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How to combine global and local sourcing? A cross-case analysis within the chocolate industry

Debuysschere, Marie
(2020)

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Debuysschere-12751500-2020.pdf
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Debuysschere-12751500-2020-Annexe.pdf
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Details

Supervisors
Blome, Constantin
Faculty
Louvain School of Management
Degree label
Master [120] en ingénieur de gestion
Abstract
During the 30 last decades, global sourcing has become a critical tool to achieve competitive advantage among the corporate world. The related global sourcing benefits such as having access to lower purchasing prices, higher quality components, advanced technologies, or high product availability lead companies to increasingly include this sourcing practice within their procurement strategies. However, the disadvantages and limits of such a practice such as non-agile supply chain or global rising operation costs lead companies to reconsider sourcing from domestic areas. As a result, this thesis aims to explore how companies can combine global and local sourcing to enhance their procurement performance. On top of analyzing the combination of global and local sourcing, this research also extends on the suppliers’ selection and assessment procedures. In order to answer the main research question, a literature review on both concepts, global and local sourcing, is conducted as first part of this master thesis. Then, a multiple case study is used as core design of the methodology to investigate the topic considering the business reality. Among the Belgian chocolate industry, three large companies are selected to first perform an in-depth analysis of their sourcing processes (with a strong focus put on their “glocal” strategies) but also on their suppliers’ selection and assessment processes. Then, a cross-case analysis is performed to highlight the similarities and contrasts across the intra-cases. These findings are analyzed in light of the theoretical framework to develop propositions about how companies should combine global and local sourcing. These seven propositions aim to guide other managers in the design of their procurement strategies. Finally, the limits of this master thesis are presented in the conclusion section.