The Sources of Purchase Risks of a New Packaging Technology from a Supply Network Perspective

Growing product and service complexity, outsourcing, and globalization have led to increasingly complex supply networks. As a consequence, perceived risk has increased its role as a focal factor affecting all decision making in supply networks (Harland et al. 2003) and especially the adoption of new technology products. Dowling and Staelin (1994) define purchasing risk as “a buyer’s perception of the uncertainty and adverse consequences of buying a product/service”. According to Moriarty and Kosnik (1989), risk attitude is especially relevant issue in a new technology context. For, new technology is often accompanied with a high level of market and technology uncertainty and competitive volatility. Therefore, the adoption of a new technology product in a supply network context is significantly influenced by the members’ attitudes about the uncertainties related to the realized value of the product and the reactions of other members of the supply network. Further, as each member perceives the risks and gains differently, the supplier must be able to identify these perceived risks to provide the means for decreasing or accommodating the risks.