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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Supply chain alignment as process
T2 - Contracting, learning and pay-for-performance
AU - Selviaridis, Konstantinos
AU - Spring, Martin
N1 - This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
PY - 2018/3/5
Y1 - 2018/3/5
N2 - PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand how buyers and suppliers in supply chains learn to align their performance objectives and incentives through contracting.Design/methodology/approachTwo longitudinal case studies of the process of supply chain alignment were conducted based on 26 semi-structured interviews and 25 key documents including drafts of contracts and service level agreements.FindingsThe dynamic interplay of contracting and learning contributes to supply chain alignment. Exchange-, partner- and contract framing-specific learning that accumulates during the contracting process is used to (re)design pay-for-performance provisions. Such learning also results in improved buyer-supplier relationships that enable alignment, complementing the effect of contractual incentives.Research limitations/implicationsThe study demonstrates that the interplay of contracting and learning is an important means of achieving supply chain alignment. Supply chain alignment is seen as a process, rather than as a state. It does not happen automatically or instantaneously, nor is it unidirectional. Rather, it is a discontinuous process triggered by episodic events that requires interactive work and learning.Practical implicationsDevelopment of performance contracting capabilities entails learning how to refine performance incentives and their framing to trigger positive responses from supply chain counterparts.Originality/valueThe paper addresses supply chain alignment as a process. Accordingly, it stresses some important features of supply chain alignment.
AB - PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand how buyers and suppliers in supply chains learn to align their performance objectives and incentives through contracting.Design/methodology/approachTwo longitudinal case studies of the process of supply chain alignment were conducted based on 26 semi-structured interviews and 25 key documents including drafts of contracts and service level agreements.FindingsThe dynamic interplay of contracting and learning contributes to supply chain alignment. Exchange-, partner- and contract framing-specific learning that accumulates during the contracting process is used to (re)design pay-for-performance provisions. Such learning also results in improved buyer-supplier relationships that enable alignment, complementing the effect of contractual incentives.Research limitations/implicationsThe study demonstrates that the interplay of contracting and learning is an important means of achieving supply chain alignment. Supply chain alignment is seen as a process, rather than as a state. It does not happen automatically or instantaneously, nor is it unidirectional. Rather, it is a discontinuous process triggered by episodic events that requires interactive work and learning.Practical implicationsDevelopment of performance contracting capabilities entails learning how to refine performance incentives and their framing to trigger positive responses from supply chain counterparts.Originality/valueThe paper addresses supply chain alignment as a process. Accordingly, it stresses some important features of supply chain alignment.
KW - Learning
KW - Pay-for-performance
KW - Inter-organizational relationships
KW - Contracting
KW - Supply chain alignment
U2 - 10.1108/IJOPM-01-2017-0059
DO - 10.1108/IJOPM-01-2017-0059
M3 - Journal article
VL - 38
SP - 732
EP - 755
JO - International Journal of Operations and Production Management
JF - International Journal of Operations and Production Management
SN - 0144-3577
IS - 3
ER -