managed inventory (VMI). Results from the model show that benefits, in the form of inventory cost reductions, may be generated from integration depending upon the ratio of the order costs of the supplier to the buyer and...

This paper studies split-award procurement auctions where a buyer can either divide full production among multiple suppliers or award the entire production to a single supplier. The literature shows that single sourcing usually dominates multiple sourcing. This paper challenges the “winner-takes-all” argument. In a framework of generalized second-price auctions with pre-auction investment, we s...

We study a single-period inventory control problem with two independent suppliers. With the first supplier, the buyer incurs a high variable cost but negligible fixed cost; with the second supplier, the buyer incurs a lower variable cost but a positive fixed cost. At the same time, the ordering quantity is limited. We develop the optimal inventory control policy when the holding and shortage co...

In a supplier-retailer-buyer supply chain, the supplier frequently offers the retailer a trade credit of  periods, and the retailer in turn provides a trade credit of  periods to her/his buyer to stimulate sales and reduce inventory. From the seller’s perspective, granting trade credit increases sales and revenue but also increases opportunity cost (i.e., the capital opportunity loss during cre...

Supplier integration is considered a key managerial strategy for improving buyer performance. This study adopts a configurational approach to supplier integration, based on the interaction and complementarity between supply chain management practices. In this perspective, this study explores the impact of supplier integration and measures aimed at creating a fast supply network structure on buy...

Most supplier selection models consider the buyer’s viewpoint and maximize only the buyer’s profit. This does not necessarily lead to an optimal situation for all the members of a supply chain. Coordination models have been developed to optimize the entire supply chain and align the decisions between its entities. Little research has been done on the application of these models in the supplier ...