Research On The Effects Of Alignment Between Purchasing Practices Configuration And Purchasing Competitive Priorities

Today's hyper-competitive environment experienced by manufacturers characterized by diversified product demand,technological change and complexity,coupled with the ever growing globalization trend,has made it impossible for manufacturers to meet all competitive dimensions solely by their own internal resources.Firms are forced to focus on core competences,to implement outsourcing strategy and to cooperate closely with suppliers.Although the strategic importance of purchasing function has been acknowledged by theorists and senior executives in recent years,such potential and strategic value of purchasing cannot be obtained as a matter of course.Some firms got their existing supply chain disintegrated resulting from rmisapplying the tenets of strategic purchasing.That's to say,research and practice lack knowledge on how to ensure purchasing function to support firm's strategic goals and how to achieve the potential and strategic value of purchasing function.Literature recognizes that the full value-creation potential of the purchasing function can only be realized if its decisions and activities are aligned with the overall strategic goals.Unfortunately,existing research does less and lacks broad evidence that outlines how to implement purchasing practices effectively,especially to implement what kind of purchasing practices for manufacturers when facing different requirements for purchasing strategies or competitive strategy.Based on this research gap,this dissertation focuses on how to effectively implement purchasing practices for parts of Chinese manufacturers.Specifically,and firstly,this research puts forward the configurational idea in understanding activities of purchasing function,by introducing configuration theory into the study on purchasing practices.After identifying all of the necessary management practices of manufacturers' purchasing function,large sample questionnaire is designed to help clustering analyze the different types of purchasing practices configuration.Then,focusing on how to implement purchasing practices,the existing research gaps are identified after analyzing the implementation of purchasing practices and its connection with purchasing strategies from the perspective of contingency theory and the theory of purchasing competence.Hence,the conceptual model of the alignment between purchasing practices configuration and purchasing competitive priorities and its impact on firm performance are constructed by introducing purchasing practices configurations into the theory of purchasing competence.Large sample questionnaire is designed and conducted on manufacturing enterprises of complex product system to get data on their management of purchasing practices,which will be used to test the reliability and validity of the scales by SPSS and AMOS.Then,the structural equation modeling of latent interactions is chosen to test the hypotheses,clarifying how purchasing practice configurations align with purchasing competitive priorities.Suggestions on how to design and implement effective purchasing practices for manufacturers when facing different goals of purchasing strategies are made in the end.On the basis of above-mentioned works,the following main innovations and conclusions come out:First,a framework for analyzing purchasing function which contains eight purchasing practices is developed taking an overall consideration of levels of suppliers' resources and capabilities,suppliers5 willingness to make contribution to manufacturers,and whether or not can suppliers take full advantage of their resources and capabilities,and thus deepening the comprehensive understanding of the management of purchasing function.It's true that suppliers5 resources are of great importance to manufacturers' success.But if suppliers are unwilling to contribute their resources or cannot take full advantage of their resources and capabilities freely when cooperating with manufacturers,manufacturers would never get their competence improved using these suppliers.Based on these three contents,the framework for analyzing purchasing function which contains eight purchasing practices is developed,such as supplier evaluation,supplier selection,supplier development,relationship development,management of supply base structure,supplier integration,functional management of purchasing department,and purchasing integration.These purchasing practices mainly represent three lines of management in manufacturers' purchasing function:external oriented supply base management,functional management of purchasing department and internal oriented supply management.This framework takes the position of holism,providing a systematic analysis method to fully understand the purchasing function and to guide manufacturers to design and implement effective purchasing practices.Second,the configurational idea in understanding management practices of purchasing function is put forward,and the different types of purchasing practices configuration are also revealed,which are shaped by the interdependently combining of purchasing practices.And thus,it breaks through and deepens the knowledge and understanding of the nature of the purchasing function.Under the configurational view,cluster analysis has been proceeded to catch sight of potential management modes of purchasing function on the basis of different focuses or implementing ways of above-mentioned purchasing practices.The results show that there exist transactional,collaborative and exploitative configurations of purchasing practices in management of purchasing function,each describing a different set of roles that suppliers and purchasing function play in the process of production development.Every purchasing practice configuration contains all of the eight purchasing practices above-mentioned.The functional differences in every purchasing practice configuration lie in different focuses or implementing ways of every purchasing practice.These conclusions are more in line with the actual operations of manufacturers' purchasing management,making it convenient to grasp the nature of purchasing function.Third,the concept of configurational purchasing efficacy is developed,putting transactional,collaborative and exploitative configurations of purchasing practices into theory of purchasing competence.Then the alignment modes between purchasing practice configurations and purchasing competitive priorities are revealed,thus enriching and developing the theory of purchasing competence.Based on analysis of studies on purchasing practices from the perspective of contingency theory,configuration theory and theory of purchasing competence,the conceptual model of alignment between purchasing practices configuration and purchasing competitive priorities and its impact on firm performance have been constructed and confirmed.The results show that the proper alignment between purchasing practice configurations and purchasing competitive priorities has a strong,positive influence on firm performance.Specifically,it will be more effective to implement transactional purchasing practices when the purchasing strategy is cost-prioritized.And when it's quality-prioritized,firms should implement collaborative purchasing practices.For purchasing strategy that prioritizes flexibility,the collaborative purchasing practices are more effective.Still,the exploitative purchasing practices are more suitable when it' s innovation-prioritized.These conclusions provide direct solutions for manufacturers to implement effective purchasing practices when facing different purchasing strategies,helping firms to achieve the strategic value of purchasing function.Overall,this configurational approach in exploring purchasing practice represents a significant supplement and improvement toward the existing ideas that neglected the fact that purchasing function operated as a whole,partially overweighed the universal effects of some of individual purchasing practices,and underestimated the combinatory effects of different purchasing practices on performance.Also,it provides new insights and suggestions for manufacturers to implement effective purchasing practices by revealing the alignment modes between purchasing practice configurations and purchasing competitive priorities.