Consortium benchmarking: Collaborative academic-practitioner case study research

Consortium benchmarking is a scholar-practitioner collaborative case study approach joining rigor and relevance in management research. In consortium benchmarking practitioners and academic researchers form a consortium and together benchmark best-practices. Consortium benchmarking includes practitioners as co-researchers, facilitating research relevant for both academics and practitioners. Rigorous research informs the entire process since consortium benchmarking collects evidence from multiple sources and uses various comparison techniques. This paper introduces the concept of consortium benchmarking and then illustrates its application with a case study that identifies the nature of innovative suppliers. The study shows how consortium benchmarking supports the production of relevant knowledge for both academics and practitioners in a rigorous way. In order to evaluate these contributions, the study develops criteria for assessing rigor as well as theoretical and practical relevance. Finally, the study compares consortium benchmarking with multi-case research and presents five aspects either not accounted for or neglected in “traditional” multi-case research.     

THE APPLICATION OF EMPIRICAL STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT RESEARCH TO SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Researchers in supply chain management (SCM) have traditionally relied most heavily on the core disciplines of logistics, marketing, and operations; most are less familiar with empirical literature in strategic management. However, with the evolution of logistics into the more interdisciplinary SCM along with increasing attention within strategic management to supply chain issues, recent empirical research in strategy has much to offer. This study reviews and categorizes more than one hundred articles relevant to SCM drawn primarily from top strategic management journals.     

Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain Network by Adopting Relationship Management Strategies

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This paper develops a conceptual framework to analyze the impact of a supply chain network (SCN) structure on relationship management strategies (RMS) that focal firms apply to manage sustainability issues within the SCN.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a comprehensive review and analysis of the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP), sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), and SCN literature.

Findings: The conceptual framework expands the network perspective in the SSCM context by considering the important role of the SCN structure in the firm’s decision-making process. Four factors (dependency, distance, power, and transparency) were found that are useful in conceptualizing the SCN structure. The conceptual framework also categorizes various sustainability practices into four RMS (noncompliance, transactional, dictatorial, and collaborative), which are needed to make an SCN more sustainable. In addition, 16 propositions are developed based on how firms may identify the most effective RMS to implement appropriate sustainability practices through examining their SCN structure.

Research limitations/implications: The conceptual framework, developed as a result of a comprehensive review of the literature, led to the development of 16 propositions, which can assist in furthering a research agenda on RMS to diffuse various sustainability practices within SCN structures.

Originality/value: The relationship between SCN structure and RMS in the sustainability context remains an under-researched but emerging area of interest. This paper leverages existing research to develop a conceptual framework suitable for empirical testing.     

Methodology in business ethics research: A review and critical assessment

Using 94 published empirical articles in academic journals as a data base, this paper provides a critical review of the methodology employed in the study of ethical beliefs and behavior of organizational members. The review revealed that full methodological detail was provided in less than one half of the articles. Further, the majority of empirical research articles expressed no concern for the reliability or validity of measures, were characterized by low response rates, used convenience samples, and did not offer a theoretic framework, hypotheses, or a definition of ethics. Several recommendations, including a reviewer rating form addressing methodological decisions and inclusion of methodologists on the review panel, are offered to improve methodological rigor in published ethics research. Donna M. Randall is an Associate Professor in Management and Systems at Washington State University. Her research interests include organizational commitment, media coverage of whitecollar and corporate crime, and ethical issues in management. Her publications have appeared in such journals as Decision Sciences, Academy of Management Review, and Social Science Quarterly.Annetta M. Gibson is a doctoral student in accounting in the Department of Accounting and Business Law at Washington State University. She has a CPA and has worked as an auditor for a number of years. Her research interests include impression management and ethical issues in auditing, accounting, and management.     

Using Laboratory Experiments in Logistics and Supply Chain Research

Laboratory experiments provide an underutilized methodology for subjecting research in logistics and supply chain management to rigorous scientific scrutiny. As discussed in this paper, by following established procedures researchers can create an economic system in which behavior can be observed and replicated. With the ability to control the institution and the environment, researchers have complete information and can exogenously manipulate treatment variables, neither of which may be feasible in field work. We also address many of the reservations that skeptics of laboratory experiments often express including issues of realism, participant sophistication, and payoff stakes. We then provide several examples where experiments have been used to study issues relevant to logistics and supply chain management including auctions, wholesale practices in gasoline markets, inventory replenishment, liberalization of the electric power industry, and deregulation of the natural gas markets. Finally, we identify several additional areas where laboratory experiments could be informative.     

SUPPLIER EVALUATION IN A DYADIC RELATIONSHIP: AN ACTION RESEARCH APPROACH

This article describes an Action Research (AR) framework applied to the supplier evaluation environment of a telecommunication company. Within this AR framework, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used because the methodology can successfully delineate evaluation problems and then outline a desirable path. This leads management to continuously review and improve complex systems or processes. The DEA methodology coordinates the supplier evaluation inputs and reconciles what can be very diverse performance measures and even more diverse weights applied by evaluation team members. Finally, dyadic interdependence can be demonstrated by identifying the impact of changes in buyer performance attributes on each supplier's capacity to accommodate and adjust.     

Supply chain management: an analytical framework for critical literature review

There can be little dispute that supply chain management is an area of importance in the field of management research, yet there have been few literature reviews on this topic (Bechtel and Mulumudi, 1996, Proceedings of the 1996 NAPM Annual Academic Conference; Harland, 1996, British Journal of Management 7 (special issue), 63–80; Cooper et al., 1997). This paper sets out not to review the supply chain literature per se, but rather to contribute to a critical theory debate through the presentation and use of a framework for the categorisation of literature linked to supply chain management. The study is based on the analysis of a large number of publications on supply chain management (books, journal articles, and conference papers) using a Procite^© database from which the literature has been classified according to two criteria: a content- and a methodology-oriented criterion.     

Ethical Sourcing: An Analysis of the Literature and Implications for Future Research

The purpose of this study is to present a rigorous, focused review on how this field of ethical sourcing research has grown and evolved over the decades, providing implications for future research. We combine two research methodologies in this study: a systematic literature review and a citation network analysis. The former is used as a scientific tool to select the most relevant ethical sourcing articles, while the latter is then applied as a research technique to analyse these selected articles. Such a combined approach allows for a rigorous investigation into this field of research in a more scientific and objective way. Based on this approach, we identify (1) distinctive features of ethical sourcing studies such as growth trends and content issues; (2) important articles that have played a significant role in developing this field; (3) evolutionary paths that show how its knowledge has been created and transferred; (4) emerging trends that have received growing attention in the recent literature; (5) main research areas that underlie the entire ethical sourcing studies; and (6) major implications that need to be pursued in future research. The results of this study provide not only the current status of the literature but also the patterns of evolution in this field of research, thus contributing to the existing literature.     

供应链中大数据分析应用研究综述

近年来,供应链管理实践中产生的数据量呈指数增长,大数据分析在供应链中存在巨大的发展空间,然而,当前对于供应链中大数据分析应用还缺乏深入研究。通过相关文献梳理,对国外供应链中大数据应用进行深入探析,结合国内外研究成果回顾了不同行业供应链中的大数据应用及其商业价值,鉴于已有研究,对未来该领域研究进行大胆展望。文章将丰富国内供应链中的大数据分析应用理论,为学术界和实务界在供应链管理各个方面实施大数据分析应用提供指导。     

Virtual and augmented reality: Advancing research in consumer marketing

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies are having a profound impact on a variety of marketing practices and are attracting increasing attention from marketing researchers. In this article, we review developments in VR/AR applications and research in the area of consumer marketing. We propose a conceptual framework for VR/AR research in consumer marketing that centers around consumer experiences provided by VR/AR applications along the customer journey and the effectiveness of such applications, and delve into the key concepts and components of the framework. Next, we provide a comprehensive overview of VR/AR applications in current practices and extant research on VR/AR in consumer marketing. Finally, based on this framework, we offer an outlook for future developments of VR/AR technologies and applications, discuss managerial implications, and prescribe directions for research on consumer marketing.     

Writing bold,broad, and rigorous review articles in entrepreneurship

Despite the importance of review articles in entrepreneurship, specific guidance to authors remains limited. Alongside JBV's rolling annual review issue, we provide authors practical tips for preparing review articles. Building on widely accepted principles employed in general management review articles, we tailor our guidance to the “entrepreneurship” way of writing review articles in entrepreneurship. Specifically, we call on authors to write bold, broad, and rigorous reviews that exemplify JBV's mission to publish and disseminate high-quality entrepreneurship research.     

Rigor and Relevance: On the Development of Entrepreneurship Research in China

This study examines the contributions of Chinese entrepreneurship research to academic knowledge and its practical implications. Specifically, we investigate how Chinese entrepreneurship research meets the standards of rigor and relevance based on a review of 64 papers published in five major scholarly journals in the Chinese mainland. Results show that Chinese entrepreneurship research has paid comparatively little attention to the “rigor” dimension, while focusing more heavily on practical relevance than on academic relevance on the “relevance” dimension. Future directions for China’s entrepreneurship research are also discussed.     

农产品供应链管理与质量安全关系的实证研究

随着农产品质量安全管理日益重要和农产品供应链的广泛应用,有必要在农产品供应链框架下研究农产品质量安全管理。本文以农产品供应链管理和质量安全控制效率作为实证分析对象,重点通过实地问卷调查的方法获取企业供应链管理和质量安全控制的相关数据,构建结构方程模型,探讨供应链框架下合作关系、供应链管理行为、农产品质量安全控制行为以及安全管理效率之间的相互关系,并提出了相应的对策建议。     

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Supply Chain Agility: Conceptualization and Scale Development

Although agility has been identified as one of the most important issues of contemporary supply chain management, the theoretical basis for understanding supply chain agility is fragmented. This research addresses the gap related to the ambiguity surrounding the dimensions and definitions of firm supply chain agility by employing a multidisciplinary literature review to gain an in‐depth understanding of agility. In addition, a comprehensive measurement instrument that draws on the foundations of social and life science theory is developed and empirically validated. The results of the research indicate that firm supply chain agility is composed of five distinct dimensions including alertness, accessibility, decisiveness, swiftness, and flexibility. Based on these elements, a comprehensive definition of firm supply chain agility is developed for further theoretical testing of the concept.     

State-of-the-Art Research on Technology Innovation Management in China

The two latest Five-Year Plans of China call for an increasing focus of the whole country on technology-based innovation. Moreover, China’s ambition to become an innovation-oriented nation has attracted widespread international interest and academic studies in technology and innovation management. However by now, there is still not a rigorous amount of the research in this field as regards to China. This paper reports a comprehensive review of the research published between 2002 and 2011 in twelve top technology and innovation management international journals. Overall, a sample of 241 relevant articles in 780 issues is used as the basis for the study. The result is a map of the main research topics, their influence, and the availability of tested empirical data, which traces a state-of-the-art research on technology innovation management in China. Discussion on the map draws avenues for further research and insights for both researchers and policy makers on why, where and how to advance knowledge in the field, with a particular focus on implications for developing cooperation at the enterprise level.     

Supply Relational Risk: What Role Does Guanxi Play?

The topics of supply chain risk and global sourcing have garnered significant attention in recent years. Although there is ample circumstantial evidence of global sourcing risk, especially from the western‐firm perspective of sourcing from China, few published studies have investigated the root causes of this risk. In this paper, we argue that much of the risk associated with sourcing from China stems from the differences associated with institutional norms and philosophical orientation between western and Chinese thought and culture. Based on an in‐depth literature review and case analysis, we compare western forms of supply chain relationship management with Guanxi, the Chinese form of relationship management and propose a framework of how western firms are exposed to supply relational risk when sourcing from Chinese suppliers. The framework proposed in this article sheds light for supply chain managers with regard to the potential pitfalls facing firms when working with Chinese suppliers, and provides the groundwork for future research regarding supply chain practices and Guanxi networks.     

Cultural diversity in top management teams: Review and agenda for future research

Despite its growing social relevance, research on cultural diversity in top management teams (TMTs) has been sparse and fragmented. To build a firm foundation and facilitate the development of this field, we review and synthesize 106 key articles published between 1997 and 2021. Our study provides a comprehensive field map explicating the antecedents and influence of TMT cultural diversity, showing that cultural diversity constitutes a distinct and important aspect of TMT diversity that has significant implications for a variety of outcomes. By critically assessing the field, we identify key research gaps and promising areas for future research.     

Supply chain disruption management: Global convergence vs national specificity

As the supply chain expands overseas, there is a growing need for managing supply chain disruptions from a cross-national perspective. This paper investigates whether or not supply chain disruption management (SCDM) can be universally applied. The universality of the SCDM framework is analyzed through the convergent versus divergent (national specificity) debate. On an empirical level, based on a unique sample of 1403 firms representing 69 countries all over the world and using the GLOBE framework, we compare the level of importance of the eight constructs of our framework and the patterns of relationship between the constructs, across eight country clusters. MANOVA analysis and multiple regression analysis were applied to obtain relevant empirical insights. Surprisingly, our findings suggest that while risk sources are different in the various countries, the implementation of SCDM practices is universal. These results support the existing tension between the convergence theory and the national specificity argument.     

Contextualizing international business research: Enhancing rigor and relevance

Context differentiates international business (IB) from traditional Business research. Along with many IB scholars, we argue that context should be much more adequately emphasized in IB research. Location differences are commonly ignored; complexity and polycomplexity--and other levels of analysis issues--are rarely acknowledged; and the relevance of models and theory developed in Western contexts is not adequately questioned or explored. This paper suggests contextualization guidelines for scholars to enhance the rigor of their research and to make their IB research more relevant for practitioners. In conclusion we suggest solutions for closing rigor and relevance gaps in IB research by enhancing contextualization.     

GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN RISK MANAGEMENT

Global supply chains face a multitude of risks. A review of the recent literature reveals a few structured and systematic approaches for assessing risks in supply chains. However, there is no conceptual framework that ties together this literature. The purpose of this paper is to integrate literature from several disciplines ‐ including logistics, supply chain management, operations management, strategy, and international business ‐ to develop a model of global supply chain risk management. The implications for stakeholders and how future research could bring more insights to the phenomenon of global supply chain risk management are also discussed.