Supplier-driven innovation 1

Question 1

How do we ensure supplier integration?

Answer 1

1) By knowing about their capabilities and strengths
2) By ensuring suppliers play an active role
3) By Ensuring information flows
Extra:
4) You need to know the supplier portfolio
5) Need to have knowledge about individual suppliers

Question 2

Explain the knowledge sharing model (Minbaeva, 2007)?

Answer 2

Three factor determines the degree of knowlegde transfer
1) Type of knowledge
2) Motivation of knowledge transfer
3) Receiver absorbing
Knowledge sharing is facilitated by:
4) Relation/content around
a. Formal and informal act as facilities of knowledge sharing.
Explains whether the knowledge sharing succeed

Question 3

What is absorptive capacity?

Answer 3

The company’s ability to recognize new knowledge, absorb it and apply it.

Question 4

What is causal ambiguity (knowledge ambiguity)??

Answer 4

Knowledge that are difficult for the buyer firm to understand and incorporate into their NPD activities.

Which is defined by (Lawson & Potter, 2012) as ‘A lack of understanding of the linkages between actions and outcomes, inputs and outputs, and causes and effects that are related to technological or process know-how’

Question 5

What is meant by spillover?

Answer 5

Knowledge that was not supposed to be known by the other party

Question 6

What is tacit knowlgede?

Answer 6

this is the knowledge in our heads that is made up from experience and personal contexts. It’s not written down and is hard to articulate. Transferring tacit knowledge is very difficult.

Question 7

What’s the difference between knowlegde acquisition and accesing?

Answer 7

Access (tilgå viden) long-term - more positive
Acquiring (tilegne sig viden) short-term
when the buyer firm aims to acquire, as opposed to access, the supplier are becoming more protective of their know-how - more negative

Question 8

What can a buying firm do to improve knowledge sharing with an important supplier in practice?

Answer 8

Investing in information sharing systems,

implement formal structures to support supplier involvment.

Question 9

How can buyers learning motivation (Learning intent) be a problem? Lawson and Potter

Answer 9

buyer’s learning motivation leads to more interfirm knowledge transfer, but also more protection of knowledge. By investing in absorptive capabilities, the buyer can overcome that and decrease some of the causal ambiguity (tvetydig) knowledge of the supplier knowledge

Question 10

What is socialization mechanims? (not the same as SET)

Answer 10

Socialization mechanisms can overcome some of the barriers in between two parties and create shared understanding.

Question 11

What is formal and informal socialization mechanism?

Answer 11

informal socialization mechanisms (e.g., communication guidelines, social events) whereas formal socialization mechanisms (e.g., cross-functional teams, reporting, Schedule, meetings, structures)
Formal approaches lead to structure for interaction, but informal mechanisms are the ones that have a direct positive effect on the knowledge sharing between buyer and supplier.

Question 12

What’s the connection between the mechanism and performance? (tip: formal-informal)

Answer 12

Informal is most important in facilitating knowledge. High level of knowledge sharing leads to higher financial performance. Formal socialization mechanisms are antecedents of informal socialization mechanisms.

Question 13

What is explicit knowledge?

Answer 13

– this is the knowledge that is written down and is accessible in one way or another

Question 14

What kind of effect does communication have when a supplier is involve in a product Development?

Answer 14

The vice versa (inverted) U-shape describes that performance is affected by communication. Too little communication is not good, but also too much communication can lead to information overload and costs.
It is important for managers to have:
- Social and project management skills
- Open atmosphere in the relationship
- Evaluate potential suppliers in terms of collaborative fit
- Managers should take adequate level of communication and not maximum

Question 15

What role does technology uncertainty have when trying to integrate a supplier?

Answer 15

in cases when technology uncertainty is present, companies is more likely to share information with suppliers. However, the results did not support the hypothesis that technology uncertainty necessarily affects project outcomes.

Question 16

How can it be easier to integrate a supplier, so information sharing and the involvement would benefit.

Answer 16

Customers increased knowledge of a supplier is more likely to result in greater information sharing as well as in greater involvement of the supplier in the decision making process.

Question 17

How can buyers deal with high technology uncertainty?

Answer 17

Use suppliers who knows the tech really well
Use suppliers as early as possible
Greater sharing

Question 18

What is the main idea behind of supplier involvement?

Answer 18

It is based on the assumption that it will leads to improved performance. BUT remember it can mean different things strategic and on project level

Question 19

How is it possible to achieve a high absorptive capacity?

Answer 19

A buyer can adapt their practices, routines and orientation to increase their capacity to absorb new knowlegde and to counteract on supplier protectiveness.
The tacitness of knowledge is a factor that can complicate the sharing and understanding of knowledge. If the former measures for absorptive capacity are achieved, the easier it will be to cope with a higher tacitness of knowledge.

Question 20

Managerial implication for Petersen paper. Just read

Answer 20

1. It requires a detailed evaluation of the suppliers when considering a NPD project
2. Visse kriterier skal overvejes før samarbejde. eks. Erfaring, kapabiliteter, og deres ekspertise på den givne teknologi.
3. Sharing of information is important for succes within the expercted timeframe
4. For kompleks teknologi er det vigitgt med integration på operationelt niveau /project teams.