Addresses the issue of supply chain competitiveness from the manufacturing capability perspective. Six supply chains are analysed, based on three manufacturers in the Korean home appliance industry. The case study findings demonstrate the strong connection between capability requirements of...

Over the last number of years, outsourcing has become an important issue for many organisations. The potential for outsourcing has moved from peripheral activities such as cleaning and catering to critical activities such as design and manufacturing. However, there is evidence to suggest that...

Explains some of the thinking that informs both the case study articles that appear in the same issue of Supply Chain Management: An International Journal and the EPSRC funded research project currently being undertaken at the Centre for Business Strategy and Procurement. A review is provided of...

Provides both a descriptive and an analytical understanding of the supply chain for industrial electricity. It explains which actors in the chain have power and how this impacts upon the process of value appropriation. There are three main elements. The first is a descriptive mapping of the...

Purpose – To show how value chain analysis techniques have highlighted opportunities for strategic change in a UK agri‐food supply chain and to present an initial model of an integrated supply chain based on the application of lean principles. Design/methodology/approach – The paper...

Purpose – Supplier involvement in cost reduction efforts has been concentrated mainly in the product development phase of the life cycle of the product. Often this concentration on the early phases of the product life cycle is defended with referral to the 80/20 rule that says that 80 per cent...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to discuss the results from a UK government‐funded applied research programme on value chain analysis that examined the beef foodservice sector. The demands and dynamics of this sector differ markedly from those of the supermarket, which is the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the problems with demand management in fresh food value chains and to propose a framework for demand analysis and improved demand management. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on empirical evidence from multiple case studies...

US Premium Beef Ltd is a cooperative partnership between all segments of the beef industry value chain, affording each segment an interest in the key stages of beef production and processing, as well as an equal share of the financial risks and rewards. This “value‐added” strategy is...