supply chain management

Malhotra,Gosain,andElSawy:LeveragingSEBIstoEnableAdaptiveSupplyChainPartnershipsInformationSystemsResearch18(3),pp.260–279,©2007INFORMSDrawingontheseideas,weproposethatSEBIscanbeakeyfacilitatingmechanism(aboundaryobject)tohelpenterprisesachieveadaptivesupplychainpart-nerships.

2.1.CharacterizingAdaptiveSupplyChainPartnershipsOrganizationaltheorists,drawingonbiologicalthe-ories,haveusedtheconceptofadaptationtostudyorganizationalchangesinresponsetoshiftsintheirenvironment(BurnsandStalker1961,Chandler1962,SharfmanandDean1997).Pastresearchhasfoundthattheabilitytocontinuallyadaptisanimportantcapabilityconferringcompetitivebene ts(BrownandEisenhardt1997).Contingencytheoristsadvocatethatfororganizationstosurviveandthrive,theirstructureandprocesseshavetobeadjustedtosuittheirenvi-ronment(HageandAiken1970).Inessence,adap-tationisanorganizationalprocessthroughwhichprocedural,process,andstructuraladjustmentsaremadetomatchtherequirementsoftheenvironment(LawrenceandLorsch1967,Koberg1987).Theoristshavealsostressedtheimportanceoflearning-andknowledge-creatingroutinesthatalloworganizationstoadapttotheirenvironment(EisenhardtandMartin2000,Kraatz1998).Adaptationinsupplychainpartnershipsisanalo-goustothebiologicalconceptofsymbioticadapta-tion—adaptationsthatoccurbetweentwoorganismsthatareinterdependentoneachotherforthepurposeofjointbene ts(Hallénetal.1991).Adaptivepartner-shipsarethoseinwhichbothagentsgainbyworkinginconjunctiontorespondtothemutualchallengestheyface(Dent2003).Partnersseekwaystomutu-allyadaptandprosperinanenvironmentcharac-terizedbychangingmarketconditionsandcustomerneeds(Dent2003,Tang2005).Sharingofknow-howbetweenpartnersisanothersalientcharacteristicofadaptivesupplychainpartnerships(Tang2005).Inessence,adaptivesupplychainpartnershipsre-quiremutuallybene cialadjustments(Hallénetal.1991)andjointlearningtosenseandrespondtomar-ketenvironmentchangesinconjunctionwithpartnerenterprises(Kraatz1998,Malhotraetal.2005).

2.1.1.MutualAdaptationinSupplyChainPart-nerships.Researchonallianceshasidenti edthattheir exibilityisdeterminedbytheabilityofthe263partnerstoadjusttheirbehaviorsorthetermsoftheallianceagreementinresponsetochangesintheen-vironmentorneedsoftheirpartners(Young-YbarraandWiersema1999).WerefertotheoutcomeofthisabilityasMA.Akeyrequirementforsuchstrategicbehavioristhattheenterprisesbemotivatedtowardcollectiveaction.LeanaandVanBuren(1999)refertothiselementasassociability:“ abilityofpar-ticipantsinanorganizationtosubordinateindivid-ualgoalsandassociatedactionstocollectivegoalsandactions”(p.541).Associabilityrequiresnotonlyestablishingcollectivegoals,butalsoaffectingcol-lectiveaction.Therefore,associabilityismanifestinMA,whichdenotestheextenttowhichsupplychainpartnersengagewitheachotherinarespon-siveandstructurally exiblemanner(Brennanetal.2003).Suchrelationship-speci cadaptationsalsosig-nallong-termorientationandcommitment(BensaouandVenkatraman1995,CannonandPerreault1999).2.1.2.AdaptiveKnowledgeCreationinSupplyChainPartnerships.Ascompetitionincreasinglybe-comesknowledgebased,enterprisesareleveragingtheirinterorganizationalrelationshipsforknowledgecreation(Hamel1991,Huber1991).Interorganiza-tionalnetworksarefertilegroundsforlearningthatenablethecollectivitytolearn,adapt,andsurviveturbulentenvironments(Haveman1992,IngramandBaum1997).Byacquiringandgraftingknowledgefromexternalsources,organizationscancreatenewknowledge(Malhotraetal.2005)andadapttotheirenvironment(Kraatz1998).Adaptingtothemarketenvironmentrequiresthatcompaniessensetheneedforanddevelopnewcapabilities,aswellasenhanceexistingcapabilities.Successfuladaptationisenabledbythedevelopmentofrelevantknowledgetounder-standthemarketenvironment,diagnosecurrentcapa-bilities,anticipatefutureneedsforcapabilities,andredesignunderlyingprocesses(Day1994).Supplychainpartnerscanhelpeachotherbetterinterpretmarketsignalsaswellasdeveloptheknowledgereq-uisiteforadaptation(Malhotraetal.2005).Traditionalrolesinthesupplychainarebeingre-con gured,sothatdistributorsaretakingontheassemblyofproducts,assemblersaretakingonaproactivestanceinmarketinginconjunctionwithre-tailers,andretailersarehelpingdesignproductsandservices.Inthisevolution,supplychainplayersare