Mobile procurement platforms: Bridging the online and offline worlds in China's restaurant industry

Remi Charpin, Min Kyung Lee and Ting Wu

International Journal of Production Economics, 2021, vol. 241, issue C

Abstract: E-procurement systems have a great impact on a firm's operations and performance, which makes understanding the facilitators and barriers to e-procurement usage critical for organizations. However, despite the ubiquity of supply chain platforms and their recent adoption by many organizations as a procurement tool, mobile procurement platforms are still an emerging research area. The goals of this study are to identify the facilitators and barriers to the use of mobile procurement platforms and investigate how these platforms can overcome usage barriers. To investigate this new phenomenon, the authors conducted a qualitative case study of six buyer-supplier dyads operating on a large Chinese mobile procurement platform in the restaurant industry. While the mobile procurement platform was found to decrease cost and integration barriers to adoption, it also created new challenges with respect to communication and supply chain collaboration. These results indicated that in spite of their attractiveness, mobile procurement platforms may not suit every organization's needs. In addition, the platform was found to mitigate the barriers to its usage by relying on its business developers who implemented practices to bridge the online and offline worlds. This finding denotes the key role still played by the human workforce in overcoming the limitations of the platform. This study contributes to the research on the adoption of e-procurement solutions by exploring the latest development—mobile procurement platforms, which are rapidly changing the procurement function landscape for many firms.

Keywords: E-procurement; Supply chain platforms; Mobile application; Facilitators and barriers; Qualitative research; Restaurant industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:proeco:v:241:y:2021:i:c:s0925527321002322

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2021.108256

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