Intra-functional coordination: the case of purchasing during innovation in the agri-food sector

ABSTRACT

As the pace of change has accelerated rapidly in the agri-food sector, coupled with an ever-increasing level of competitiveness, firms are seeking processes which are likely to strengthen their capacity for innovation. In this context, this paper explores factors that foster the intra-organisational coordination between purchasing, marketing and, R&D/innovation. In addition, we shed light on the involvement of Purchasing early in the innovation process. Five in-depth case studies were selected based on significant innovations on the agri-food industry and the involvement of the purchasing department. The results suggest that intra-functional coordination plays an important role in the innovation process and confirm the relevance of some known factors, such as Early Purchasing Involvement (EPI), the quality of intra-organisational relations and intra-organisational alignment. On the other side, intra-functional factors emerged from our case studies, such as ‘purchaser’s internal attractiveness,’ a willingness attitude and managing anticipation of demand. The results provide empirical evidence on intra-organisational drivers and underline the core role of EPI in agri‐food firms, thus complement earlier studies from other industries.

KEYWORDS:

• Early purchasing involvement (EPI)
• innovation
• intra-functional coordination
• agri-food industry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laurence Viale

Laurence Viale Assistant Professor at Ecole de Management de Strasbourg (University of Strasbourg), she is heading a Master degree in Business Management and the major in Supply Chain Management/International Purchasing of Programme Grande Ecole. Her research interests include roles of Purchasing agents in the innovation process, purchasing skills and intra-organizational relationships in the context of innovation. She has twenty years of practical experience in Strategical Buying (corporate sourcing, team leading and European category buying) and as an IT engineer. She is also a member of the IPSERA association.