Due to the cognitive and resource heterogeneity among firms,the dynamics of PLC present firm specific constraints and opportunities(Child, 1972). Firms’ strategies aim to develop structures and practices while considering these constraints and opportunities.Thus the relationships among firms’ strategies and the constraints and opportunities are mutually interactive and evolving (Child,1997). Consistent with this perspective, we conjecture that therelationships among CI, RO, SDI and supplier capabilities would be different across the PLC stages and include PLC as a moderator variable in our analysis. We analyze the effects of PLC for two cohorts: firms in the growth stage and firms in the maturity stage of the PLC. Consistent with Argyres and Bigelow (2007), we assumethat the firms do not enter a mature industry and that firms dealing