Title: Co-located supplier clusters:forms, functions and theoretical perspectives
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Introduction:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to develop a typology of co-located supplier
clusters, such as logistics centres or supplier parks, and second, to evaluate the theoretical perspectives
at hand to investigate the co-location phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach – The research encompasses 28 semi-structured interviews with
key operations executives from vehicle manufacturers, component suppliers and logistics service
providers at nine co-located supplier clusters, the findings of which are triangulated with secondary
sources.
Findings – The investigation yields two main findings: first, a typology is proposed based on two
key dimensions “spatial integration and infrastructure” and “local value-added”. From a theoretical
perspective, the paper further concludes that transaction cost economics is less suited for studying
dedicated co-location, and suggests that future investigations should focus on consolidating the
contributions on the spatial dimension of sourcing configurations into a novel theoretical framework.
Research limitations/implications – The study is based on an exploratory research design,
investigating a selected number of co-located supplier clusters only. While the research does not claim
to provide a comprehensive survey of co-located supplier clusters, it proposes a general categorisation
that aims to provide a structure currently lacking further research into this phenomenon.
Originality/value – A structured overview of the phenomenon of co-located supplier clusters is
provided, extending the existing morphological debate. Furthermore, the discussion of their theoretical
foundations provides novel insights into this phenomenon as well as into the operational implications
of value chain modifications in general, with the intention of guiding further research in this area.