The Effects of Low Internal Integration on Suppliers' Resource Mobilization

Journal article, 2012

A company that suffers from low internal integration between corporate functions performs worse than its more integrated competitors,leaving it in a position of competitive disparity.This paper reports on an investigation of the effects of internal integration between purchasing and operations onthe mobilization of supplier resources.Low internal integration generates uncoordinated operations and purchasing behaviors that negatively affect supplier resource mobilization.We find that the lack of operations support foreight major purchasing initiatives in a construction company negatively affects supplier resource mobilization,resulting in poor exchange outcomes for the suppliers.Furthermore, different types ofuncoordinated behaviors affect suppliers’resource mobilization in diverse negative ways. Basedontheresults,we offer a categorization of diverse typesofsuppliermobilization activities and offer several managerial implications for both buyers and suppliers.