Leveraging the power of the Internet for optimal supplier sourcing

Abstract

Intelligent software agents offer the potential to unleash the power of the Internet to optimise the process of supplier sourcing. Aims to promote an awareness in the buyer/supplier community of the potential for using intelligent software agents over the Internet for this purpose. The traditional relationship between suppliers and buyers is contrasted with that of Internet‐based trading. This comparison confirms that trust is a critical component in the traditional relationship and that an understanding of the nature of trust is necessary in revealing where and how agent technology will have maximum benefit for both buyers and suppliers. It is shown that the technology that can enable this form of sourcing is already well established, and a range of conceptual agents are described. Finally, identifies the benefits that will accrue to organisations that adopt agent technology as part of their supplier‐sourcing portfolio, and recommendations for further work are made.

Exploring the impact of e-business adoption on logistics processes: empirical evidence from the food industry

“…Therefore, e-business has been perceived by many authors as a way to improve the performance of the company in many areas (Tucker and Jones 2000, Tan 2001, Lee and Whang 2002. Regarding the nature of the products, they present a number of unique characteristics related to their perishable nature and seasonality (Den Ouden et al 1996, Epperson andEstes 1999).…”

Performance‐based logistics: a portfolio for contracting military supply

“…For this purpose we use the conceptual portfolio approach as portfolios are generally employed to support decision-making in supply and logistics management (Cox, 1996;Kraljic, 1983;Nellore and Söderquist, 2000;Gelderman and Van Wheele, 2005). Portfolios are appropriate when there is no single best method but rather several alternatives exist; for example, portfolios are suggested for decisions between partnership and adversarial supplier relationships (Tucker and Jones, 2000). Our approach applies one portfolio for the military demand side and another one to the supply side.…”

Revising marketing strategies for supplier selection criteria: small firm approach from the information and communications industry

“…The availability criteria are basically quantifiable, and can be conducted via secondary sources such as the internet or by sending out a simple query, such as an offer proposal. However, quantifiable information that can be obtained by means of specific software has maximum impact only at the pre-negotiation stage (Tucker and Jones, 2000) -the stage we refer to as availability screening.…”