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Purchasing
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management 14 (2008) 170– 179

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Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pursup

Cooperating and competing in supply networks: Making sense of a triadic sourcing strategy
Anna Dubois Ã, Peter Fredriksson 1
Division of Industrial Marketing, Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, S-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden

a r t i c l e in f o
Article history: Received 20 June 2007 Received in revised form 15 May 2008 Accepted 18 May 2008 Keywords: Sourcing strategy Triads Cooperation Competition Supply networks

a b s t r a c t
This paper introduces the concept of a ‘‘triadic sourcing strategy’’. Triadic sourcing is a way for buying companies to nurture and benefit from cooperation and competition between two suppliers with partially overlapping capabilities. In contrast to hybrid sourcing strategies outlined in the literatureparallel and network sourcing—the distinctive feature of triadic sourcing is that the buyer actively creates interdependencies between two suppliers. To illustrate this principle and the characteristics of triadic sourcing, Volvo Cars’ use of two suppliers of seats is described. The paper asserts that triadic sourcing is a dynamic sourcing strategy that contributes to efficiency and innovation for the buyer and the two suppliers, together forming a triad that is subject to firm interdependence and network embeddedness. & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Sourcing strategies have been on top of the agenda in the area of industrial purchasing for a long time (Kraljic, 1983; Gadde and ˚ Hakansson, 1993; Ellram and Carr, 1994; Cousins and Spekman, 2003; Day and Lichtenstein, 2006; Ventovuori, 2006). In view of developments towards reducing the numbers of suppliers and increasing the content in the relationships with the remaining ones (Cousins,



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A triadic network approach to service quality. Journal of Services Marketing 16 (2), 158–179. Svensson, G., 2004. Triadic dependencies in business networks. European Business Review 16 (5), 473–493. Thompson, J.D., 1967. Organizations in Action. McGraw-Hill, New York. Van Hoek, R., Weken, H., 1998. How modular production can contribute to integration in inbound and outbound logistics. International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications 1 (1), 39–56. Van Weele, A.J., 2005. Purchasing and Supply Chain Management. Thomson Learning, London. Ventovuori, T., 2006. Elements of sourcing strategies in FM services—a multiple case study. International Journal of Strategic Property Management 10, 249–267. von Corswant, F., Fredriksson, P., 2002. Sourcing trends in the car industry— a survey of car manufacturers’ and suppliers’ strategies and relations. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 22 (7), 741–758. Wu, Z., Choi, T.Y., 2005. Supplier–supplier relationships in the buyer–supplier triad: building theories from eight case studies. Journal of Operations Management 24, 27–52. Yin, R.K., 2003. Case Study Research. Design and Methods. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks. Zeng, A., 2000. A synthetic study of sourcing strategies. Industrial Management and Data Systems 1000 (5), 219–226. Zirpoli, F., Caputo, M., 2002. The nature of buyer–supplier relationships in codesign activities. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 22 (12), 1389–1410. Anna Dubois is Professor at the division of Industrial Marketing, Chalmers University of Technology. Her research interests are focused on supply chain management with an emphasis on industrial purchasing. Peter Fredriksson is Assistant Professor at the division of Industrial Marketing, Chalmers University of Technology. His research and teaching concern supply chain management and product modularity.

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