组织连接破裂与应对措施:供应商视角的案例研究

Interfirm Linkage Disruption and Responses: A Multiple Case Study

在外界环境的突变引发组织连接破裂的情况下,供应商应该如何应对?资源依赖理论认为,应对策略可以分为缓冲和桥接两种,本文将其进一步细化为探索式缓冲、利用式缓冲、探索式桥接和利用式桥接,但具体采取哪种应对策略取决于组织连接双方的权势关系。本文采用多案例研究,在我国对日软件外包情境中选取了五段供应商—客户关系。研究发现:(1)当客户权势较高时,供应商采取桥接策略的可能性更高,其中当供应商对客户的权势也高时,供应商更可能采取探索式桥接,当供应商的权势较低时,采取利用式桥接;(2)当客户权势较低时,供应商采取缓冲策略的可能性更高;(3)利用式缓冲不受供应商—客户权势关系的影响。

Interfirm linkage is disrupted when environment jolts lead to a drastic reduction in orders from clients. How do suppliers respond to such disruptions to mitigate their impact？ We address this question by drawing upon the resource dependence theory （RDT）, which emphasizes various ways to reduce or overcome environment uncertainty. According to RDT, there are two ge- neric strategies in response to linkage disruptions, buffering and bridging. The former refers to reducing the importance of valued resources, or developing alternative sources of supply, which is external to the current relationship with a supplier. In contrast, the latter means strengthening the control over the resource flow, within the current exchange relationship. Moreover, based on the notions of exploration and exploitation by March＇s （1991）, this research further divides buffering and bridging into exploratory buffering, exploitive buffering, exploratory bridging, and exploi- tive bridging, and proposes that the choice depends on the dyadic power relation between the supplier and client. This multiple case study examined five supplier-client relationships involving Chi- nese software vendors in offshore outsourcing to Japan, in four relative dyadic power states： high vs high, high vs low, low vs high, and low vs low. Although vendors have experienced a dra- matic decline in orders during the financial crisis of 2008 and suf- fered a great deal, they took different strategies. Findings suggest： 1） when a client is in a high power advantage, the supplier should choose bridging. Moreover, if the supplier also has high power, it is more likely to choose exploratory bridging, otherwise exploi- tive bridging. 2） When a client is in a low power position, a more probable response for the supplier is buffering. 3） Exploitative buffering is independent of dyadic power relation, because it is a common response to crises. This research contributes to not only the supply chain disruptions literature but also the resource dependence theory.