Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study if the performance history impacts supplier selection in the French public sector context. While French public procurement legislation forbids consideration of the past contract wins in supplier selection, public contractors may still rely on contract win history for highly complex transactions. Design/methodology/approach – Using French Official Journals (BOAMP), the authors collected all public procurement transactions of 976 suppliers that had at least one transaction per year, over a period of six years (between 2006 and 2011). The authors conducted a two-level hierarchical linear auto-regression analysis and a feature evaluation analysis for all transactions. Findings – The paper finds significant variation between the transactions of different markets, as well as in the overall positive impact of past wins and in the detailed impact patterns and thresholds of each market. The findings may allow refinement of existing contract awarding strategies and of current legislation. Originality/value – The paper aims at empirically testing whether a supplier’s degree of success in any given year, measured by the number of public contracts won, may have an impact on the likelihood that the same supplier is awarded a public contract the following year. The authors conclude that suppliers retained for public contracts could benefit from building public buyers’ loyalty using a key account selling approach rather than systematically seeking to acquire new contracts.

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically analyze how adaptive collaboration in supply chain management impacts demand forecast accuracy in short life-cycle products, depending on collaboration intensity, product life-cycle stage, retailer type and product category. Design/methodology/approach – The authors assembled a data set of forecasts and sales of 169 still-camera models, made by the same manufacturer and sold by three different retailers in France over five years. Collaboration intensity, coded by collaborative planning forecasting and replenishment level, was used to analyze the main effects and specific interaction effects of all variables using ANOVA and ordered feature evaluation analysis (OFEA). Findings – The findings lend empirical support to the long-standing assumption that supply chain collaboration intensity increases demand forecast accuracy and that product maturation also increases forecast accuracy even in short life-cycle products. Furthermore, the findings show that it is particularly the lack of collaboration that causes negative effects on forecast accuracy, while positive interaction effects are only found for life cycle stage and product category. Practical implications – Investment in adaptive supply chain collaboration is shown to increase demand forecast accuracy. However, the choice of collaboration intensity should account for life cycle stage, retailer type and product category. Originality/value – This paper provides empirical support for the adaptive collaboration concept, exploring not only the actual benefits but also the way it is achieved in the context of innovative products with short life cycles. The authors used a real-world data set and pushed its statistical analysis to a new level of detail using OFEA.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of spatial proximity on supplier selection in the French public sector. While French public procurement legislation forbids consideration of supplier location in the procurement process, public contractors may still rely on spatial proximity for complex transactions necessitating mutual adjustments with suppliers. Design/methodology/approach – Using French Official Journals (BOAMP), the authors compiled 565,557 transactions completed on three public procurement markets between 6,182 contractors and 26,570 suppliers, over a period of six years (between 2006 and 2011). The authors conducted a two-level hierarchical linear auto-regression analysis and a feature evaluation analysis for all transactions. Findings – The paper finds significant variation between the transactions on different markets: a negative effect of spatial proximity on the number of contract notices in the public market and a positive effect of spatial proximity on the number of notices in the services and supplies markets. The difference lies in the levels of mutual adjustment required to optimally manage the relationship between public contractor and supplier. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on an econometric analysis conducted uniquely in the French context, which calls into question the external validity of the results obtained. The study also rests on segmentation into three aggregate markets, which might be considered too general. Originality/value – Rather than analyze public contractors’ perceptions of the importance of the criterion of spatial proximity, the paper examines 565,557 actual transactions. The results point to the emergence of a new type of relationship with certain suppliers, which should lead public contractors to integrate relationship management competencies, in addition to legal and economic competencies, in the organization of calls for tenders.

L’article souhaite étudier l’incidence de l’incomplétude des contrats sur le comportement des acheteurs, et plus spécifiquement sur la réduction de la taille du portefeuille de fournisseurs dans le contexte des marchés publics. La recherche s’appuie sur 565 557 transactions conduites en France de 2006 à 2011, extraites du Bulletin Officiel des Annonces des Marchés Publics (BOAMP), portant sur 6 182 acheteurs publics et 26 570 fournisseurs. Pour analyser l’impact du type de marché et des procédures d’achat sur une gestion lean des fournisseurs, une analyse de régression linéaire multivariée a été menée. Les résultats débouchent sur deux constats importants: (1) moins l’exécution d’une transaction est vérifiable, plus l’acheteur public réduit la taille de son portefeuillle de fournisseurs ; (2) moins les conditions d’une transaction sont négociables, plus l’acheteur public réduit la taille de son portefeuillle de fournisseurs.