Supply Chain Strategies: Changes in Customer Order‐Based Production

Supply chain development is debated in terms of whether lean and agile supply chain strategies will work simultaneously and whether “leagile” strategies are possible. This study explores complexity and dynamics of the mixed strategy in a longitudinal automotive industry case study and contributes with four propositions related to the debate and practices of supply chain strategies.     

Differential effects of pre- and post-acquisition R&D expenditures on post-acquisition performance

Drawing from the behavioral theory of the firm and the resource-based view, we argue that different types of R&D (explorative and exploitative) and the timing of R&D investments (pre- and post-acquisitions) have differential effects on post-acquisition performance. By using a sample of 396 technology acquisitions, we find that pre-acquisition explorative and post-acquisition R&D expenditures are more beneficial for post-acquisition performance than are pre-acquisition exploitative and post-acquisition explorative R&D expenditures. Our results also show that firms investing in explorative R&D in the pre-acquisition stage and then exploitative R&D in the post-acquisition stage have better post-acquisition performance than firms that do otherwise.     

The effect of social networks and dynamic internationalization capabilities on international performance

This article explores the relationship between social networks and dynamic internationalization capabilities (DICs), and their impact on the international performance of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) in low-tech industries. We distinguish between exploitative DICs (threshold and consolidation capabilities) and explorative DICs (value-adding and disruption capabilities). Our results, which are based on a sample of small and medium-sized Portuguese exporters, indicate that social networks are a relevant antecedent of exploitative and explorative DICs, and that consolidation and disruption capabilities positively affect international performance. Multiple mediation analysis confirms these relationships. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for research and practice.     

Innovative capabilities: Their drivers and effects on current and future performance

This study investigates the role of a firm's orientation, both customer and competitor, in driving innovative capabilities and the impact of those capabilities on a firm's current and future performance. The study's contribution is threefold in that it (1) examines market-related exploitative and explorative capabilities in conjunction with product development exploitative and explorative capabilities in terms of their strategic drivers (firm orientation) and performance outcomes; (2) disentangles the effects of exploitative and explorative capabilities on current and future performance; and (3) examines the role of innovative capabilities within the particularly relevant, but understudied, context of exporting. The findings suggest that, although customer orientation relates to both exploitative and explorative capabilities, competitor orientation relates only to exploitative capabilities. Exploitative capabilities affect current performance, whereas explorative capabilities affect future performance. These findings are of crucial relevance to export managers in their quest to identify, extend, and create new market opportunities.     

The two faces of foreign management capabilities: FDI and productive efficiency in the UK retail sector

We investigate the impact of management capabilities of foreign firms on the management capabilities and performance of domestic firms using survey data on the UK retail sector. On average, foreign-owned retail firms achieve higher management capability scores and are more productive than domestic firms. Our results suggest two faces of foreign management capabilities. On the one hand, capabilities that can be codified, for example human resource management capabilities, generate some positive spillovers on the relevant management capabilities of local firms. On the other hand, dimensions of capabilities that are more tacit and highly competitive exert a negative competitive effect on domestic firms’ own management capabilities. While the overall management capabilities of domestic firms are found to have a significantly positive effect on their own productive efficiency, we find no evidence of a direct efficiency effect of foreign management capabilities on local firms.     

一体化供应链组合战略的构建

随着供应链之间竞争的加剧,单一地采用精细思想和敏捷思想设计供应链已经不能满足客户的要求。只有合理地运用精细思想和敏捷思想的组合战略,才能使供应链能够同时达到满足终端顾客的产品可获性和有能力购买性的双重需求。同时,使用模块化设计能够降低供应链组合策略的复杂性,增强供应链的适用性和通用性,使供应链结构变得简单化。     

Supply Chain Performance Based on the Lean–Agile Operations and Supplier–Firm Partnership: An Empirical Study on the Garment Industry in Indonesia

The purpose of this study is to explore how lean–agile operations and supplier–firm partnership can improve garment small and medium enterprise (SME) supply chain performance. This study is based on cross‐sectional survey research that provides longitudinal evidence to show how lean–agile operations and partnership strategy influence supply chain and garment SME performance. To clarify the relationships among these constructs, structural equation model (SEM) is conducted to examine the model fit and the five hypotheses. The result shows that agile supply chain and partnership strategy are critical for garment SMEs because these strategies influence their supply chain performance. However, the leanness strategy does not necessarily influence their supply chain performance. The supply chain performance and partnership strategy have a positive influence on the SME performance.     

Ambidexterity and the evolution of knowledge management initiatives

Current debates on organizational learning distinguish two distinct and mutually exclusive learning modes: exploration and exploitation. The paper deals with the concept of ambidextrous routines in knowledge management (KM) initiatives. The case study-based findings put this understanding into perspective, as the authors have identified KM initiatives that concurrently facilitate exploration and exploitation. The paper elaborates the characteristics of ambidextrous KM initiatives at micro-level; firms use ambidextrous KM practices to create a learning context, defined rather by guidelines and methods than by a definite purpose. The clear separation of KM initiatives' purpose (aim) and their embedded learning routines and methods enables them to be used ambidextrously. Furthermore, this analysis indicates that ambidextrous KM initiatives follow a path characterized by an increasing variety of purposes but a decreasing variety of underlying structures. Consequently, firms create a learning context that can be activated when necessary in ways required either in an exploratory and/or in an exploitative mode.     

敏捷供应链管理及其在中国的应用

本文在分析敏捷供应链管理机理的基础上,提出了敏捷供应链管理系统的优势和实施步骤,阐释了在我国实施敏捷供应链管理系统的障碍因素及可行性措施。     

Focused and ambidextrous catch-up strategies of emerging economy multinationals

Many emerging economy multinationals (EMNEs) conduct asset-seeking foreign direct investment as a strategy to catch up to global market leaders. This catch-up strategy can be implemented in a focused (purely exploratory) or ambidextrous (simultaneously exploratory and exploitative) manner. This study examines the influence of industry environment on EMNEs’ adoption of these catch-up strategies. Integrating an industry-based view with an upper-echelon perspective, we argue that industry munificence promotes a focused catch-up strategy but hinders the ambidextrous alternative. These opposing effects are further magnified by the functional diversity of EMNEs’ managerial teams because functionally diversified teams are more likely to allocate attention to external cues in the industrial environment, as opposed to forming a unified strategic orientation internally. Using a panel of EMNEs from China over the period of 2005–2010, we find strong support for our main effects of industry munificence on both catch-up strategies and the moderating effect of managerial team’s functional diversity towards ambidextrous catch-up strategy.     

Identifying supply chain solutions in the UK house building sector

This paper identifies the problems of the UK housing industry and offers solutions to improving its overall performance and competitiveness. The terrain scanning methodology, which is a supply chain diagnostic, is used to gain an in-depth understanding of various business participants and supply chain processes. A quasi-Delphi study is used to identify areas for improving business and supply chain processes. The findings reveal that a change of “mind-set”, a shift toward process orientation and improved communications, are essential actions that need to be addressed by the UK housing sector to improve its performance and competitiveness. The paper concludes by suggesting that these three actions will assist UK housing companies in their move towards implementing supply chain management strategies.     

MODELING LEAN,AGILE, AND LEAGILE SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES

The merits of lean and agile supply chain strategies have been much debated among practitioners and academics. While these strategies are often viewed as opposites, this research supports the view that they must not necessarily compete and can, in fact, be employed simultaneously through a so‐called “leagile” approach. Lean, agile, and leagile strategies are illustrated by modeling their respective applications at a tier‐1 supplier to the Heating, Ventilating, and Air‐Conditioning (HVAC) industry. Simulation analyses indicate that the lean system excels in customer service performance while the leagile system results in lower enterprise‐wide inventory levels under modeled circumstances. Subsequent analysis suggests that trade‐offs exist among the systems in the base case and under varying cost conditions.     

Knowledge, values and internationalisation—introduction to the special edition

Internationalisation is increasingly being seen as an organisational learning process. However, entrepreneurial enterprises tend to be smaller, more innovative and more agile than their larger counterparts. When they internationalise, entrepreneurial firms often expand at a rapid rate. The cultures of so-called ‘born global’ firms also appear to differ from firms that internationalise in a more gradual, stepwise fashion. This raises interesting questions about how entrepreneurial firms acquire and manage knowledge about markets, networks and capabilities in turbulent and uncertain environments and how the values embedded in organisational cultures might influence strategic choices. The following articles in this special edition of the Journal of International Entrepreneurship focus specifically on how innovative firms—particularly small and medium-sized enterprises—recognise and exploit market opportunities, how they learn from international market entry and penetration experiences to improve core capabilities and how values may influence supply chain management and start-up decisions.     

Food Retailing and Supply Chain Linkages in the Russian Federation

Abstract

This paper focuses on the evolution of Russian food retailing and linkages between and among firms in the food supply chain. Intermediation theory is used to develop a conceptual framework. Intermediaries have played an important role throughout the Russian food supply chain fulfilling the function of matching sellers and buyers. Tighter vertical linkages between firms in the Russian food industry are becoming more prevalent, and the roles of intermediaries may be performed by agents acting on behalf of a vertically integrated principal. The food retailing sector in the Russian Federation is evolving to be a source of information from the consumer to upstream firms.     

Upstream or downstream in the value chain?

Companies in the natural resources industry (e.g., mining, timber, farming and fishery) face the dilemma of whether to focus upstream or downstream in the value chain. The literature provides arguments and empirical evidence for either position. This paper presents an analytical framework based on the neoclassical theory of the firm, for which the best competitive advantage is the one that maximizes production efficiency. It serves to formulate an optimization model for the sawmill industry, and draws the data from the largest sawmilling company in the southern hemisphere. Although one conclusion is that the company should concentrate on the upstream activities, such conclusion is not applicable to other firms, since the analysis of the upstream-downstream dilemma must focus on the individual capabilities of each firm.     

Interplay between dual dimensions of knowledge sharing within globalized chaebols: The moderating effects of organization size and global environmental munificence

Existing literature exploring ambidexterity based on the organizational and network learning perspectives is sparse. In particular, there are few studies dealing with the characteristics of ambidexterity construct in the context of inter-organizational relationships, and existing studies are limited. To date, studies have suggested only vague and inconclusive conceptualizations and empirical findings. Our research tackles this overlooked area of thought by dismantling the mechanisms of ambidextrous knowledge sharing among group-affiliated companies within the large complex Korean business group known as a chaebol and the impact of those mechanisms on the companies’ global performances. An internationalized chaebol is a cradle of transnational knowledge and resource sharing that functions as a business group–level knowledge reservoir. Conceptually, our research employs two dimensions of ambidextrous knowledge sharing, “balance dimension (BD) of ambidextrous knowledge sharing” and “synergistic dimension (SD) of ambidextrous knowledge sharing,” among group-affiliated companies within a chaebol. In this way, we clarify the conceptual issues regarding the degree to which ambidextrous knowledge sharing affects the extent of explorative relative to exploitative knowledge sharing or affects the combined synergistic extent of both activities. We collect survey data from 337 manufacturing multinational group-affiliated companies that belong to 61 internationally diversified chaebols. We analyze this data using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression with the hierarchical method. Our results show that having a balance between explorative and exploitative knowledge sharing among group-affiliated companies (i.e., BD) within a chaebol increases the global performance of that chaebol’s group-affiliated companies. High synergistic levels of ambidextrous knowledge sharing among group-affiliated companies (i.e., SD) also enhance the group-affiliated companies’ global performance. In addition, our study reveals the moderating effects that organization size and environmental munificence have on the interactions of BD and SD.     

食品供应链管理实施的要素组合和目标优化

本文认为,食品供应链是将食品产业上下游企业直到最终用户连成一个整体物流的功能网链。食品企业应从实际情况出发,分阶段逐步实施供应链管理。文章指出,食品供应链管理实施包括顾客中心、核心业务、合作、冷链、补充、计策、信用、创新、循环等九个要素,即9Cs’要素。为从时间和成本两个方面促进产品增值,应通过链站节点、网络参数及政策环境等的优化,建立供应链系统,优化食品供应链管理,提高我国现代食品企业的国际竞争力。     

Translating strategy into action: The importance of an agile mindset and agile slack in international business

There is growing recognition that agility, the ability to respond quickly, is essential for international business (IB) in times of daunting challenges. Drawing on the resource-based view, we argue that agility is more than a capability and therefore should be investigated from a broader perspective. The current study offers insights for the IB literature by introducing agile resources (mindset and slack) as drivers of marketing strategy effectiveness capability. An agile mindset drives firms to seek out and introduce new management methods and approaches by encouraging their members to be alert to new and innovative ways of doing things. Agile slack refers to unutilized resources that can be quickly deployed in new strategic initiatives. An analysis of survey data from 179 managers via structural equation modeling shows that an agile mindset and agile slack strongly drive marketing strategy effectiveness capability. Marketing strategy effectiveness is a crucial driver of international performance. Nevertheless, the results suggest that while agile resources are important drivers of marketing strategy effectiveness, they do not influence performance directly. Hence, a firm’s ability to exploit resources through capabilities is critical, and to be truly agile, firms must invest in agile slack resources. Managers are advised to improve their firm’s effectiveness and performance by adopting an agile mindset while relying on agile slack resources.     

供应链金融视角下企业网络与企业能力对中小企业融资绩效的影响——一个链式中介模型

研究以供应链金融为研究视角,结合商业生态系统和网络理论,并基于企业动态能力的能量转化机制,探索了中小企业利用企业网络和企业能力来提高自身融资绩效的有效途径。研究指出,中小企业利用健康的企业网络来提高融资绩效需要经过两个过程,即加入健康的企业网络有助于中小企业提高双元能力,进而提高企业在网络中的地位,最终有助于企业融资绩效的提升。基于295个制造行业的中小企业样本数据,研究证明了双元能力和网络嵌入性在网络健康性与中小企业融资绩效中的链式中介作用。