Análisis comparativo entre las leyes de los distintos países

The previous section presents a review of existing publications about value creation in the strategy and marketing literature. Insights from other business fields are gained by analyzing the sample of nearly 500 studies dealing with value creation (presented in Section 3.1.1.). Using Porter’s (1985) framework for value creating activities (i.e.,

‘commercialization’, ‘infrastructure’, ‘human resources’, ‘production and ‘technological development’, and ‘purchase and logistics’), the sample is segmented according to publications sources. An analysis of studies related to value creation in resulting segments confirms that IRs also emerge as a means of value creation in the fields of operations management, research and development, logistics, and information systems.

3.3.1.1. Operations Management

In the sample of existing publications analyzed for the purpose of this study, a major change of paradigm is put forward in the field of operations management. Situated in the 1990s, this shift is attributed to the following: competition becoming global, rapid market change, shorter product life cycles, and advances in manufacturing and information technologies. Several new manufacturing management practices result from this paradigmatic change such as: market orientation, cooperative management, time-base competition with Just-In-Time (JIT) approaches, Total Quality Management (TQM), optimal automation, and decentralized production structures (e.g., Bullinger 1997; Buzacott 1995; Vonderembse et al. 1997). In this context, a number of topics in direct connection with interfirm relationships are predominant, starting with supply chain management

(SCM). SCM is granted for a main source of performance and competitive advantage (Fynes et al. 2005; Jayaram et al. 2004; Katok 1998; Mehta 2004). Collaboration and partnerships with suppliers are also largely studied as a means of achieving higher customer satisfaction (e.g., Wong 2002) and relationship performance (Johnston et al. 2004).

Organizational performance has been related directly to relationship elements such as trust, communication, transparency, frequency of contact, and information sharing among buyers and sellers (e.g., Gunasekaran and Ngai 2004b; Tan et al. 2002).

Uncertainty and disturbances (related to rapid changes in technology, competitors, suppliers, and customers) represent one of the main challenges in the new paradigm (Buzacott and Kahyaoglu 2000). Thus, responsiveness, product customization, and flexibility are especially discussed as both a mean and an end of successful interfirm relationships. The development of flexibility in manufacturing systems enables firms to cope with the increasing uncertainty in facilitating quick response for the customer. Zhang et al. (2003) have explored correlations between environmental uncertainty, value chain flexibility, and competitive advantage. They demonstrated that a ‘flexible manufacturing competence’ (constituted of machine, labour, material handling, and routing flexibilities) enhanced ‘flexible capability’ (i.e., volume flexibility and mix-product flexibility) which in turn had a strong, positive and direct relationship with customer satisfaction (Zhang et al.

2003: 174). Furthermore, firms are increasingly submitted to the ‘customization-responsiveness squeeze’, i.e., the constraint to simultaneously offer customers tailored products while ensuring short delivery times in order to remain competitive (Salvador and Forza 2004: 273). Salvador and Forza present the ‘product configuration’ as a way to address the issue in constraining a set of potential product variants offered to the customer to the possible combinations of pre-designed components. Other solutions relate to flexible manufacturing technologies and to the customer integration into the production processes, i.e., customers are invited to participate in the configuration, product specification, and co-design for efficient mass-customization strategies (e.g., Jiao et al. 2003; Piller et al. 2004;

Tseng et al. 2003).

Finally, many publications in operations management link IRs with the adoption and diffusion of innovation, the adoption and integration of new technologies, and new product development. These topics are also central in the field of research and development.

3.3.1.2. Research and Development

In the field of research and development, interfirm relationships are viewed as one of the key influences on the development and effective management of innovation (e.g., Bessant et al. 1996; Blayse and Manley 2004). ‘Technology motivated’ strategic alliances, joint ventures, and interfirm partnerships are thus of specific interest in this area of research. The development and integration of a new technology is either seen as a main purpose to form interfirm linkages (e.g., Piachaud and Muresan 2004) or as a main outcome of business relationships (e.g., Daniel and Grigg 2003). New product development (NDP) is perceived as highly dependent on the customer’s involvement, which relies on the development of trust, commitment, mutuality, and adaptation between buyers and sellers (e.g., Burdock et al. 2001). Simultaneously, the involvement of the supplier in the process is considered as generating important benefits (e.g., Ragatz et al. 1997). The emerging concept of ‘product co-development’ relies for a large part on processes and governance structure supporting collaborative development between customers and suppliers (Deck and Strom 2002).

3.3.1.3. Logistics

Many publications examined in the field of logistics have focused on just-in-time (JIT) activities, quick response (QR), and efficient consumer response (ECR) (e.g., Buse 2000;

Morgan 1996). The benefits of flexibility and ‘time-based strategies’ include increases in efficiency (i.e., efforts aiming at reducing costs and increasing the speed of product distribution), and effectiveness (i.e., efforts aiming at improving the product quality) (e.g.,

Bowersox and Daugherty 1995; Motwani et al. 2000). The concept of mutuality in customer-supplier relationships (a win-win approach) has been linked to profitability outputs for partners (Cox 2004). Information sharing and coordination in ordering have been related to the overall performance of the supply chain (Zhao et al. 2002).

Interfirm cooperation and partnerships are also promoted as an important source of value creation (Bititci et al. 2004; Horvath 2001). Key success factors and barriers to implement successful partnerships in supply chain management (SCM) are examined (e.g., Lambert et al. 1999; Spekman et al. 1998). Studies in the context of sourcing and outsourcing often integrate the relationship marketing perspective to select and evaluate suppliers (e.g., Baines and Kay 2002; Knemeyer et al. 2003). Research is largely dedicated to study correlations between concepts such as commitment, trust, asset specificity, behavioral uncertainty, opportunism, information sharing, interdependency, and integration in the supply chain (e.g., Håkansson and Persson 2004; Kwon and Suh 2005). Finally, a list of trends currently revolutionizing logistics include: collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR); information sharing; relationship management; and interfirm collaboration (Bowersox et al. 2000).

3.3.1.4. Information Systems

The paradigm of relationship marketing largely influences research in information systems (IS). Publications on electronic partnerships and the use of inter-organizational systems (IOSs), for instance, focus on success factors such as trust and control (e.g., Gallivan and Depledge 2003), resources pooling, cooperation, and coordination (e.g., Hong 2002), and on monitoring contracts and investments in electronic networks (e.g., Bakos and Nault 1997; Xu and Jeusfeld 2003). The importance of trust, communication, commitment, and long-term customer relationships in electronic commerce is widely discussed (e.g., Hsieh et al. 2002; McKnight and Chervany 2001; Ratnasingam and Phan 2003). Interfirm

relationship management emerges as one of the main objectives of electronic business as it is key from both a procurement (e.g., Archer and Yuan 2000) and a commercialization perspective (e.g., Murtaza and Shah 2004).

Overall, Internet-based technologies are viewed as enablers of buyer-seller relationships (e.g., Subramani 2004; Zank and Vokurka 2003). The use of information technologies (IT) to support interfirm relationships has been extensively studied, especially with respect to supply chain management (SCM). SCM includes ‘the activities of sourcing and procurement, production scheduling, order processing, inventory management, transportation, manufacturing, warehousing, customer service, and the information systems used to monitor these activities’ (Lankford 2004: 301). SCM relies on IT as it requires systems and processes that support data-driven or fact-based planning, and that allow ‘functional, geographical and inter-temporal coordination of managerial decisions’

(Shapiro 2001: 455). In this context, the concept of integration with upstream suppliers and downstream customers is of special interest (e.g., Frohlich 2002; Zeng and Pathak 2003).

Flexibility and responsiveness are viewed as the major IT contributions to SCM, resulting in overall improved effectiveness, efficiency, competitiveness and performance (e.g., Gunasekaran and Ngai 2004a; Lankford 2004; Motwani et al. 2000).

Factors enabling the successful implementation of IT applications such as electronic data interchange (EDI), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and electronic marketplaces are also largely studied. For instance, Levi et al. (1997) analyzed the impacts of contracts, relationship-specific information technology investments, and codifiability of products and order-fulfillment specifications on electronic marketplaces. Lee and Lim (2003) focused on trust, interdependence, and commitment between companies undertaking EDI. Bajwa et al.

(2004) linked the integration of IT applications, connectivity, IT support structure, information quality, commitment, and perceived work benefits between partners to the successful assimilation of ERP in companies.

In summary, this review of existing publications in the fields of operations management, research and development, logistics, and information systems corroborates the observations made in the review of publications from the strategy and marketing literature. Interfirm relationships emerge as a major source of value creation in the business literature. Overall, publications present a variety of approaches to the phenomenon of IRs as a means of value creation that often overlap while relying on similar concepts. A short list of these concepts includes: trust, cooperation, commitment, (inter)dependence, integration, mutuality, continuity, uncertainty, power, conflict, governance, contracts, flexibility, responsiveness, satisfaction, and performance. In order to better understand how these concepts relate to one another, the following section presents a review of theories explaining the ‘ins and outs’ of interfirm relationships in business markets.