Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Source of Publication

Procedia Technology

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Abstract

This paper applies the Red Queen theory to explain how organizations utilize various sourcing arrangements in order to compete in an evolutionary arms race where only the strongest competitors will survive. This case study incorporates competition and views sourcing strategies as a means to improve its viability to survive in the marketplace. The study begins with a review of sourcing literature to position the Red Queen theory within the sourcing literature. It subsequently applies the framework to a case study of SAP AG to illustrate how sourcing strategies changed over time in response to the logic of competition. The case study reveals that (a) organizations are adaptive systems and capable of organizational learning to make strategic changes pertaining to sourcing arrangements; (b) organizations select the terms in which they want to compete by developing certain capabilities within the firm; (c) organizations are reflexive and over time develop competitive hysteresis which allows them to become stronger competitors. In the case of SAP AG, various sourcing arrangements were selected over its 40-year history to respond to technological and market changes.

ISSN

2212-0173

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Volume

16

First Page

613

Last Page

622

Disciplines

Business

Keywords

ERP, Software Vendor, Sourcing, Red Queen Theory, SAP

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Indexed in Scopus

no

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series

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