The Relationship Between Intra-Organizational And Inter-Organizational Coordination And Its Influence On Product Quality Improvement

Amelia S Carr,Senthilkumar Muthusamy,Peggy D Lee

doi:10.19030/jabr.v24i1.1370

Amelia S Carr, Senthilkumar Muthusamy + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.19030/jabr.v24i1.1370

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Abstract

A sample of 225 firms is analyzed, using structural equation modeling, to test five hypotheses.&nbsp; This study seeks to gain a better understanding of the practice of coordination among functional areas within the buying firm as well as between buyer firms and their key suppliers.&nbsp; The implications of this research suggest that it is important for firms to focus on their long-term success as they work with key suppliers.&nbsp; The research shows when the stakeholders of the firm support its efforts to coordination and cooperation with its key suppliers, the firm benefits.&nbsp; Evidence shows cross-functional coordination enhances the firm&rsquo;s capability to cooperate with its key suppliers.&nbsp; The findings are significant to supply chain manager and to the various functional managers in charge of quality, production, R&amp;D, and customer service and their respective counter parts in supplier firms.&nbsp; Finally, this study expands prior research and fills a gap in the literature by showing the importance of inter-organizational coordination between the buyer&rsquo;s supply management/purchasing function and the supplier&rsquo;s operations function. This study reveals that conformance to specifications, product reliability and overall product quality performance can be significantly improved when these inter-organizational functional areas coordinate their requirements.&nbsp; The study also shows that product quality can be significantly improved when intra-organizational and inter-organizational coordination occurs simultaneously.

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