Innovation and Commoditization: Asian Cross Border Sourcing Practices

• Main Author: SESHADRI, Sudhi
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2009
• Subjects: Sourcing; Purchasing; Innovation; Commoditization; Path Analysis; Marketing; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/1865; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/2864/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

What constitutes better sourcing performance? The question is gaining prominence from recent work in the resource based view of the firm where interest in functional performance is growing. The paper addresses this question by investigating several dimensions of sourcing practices. Two main performance priorities are captured by supply innovation and supply commoditization, and we develop several hypotheses involving these constructs. The paper reports on our survey research with Asian purchasing managers; scales that measure supply innovation and commoditization; and the estimates of a path analytic model to test our hypotheses and provide relative effect sizes. The results contribute to a growing literature on sourcing performance scales. The paper also discusses several managerial implications arising from the model for sales strategies and targeting approaches.