'Footprints of Strategy' : Investigating Purchasing Strategies in a Longitudinal Case

The aim of this paper is to identify the effects of decisions made by firms regarding supply-network strategizing, and to trace the consequences of these effects over time. The article presents a longitudinal single case study describing a producer of electrical heaters, Electrical Heaters Inc., and this firm’s purchasing of steel over the last 30 years. The paper introduces ‘footprints’, either material or immaterial, as a way of tracing the effects resulting from one change, thereby creating the context for subsequent changes. The analysis points to the importance of considering the strategies of external actors, as well as a firm’s interaction with those actors, and the fact that companies are not entirely in control of these changes.