Tolstoy, D and Axelsson, B (2018) The development of international purchasing capabilities: A comparative study of the four largest Swedish construction firms. International Journal of Construction Management, 18(2), pp. 163-176. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
While there is a growing stream of research addressing purchasing issues, we know little about how the internationalization of purchasing activities unfolds. The study contributes to the sparsely empirically and theoretically substantiated field of international purchasing by, based on empirical support, providing an analytical framework which can improve our understanding of international purchasing by offering an integrated view of a business relationship perspective and a capabilities perspective. The purpose of this article is to track the actual prerequisites behind the development of international purchasing capabilities. In this article, we study the nearly simultaneous implementation of international purchasing strategies in the four largest construction firms in Sweden to be able to compare and contrast the underlying mechanisms and outcomes of these processes. We find that the firms that had developed capabilities incrementally in supplier relationships were better able to reap cost--benefits from international purchasing than firms that had not.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | business relationships; capabilities; construction; international purchasing |
| Index terms: | stream, analytical framework, strategy, construction firm, comparative study, implementation, business relationship, purchasing, internationalization, Sweden |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, contractual arrangements, data analysis and analytics, research design and methodology, organization, strategic management, procurement strategy, Geography, water management, management |
| Topics: | Procurement, Sustainability, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Business Strategy, International Construction |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here