A Characterization of Lower-Tier Supplier Visibility Practices in Supplier Relationship Management

Abstract

This study explores industry perspectives on lower-tier supplier visibility (LTSV) with respect to various supplier stratifications. According to the analysis of our survey data collected from 74 companies and interviews with 19 industry executives from 15 companies, we found that companies with LTSV system are willing to expand their LTSV process to its suppliers that are of lesser overall importance rather than the traditional practice of restricting such requirement to suppliers with very high level of overall importance (i.e. strategic suppliers). Our findings also show that minimizing supply chain risks (MSCR) and ensuring supply performance (ESP) are primary motivations for companies to engender LTSV. Furthermore, we found that companies adopting LTSV process for strategic and collaborative suppliers focus on MSCR, but on ESP for custom suppliers. These findings contribute to the literature of supplier relationship management (SRM) on lower-tier supplier management and also provide a guideline for the industry to create appropriate LTSV strategies.

Keywords::

• supply chain risk
• lower-tier supplier visibility (LTSV)
• supplier relationship management (SRM)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chunxing Fan

Dr. Chunxing Fan is an Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management in the Business Administration Department, College of Business, Tennessee State University. He received his Doctoral degree in Supply Chain Management and MBA from Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University, NJ, USA. His research focuses on supply chain and operations management, integrated production and distribution optimization, logistics and transportation network design, and resource/project management. He published in Journal of Operational Research Society, International Journal of Production Research, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, International Journal of Management & Enterprise Development, Journal of International Business Management and Research, etc.

Festus O. Olorunniwo

Dr. Joel Jolayemi is a Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Operations Research from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Ohio, U.S.A. and his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Statistics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Before joining the Tennessee State University, he had held teaching positions in colleges and universities in Maryland, U.S.A. and in Nigeria and South Africa. He has won several academic awards. Dr. Jolayemi’s current areas of active research include supply chain management; mathematical optimization, production planning, project scheduling, multiple criteria decision making and total quality management. He has published several articles in many prestigious internal journals. These include International Journal of Production Research, Applied Mathematics and Computation, International Journal of Production Economics, Applied Statistics and Data Analysis, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Omega, and many more. Dr. Jolayemi is a member of several professional and academic associations. He is the Editor-In-Chief of Annals of Management Science. He is also on the Editorial Board of some other reputable journals and a regular reviewer to many international journals. He is a winner of a number of best paper and research awards.

Joel Jolayemi

Dr. Festus O. Olorunniwo is a Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management and the Head of Department of Business Administration at Tennessee State University. He holds a Doctorate degree in Operations Research (Management Science) from The University of Texas at Austin, and M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York University. His research and consulting interests are in Supply Chain Management (Supplier Relationship Management and Reverse Logistics), Service and Manufacturing Operations (including use of applications of optimization techniques in their design and operation), and Management of Quality. He has consulted for several companies in Tennessee, Singapore, Malawi, Ukraine, and Nigeria. Twice a consultant to United Nations Development Program, he has also published over 90 research articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings.

Xiaoming Li

Dr. Xiaoming Li is an Associate Professor in the Department of Business Administration, College of Business, Tennessee State University. He holds a Ph.D. in management from Clemson University. His teaching and research interests are in operations and supply chain management. He has published extensively in various academic journals, including European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Nature, Omega, and Supply Chain Management.