Title: Purchasing and innovation: a capability-based analysis

Authors: Astrid Hanghøj; Niels Peter Mols

Addresses: Business Consultancy, Risskov, Denmark ' Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Fuglesangs Allé 4, 8210 Aarhus V, Denmark

Abstract: In this paper we develop a number of hypotheses relating four purchasing capabilities to two measures of purchasing' contribution to innovation. The hypotheses are tested with data collected through a web survey completed by 321 purchasing professionals in Danish production companies. Our results show that integrative, relational, innovative and intelligence capabilities are positively related to innovation. However, relational capabilities are not found to have significant effect on purchasing' contribution to supply and practice innovation, i.e., new markets, new suppliers and new purchasing practices. The relationship between intelligence capabilities and purchasing' contribution to product and production innovations depends on the level of innovation capabilities.

Keywords: purchasing capabilities; procurement; product innovation; production innovation; integrative capabilities; relational capabilities; innovative capabilities; intelligence capabilities; Denmark.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2015.070745

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2015 Vol.8 No.4, pp.494 - 515

Received: 08 Apr 2014
Accepted: 24 Jun 2014
Published online: 23 Jul 2015 *

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