I am looking for research done on the question what the critical
success factors of buying groups are.

Under buying group I understand several legally independent firms
deciding to bundle their purchasing volumes in order to achieve better
conditions of purchasing contracts.

Synonyms for buying group might be buying consortium, purchasing
group, purchasing cooperation etc.

I am looking for academic works like dissertations, theses etc. on
this topic which take organizational success factors on an inter-firm
(e.g. cooperation) and inter-personal level (e.g. trust) into
consideration.

The best answers would cite academic works which used the research
methods of interviews and/or questionnaires to identify the critical
success factors of certain buying group(s). Academic works should be
accessible to students but do not have to be free of charge.

A second best answer would cite newsgroup etc. which are interested in that topic.

Thanks a lot for your answer.

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Clarification of Question by holli070875-ga on 15 Jan 2005 10:08 PST

PS: the research work should contain the design of the interviews and
questionnaires!

Monopolies are frowned on in the USA, so big players in most products
and services would draw suspicion of price fixing and other
undesirable activities if they suceeded in purchasing jointly. If the
companies in the buying group are not competitors, then the
probability is low for raw material specifications which match well.
Odds are the company needing the lowest specs can buy cheaper even in
much smaller quantities.
 Now a days profitability is enhanced by "just in time" delivery of
supplies, so a small error can be costly, so few buyers would trust a
competitor not to make an error. Buying in a group makes life
complicated and most corporations are willing to pay a small premium
to keep things simple.
 Suppose 8 tons of tungstun is ordered by the group. 1/2 ton each for
A,B and C 1.5 tons for D and 5 tons for E. Five tons instead of 8 tons
are delivered to E. Will E risk shuting down a production line to
deliver part of the tungstan to it's group buying partners? There are
very few comunities where a half ton of tungstan can be purchased off
the shelf even for a large premium.  Neil

holli070875 - I was very involved in writing a business plan a few
years ago for a software company that served buying groups - so I am
quite familiar with them.

I can tell you that there was very little at the time regarding
published work on the subject. Almost all of our research came from
people in the industry. You may try contacting some universities
directly, focusing on ones that have strong business/commerce focus.

Otherwise, there are three parties that make a buying group work: the
group organizer, the buyers and the suppliers. I'd contact each one to
identify what they consider success factors as though they may all say
the same thing, they each probably have a different perspective.

If you run into trouble, I probably can track down someone I worked
with that is very knowledgable about the space. He was CFO for one of
the group organizers and founder of the software company I mentioned.

Your are perfectly right in saying that the specifications of the
materials bought together are critical. That is why I try to examine
them as one important critical success factor.

I think legal matters are critical if you are talking about really
high volumes. If we talk about volumes of medium sized companies,
antitrust considerations should not represent a problem in most
markets.

Just in Time deliveries definitely also matter, but they are not
excluded by joint purchasing. Imagine, for instance, a buying group
consisting of legally independent companies, negotiating with
suppliers together but concluding separate contracts. These contracts
can include individual clauses concerning delivery. I worked in such a
buying group doing exactly this sort of thing very successfully. They
seem to be pretty common in the US, e.g. in joint buying of hospital
demands. Our experience was that both sides - buyer and supplier - had
advantages of joint buying through shorter negotiation processes and
the potential of selling higher volumes.

The spreading of material among the group members in times of supply
shortages might be criticial, too. The situation of the market for
steel and metals at this time is a good example.