TY - JOUR
T1 - International purchasing offices
T2 - Literature review and research directions
AU - Sartor, Marco
AU - Orzes, Guido
AU - Nassimbeni, Guido
AU - Jia, Fu
AU - Lamming, Richard
PY - 2014/3
Y1 - 2014/3
N2 - International Purchasing Offices (IPOs) now play an increasingly important role in the management of international sourcing activities, both in developed and emerging economies. The relevance of this organisational solution and the relatively limited research that has been published so far in the P&SCM literature make the "IPO" topic particularly promising for future research. This paper - based on an analysis of 59 works published between 1991 and 2011 - provides the first comprehensive literature review and research agenda on this topic. The primary issues (i.e., IPO definition, activities, location choices, strengths, weaknesses, and human resources management) are identified, and a conceptual framework is proposed. Building on this analysis, some theoretical and methodological weaknesses of the existing works and some gaps in the literature are discussed. This work concludes by suggesting several future research directions.
AB - International Purchasing Offices (IPOs) now play an increasingly important role in the management of international sourcing activities, both in developed and emerging economies. The relevance of this organisational solution and the relatively limited research that has been published so far in the P&SCM literature make the "IPO" topic particularly promising for future research. This paper - based on an analysis of 59 works published between 1991 and 2011 - provides the first comprehensive literature review and research agenda on this topic. The primary issues (i.e., IPO definition, activities, location choices, strengths, weaknesses, and human resources management) are identified, and a conceptual framework is proposed. Building on this analysis, some theoretical and methodological weaknesses of the existing works and some gaps in the literature are discussed. This work concludes by suggesting several future research directions.
KW - Global sourcing
KW - International Procurement Office
KW - International Purchasing Office
KW - International sourcing
KW - Literature review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84886076881&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pursup.2013.09.002
DO - 10.1016/j.pursup.2013.09.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84886076881
SN - 1478-4092
VL - 20
SP - 1
EP - 17
JO - Journal of purchasing and supply management
JF - Journal of purchasing and supply management
IS - 1
ER -