Supplier performance measurement in China

1. Project brief:
 We are studying how suppliers manage their partnership with various
downstream customers (eg. how do they measure customer satisfaction?).
 The project involves visits to electronics firms in China, Taiwan and Singapore.
 We are focusing specifically on the upstream component suppliers in the
consumer electronics industry.
 The purpose of the interview is to learn about the factors (performance
measures) that are relevant to supplier selection and supplier allocation
decisions.
 Examples are sought of different types of customers served and the type of
customer requests and the nature of communications with customers.
The Adoption Of Management Accounting/Controls
in Buyer - Supplier Partnerships

2. Questions to be asked come under three general categories:
 A) What types of qualification routines do customers
undertake? Frequency of visits, types of information requested?
 B) Nature of information exchanged leading up to and following
customer allocation decisions
 C) Measurements used and reporting by your firm and by
customers for the purposes of successfully managing the
partnership?
The Adoption Of Management Accounting/Controls
in Buyer - Supplier Partnerships

3. Principal Investigator:
Neale O’Connor, PhD, GDip(acc), FCPA (Aust)
Associate Professor, The University of Hong
Kong
 Professor O’Connor has been based in Hong
Kong for 15 years, commencing at the City
University of Hong Kong in 1996 before moving to
the University of Hong Kong in 2006.
 Publications available at:
http://www.fbe.hku.hk/Aboutus/Staff_Detail.cfm?S
taffID=279
Co investigators:
 Prof Anne Wu (Taiwan)
http://acct.nccu.edu.tw/people/bio.php?PID=5951
0
 Prof Shannon Anderson (Rice University)
http://business.rice.edu/facultyprofiles.aspx?facult
y=Shannon%20W.%20Anderson
Research themes currently being
investigated:
 How great firms manage their suppliers in China?
 The association between the use of total cost of
ownership in buyer order allocations and supplier
behaviour in the consumer electronics industry
 Cost control and the influence of market
competition on Chinese manufacturing firms
The Adoption Of Management Accounting/Controls
in Buyer - Supplier Partnerships