Supplier relationships in regulated industries: longitudinal study on energy distribution

Immonen, Mika; Tahvanainen, Kaisa; Viljainen, Satu

doi:10.1504/ijpm.2011.043001

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The literature on outsourcing features several analytical frameworks, some of which (Immonen et al, 2011) are based on transaction-cost economics and the resource based view. These theories may be beneficial when the aim is to identify the causalities of the outsourcing phenomenon, however as basis for decision making they typically provide a meta-level perspective rather than focusing on the essential factors of the managerial service process.…”

Section: Scientific Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the impact of outsourcing in the electricity network industry

Vilko

2013

Baltic Journal of Management

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Purpose -Electricity networks in Europe have been experiencing drastic changes driven by deregulation. The old monopoly businesses do not always find it easy to make the required improvements, and some are outsourcing the functions to private service providers. Outsourcing is a fairly new phenomenon in electricity distribution, however, and there are few studies on the subject. The purpose of this paper is to narrow the gap in assessing the affecting factors and the impact in a case involving outsourcing the underground cabling functions of a publicly-owned network company to a private service provider. Design/methodology/approach -The study is based mainly on qualitative interviews and an expert group session set up to analyse the acquired data. The affecting factors and the outsourcing impact levels were determined in the group discussion, and analysed in accordance with the risk/benefit framework developed, taking account of both the short-and long-term aspects. Findings -Outsourcing in the electricity network industry should be assessed holistically from the perspectives of the outsourcing company and the service provider. The results of outsourcing depend on the function in question, and there are wide differences in how it affects different elements of the organisations involved. A risk/benefit framework provides significant insights into the impacts and increase understanding about the causalities of the phenomenon and the goals of the partners. Originality/value -The paper provides new knowledge with regard to electricity distribution by illustrating the affecting factors and the impacts of outsourcing. The presented framework gives a holistic picture of the impacts in an analysis of both parties' viewpoints and the short and long time scales in the relationship.

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Section: Scientific Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the impact of outsourcing in the electricity network industry

Vilko

2013

Baltic Journal of Management

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“…Azadeh and Movaghar (2010) have suggested an integrated approach based on data envelopment analysis and principal component analysis for efficiency assessment and optimization of transmission systems. Immonen et al (2011) have analyzed the transformation of procurement management by Finnish electricity distribution network operators regarding the maintenance and construction of distribution networks. Catalão et al (2007) have proposed a neural network approach for forecasting short-term electricity prices.…”

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confidence: 99%

An analysis for service quality enhancement in electricity utility sector of India by SEM

Satapathy

2014

Benchmarking: An International Journal

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a new model – namely service quality enhancement – in the electricity utility sector of south India and to test this model's fitness. Design/methodology/approach – Effective customer satisfaction investigation is a very important precondition for a power supply enterprise to win in the market competition. The problems that need to be solved for the power supply enterprise are how to use advanced and practiced methods to evaluate electricity customer satisfaction, and how to use results of the evaluation to improve their service. Planning and operating modern electric power systems involves several interlinked and complex tasks. In this paper, structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied to the electricity utility service model to verify service quality satisfaction. To determine the scope of the electricity industry and its relationship with overall service quality, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted and a standard questionnaire was designed for all customers in different groups of stakeholders (i.e. domestic, industrial, agricultural, public organization). To investigate the respondents’ perceptions regarding the service quality of the electricity utility industry, 200 questionnaires were sent, and from these 169 responses were collected, consisting of 53 responses from the domestic sector, 43 industrial, 30 agricultural, and the remaining 43 from public organization consumers. Then a model was constructed using SEM and tested by Amos 18 to verify the casual relationship between the measured dimensions and the electricity service quality. Findings – The results indicate that electricity service has a direct relationship with the dimensions of reliability, tangibility, empathy responsiveness, assurance, security and stability. Originality/value – In this era electricity is the vital need, but due to regular interruptions in the electricity service, customer dissatisfaction is the measured issue. At the current time, the Indian electricity utility sector enjoys a monopolistic business. Therefore, there is hardly any effort to improve the service quality in this sector due to a lack of administrative pressure and reformation measures. Indian electricity consumers face many quality-related problems as far as the distribution of electricity is concerned. In order to assess service quality in electricity distribution, a survey has been conducted in this work to extract quality constructs from a customer's perspective. One of the contributions of this work is that on the basis of results obtained from factor analysis of the survey data, an instrument has been proposed for the first time in the Indian context, consisting of seven dimensions (reliability, tangibility, empathy, responsiveness, assurance, security and stability). This instrument would help to measure the service quality of the Indian electricity utility sectors, and it provides insights for managers and administrators to set a service standard to fill the service gap. SEM is a tool is used for confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. It is used to test and validate standard instruments. Through confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis using SEM, the proposed service quality model has been tested and validated for practical acceptance in Indian electricity industry.

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Supplier Satisfaction Survey as a management tool for reengineering the procurement process

Giacchetta

Marchetti

2013

IJPM

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The main innovation presented in this paper is the use of the Supplier Satisfaction Survey as a management tool for reengineering the procurement process. The Survey was elaborated after a deep analysis of the literature and case study related to the relationship with suppliers, and by interviewing internal personnel of the company such as: designers, buyers, warehousemen and quality responsible. The results were analysed in order to identify the main issues associated to the procurement process and for proposing appropriate corrective actions. The survey allowed also to improve the buyer-supplier relationship quality, by considering suppliers as key factors for establishing optimised procurement policies

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Supplier relationships in regulated industries: longitudinal study on energy distribution

Cited by 3 publications

References 49 publications

Assessing the impact of outsourcing in the electricity network industry

Assessing the impact of outsourcing in the electricity network industry

An analysis for service quality enhancement in electricity utility sector of India by SEM

Supplier Satisfaction Survey as a management tool for reengineering the procurement process

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