The Impact on the Buyer-Seller Relationship of Firms Using Electronic Data Interchange (open access)

The Impact on the Buyer-Seller Relationship of Firms Using Electronic Data Interchange

This research investigated whether the buyer-seller interorganizational relationship (IOR) differed between a firm and two classes of customers. The first class used electronic data interchange (EDI) with the firm and the second class used the traditional paper-based purchasing system. IOR characteristics included reputation, skill, direct power, indirect power, reciprocity, and efficiency.
Date: May 1997
Creator: Poole, Robyn R. (Robyn Ryan)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Factors Influencing Plant Location Decisions in Texas as Viewed by Texas Community Leaders and Out-of-State Manufacturing Executives (open access)

A Study of Factors Influencing Plant Location Decisions in Texas as Viewed by Texas Community Leaders and Out-of-State Manufacturing Executives

This dissertation has two major sections. The first section focuses on analyzing objective data gathered from public sources to investigate factors influencing industrial location to Texas. Areas of investigation include (1) where Texas stands--on economic, demographic, sociologic, climatic, and technological terms--in relation to the remaining forty-seven contiguous states; (2) what are the locational characteristics of Texas compared to other states; and (3) what types of industry move to Texas and from where. Regional and state comparisons are also made in terms of factors that can influence business success. The second section is concerned with analyzing survey data gathered from three test groups. The three groups are (1) civic interest groups consisting of Texas mayors, city managers, and chamber of commerce executives; (2) manufacturing executives who have located a new plant in Texas from outside the state since 1978; and (3) out-of-state manufacturing executives who have considered Texas as a possible location but decided not to locate within the state during the period 1978-1983. The major purposes of this section are to determine (1) whether manufacturing executives and Texas community leaders possess different views concerning the relative importance of location factors and factors that are specifically advantageous to the state of …
Date: December 1984
Creator: Mekhaimer, Abdelaziz G. (Abdelaziz Gamil)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Consequences of Implementing Statistical Process Control (open access)

The Consequences of Implementing Statistical Process Control

This study evaluated the changes which occur in manufacturing organizations in the plastic molding industry which implement statistical process control (SPC). The study evaluated changes in product quality, consistency, cost, changes in employee attitudes, and changes in the organization structure which occur after the implementation of SPC. The study was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 consisted of an exploratory field study of a single manufacturing company. Phase 2 consisted of a field survey of three manufacturing companies in the same industry. An unexpected opportunity to evaluate the differences in effects of successful and unsuccessful SPC implementations occurred during the field survey. One plant, whose management assessed their SPC program as being unsuccessful, reported no economic or quality benefits from SPC. Neither did this plant report any changes in the attitudes or behavior of their employees. Neither of these findings was surprising since this plant was the only one of the four study plants which implemented SPC as a quality control program with no participation from the production department. The three plants whose management assessed their SPC programs as being successful reported reduced product variation and a decrease in the proportion of defective product produced as a result of SPC. …
Date: August 1990
Creator: Sower, Victor E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Just-In-Time Purchasing and the Buyer-Supplier Relationship: Purchasing Performance Implications Using a Transaction Cost Analytic Framework (open access)

Just-In-Time Purchasing and the Buyer-Supplier Relationship: Purchasing Performance Implications Using a Transaction Cost Analytic Framework

The just-in-time purchasing literature resoundingly endorses long-term, cooperative buyer-supplier relationships. Significant anecdotal and descriptive evidence indicates that such relationships are rare in practice, raising questions as to the performance consequences of this gulf between theory and practice. Using an accepted theoretical model of the buyer-supplier relationship, transaction cost economics, this study examined the purchasing performance implications of the nature of the buyer-supplier relationship under just-in-time exchange. The focal purpose of the study was to examine the performance consequences of crafting long-term, cooperative relationships. The research design employed was a cross-sectional field study, involving a static-group comparison, implemented through the use of a mail survey. A dual-stage cluster sample of eight hundred purchasing managers and professionals employed in the two digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code 36, Electronic and Other Electrical Equipment and Components, was provided by the National Association of Purchasing Management (NAPM). The questionnaire was pretested and the substantive validity of the measurement scales assessed. Scales were purified via correlational and reliability analyses. Criterion-related and construct validity were established via correlational, exploratory factor, and confirmatory factor analyses. The three hypotheses of the study, involving extant tests of the association between the nature of the buyer-supplier relationship and purchasing performance …
Date: December 1996
Creator: Warnock, Stuart H. (Stuart Hamilton)
System: The UNT Digital Library