Antecedents to Supplier Integration: A Multiple-Case Study in the Chinese Automotive Industry

Supplier integration has become an important concept for improving supply chain performance in networked industries such as automotive. The aim of this paper is to identify factors that facilitate and inhibit supplier integration in the context of the Chinese automotive industry. An inductive approach based on grounded theory was chosen as research methodology which comprised data collection through 30 case interviews with automotive companies in China. The results indicate that buyer-side leadership is an important antecedent for building motivation, trust and commitment among suppliers and for shaping their mindsets. This in turn facilitates strategic alignment and enables suppliers to build collaborative capabilities. Collaborative capabilities, finally, proved to be a key enabler for successful supplier integration.