Automaker-supplier relationships and new product development in the truck industry: the case of Volvo do Brasil

Previous studies have focused on differences between western and Japanese approaches to supply chain network management techniques as regards NPD and relationship-specific ties. Based on in-depth interviews with senior managers at Volvo Trucks Brazil and two Spanish first tier suppliers, the aim of this research is to learn about the types of NPD collaboration ties used between Volvo and suppliers and to examine the supply chain network management techniques and routines used to intensify inter-firm collaboration and promote value-chain optimisation. One main finding of this research is that there is not one best buyer-supplier relationship style for NPD, but that relationships differ significantly depending on the degree to which the buyer relies on the capacity and technology possessed by each provider. Lower NPD frequency than in the car industry and the introduction of the Volvo production system in 2007 also make buyer-supplier relationships focused on NPD stronger in Volvo Trucks than in previously researched big car firms.

[1]  Ling Jiang,et al.  When do formal control and trust matter? A context-based analysis of the effects on marketing channel relationships in China , 2011 .

[2]  A. Griffin.  The Effect of Project and Process Characteristics on Product Development Cycle Time , 1997 .

[3]  Jeffrey H. Dyer,et al.  Relation‐specific capabilities and barriers to knowledge transfers: creating advantage through network relationships , 2006 .

[4]  D. Malhotra,et al.  Shadow of the contract: how contract structure shapes inter-firm dispute resolution , 2011 .

[5]  John Paul Macduffie,et al.  Creating Lean Suppliers: Diffusing Lean Production through the Supply Chain , 1997 .

[6]  Jan B. Heide,et al.  Performance implications of buyer-supplier relationships in industrial markets: A transaction cost explanation , 1995 .

[7]  Robert E. Spekman,et al.  Supply Chain Competency: Learning as a Key Component , 2002 .

[8]  A. Ariño,et al.  Strategic alliance contracts: dimensions and determinants of contractual complexity , 2007 .

[9]  Yadong Luo,et al.  Contract, cooperation, and performance in international joint ventures , 2002 .

[10]  M. Christopher,et al.  Building the Resilient Supply Chain , 2004 .

[11]  M. Kotabe,et al.  Gaining from vertical partnerships : Knowledge transfer, relationship duration and supplier performance improvement in the U.S. and Japanese automotive industries , 2003 .

[12]  Gregory T. Gundlach,et al.  Legal and social safeguards against opportunism in exchange , 1999 .

[13]  Rodney L. Stump,et al.  The contingent effect of specific asset investments on joint action in manufacturer-supplier relationships: An empirical test of the moderating role of reciprocal asset investments, uncertainty, and trust , 1999 .

[14]  Kumiko Miyazaki,et al.  Complexity in Technology Management: Theoretical Analysis and Case Study of Automobile Sector in Japan , 2000 .

[15]  Torbjørn H. Netland,et al.  Exploring the phenomenon of company-specific production systems: one-best-way or own-best-way? , 2013 .

[16]  Sudhir Gupta,et al.  Case Studies , 2013, Journal of Clinical Immunology.

[17]  Jeffrey H. Dyer,et al.  The Relational View: Cooperative Strategy and Sources of Interorganizational Competitive Advantage , 1998 .

[18]  R. Gulati.  Social Structure and Alliance Formation Patterns: A Longitudinal Analysis , 1995 .

[19]  S. Tamer Cavusgil,et al.  An investigation of the black-box supplier integration in new product development , 2014 .

[20]  Alok Baveja,et al.  Dynamics of Core Competencies in Leading Multinational Companies , 1998 .

[21]  O. Williamson,et al.  The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting. , 1987 .

[22]  H. Dekker,et al.  Beyond the contract: Managing risk in supply chain relations , 2013 .

[23]  R. M. Vanalle,et al.  Customer-supplier relationship: A multicases study in the Brazilian automotive industry , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management.

[24]  Charles C. Nielson.  An empirical examination of switching cost investments in business‐to‐business marketing relationships , 1996 .

[25]  B. Uzzi,et al.  Social Structure and Competition in Interfirm Networks: The Paradox of Embeddedness , 1997 .

[26]  Jan B. Heide,et al.  Do Norms Matter in Marketing Relationships? , 1992 .

[27]  O. Tang,et al.  Identifying risk issues and research advancements in supply chain risk management , 2011 .

[28]  J. Johanson,et al.  The tortuous road to globalization for Volvo's heavy truck business: Extending the scope of the Uppsala model , 2011 .

[29]  Terry Wallace,et al.  Innovation and hybridization: Managing the introduction of lean production into Volvo do Brazil , 2004 .

[30]  George J. Stigler,et al.  De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum , 2010 .

[31]  武石 彰.  Bridging inter-and intra-firm boundaries : management of supplier involvement in automobile product development , 1998 .

[32]  S. Hertz.  Supply chain myopia and overlapping supply chains , 2006 .

[33]  James R. Brown,et al.  Interdependency, Contracting, and Relational Behavior in Marketing Channels , 1996 .

[34]  O. Williamson.  Comparative Economic Organization: The Analysis of Discrete Structural Alternatives , 1994 .

[35]  P. Ring,et al.  Structuring cooperative relationships between organizations , 1992 .

[36]  John R. Nevin,et al.  Relationship marketing and distribution channels: Exploring fundamental issues , 1995 .

[37]  Torbjørn H. Netland,et al.  Effects of a production improvement programme on global quality performance: The case of the Volvo Production System , 2014 .

[38]  Göran Svensson,et al.  Supply Chain Management Ethics : Conceptual Framework and Illustration , 2008 .

[39]  Mauro Caputo,et al.  The nature of buyer‐supplier relationships in co‐design activities: The Italian auto industry case , 2002 .

[40]  M. Hobday.  Product complexity, innovation and industrial organisation , 1998 .

[41]  Kirk Monteverde,et al.  You have printed the following article : Supplier Switching Costs and Vertical Integration in the Automobile Industry , 2007 .

[42]  Jörn-Henrik Thun,et al.  An empirical analysis of supply chain risk management in the German automotive industry , 2011 .

[43]  Erik Jan Hultink,et al.  4 Product development performance: strategy, organization and management in the world auto industry☆ , 1994 .

[44]  Steven D. Eppinger,et al.  Special Issue on Design and Development: Sourcing By Design: Product Complexity and the Supply Chain , 2001, Manag. Sci..

[45]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  The Use of Pledges to Build and Sustain Commitment in , 1992 .

[46]  Inge Ivarsson,et al.  Technology transfer from TNCs to local suppliers in developing countries: A study of AB Volvo’s truck and bus plants in Brazil, China, India, and Mexico , 2005 .

[47]  Johan Östlin,et al.  Importance of closed-loop supply chain relationships for product remanufacturing , 2008 .

[48]  H. Håkansson,et al.  Dyadic Business Relationships within a Business Network Context , 1994 .

[49]  L. Ellram,et al.  Buyer-supplier relationships: alternative research approaches , 1997 .

[50]  Tugba Gurcaylilar-Yenidogan.  A multidimensional typology of automaker-supplier relationships: the knowledge sharing dilemma , 2014 .

[51]  Jeffrey H. Dyer.  EFFECTIVE INTERFIRM COLLABORATION : HOW FIRMS MINIMIZE TRANSACTION COSTS AND MAXIMIZE TRANSACTION VALUE r , 1998 .

[52]  M. Gibbert,et al.  What passes as a rigorous case study , 2008 .

[53]  Jan B. Heide,et al.  ALLIANCES IN INDUSTRIAL PURCHASING - THE DETERMINANTS OF JOINT ACTION IN BUYER-SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS , 1990 .

[54]  Ian R. Macneil.  The new social contract: An inquiry into modern contractual relations , 1980 .

[55]  Kyle J. Mayer,et al.  Complementarity and Evolution of Contractual Provisions: An Empirical Study of IT Services Contracts , 2007, Organ. Sci..

[56]  Jeffrey H. Dyer,et al.  Alliance capability, stock market response, and long‐term alliance success: the role of the alliance function , 2002 .

[57]  T. Laosirihongthong,et al.  An Analysis of Japanese versus American Automakers’ Supplier Relationships in Thailand , 2013 .

[58]  Christopher S. Tang.  Robust strategies for mitigating supply chain disruptions , 2006 .

[59]  Seungwha Chung,et al.  Performance effects of partnership between manufacturers and suppliers for new product development: the supplier's standpoint , 2003 .

[60]  Omri Ben-Shahar,et al.  Boilerplate and Economic Power in Auto Manufacturing Contracts , 2005 .

[61]  Steven S. Lui,et al.  The Role of Trust and Contractual Safeguards on Cooperation in Non-equity Alliances , 2004 .

[62]  Stephan Vachon,et al.  An exploratory investigation of the effects of supply chain complexity on delivery performance , 2002, IEEE Trans. Engineering Management.