Toward a structural view of co-opetition in supply networks

Co-opetition, or simultaneous competition and cooperation, in the supply chain management literature has been treated as a dyadic relational phenomenon where the buyer's strategy is considered to be the primary driver. In this paper, we move beyond the dyadic view and propose a theory of co-opetition in supply networks. We argue that as firms within a supply network interact over time to access, share, and transform resources, new ties between firms are formed and existing ties dissolve, giving rise to co-opetition dynamics at the network level. Taking a configurational approach, we employ the inter-related dimensions of ties between firm, firm-level task, network-level objective, and governance to specify four practical supply network archetypes that cover a wide range of economic activities. We then explain how coopetitive relationships may evolve in these supply network archetypes. Specifically, we discuss how relationships form or dissolve in these archetypes and how local structural changes lead to co-opetition dynamics at the network level. We also discuss the implications of such dynamics from a managerial perspective.     

How motivation,opportunity, and ability drive knowledge sharing: The constraining-factor model

We introduce and empirically test a theoretical metamodel that explains knowledge-sharing behavior among employees. Building on the well-established motivation–opportunity–ability (MOA) framework, we posit that knowledge sharing among employees is a function of their MOA to do so. Existing literature suggests that the interaction among motivation, opportunity, and ability drives knowledge-sharing behavior. In contrast, we specify a new model in which the “bottleneck” or constraining factor among the MOA variables determines the degree of knowledge sharing that occurs. This constraining-factor model (CFM) fits the data better than the traditional multiplicative model and reveals a new, qualitatively different portrait of knowledge sharing that resolves some of the puzzles in the previous literature. The CFM provides macro-level insights with respect to how operations managers can improve employee knowledge sharing by focusing on the bottleneck MOA variable. As a result, the CFM can help set strategic directions of related policies. The model emphasizes that, counter to conventional wisdom, the MOA variables should not be addressed independently, but rather in a dynamic and coordinated way.     

Reverse logistics capabilities and firm performance: the mediating role of business strategy

This study aims to examine the impact of reverse logistics capabilities on firm performance and mediating role of logistics strategies. We reviewed three theories of reverse logistics capabilities: (a) resource-based view of the firm, (b) transaction cost economics, and (c) institutional theory. We examined six reverse logistics capabilities: logistics information management, close-loop capability, supply chain integration, supply chain coordination, conformity capability, and institutional incentives. We examined three reverse logistics strategies: joint reverse logistics, manufacturer reverse logistics, and third-party reverse logistics. We conducted a survey of Chinese mobile phone companies out of which we received 125 usable questionnaires with a response rate of 80%. The results of mediated hierarchical regression support the hypothesis that reverse logistics capabilities influence firm performance. Institutional factors were more significant than supply chain factors. Close-loop capability was the most significant factor. We provide managerial implications and suggestions for future research.     

A dynamic performance measurement system: evidence from small Finnish technology companies

The purpose of this paper is (1) to present a new dynamic integrated performance measurement system (IPMS) based on a managerial view, and (2) to present preliminary empirical evidence on the importance of performance measures in small Finnish technology companies using the IMPS as the framework for the survey. The aim is to develop a useful managerial tool for measuring and improving performance in business firms. The system is intended to include a comprehensive set of relevant factors and dimensions, which together form an integrated managerial system of performance measurement. The proposed IPMS is linked to the idea of activity-based costing (ABC). It consists of seven main factors and the causal chain connecting these factors. The factors are classified as two external factors (financial performance and competitiveness) and five internal factors (costs, production factors, activities, products, and revenues). The main idea of the IPMS is to follow the use (transformation) of resources from the point of the very first (elementary) resource allocation to the point when the results of the allocation are realized as revenues. In the causal chain, the factor at any point along the chain is regarded as a determinant of the factor that succeeds it. Moreover, the next resource allocation decision is dynamically affected by the results of the former decisions, thus allowing for learning-by-doing. The IPMS is also used as a framework for a postal questionnaire completed by 93 small Finnish technology firms. These companies put great emphasis on the importance of the employee motivation (production factors dimension), customer satisfaction (products), product profitability (revenues), company profitability, liquidity, and capital structure (financial performance) in the measurement of performance. Factor analysis is used to classify the companies into three groups on the basis of performance measurement.     

Understanding the dynamics of global supply chain sustainability initiatives: The role of institutional distance from the buyer's perspective

Research points to sustainable supply chain management as a core strategic goal for most global firms. However, managers continue to struggle with implementing successful sustainability initiatives both internally and throughout their globally dispersed supply chains. Using grounded theory, our findings uncover a potential explanation for how firms manage sustainability initiatives in the context of global supply chain management, from a buyer's perspective. Institutional theory of the firm is applied to help explain the challenges of developing and implementing global supply chain sustainability-related initiatives within buyer-supplier relationships. Analysis of the data from qualitative interviews show that institutional distance is an influential factor that produces mixed effects on the global buyer-supplier relationships in our sample in the context of buyer and supplier strategic orientation toward sustainability. The findings can help guide managers when approaching sustainability-related initiatives in the context of global supply chains. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed as well as areas for future research.     

Operational excellence in a green supply chain for environmental management: A case study

Nowadays, organizations have started to become more conscious about the environment in their supply chain operations. The greening process has guided supply chain practices into new ways of thinking according to green standards. The assessment of the performance of green supply chain management (GSCM) requires a holistic view for the whole supply chain. In this context, given that becoming green in the operational side of activities is essential, the performance assessment of operational activities also requires a holistic view to be taken. In this paper, an attempt has been made to improve the performance of GSCM by examining and evaluating the green operational excellence of a hot dip galvanizing company. The framework includes several green operational excellence key criteria, namely, quality management, efficiency management, green production/manufacturing, eco‐packaging, and green design. First, the weights of the criteria and the respective measurements were found by fuzzy analytic network process. Then, the overall operational performance score was found by a weighted scoring method. Finally, both managerial and theoretical implications were suggested according to the outcomes and findings of the case study.     

The role of buyers justice in achieving socially sustainable global supply chains: A perspective of apparel suppliers and their workers

The absence of an effective public model (e.g., government regulations and law enforcement) in developing countries has driven clothing brands and retailers to rely on a private voluntary formal model (e.g., compliance and collaboration approaches) to manage suppliers' internal social issues (e.g., poor working conditions). However, this model has been recently criticised for falling short in addressing these issues as it overlooks their main root causes. In this study, we suggest that suppliers' internal social issues can be driven by buyers' unfair practices, and therefore, we propose and examine that buyers' justice can ensure suppliers' internal social performance. We further postulate and investigate that addressing these issues would result in advantages for buyers beyond traditional performance outcomes in the form of reduced supply operational risk. Based on a census of the 117 suppliers comprising the ready-made garment industry in a Middle Eastern country (Jordan), we received survey responses from 97 suppliers and their shop floor workers. The analysis revealed that only buyer’s distributive and procedural justice, but not interactional justice, are positively related to suppliers' internal social performance. We also found evidence that improving suppliers' internal social performance can diminish supply operational risk. This study contributes to the extant research by empirically investigating a new approach to handle the increase in suppliers' internal social issues in a developing country context. It also does by capturing suppliers' internal social performance from the workers' perspective and highlighting the role of improved suppliers' internal social performance on mitigating supply operational risk.     

基于平衡记分卡的敏捷供应链绩效评价体系研究

在对敏捷供应链绩效评价及平衡计分卡理论分析的基础上,运用平衡计分卡构建了针对敏捷供应链的财务、顾客、业务流程、创新与学习四个维度的绩效评价指标体系,然后提出了基本平衡记分卡的敏捷供应链绩效评价的实施流程,以期达到改善敏捷供应链运营绩效、提高敏捷供应链的整体竞争能力的目的。     

Building manufacturing flexibility with strategic suppliers and contingent effect of product dynamism on customer satisfaction

A critical capability sought by an increasing number of firms is manufacturing flexibility, because it allows to effectively respond to dynamic markets. Grounded upon a supply chain perspective, this paper aims to assess antecedents of manufacturing flexibility that stem from the upstream relationships with strategic suppliers. Additionally, it is one of the first to analyze the contingent effect of product dynamism on the impact of manufacturing flexibility on downstream customer satisfaction. We apply structural equation modeling to a sample of 155 companies in order to analyze our hypotheses. Results strongly indicate that buyer-supplier collaboration facilitates inter-organizational learning that in turn allows organizations to develop manufacturing flexibility and increase customer satisfaction. Approaching manufacturing flexibility from a broader supply chain view thus pays off. Moreover, we apply multi-group confirmatory factor analysis to explore the contingent effect of product dynamism on the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and customer satisfaction. Results suggest a stronger impact of manufacturing flexibility on performance in the context of higher product dynamism in companies’ customer markets, confirming the importance of a contingency view to flexibility.     

Supply chain performance flexibility in the Australian beef industry

The red meat value chain in Australia is undergoing a rapid change due to globalisation, a highly competitive meat market and increased production efficiency and flexibility. This paper aims to investigate how beef producers can increase supply chain performance (SCP) flexibility by improving supply chain practices. A model was developed and hypotheses were formulated based on the literature review of agri-food supply chains. A survey questionnaire was distributed to beef producers in Australia and the results of stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that performance flexibility was significantly influenced by the supply chain practices: customer relationships and information quality (IQ). Given these findings, beef producers should focus on customer relationships and IQ in order to achieve enhanced flexibility in their SCP. The paper discusses the implications and current practices in beef cattle farming industry.     

Strategic entrepreneurship and competitive advantage of established firms: evidence from the digital TV industry

Although strategic entrepreneurship in established firms is recognized as a vital source of sustainable competitive advantage, this field has no clearly developed research paradigm. This study proposes a conceptual framework to investigate dimensions of strategic entrepreneurship and its function in sustainable competitive advantage of established firms in a modern volatile environment, through the lens of the dynamic capability view. By conducting a systematic literature review of previous research documents and considering conceptual interrelationships between strategic entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities, we propose categories that comprise dimensions of a firm’s strategic entrepreneurship: environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility, entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning. We establish a conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship in which entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities of environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility and entrepreneurial orientation closely interact with organizational learning, thereby facilitating sustainable performance of established firms. Following empirical studies of established firms in the digital TV manufacturing industry, the proposed conceptual framework suggests that each dimension of strategic entrepreneurship plays a critical role in competitive advantage of firms. In addition, case study results indicate that a firm’s position and evolutionary path form antecedent factors influencing entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities and organizational learning of established firms.     

Development and validation of a measurement instrument for studying supply chain management practices

It is widely argued that competition is no longer between organizations, but among supply chains. Effective supply chain management (SCM) has become a potentially valuable way of securing competitive advantage and improving organizational performance. This research conceptualizes, develops, and validates six dimensions of SCM practices (strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, information sharing, information quality, internal lean practices, and postponement). Data for the study were collected from 196 organizations and the measurement scales were tested and validated using structural equation modeling. It is hoped that this study will provide a parsimonious measurement instrument to assess the performance of the overall supply chain.     

The impact of bullwhip on supply chains: Performance pathways,control mechanisms,and managerial levers

Even though few empirical studies have tried to actually explicate the relationship between the bullwhip effect and performance of the supplier firm, there exists a common perception for over 30 years among both practitioners and academics that the bullwhip effect naturally results in decreased firm profitability. Anecdotal evidence further suggests that this decline in profitability arises from a decline in operational performance. However, the results of our study, which empirically examines the bullwhip effect across supply chain partners through an analysis of 383 actual customer base-supplier dyads, challenge this commonly held position by suggesting that while traditional bullwhip often yields reduced ROA, it ultimately has no relationship with the firm's operating margin. Additionally, our results also call into question whether or not production coordination between customers and suppliers can minimize the need for inventory and capacity buffers, which are the two commonly utilized methods for battling the bullwhip effect. Thus the relationship between bullwhip and firm performance is far more nuanced and complicated than previously believed. We also show how the managerial bullwhip levers of coordinating production across supply chain partners, or deploying inventory and capacity buffer control mechanisms, can help maximize a firm's performance along different dimensions.     

Performance impacts of management in Korean schools: Testing the Meier and O’Toole model

This article investigates the impact of management on performance in Korean schools. Drawing upon the model of Meier and O’Toole, we test the linear relationships of internal management, managerial networking, and managerial quality with multiple dimensions of performance. We also examine the nonlinear relationships between networking and performance. The results show a general consistency in the positive link between management and performance, providing evidence to support the key arguments from the model. Still, there are noticeable differences in specific findings. As one of the first applications of the Meier and O'Toole model in Asia, this study illustrates the importance of the national context in management–performance linkage.     

The impact of supplier dependence on suppliers' CSR: The moderating role of industrial dynamism and corporate transparency

To improve corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the supply chain, focal buyers may use supplier dependence to influence the supplier's resource strategy to promote the supplier's CSR initiatives. Thus, supplier dependence is particularly critical to the supplier's CSR, especially for Chinese suppliers with resource constraints. However, there is limited understanding and research on the degree to which a supplier depends on major buyers for the supplier's CSR from the supplier's perspective. Based on a sample of 284 Chinese listed companies, this study analyses the relationship between supplier dependence and suppliers' CSR through the lens of resource dependence theory (RDT). In addition, we investigate the moderating roles of industrial dynamism and corporate transparency in the relationship between supplier dependence and suppliers' CSR. The results indicate that supplier dependence has a negative impact on the Chinese supplier's CSR performance. Meanwhile, the negative impact of supplier dependence is mitigated for the supplier's more volatile industrial context, while improving corporate transparency enhances the negative impact of supplier dependence. This study verifies the applicability of RDT for the analysis of CSR in the supply chain in emerging markets such as China. Moreover, the study further extends research on the role of buyer-supplier relationships in CSR in the supply chain by extending the research perspective to the supplier side and adding the external and internal uncertainty of the supplier to the theoretical framework for analysis. We also provide managerial implications for implementing Chinese suppliers' CSR from the buyer's and supplier's perspectives.     

How does justice matter in achieving buyer–supplier relationship performance?

This study presents an analysis exploring how four types of justice (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational) influence dyadic relationship performance in the buyer–supplier context. Underpinned by loose coupling theory, we build a mediating framework in which we propose that a high level of justice (or fairness) as mutually perceived by both parties drives buyer–supplier relationship performance through bolstered coupling links in mutual knowledge sharing, continuous commitment, and relationship investment. Our survey of 216 paired manufacturers (suppliers) and distributors (buyers) in China generally supports this argument, leading to a conclusion that justice is not a direct determinant of buyer–supplier performance but a critical conduit that nourishes mid-range coupling behaviors, which in turn promotes a successful relationship. Based on findings from this study, firms are encouraged to endorse all four kinds of justice in managing supply chain relationships. However, when constrained by resources, the recommendation for managers is to focus on achieving a high level of perceptual convergence on procedural justice and informational justice with the exchange partner, because mutual perceptions of procedural and informational justice have the strongest effects on coupling behaviors and buyer–supplier relationship performance.     

How to achieve cost savings and strategic performance in purchasing simultaneously: A knowledge-based view

The competitive advantage purchasing provides has been debated for decades. For a novel perspective we derive a theoretical framework grounded in the knowledge-based view in order to examine how purchasing knowledge and purchasing integration impact cost and strategic performance. The derived hypotheses are tested based on extensive secondary data from a large European multinational utility company. The 179 studied ‘purchasing-internal client relationships’ contain real contracted savings data and internal client ratings of purchasing knowledge, purchasing integration and strategic purchasing performance. We show that purchasing knowledge is a major antecedent for both savings and strategic purchasing performance. This effect is further amplified by purchasing integration. With this study, we extend the understanding of the purchasing knowledge–performance link. We conclude that purchasing knowledge becomes particularly valuable when combined with other functions' processes through purchasing integration. This causal chain is also supported through general knowledge-based view theory. Moreover, we provide numerical evidence of the value of knowledge creation and integration processes to purchasing professionals in our managerial implications based on results obtained from actual purchasing savings data.     

Supply chain quality management practices and performance: An empirical study

This study proposed a conceptual framework to study the relationships among three dimensions of supply chain quality management (SCQM) – in-house quality management practices (internal QM), interaction for quality with suppliers on the upstream side of supply chain (upstream QM), and interaction for quality with customers on the downstream side of supply chain (downstream QM) – and their impact on two types of quality performance (conformance quality, and customer satisfaction). Survey data were collected from 238 plants in three industries across eight countries and structural equation modeling was used to test this framework. The results indicate a dominant role of the internal QM in SCQM which has a positive impact on the other SCQM dimensions and two types of quality performance. Downstream QM is found to mediate the relationship between internal QM and customer satisfaction, while there is a lack of direct impact of upstream QM on either type of quality performance.     

An empirical study of the dimensionality of organizational justice and its relationship with organizational citizenship behaviour in the Indian context

Cross-cultural research shows that while the concerns about organizational justice may be universal, operationalization of justice standards is highly particularistic (Greenberg 2001). The present study explores the dimensionality of organizational justice in the Indian context. Apart from procedural justice, interpersonal justice and informational justice, another justice dimension, labelled as empowerment justice, emerged during the study. Next, the study tests the relationships between justice dimensions and Organ's (1988) 5-factor conceptualization of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), namely helping, compliance, sportsmanship, courtesy and civic virtue behaviours. The perception of empowerment justice influences helping, compliance, sportsmanship, and civic virtue dimensions of OCB. Interpersonal justice significantly predicts courtesy behaviour. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Establishing the use of cloud computing in supply chain management

Despite having various benefits associated with greater information flow in the supply chain, empirical cloud computing research is scarce in the supply chain management domain. This paper explores the managerial perceptions on the use of cloud computing in supply chain management. Specifically, this paper seeks to address: how cloud computing impacts information sharing among supply chain partners, the impact of trust in cloud information sharing and the impact of cloud computing on supply chain performance. Using a multi-method research design we present a combined semi-structured interviews of four different companies in the United States and a survey to analyze and empirically assess our results. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the results of this study. Our analysis provides empirical support based on managerial perceptions regarding cloud computing, information sharing and supply chain performance. The data provide evidence on the impact of cloud computing in enhancing information sharing. This information sharing through cloud computing appears to positively impact supply chain performance. This paper also provides support on the important role of inter-organizational trust in facilitating the use of cloud computing for information sharing purposes.