Ann-Charlott Pedersen

• Norwegian University of Science and Technology

This chapter explores patterns of relationship development states in the early customer portfolios of start-ups. Our theoretical framework combines literature on customer portfolios and relationship development states. We use this framework to analyze data on customer relationship development captured through interviews with 20 start-ups. Our main...

Through qualitative case research involving two cases of digital lean implementation projects, we identify and explicate how grit, vision, and pragmatism (as enablers) and technology maturity, implementability, and idiosyncrasy (as barriers) interact with and affect strategic digitalization initiatives. Seemingly-paradoxical strategic approaches to...

Purpose Toyota had mature lean capabilities when developing its supplier network. This paper aims to explore how companies can develop a Toyota-style supplier network (TSN) while their lean capabilities are still evolving. Design/methodology/approach Theoretically, this paper relies on the literature on lean maturity levels and lean supplier netwo...

Many studies on buyer–supplier-supplier triads demonstrate the value of the interactions between three business actors instead of two for identifying triadic collaboration strategies that can lead firms to improve their performance. However, there is little research to date that has explored which specific lean improvements the various types of buy...

Purpose –This paper aims to develop the existing theoretical concept of a triad by informing it with the activity-resource-actor (ARA) model in a new empirical context of lean management (LM). Design/methodology/approach –This conceptual paper draws on the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) school of thought and the ARA model as theoretical...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss key elements of lean supply (LS) in light of core concepts in the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP) perspective. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors examine the literature on LS and identify and discuss important characteristics and key elements of LS. Second, the authors pre...

Lean management remains the most popular approach to operational excellence within industry. The next wave of industrial improvement is widely considered to be driven by the application of digital technologies. Organizations are seeking to understand how the two approaches can be utilized synergistically. This paper aims to sketch the landscape for...

Purpose Networks and relationships are not stable. On the contrary, they change and are transformed by the actors who take part in them. Change and transformation result from the actions and reactions of these actors. However, a key issue is what makes the actors choose some actions and reactions while refraining from others. Design/methodology/a...

During the last few years, several authors have recognised the need for more research into how start-ups or new business ventures initiate new relationships. Aaboen, Dubois and Lind (2011) studied how start-up firms develop their initial customer relationships and resource base in close interaction with customers. Furthermore, La Rocca, Ford and Sn...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship continuity across projects among actors in the construction industry, and to discuss why and how such continuity takes place. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on the results from four in-depth case studies illustrating different strategies for pursuing relationship...

A main challenge when organic food actors cooperate with conventional food actors is to maintain their identity in the relationship. In this paper, we analyse such a relationship through the use of the industrial marketing and purchasing perspective (IMP). The aim is to increase knowledge about changes in relationships that occur through growth pro...

We contribute to key supplier management literature, emphasizing the buyer's insight into key suppliers' surrounding networks. We build on supply network research suggesting that buyers must manage their key suppliers in their network contexts, and research suggesting that managing in networks is based on the interacting parties' network pictures....

This paper discusses how firms develop and use resources across a permeable project boundary and conceptualizes how a project can create value for a focal parent organization. Inspired by ideas on interaction and open innovation, we suggest a framework for analyzing the flow of resources based on the two dimensions; direction, whether the resource...

It has been argued that the SCM area lacks sufficient theoretical underpinnings resulting in simplified conceptualisations of supply chains and their contexts, and furthermore, that theory may be helpful to uncover some of the complexity characterising supply chains. The aim of this article is to analyse interdependencies existing within as well as...

The paper focuses on new ways of organising product development projects in the construction industry. We discuss two such projects, one in Denmark and one in Finland where different forms of ‘network organisation ’ have been tried out. The paper looks at how the existing structure in the construction industry affects the product development projec...

In this paper, we discuss co-operative product development across firm boundaries. Firstly, we discuss reasons why innovation may beneficially be co-ordinated among firms, and we provide some empirical evidence for the existence and significance of the phenomenon. Secondly, we discuss the relevance of co-operative innovation for the construction in...

The purpose of this article is twofold: firstly, to conceptualise and discuss how suppliers strategise in relation to supply network initiatives taken by their customers in the construction industry, and secondly, to discuss the buying firm’s view on the strategies pursued by their suppliers. Based on the analysis and discussion, we suggest that su...

In this paper we contend that there is little idiographic empirical research that considers the issue of deliberate networking action in full-faced network contexts. We address the issue through the use of strategic initiatives as a form of deliberate networking action. IMP research argues the ability of an organisation to manage in a network conte...

Purpose While numerous articles have stressed the importance of developing and maintaining supply networks, there is still a dearth of studies that address how supply networks arise and change over time. The purpose of this article is to describe and conceptualise how a firm initiates the development of a supply network, and how the structure of th...

Because the construction industry often is characterised by adversarial relations, the corresponding lack of cooperation has been seen as a major contributing cause for the low level of innovation in the construction industry. Therefore, many initiatives try to address the lack of innovation by attempting to increase cooperation between companies.B...

In this paper we address the issue 'How do relationships begin?' Based on a review of work within the IMP Approach on stage and state models of relationship evolution, we conclude that very little attention has been paid to beginnings of relationships. We discuss why this might be so, and why the issue deserves more consideration. Based on a case s...

It has been argued that the SCM area lacks sufficient theoretical underpinning, resulting in simplified conceptualisations of supply chains and their contexts, and furthermore that theory may be helpful in uncovering some of the complexity characterising supply chains. The aim of this article is to analyse interdependence existing both within and a...

In this article we discuss supply networks and how a buying firm may create and manage in such networks. We present a case study of a main contractor within the construction industry who has tried to develop a supply network. We pay particular attention to the early stages of the development, i.e. how the supply network is created, and how it is ma...

The importance of a market orientation as the basis for meeting customer expectations is well known in marketing. In applying this concept to networks or netchains, the concept “customer horizon” is proposed to measure the ability to name or identify downstream customers and their requirements. A case study of five organizations in a netchain is ex...

How does a firm keep on being valuable in a network? One requirement is that the firm has a sufficient overview of the network and its dynamics. In other words, a firm's strategy depends on the firm's overview of the network—its network horizon. How comprehensive or limited should its network horizon be? Is it necessary to know the network beyond t...

In this paper, we present and discuss different frameworks for initiating a supply network. Thus, we try to understand how a firm designs a process of establishing a supply network and monitoring the network in the start-up phase, i.e. we study a firm's effort at initiating and operating a supply network. Furthermore, we discuss different opportuni...

Purchasing portfolio models have received a great deal of attention during the last two decades. The simplicity of application and the focus on power-dependence balancing has been appreciated by practitioners and academics alike. In this paper we argue that using ‘given’ products as a port of departure, in addition to a dyadic perspective on purcha...

In this paper we review extant studies and report new empirical insights regarding connected relationships within a focal firm’s network horizon. Furthermore, we discuss possible reasons for how and why knowledge and ignorance of different types of connections are dispersed in industrial structures. The Industrial Network Approach and the concept o...

Purchasing portfolio models have received great attention during the last two decades. The simplicity of application and the focus on power-dependence balancing has been appreciated by practitioners and academics alike. In this paper we argue that the starting point in 'given' products in addition to a dyadic perspective on purchasing management ma...

This paper focuses on small and medium-sized companies who have received support from the government for development work. All companies acquired a new resource, but the situations were found to differ in terms of how the new resource was fitted into the existing resource collection. In this paper, three such situations are analysed, and a taxonomy...

During the last decades, competence and knowledge have become increasingly focused as means for increasing the competitiveness of industrial companies. Organizational learning accordingly has become an important issue both in research and in managerial considerations. One important way to learn is through others. Companies have as one consequence d...

In common situations, purchasing can have different meanings, depending on how, and by whom, the word is used. For example, purchasing can mean a specific department within a firm, a transaction done by a firm to acquire a certain goods, or a type of action related to acquisitions of goods in general. To be able to say anything about purchasing in...

This paper is an empirical investigation of the beginning of international and industrial buyer-supplier relationships. The initiation of international buyer-supplier relationships can be looked upon as an important driving force for international growth of the industrial firm. Using existing theoretical works on development of relationships, nine...

In this paper we contend that there is little idiographic empirical research that considers the issue of deliberate networking action in network contexts. The ability of an organisation to manage in a network context involves the three myths of; action, limits to discretion and completeness (Ford et al., 2003). The corresponding dualities of inter-...

Increasingly, attention is paid both to supply base management and to supply network management. By means of a literature review and a case study, we look into what these two concepts comprise and how they are related. We conclude that the two concepts are rarely discussed in combination. Furthermore, based on our case, we conclude that a supply ne...

This paper focuses on the use of network pictures for managing supplier relationships in their network contexts. In particular, the paper addresses the following three issues: (1) How can we conceptualise the congruence between a customer company's picture of its supplier-related network and the supplier's picture of its network? (2) What benefits...

This paper discusses the importance of understanding a supplier's situation and context when a focal buyer tries to introduce new supply network management initiatives. We discuss theory related to both the buyer's and the suppliers' view on such initiatives, and suggests a tentative 2x2 matrix which the focal buyer may use in order to consider the...