How purchasing departments facilitate organizational ambidexterity

Figures & data

Figure 1. Forms of organizational ambidexterity.

Table 1. An overview of OA at the purchasing department level.

	Sequential ambidexterity	Structural ambidexterity	Contextual ambidexterity
OA at purchasing department level	the purchasing department supports either exploration or exploitation activities, separated by periods of stability and change	Purchasing department primarily pursues exploitative purchasing activities and support supply exploration taken on by other departments Purchasing department is internally separated in functions dealing with explorative and exploitative sourcing activities	Purchasing employees participate in teams active in both exploration and exploitation
Case examples from the literature	Mikkelsen and Johnsen (2019)	Schiele (2010) Adler et al. (1999)	Aoki and Wilhelm (2017)

Figure 2. Boundary conditions used for exploring purchasing’s role in facilitating OA.

Table 2. Examples of cross-case coding using multiple data sources and cases.

Theme: Suppliers as a resource for OACode b: Suppliers as a critical versus a complimentary resource for OA Sub code b.1: Criticality of supplier closeness Sub code b.2: Customer quotes and supplier collaboration
Source	Seminar/observations	Interview	Document
Sub code d.2 Criticality of supplier closeness (Companies C and D)	In seminar 1, the head of purchasing in Company C speaks with the manager from Company D about problems when changing contacts in supplier firms due to personnel turnover. –Field notes from a seminar with case companies	MAN: The trouble was that they had a subsidiary of [supplier name] here, which closed down and our business moved to another subsidiary. We gave our new contact many blueprints. However, the supplier was overloaded and did not spend time on us. At the same time, the supplier subsidiary was told by their HQ would move again … I don’t think they spent much time on our case. INT: There was a lack of focus? MAN: That, and the empathy was lacking too. –Semi-structured interview with Purchasing Manager, Company C	As a small manufacturer, [Company C] must rely on others for key technology, and the leading supplier is [XXX], which supplies TV tubes, CD/DVD mechanisms, and VCR decks. "[XXX] is an example of what we call a key supplier," says [YYY], head of the Operations Division. "We are small, and we have no supplier exclusivity, and we have to follow the trends in technologies. In addition to key suppliers, we have system suppliers who manufacture complete subsystems for us. For example, our speaker systems have built-in amplifiers, so we have five suppliers." –From brand community web page
Sub code d.3 Customer quotes and supplier collaboration (Companies B and D)	During a visit to the supplier of Company D in Copenhagen, January 2015, the manager showed me the component made and explained a tripartite conversation with a customer, Company D, and the supplier –Field notes from a visit at a supplier site	MAN: [B]ut where we, based on our market leadership in that particular segment, have made ourselves attractive to these suppliers. We need their know-how as well. Moreover, we need to be the first mover in new technologies. So, we can launch products 6 to 12 months in advance of the competition. We will only have that if we have access to the right sources in the supplier organisation. –Semi-structured interview with purchasing manager, Company B	N/A

Figure 3. Overview of the case descriptions and cross-case analyses.

Table 3. Case company overview.

	Company A	Company B	Company C	Company D	Company E
Industry and product focus	Products and systems solutions for heating and cooling	Industrial lighting solutions	Consumer electronics	Aerospace and military defence systems	Circulation pumps for process industry and buildings
Purchasing function form	The central purchasing department is responsible for all strategic and tactical purchasing decisions.	Decentralized	Corporate and operational purchasing divide responsibilities and activities.	Purchasing combines requirements across operating units.	Contracting is done centrally. However, all operational purchasing activities are decentralized.
Organizational structure	Division-based	Function-based	Division-based	Matrix organization	Division-based
Full-time employees	23,000	800 (division)	2,000	1,200	19,000
Turnover, 2015	5 billion Euro	5.5 million Euro	0.5 billion Euro	200 million Euro	3 billion Euro
Supplier contributions to OA	Complementary Cost-out innovations Manufacturing flexibility Price reductions	Critical Price reductions Early access to core technologies	Critical Core technologies and first to market opportunities	Critical Co-designs of components Quality control procedures	Complementary Strategically important components Testing possibilities

Table 4. Purchasing department's role in pursuing different forms of OA.

	Company A	Company B	Company C	Company D	Company E
Sequential ambidexterity		Purchasers participate in product or solution-centric cross-functional project teams and carry insights into sourcing, manufacturing, and operations.
Structural ambidexterity	Specialised category team in the purchasing department (project purchasing) focussed on new business.				Category teams in the corporate purchasing department with dual roles. R&D require purchaser to co-manage vital supplier relationship
Contextual ambidexterity	Strategic purchasing facilitates canvas meetings with suppliers and match cost and price information.	Category management organizes a differentiated supplier approach and mandate to propose sourcing possibilities.	Purchasing category management have an engineering background or are technically trained and are co-responsible for securing brand experience.	Purchasing Category management internally marketing supplier’s development capabilities to R&D teams	Purchasing takes part in ramping up activities with suppliers and mediating emerging development opportunities.

Figure 4. External alignment for OA: the role of suppliers.

Table 5. Alignment and boundary spanning practices of purchasing managers when suppliers are critical for OA.

Case company B	Case company C	Case company D
When I say my team, it is not understood in the way that I have any managerial responsibility in that context… But you can say that since I have the overall responsibility for the product group, I have …a coordinating and gathering function with what happens in the different suppliers that have to do with my area	Well, it can be internally to find out what tools we need to make the print so that it is cheapest to get produced, so the raw print supplier does not have to adjust the widths of the track and such things. These engineering things just run out of it. When we compress it a lot, it can be difficult for the raw print supplier to produce. This balance of getting it done cheaply, while getting our technique into print, there is a lot of internal and external communication.	Typically, a developer says well; here we need something else. If it falls outside existing suppliers, purchasing initiates a dialogue with potential vendors. It may well be that engineering has to use this part, even if the supplier is not one that you would not usually approve, because we have to deliver the product, it is more important than whether we just have a preferred vendor or not.

Table 6. Alignment and spanning practices of purchasing managers when suppliers are complementary for OA.

Case company A

Case company E

We do what it takes to smooth the process suppliers, you know? Collaboration with R&D and make the collaboration work between R&D and suppliers from the preferred list of suppliers. Then, we hand over the job to others in purchasing. We have divided the tasks. Sometimes this is a challenge, since the suppliers we want to start with does not end up in the project in the end as R&D may have other priorities

As a senior category manager, I participate in all supplier meetings and support our technicians when negotiating with suppliers concerning parts. I am the person who has responsibility for raising price issues during negotiations, but I have a consulting role more than a deciding role. Often the technicians meet with the technicians from the supplier organisation in parallel with me meeting the commercial side. We then compare notes afterward and share what we have learned. But meetings follow the (Company E’s name) procurement protocol

Mikkelsen, O. S., and T. E. Johnsen. 2019. “Purchasing Involvement in Technologically Uncertain New Product Development Projects: Challenges and Implications.” Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management 25 (3): 100496. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2018.03.003.

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Schiele, H. 2010. “Early Supplier Integration: The Dual Role of Purchasing in New Product Development.” R&D Management 40 (2): 138–155. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9310.2010.00602.x.

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Adler, P. S., B. Goldoftas, and D. I. Levine. 1999. “Flexibility Versus Efficiency? A Case Study of Model Changeovers in the Toyota Production System.” Organization Science 10 (1): 43–68. doi:https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.10.1.43.

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Aoki, K., and M. Wilhelm. 2017. “The Role of Ambidexterity in Managing Buyer–Supplier Relationships: The Toyota Case.” Organization Science 28 (6): 1080–1097. doi:https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1156.

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