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The overall objective of this research was to explore the association between implementation of cooperative purchasing/supplier relationships, internal service quality, and an organization's ability to provide quality products and services to its customers. Specifically, purchasing-related factors influencing internal and external product and service quality were identified from the literature and an internal service quality model was developed and then tested using empirical data. Survey data were collected from 118 US purchasing executives in a wide range of industries. The findings from this study indicate the existence of strong positive relationships between implementation of cooperative purchasing/supplier relationships, internal service quality, and the service and product quality provided to external customers. Additionally, the key role of purchasing in the integration and communication of quality expectations and quality performance throughout the firm is demonstrated.

SUMMARY The term “supply chain management” has been used to denote the integration of logistics and physical distribution activities by wholesalers and retailers and manufacturers' efforts to effectively integrate purchasing and supply with other functions in the firm. The concept is still evolving. There is no generally accepted definition of supply chain management or general understanding of how supply chain management impacts organizational characteristics and practices. This article presents exploratory findings from a comprehensive survey regarding supply chain management. The objectives of this study were to study the impact of supply chain management on purchasing practices, to further define and develop the supply chain model from various perspectives, and to identify problems associated with supply chain management, particularly from the purchasing perspective.

This paper reports on a benchmarking study carried out on supply chain management (SCM) activities of manufacturing organisations in New Zealand. The purpose of the paper is to report the current state of the play in this area. A postal survey was carried out to ascertain the status of SCM adoption in New Zealand, and identify the issues in SCM that are significant for New Zealand manufacturers. The findings suggest that although there is awareness of the SCM concept in New Zealand, the adoption of the newer concepts of SCM is not very far advanced.

This study examines the interrelationships among supply chain integration, learning, agility and organizational performance. Survey data were collected from 257 publiclyowned companies in Pakistan, and the hypothesized framework was tested using a structural equation model. It was found that supply chain integration had a significant impact on external and internal learning. Additionally, supply chain integration was found to have an insignificant impact on firm performance and supply chain agility. Finally, internal learning was found to have an insignificant impact on supply chain agility, but a significant direct impact on firm performance, while external learning had an insignificant impact on firm performance both directly and indirectly.

Reviews a critical aspect of job shop scheduling research, namely the decision regarding release timing of orders to the manufacturing shopfloor. Covers articles specifically addressing the order release problem; the information should prove helpful for researchers employing order release policies in their research. The release decision literature is classified into three areas: descriptive studies including case and survey research, analytical or optimization‐based research, and simulations of theoretical and empirically derived job shops. Presents tables describing the release rules and summarizing the characteristics of the simulation research. Identifies a number of topics within the order release research area in need of further investigation, including the comparison of larger sets of release rules, the use of more realistic simulation models such as the dual resource constrained job shop model, the need for further empirical identification of release policies, and the use of release policies that consider dynamic shop conditions.

Since 1987, 17 businesses have won the US Baldrige Quality Award, established to promote awareness of quality management among US businesses. Assesses the financial and competitive performances of these 17 companies. Previous research with respect to the quality‐performance relationship has shown a positive relationship between quality improvement and financial or market share performance. Finds that while substantial improvements in operations performance characteristics among Baldrige Award winners have coincided with the implementation of quality improvement programmes, these improvements have not always resulted in financial success. Firms should therefore view quality improvement programmes as a method for building a strong competitive foundation, not as a panacea guaranteed to result in economic health.

Many leading firms in the USA have adopted an integrated strategic approach to purchasing and logistics management known as supply chain management. As the twenty-first century begins, supply chain management has become a significant strategic tool for firms striving to improve quality, customer service and competitive success. This article surveyed senior managers in various industries to study the prevalent supply chain management and supplier evaluation practices. The study reduced these practices to a smaller set of constructs and related the constructs to firm performance. The results show that many constructs were correlated with firm performance and that some constructs were found to adversely affect performance.