Misperceptions in inter-functional supply management: work-share coordination vs. integrated cooperation

ABSTRACT

Research on supply management often focuses on inter-organizational supplier relationships, with only a few contributions having addressed the inter-functional supply management mechanisms inside a particular organization. This paper assesses the status quo of inter-functional supply management and contrasts an analytical framework that distinguishes coordination from cooperation mechanisms with empirical interview insights. For this purpose, a series of matched-pair interviews is used in which informants from procurement and corresponding counterpart functions provide insights into their perceptions. The analysis shows that often only one function perceives specific instruments as beneficial. This disproves a popular perception of the existence of ‘optimal’ inter-functional supply management. The key finding highlights that inter-functional supply management is not only executed as close and integrated cooperation but also as lean and work-sharing coordination across functions. This finding of duality serves as a springboard for developing future research questions referring to governance structures and resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Inter-functional
• supply management
• procurement
• purchasing: coordination
• cross-functional

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andreas H. Glas

Andreas H. Glas is Assistant Professor at Bundeswehr University Munich. His research investigates the buyer-supplier cooperation and is in particular focusing on incentive and performance based contracts. He is working on several research topics linked to projects in the automotive, manufacturing and aerospace industries. Andreas H. Glas is the corresponding author and can be contacted at [email protected]

Patrick Lipka

Patrick Lipka holds an MSc degree in Business Administration. Actually, he is working in the public administration. He supported the supply management domain of Bundeswehr University Munich during the empirical phase of this research as a research assistant. His research is related to demand definition process steps and aspects of inter- and intra-organizational cooperation.

Michael Essig

Michael Essig holds the Chair for Procurement and Supply Management at the Bundeswehr University Munich and is Co-Director of the Research Center for Law and Management of Public Procurement. From 2009 to 2012, he acted additionally as Vice President for Research at the University. His main research interests are strategic supply management, supply networks, supply chain management, and public procurement.