Purpose

This article aims to investigate collaborative procurement as a sourcing strategy amongst competing small enterprises in an effort to reduce their material supply costs through increased efficiencies, bargaining power and economies of scale.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study approach is applied to a network of breweries that are regionally clustered. Interview data from producers, suppliers and industry experts is inductively interpreted to understand the viability, organisational impact and benefits/limitations of joint procurement activities.

Findings

The craft brewing industry follows a market place strategy of differentiation to achieve competitive advantage. This has supply chain implications that promote raw material diversity, which is in conflict with standardisation – a necessary factor for collective buying. Competition impacts information sharing and governance mechanism, while the structural factors of size asymmetry along and across the supply chain influence returns. These issues impact the potential economic benefits of collaborative procurement.

Research limitations/implications

The research propositions have been developed in a specific industry but are generalisable to other companies with a differentiation strategy, especially in the consumer packaged goods sector.

Practical implications

Enabling conditions and constraints are captured in a framework and capability matrix, which can be used by practitioners to assess industry and product feasibility for collaborative procurement.

Originality/value

Previous studies of collaborative procurement have been in the public sector amongst large organisations. This work focusses on coopetition in the context of small businesses to identify the viability and cost-benefit of this strategy.

中文翻译：

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数量优势：精酿啤酒厂的协同采购和竞争力

目的

本文旨在研究协作采购作为竞争性小企业之间的采购策略，以通过提高效率、议价能力和规模经济来降低材料供应成本。

设计/方法论/途径

案例研究方法适用于区域聚集的啤酒厂网络。对生产商、供应商和行业专家的访谈数据进行归纳解释，以了解联合采购活动的可行性、组织影响和好处/局限性。

发现

The craft brewing industry follows a market place strategy of differentiation to achieve competitive advantage. This has supply chain implications that promote raw material diversity, which is in conflict with standardisation – a necessary factor for collective buying. Competition impacts information sharing and governance mechanism, while the structural factors of size asymmetry along and across the supply chain influence returns. These issues impact the potential economic benefits of collaborative procurement.

Research limitations/implications

The research propositions have been developed in a specific industry but are generalisable to other companies with a differentiation strategy, especially in the consumer packaged goods sector.

Practical implications

框架和能力矩阵中捕获了启用条件和约束，从业者可以使用它们来评估协作采购的行业和产品可行性。

原创性/价值

先前对协作采购的研究是在大型组织的公共部门进行的。这项工作的重点是小型企业背景下的合作，以确定该策略的可行性和成本效益。