Purpose -There has been limited research examining the influence of inter-organisational relationships and the social capital they may nurture in building SCRES. The authors aim to explore how three dimensions of social capital (cognitive, structural and relational) may act as facilitators or enablers of the four formative capabilities for SCRES (i.e. flexibility, velocity, visibility, and collaboration), identified by Jü ttner and Maklan. Design/methodology/approach -Data were collected from three separate tiers of the supply chain involved in the response to an extreme event (the Lambrigg, UK rail crash). Using a social constructionist approach, the paper explores how social capital may enable the emergence of formative capabilities for resilience. Findings -The data suggest that the dimensions of social capital may play an influential role in facilitating the four formative capabilities for SCRES and indicate the potential for these to be mutually reinforcing. Research limitations/implications -The paper provides an illustration of some links between resilience and social capital constructs within one supply network, in the context of crisis response. Different types of network and contexts may result in other outcomes and have other facilitating effects upon SCRES. These findings should be explored within other contexts. Practical implications -The authors highlight that social capital may be nurtured deliberately or emerge as a consequence of relationships within a network. Formal efforts to build network communications, norms of reciprocity may create the conditions for appropriable organisations to emerge when faced with extreme events. Originality/value -Drawing from a social capital perspective, this paper contributes to a fuller understanding of notions of relational capital.

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Purpose -The aim of this paper is to present a purchasing portfolio model for determining purchasing strategy at the component level of a product to support business strategy, addressing weaknesses in the often cited Kraljic-type models. The work draws on Fisher's model to match supply strategy to product nature. However, Fisher's model was criticised very recently by Lo and Power in this journal because it is unclear how the "leagile" option should fit into it. This paper addresses this issue. Design/methodology/approach -The new portfolio model is based on the literature, particularly Fisher's seminal work. It is then applied to two case studies; an electric boiler manufacturer and an elevator manufacturer, both in South Korea. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to position purchased components in the model. Findings -Different purchasing strategies should be assigned to different components according to their impact on the competitive priorities. As the electric boiler is a functional product, while the elevator is an innovative product, the case studies show how this can vary across the two product-types identified by Fisher.Research limitations/implications -The new model has been tested on only two case studies, which limits the ability to generalise the findings. Future work will use the lean and agile purchasing portfolio model in research and knowledge exchange activities with other industrial partners to further develop and test its efficacy. Originality/value -The new model captures the finding of Fisher and others that products should be classified as functional or innovation to determine their suitability for lean or agile supply respectively. However, this classification is extended here to the component level and with the addition of the leagile and non-strategic supply options, and it depends on the impact a component has on the four competitive priorities; cost, quality, time and flexibility.

International audienceA new approach to purchasing portfolio modelling, stemming from Kraljic's matrix, for developing purchasing strategies that are aligned with competitive priorities, is developed to address the weaknesses of existing approaches that are preventing widespread application, especially in SMEs. The importance of strategic purchasing to achieving competitive priorities and the need to align it with business strategy is argued through a literature review, which is also used to establish that purchasing portfolio modelling is an effective tool in achieving this alignment. The new approach is applied to two South Korean elevator manufacturers

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of batching on bullwhip effect in a model of multi-echelon supply chain with information sharing. Design/methodology/approach -The model uses the system dynamics and control theoretic concepts of variables, flows, and feedback processes and is implemented using iThink w software. Findings -It has been seen that the relationship between batch size and demand amplification is non-monotonic. Large batch sizes, when combined in integer multiples, can produce order rates that are close to the actual demand and produce little demand amplification, i.e. it is the size of the remainder of the quotient that is the determinant. It is further noted that the value of information sharing is greatest for smaller batch sizes, for which there is a much greater improvement in the amplification ratio.Research limitations/implications -Batching is associated with the inventory holding and backlog cost. Therefore, future work should investigate the cost implications of order batching in multi-echelon supply chains. Practical implications -This is a contribution to the continuing research into the bullwhip effect, giving supply chain operations managers and designers a practical way into controlling the bullwhip produced by batching across multi-echelon supply chains. Economies of scale processes usually favor large batch sizes. Reducing batch size in order to reduce the demand amplification is not a good solution. Originality/value -Previous similar studies have used control theoretic techniques and it has been pointed out that control theorists are unable to solve the lot sizing problem. Therefore, system dynamic simulation is then applied to investigate the impact of various batch sizes on bullwhip effect.