Bryant University Bryant Digital Repository Marketing Department Journal Articles Marketing Faculty Publications and Research 2014 Evolution of Supply Chain Collaboration: Implications for the Role of Knowledge Michael Gravier Bryant University M. Theodore Farris University of North Texas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bryant.edu/mark_jou Part of the Marketing Commons Recommended Citation Gravier, Michael and Farris, M. Theodore, "Evolution of Supply Chain Collaboration: Implications for the Role of Knowledge" (2014). Marketing Department Journal Articles. Paper 60. https://digitalcommons.bryant.edu/mark_jou/60 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Marketing Faculty Publications and Research at Bryant Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Marketing Department Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of Bryant Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Management Science, Logistics, and Operations Research John Wang Montclair State University, USA A volume in the Advances in Logistics, Operations, and Management Science (ALOMS) Book Series Managing Director: Lindsay Johnston Production Manager: Jennifer Yoder Development Editor: Brett Snyder Acquisitions Editor: Kayla Wolfe Typesetter: Michael Brehm Cover Design: Jason Mull Published in the United States of America by Business Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global) 701 E. Chocolate Avenue Hershey PA 17033 Tel: 717-533-8845 Fax: 717-533-8661 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.igi-global.com Copyright © 2014 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the publisher. Product or company names used in this set are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Management science, logistics, and operations research / John Wang, editor. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: “This book examines related research in decision, management, and other behavioral sciences in order to exchange and collaborate on information among business, industry, and government, providing innovative theories and practices in operations research”-- Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-1-4666-4506-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-4507-3 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-4508-0 (print & perpetual access) 1. Management information systems. 2. Decision support systems. 3. Business logistics--Technologi- cal innovations. 4. Systems engineering. I. Wang, John, 1955- editor. HD30.213.M3456 2014 658.4’034--dc23 2013028202 This book is published in the IGI Global book series Advances in Logistics, Operations, and Management Science (ALOMS) (ISSN: 2327-350X; eISSN: 2327-3518) British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of the publisher. For electronic access to this publication, please contact: [email protected]. 333 Chapter 18 Evolution of Supply Chain Collaboration: Implications for the Role of Knowledge Michael J. Gravier Bryant University, USA M. Theodore Farris II University of North Texas, USA ABSTRACT Increasingly, research across many disciplines has recognized the shortcomings of the traditional “in- tegration prescription” for inter-organizational knowledge management. This research conducts several simulation experiments to study the effects of different rates of product change, different demand envi- ronments, and different economies of scale on the level of integration between firms at different levels in the supply chain. The underlying paradigm shifts from a static, steady state view to a dynamic, complex adaptive systems and knowledge-based view of supply chain networks. Several research propositions are presented that use the role of knowledge in the supply chain to provide predictive power for how supply chain collaborations or integration should evolve. Suggestions and implications are suggested for managerial and research purposes. INTRODUCTION management provide a competitive advantage to business. For example, AMR’s “Supply Chain Recent research indicates that the era of inter- Top 25” grew revenue an average of 29% over the organizational collaboration and knowledge- prior year (Hofman and Aronow, 2012). Perhaps sharing has arrived under the guise of supply more telling for the scholar of knowledge-based chain management. Investments in supply chain organizations are the conclusions by the World DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4506-6.ch018 Copyright © 2014, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Evolution of Supply Chain Collaboration Economic Forum (2012) that countries could mark article representing a sort of genesis of this grow their GDP six times more by using policies body of literature. More recent work has found that address the management of supply chain that supply chain strategies vary but seem to be- processes instead of relying on tariffs. Supply come more sophisticated the closer the firm is to chain processes tend to be knowledge-intensive the market (Bourlakis, et al., 2012), despite the and depend upon international collaboration, additional economies of scale and other benefits coordination with government entities such as that firms higher up the supply chain often have. customs, reliable physical infrastructure for trans- This may reflect the presence of hypercompeti- portation and communications, and standardizing tive environments characterized by the rapid rise inter-organizational procedures. In a very real and fall of firms (McNamara, Vaaler, & Devers, sense, supply chain management really represents 2003; Wiggins & Ruefli, 2005); retail firms that knowledge exchange management between firms, are not responsive to customer needs do not last with most pundits espousing “integration” of long. Hypercompetitive environments act to “dis- knowledge and processes. integration” supply chains as firms seek higher Integration of inter-organizational processes quality, lower cost or other product characteristics has long comprised the prescription for success desired by the market. in supply chain management and related literature Another important issue has been the realiza- (Frohlich & Westbrook, 2001; Gustin, Daugherty, tion that the traditional conceptualizations of & Stank, 1995; Stock, Greis, & Kasarda, 1999). supply chain management implicitly assume a Information sharing and various levels of coordi- “steady-state” condition. Increasingly turbulent nation and collaboration have traditionally found economic and global systems mean that supply strong empirical support (c.f., Daugherty, Ellinger, chains must be adaptable and resilient to man- & Gustin, 1996; Lee, Padmanabhan, & Whang, age their risks—yet methods for assessing and 1997; Lummus & Vokurka, 1999; Narasimhan & managing inter-organizational network change Jayaram, 1998; Stank, Keller, & Closs, 2001; Tan, remains in a nascent status (Pettit, et al., 2013). Kannan, & Handfield, 1998). Notwithstanding Supply chain agility comprises a well-established the oft-cited works that support the “integration conceptualization of responsive and adaptable prescription,” one systematic review of the lit- inter-organizational networks of firms; however, erature revealed the link between integration and supply chain agility primarily focuses on descrip- supply chain performance as shaky (Fabbe-Costes tive or normative theories rather than predictive & Jahre, 2008). One simulation study found that capability (c.f., Gligor, et al., 2012). information sharing may have no value at all or In the past few years, supply chain literature has may even increase costs, depending on demand begun to treat supply chains as knowledge-based patterns (Jonsson and Mattsson, 2013). The constellations of organizations. Researchers have mixed evidence suggests an incomplete theoreti- increasingly focused on the question of when, cal understanding of integration and inter-firm how and why supply chain integration works (or collaboration. doesn’t). Recent work has evaluated with whom One issue may be the implicit assumption that companies integrate (Huo, 2012), the relationship all collaboration is the same. Empirical studies of information flows to material flows (Prajogo that distinguish among the different manners of and Olhager, 2012), short-term knowledge shar- collaborating and the different outcomes to the ing vs. deeper knowledge generation (Jayaram various supply chain members remain relatively and Pathak, 2013), product and process strategies few, with Frohlich and Westbrook’s (2001) land- as antecedents of supply chain integration strate- 334 Evolution of Supply Chain Collaboration gies (Droge, et al., 2012), and the technological Supply Chain Theory platforms for sharing information and knowledge (Bendoly, et al., 2012). Implicit (and often explicit) Ronald Coase’s 1937 work on transaction costs to this work are supplier and customer relation- offers the theoretical