Helen Walker is chair of operations and supply management at Cardiff Business School, University of Cardiff. Her research interests include collaborative procurement, public procurement, strategic outsourcing, supply strategy, e-procurement, learning in supply networks, commissioning, and investigating sustainable procurement and sustainable supply chain management in the public and private sectors. Christine Harland is professor of supply strategy at the University of Bath School of Management. Her research interests include health sector supply management, strategic supply chain management, supply policy, international comparative studies of public procurement, and evidence-based supply.

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the impact of context on the adoption of e‐commerce in supply chains.Design/methodology/approachA literature review, 45 semi‐structured interviews in four different supply chains in the UK healthcare sector, involving 16 different organisations, and additional documentation is used in this study.FindingsThe adoption of e‐commerce in supply chains is simultaneously affected by two contextual meta‐variables: external pressure, which is influenced by supply chain structure, demand and industry characteristics; and internal readiness, which is influenced by IT, organisational and buying need characteristics. Different combinations of these two main variables lead to four different trade‐off situations affecting adoption or non‐adoption.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical research has been undertaken in the specific context of the UK healthcare supply chains. It would be useful to test our findings in other sectors and countries.Practical implicationsThe paper helps to understand the contextual factors that affect e‐commerce adoption and concludes with a framework that differentiates four situations that can improve managers' and researchers' understanding of e‐commerce adoption in the future.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper is the recognition that the adoption of e‐commerce is affected by factors in both an organisational and a supply chain context, which simultaneously lead to trade‐off decisions. Also, unlike most other studies which refer to supply chains and are limited to an organisational perspective or at most a dyadic perspective, this paper builds up a supply chain picture of context by including perspectives from multiple actors in a chain.

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PurposePublic procurement has been increasingly seen as an important innovation policy tool. One neglected aspect of the public procurement of innovation is, however, diffusion. The purpose of this paper is to counter this neglect by exploring how institutional coordination may affect the diffusion of innovations procured by a public agency.Design/methodology/approachA case study including semi‐structured interviews and the consulting of different documents were used to study how institutions and institutional coordination affect the adoption and diffusion of innovation.FindingsSeveral endogenous institutions were identified that act as barriers to the diffusion of innovation throughout an organisation. Attempts to re‐design and negate these barriers were also identified.Research limitations/implicationsInstitutional analysis of innovation has a tendency to be limited to formal and exogenous institutions. The paper underscores the importance of taking into account the endogenous institutional set‐up. The results are drawn on a single case study.Practical implicationsThe understanding of public procurement of innovation needs to be expanded beyond the formal procurement process. Special attention needs to be given to diffusion processes where institutional coordination and re‐design should be considered an important component.Originality/valueThe paper considers diffusion as an important component of public procurement of innovation, and emphasises the importance of the endogenous institutional level both for understanding and for coordinating diffusion, which are two aspects commonly neglected in the literature.