Supplier's capabilites and its influence on competitive advantage in automotive industry

• Main Authors: Pirzadeh, Zarrin, Abdul Hamid, Abu Bakar, Sukati, Inda
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: TS Manufactures
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/15999/1/P54.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/15999/; http://stmlportal.net/ictom04/TOC.html

In an increasingly competitive market place, manufacturers need to provide higher quality products at cheaper price and faster delivery. Besides that, rapid technology changes require greater supplier capabilities and more active manufacturer-supplier collaborations.However, many related studies do not support the proposition that firms could secure competitive advantage from the capabilities of their suppliers even though some technological and economic benefits have resulted from the manufacturer-suppliers collaborations in the new product development (NPD).This research examined the manufacturer-supplier’s current collaboration practices in the NPD; the relationships between suppliers and their capabilities; and the extent of collaboration in NPD. In this research, a framework was designed to represent the flow of a supplier’s capabilities and the collaboration in the NPD towards securing competitive advantage. To achieve these objectives, primary data from 117 survey samples who are Proton’s suppliers were gathered and analysed. The results confirmed that a positive correlation exists between collaboration in NPD and Proton suppliers’ capabilities. There is a positive and significant relationship that exists among the three supplier capabilities which are production, manufacturing, and research and development (R&D). Results from regression analyses also supported the idea that strategic alliances and technical collaborations have significantly affected the extent of competitive advantage. However, no impact on competitive advantage could be demonstrated from the suppliers’ manufacturing capabilities based on cost, innovativeness and quality of competitiveness. This study has illustrated the indicators of competitive advantage of manufacturers and capabilities of suppliers but it can be extended and enriched by incorporating other dimensions.