Global Sourcing: lessons from lean companies to improve supply chain performances

Resumen

In recent years European companies are facing the most important competitive challenge since the second world war. The competition forces companies to increase technology innovation, but also to exploit the managerial and organizational innovation. Two main managerial approaches have emerged in the last years. The first one is the Lean Approach, which aims at improving performances by eliminating wastes and non value added activities. The second one is the Global Sourcing, which aims at exploiting the global arena to take advantages from the purchasing lever. Several companies are trying to improve their competitiveness by implementing both Lean Approach and Global Sourcing. But the two approaches seems not to be fully consistent, since Global Sourcing often implies purchasing large quantities from far away producers, and this increases stocks, exposes companies to an higher variability, etc. This research aims at investigating on the one hand Global Sourcing within Italian Lean companies, in terms of impact, product typologies that are globally sourced, and advantages and problems from the use of Global Sourcing. On the other hand, we want to highlight some of the countermeasures that Lean companies have adopted to reduce the impact of Global Sourcing on wastes and hidden costs. Such countermeasures are not limited to Lean companies. In order to reach our main aim, a survey on 95 companies and 9 case studies were carried out in Italian Lean companies stating the use of Global Sourcing. A validation of results was given by further 9 firms both implementing Lean Approach and Global Sourcing.