Resources in smaller companies are smaller and risks are often bigger. Small company respondents in the survey consider managing their supplier risks equally important (Question 7) as large organisations. When taking size into consideration, small companies hence take a relatively greater effort, and according to the survey can be equally successful. But then the small companies also score higher on entrepreneurship than larger organisations (again Question 8). [The relationship of entrepreneurship and success still needs to be analysed].
Put simply: also for small companies, it seems a good thing to involve suppliers in construction innovations. To some this may seem logical though others would prefer to develop innovations more 'in house'. The overall academic debate is still out, but at least the survey respondents suggest to successfully cooperate with innovative suppliers.
The question of course then is what to do in a particular situation.
A recent roundtable discussion with representatives of larger organisations suggests what best procurement practices these professionals would use when managing their innovative suppliers.
A set of seven contrasting situations had been selected from the survey. The participants could chose from 2 sets of 5 procurement best practices (also from the survey). The discussions confirmed that best practices are context-related, and are not always applied. The Figure below shows some partial results. (Guess copy-pasting the entire spreadsheet would be a bit too boring ...).
The practices were discussed in 2 groups of 4 participants. Participants could individually select 1 or max 2 practices. All practices which were selected (in 2 rounds) at least 5 times, have been indicated below with YES. When all participants did not choose a particular practice, that has been indicated with NO. In some instances participants would like to use two best practices (two YES on one row), or only less than 4 participants agreed on a particular practice, which has been indicated with a ??.
As the NO is inherently stronger (none of the participants chose to use this practice) than the YES, the Figure gives the NO in bold. Likewise the practices the participants would mostly use, are also shown in bold.
[As more often in research, this TOP 2 of practices from these 8 participants does not totally align with the TOP 3 as suggested earlier in the survey (see an earlier blog). In part this is because the discussion wanted a max of 2 best practices in a certain situation. It part it may be due the small number of participants. Nevertheless the discussion has given a deeper insight in the applicability of the best practices].
And finally: when to use what procurement practice? For example, when dealing with incremental supplier innovations, the participants suggested they would more often use contracts (TOP 1 in survey). When dealing with radical supplier innovations, the participants suggested they would manage relations based on trust and mutual goals (TOP 3 in survey). They did not suggest using suppliers early in the innovation process (TOP 2 in survey). Likewise, in the case of radical innovations only the TOP 2 from the survey (managing risks) was partly found applicable. Rewarding innovative suppliers in case of incremental innovations ranked low in the survey.
The complete set of practices will be discussed in one more round table discussion later this week. Please complete the survey if you want to contribute to this meaningful New Zealand research! We've made seven people happy with the draw on the Business Model Generation book. Stay tuned for more updates.
Put simply: also for small companies, it seems a good thing to involve suppliers in construction innovations. To some this may seem logical though others would prefer to develop innovations more 'in house'. The overall academic debate is still out, but at least the survey respondents suggest to successfully cooperate with innovative suppliers.
The question of course then is what to do in a particular situation.
A recent roundtable discussion with representatives of larger organisations suggests what best procurement practices these professionals would use when managing their innovative suppliers.
A set of seven contrasting situations had been selected from the survey. The participants could chose from 2 sets of 5 procurement best practices (also from the survey). The discussions confirmed that best practices are context-related, and are not always applied. The Figure below shows some partial results. (Guess copy-pasting the entire spreadsheet would be a bit too boring ...).
The practices were discussed in 2 groups of 4 participants. Participants could individually select 1 or max 2 practices. All practices which were selected (in 2 rounds) at least 5 times, have been indicated below with YES. When all participants did not choose a particular practice, that has been indicated with NO. In some instances participants would like to use two best practices (two YES on one row), or only less than 4 participants agreed on a particular practice, which has been indicated with a ??.
As the NO is inherently stronger (none of the participants chose to use this practice) than the YES, the Figure gives the NO in bold. Likewise the practices the participants would mostly use, are also shown in bold.
[As more often in research, this TOP 2 of practices from these 8 participants does not totally align with the TOP 3 as suggested earlier in the survey (see an earlier blog). In part this is because the discussion wanted a max of 2 best practices in a certain situation. It part it may be due the small number of participants. Nevertheless the discussion has given a deeper insight in the applicability of the best practices].
And finally: when to use what procurement practice? For example, when dealing with incremental supplier innovations, the participants suggested they would more often use contracts (TOP 1 in survey). When dealing with radical supplier innovations, the participants suggested they would manage relations based on trust and mutual goals (TOP 3 in survey). They did not suggest using suppliers early in the innovation process (TOP 2 in survey). Likewise, in the case of radical innovations only the TOP 2 from the survey (managing risks) was partly found applicable. Rewarding innovative suppliers in case of incremental innovations ranked low in the survey.
The complete set of practices will be discussed in one more round table discussion later this week. Please complete the survey if you want to contribute to this meaningful New Zealand research! We've made seven people happy with the draw on the Business Model Generation book. Stay tuned for more updates.
