Achieving High Performing Supply Networks Through Value Network Transparency

Supplier value networks are an emerging inter-organizational form resulting from efforts to integrate across fragmented supply chains, for the purpose of efficiency and performance gains. By proposing value network transparency as a central construct in supplier value networks, this paper identifies the different dimensions of transparency and presents a theoretical framework for achieving value network transparency through suitable governance mechanisms in the network. Using relational governance as the overarching theoretical perspective, arguments are presented for how certain governance mechanisms can act as motivators of value network transparency, while other act as facilitators of value network transparency. The performance implications of such value network transparency for the network as a whole and for individual firms within the network is postulated, and the affect of contingent factors such as the product type on the relationship between value network transparency and performance is discussed.

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