Innovation as a determinant of suppliers’ roles and performances: an empirical study in the food machinery industry

The competition for supplier resources

“…Furthermore, higher levels of project management capabilities have been shown to lead to higher levels of new product development (NPD) performance (Ethiraj, et al, 2005). Petroni and Panciroli (2002) link suppliers' project management competences to innovation and find that the best performing buyer-supplier relationships "show a distinctive profile in terms of project management competence" (p.146). In addition to the direct and indirect effects of these competences on innovation, the process and project management capabilities indicate a certain organizational maturity that are often used as prerequisites in audits used by buying firms to evaluate suppliers (Moultrie, Clarkson & Probert, 2007).…”

“…Kaufman, Wood, and Theyel (2000), for instance, classify specialized suppliers as "technology specialists" and associate specialization with innovativeness because of the design capabilities of these suppliers. Petroni and Panciroli (2002) describe how suppliers categorized as "despecialized" tend to be the least innovative suppliers in buyer-supplier relationships. Focusing on organizational innovation rather than collaborative innovation, Damanpour (1991) found that specialization tends to positively affect innovation.…”

“…These items emphasize how the respondents experience the contribution of each supplier to their firm's innovation process by indicating the supplier's pro-activeness in approaching the buyer with innovative ideas, the capability and extent to which the supplier supports the buyer in collaborative product development and process improvement, and the supplier's willingness to share technological information. Supplier professionalism was measured with items based on a study by Petroni and Panciroli (2002),who mention the relevance of certifications and project management capabilities. The items for supplier specialization are based on a study by Wasti and Liker (1999), who found that specialized firms supply specific products to a limited market with a relatively small number of competitors.…”

An investigation into E-business service in the UK telecommunication manufacturing industry

“…Cox (2004) supports this, arguing that collaboration is not a panacea for the whole of the supplier base. The buyer should manage its supplier base as a portfolio of different types of suppliers (Petroni and Panciroli, 2002). This viewpoint is supported by transaction costs theory, which holds that buyers and suppliers have two basic alternatives to consider -market transactions versus hierarchy transactions in order to economise their transaction costs (Williamson, 1975;Croom, 2005).…”

“…Companies may also utilise a mix of the various configurations across their portfolio of different relationships (Petroni and Panciroli, 2002). This is further complicated within an e-commerce environment where buyers and suppliers have become more visible.…”