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 -Strategic alliances have a low success rate despite the profusion of literature on this topic in the last 20 years. To understand the factors that determine performance of partnership relations, the purpose of this paper is to study the roles of control and the strength of interorganizational ties in businesses ability to manage strategic alliances. Design/methodology/approach -The authors have examined 10,377 partnership relations formed as part of strategic alliances to analyze the capacity of a business to manage its alliances. The authors built a structural equations model (PLS) based on observation of 4,242 alliances. Findings -This research identifies two determinants of the success of alliance management. First, the impact of weak ties and strong ties is identical when the business does not control the alliance. Second, weak ties are a more effective means than strong ties when a business controls the alliance. Originality/value -The main contribution of this study thus lies in our analysis of interorganizational relations and of their tangible impact on strategic trade-offs. The field of public procurement is particularly well-suited to evaluating this phenomenon, given the subtlety of alliances at play.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study how networks may influence the awarding of a contract. In particular, the authors explore strategic networks originating from cooperative relationships. Design/methodology/approach Based on notices of contracts awarded in the French public sector, the authors identified 10,377 partnership relations within 4,242 strategic alliances. The authors represented the system of relations in a graph. The authors used the networks depicted to measure a set of relational properties and build a structural equation model (partial least squared-path modeling). Findings The results highlight two important elements. First, the authors reveal the impact of the strength of weak and strong ties on contract awarding. Second, the authors show that the strength of weak ties is magnified by lead partners. Originality/value The findings provide insight into strategic behavior that can influence awarding contract. The authors also provide public principals with new means to improve their partner relations.
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.
This article studies the impact of reputation on market entry in public procurement. Based on the observation of a French firm with a strong reputation, we demonstrate a significant effect of the difference in public contracts won between date t-1 and date t. Our model provides empirical proof that selection of a supplier with a strong reputation does not hinder entry in public procurement nor does it prevent free competition. This result thus questions the justification for the European Union regulation that limits the use of information on past performance to select suppliers in public markets. The findings also suggest that reputation mechanisms can help reduce uncertainty during contract execution.
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