Supply flexibility strategies in Spanish firms: Results from a survey

Elcio M. Tachizawa and Cristina Gimenez

International Journal of Production Economics, 2010, vol. 124, issue 1, 214-224

Abstract: This paper focuses on supply flexibility, i.e., the ability of the purchasing function to respond in a timely and cost effective manner to the changing requirements of purchased components in terms of volume, mix and delivery date. Although sourcing strategies have been extensively analysed, the study of supply flexibility is in its infancy. The aim of this paper is to analyse how different sourcing practices are combined to form particular supply flexibility strategies. To do this, a survey among Spanish purchasing professionals was conducted. Three supply flexibility strategies ("integrated", "domestic" and "offshore") were identified and their relationship with contingent factors was investigated. The results show that Spanish firms have no single approach to achieve supply flexibility and that the type of flexibility achieved (supplier responsiveness, delivery policy and adaptability) depends on the strategy followed.

Keywords: Sourcing; Purchasing; Spain; Empirical; Survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925-5273(09)00423-X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:proeco:v:124:y:2010:i:1:p:214-224

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Production Economics is currently edited by Stefan Minner

More articles in International Journal of Production Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().