Boosting Supplier Innovations by Implementing New Promotor Roles

Abstract

Successfully implemented innovations in firms often benefit from a set of corporate actors who promote such innovations. This is the essence of promotor theory. However, this theory was designed almost five decades ago, when most innovations were still generated internally in a firm's laboratory. In most cases today, suppliers external to the firm play a crucial role in implementing innovations. The question thus arises: do such externally generated innovations actually require the buying firm to have a set of promotors of its own? Relying on a benchmark and the World Café method, our research concludes that a new set of promotors tailored to supplier innovation is needed: (1) the supplier vision promotor, (2) the customer promotor and (3) a diplomatic promotor. Establishing a dedicated team of promotors may be key to boosting innovations coming from suppliers.

Industry 4.0 in purchasing and supply management : defining future roles and skills

“…Faes et al (2001) used cluster analysis to describe five profiles of effective buyers: the go-getter, the classic negotiator, the caretaker, the traditional buyer, and the technical expert. More recent publications have identified new specialised roles in PSM -for example, the innovation promoter (Goldberg and Schiele, 2020).…”

“…Recent PSM research has also started to describe emerging roles within the field brought about by changing objectives or the introduction of technology. Goldberg and Schiele (2020) identified the promoter role in PSM to improve innovation sourcing practices, and Schulze and Bals (2020) identified the role of a sustainability office in the supply chain. On the changing roles in PSM due to technology implementation, Wehrle et al (2021) described the role of a data scientist.…”

“…Others -for example, Faes et al (2001) -describe five profiles of effective buyers, including the go-getter, the classic negotiator, the caretaker, the traditional buyer, and the technical expert. More recent publications have identified new specialised roles in PSM -for example, the innovation promoter (Goldberg and Schiele, 2020). In PSM, Schiele (2019) identified and categorised seven roles, which provide a useful and relevant basis for the focus of this dissertation.…”