Fredslund, L M; Gottlieb, S C and Leiringer, R (2019) Understanding supply chain integration as recoupling. In: Gorse, C and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 35th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2019, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
The Danish construction industry addresses supply chain issues typically at the project level by focusing on practical problems on site. Thus, the industry dedicates considerable resources on fighting day-to-day issues instead of embracing a more cross-organizational approach of Construction Supply Chain Management (CSCM), which has proven highly effective in other industries. As such, coordination of the supply chain is often decoupled from the strategic level by focusing constricted on the practical performances of the project implicating problems repeated from project to project. Consequently, the actors of the industry must attempt to understand the holistic nature of CSCM to increase productivity. The contribution is critical insights of how one of Denmark's major contractor groups can advance weak links between decision-making and organizational practices by integrating principles of CSCM, which is claimed to be an absence in the current research field. Hence, the inquiry uses neo-institutional theory to analyze the consequences of structures and actions between organizational levels and interpretive methods to scrutinize the complex environment of the group. Accordingly, the practitioners of the group are emphasizing inexpedient procurement contradictions between organizational levels, which makes it problematic to create common understandings of how to progress the supply chain of the industry.In conclusion, the group generates market-legitimacy by promoting structures of CSCM. However, without adopting these structures in related practices the group loses legitimacy by decoupling organizational levels, which is argued to counteract the compliant nature of CSCM. Furthermore, engaging in decoupling implicates an absence of organizational integrity and lack of ownership to the supply chain, which can be correlated with the long-term performance of the entire group. Finally, research limitations are affected by generalizations based on a solely respondent basis. Nonetheless, the emphasized mechanisms are broader recognized as generic performance issues of the Danish construction industry.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | cscm, decoupling, recoupling, productivity and institutional theory |
| Index terms: | institutional theory, productivity, integrity, decoupling, decision-making, ownership, practitioner, construction supply chain, construction industry, Denmark, legitimacy, coordination, supply chain integration |
| Subjects: | supply chain integration, construction logistics, practitioner, sociology, decision analysis, industry analysis, systems engineering, management, economics, health safety and environment, Geography |
| Topics: | Supply Chain Management, Organizational Design, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Health and Safety, Business Strategy, Risk Management, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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