SUMMARY This research examines the effects of purchasing and supplier involvement on new product success. Two hundred fifty‐two senior purchasing managers completed a mail questionnaire that addressed a wide range of issues regarding the effects of purchasing and supplier involvement, the management of supplier involvement, the organization's strategic orientation, and the organization's competitive environment on new product success. The results indicate that the organization's strategic orientation and competitive environment, purchasing involvement, and supplier involvement affect new product success. The appropriate level, timing, and frequency of supplier involvement was found to vary with the situation. The results also provide insight into the role of purchasing in new product development and the effective management of supplier involvement in new product development.

SUMMARY While purchasing and supplier involvement in new product development has been studied, little research has been conducted into purchasing and supplier involvement in production process development/ improvement. Two hundred seventy‐one senior managers responded to a mail questionnaire regarding purchasing and supplier involvement in process development/improvement in anufacturing, service, not‐for‐profit, and government organizations. Factor scores of the research variables were analyzed using t‐tests to assess the effects of process as a source of competitive advantage, purchasing involvement, and supplier involvement on process development/improvement practice and strategy. Contingency table analysis with the chi‐square statistic was used to assess the effects of industry category. It was found that processes contribute to competitive advantage, purchasing plays a major role in process development/improvement, and that purchasing and supplier involvement contributes to process development/improvement in all industry categories. These contributions are greatest in manufacturing. The implications of this research to purchasing professionals, researchers, and academicians are discussed.

This research addresses the roles of three logistics strategies in achieving logistics effectiveness, explores the interaction among these three strategies, and discusses the role of logistics strategy in managing conflicting challenges inherent in logistics. This article is organized into five sections. The following section reviews the literature and develops hypotheses. Next, the methodology section describes the data collection process. Third, the data analysis and results are described. The fourth section discusses the findings and relates them to the literature. Finally, the conclusions section provides additional insights into logistics strategy and discusses the implications of the research for logistics practitioners, teachers, and researchers. SELECTED RESEARCH RELEVANT TO LOGISTICS STRATEGYIssues of logistics strategy and organization have been discussed in the literature for at least 40 years. Brewer and Rosenzweig (1961) identified the interdependencies of the material flow process, the problem of optimizing individual functions at the expense of the overall system, and the lack of organizational coordination among logistics functions. They recommended that overall logistics optimization could be accomplished by assigning the various logistics functions to one executive. The unification of logistics activities under one organization was discussed by Bowersox (1974) as a process where logistics organizations evolve through three stages. Additional responsibilities are added to the logistics organization at each stage. While the stages paradigm received some support in the literature, subsequent research concluded that it did not offer an adequate explanation of how advanced logistics organizations develop and operate (Bowersox and Daugherty 1987), that it was independent of logistics strategy (McGinnis and Kohn 1990), and there is substantial doubt that it explains the development of advanced logistics organizations (McGinnis and Kohn 1990).A second concept for examining logistics strategy is the value chain (Porter 1985). The value chain provides a framework for examining interdependencies within logistics; between logistics and other areas of the firm; and between the firm, its suppliers, and customers.

Logistics managers were surveyed regarding decisions (1) to use third party logistics services and (2) practices regarding the selection of third party providers. Responses suggest that decisions to use third party logistics services are not driven by strong preconceptions, pro or con, regarding the attractiveness of the third party option. Further, attitudes toward the use of third party logistics services are not greatly affected by the firm's competitive responsiveness strategy or its perceived external environment. When a decision has been made to use third party providers, a wide range of performance oriented selection criteria are important. But, price considerations are important only after performance criteria have been met, and both the firm's competitive responsiveness strategy and external environment affect the selection criteria. It was concluded that selection criteria were much more affected by performance issues rather than cost issues. Implications for logistics service providers, users, teachers, and researchers are presented.