A framework of supply chain management literature

Over the past decade, the traditional purchasing and logistics functions have evolved into a broader strategic approach to materials and distribution management known as supply chain management. This research reviews the literature base and development of supply chain management from two separate paths that eventually merged into the modern era of a holistic and strategic approach to operations, materials and logistics management. In addition, this article attempts to clearly describe supply chain management since the literature is replete with buzzwords that address elements or stages of this new management philosophy. This article also discusses various supply chain management strategies and the conditions conducive to supply chain management.     

基于供应链环境的采购管理策略研究

在供应链环境下,采购商与供应商之间的关系已经发生了深刻变化,双方之间开始形成合作共赢的关系。在供应链环境下,采购活动已转为以订单驱动方式进行,采购管理的重点转向了外部资源管理,并且促进了采购流程增值,库存管理方式也发生了重大改变。在供应链环境下,采购管理策略的制定应考虑价格等关键因素;要深刻认识采购方与供应商间的建立战略合作关系;库存管理应趋向精细化发展。从而更好地提高企业竞争力、降低总成本,实现采购方和供应商的双赢。     

In Dirty Chains? Purchasing and Greener Manufacturing

Against the backdrop of an increasing importance of the purchasing function in manufacturing companies, this paper introduces the notion of a "green multiplier effect" and suggests that purchasing could become an important agent for change regarding environmental initiatives in the supply chain. The literature offers some support for this concept. However, a study into purchasing in Scottish manufacturing companies produces a less optimistic picture, as environmental initiatives involving the supply chain are rare. Where they occur, they are mostly undertaken in a passive fashion, with the main motivation being compliance with legislation. Above-average environmental initiatives are reported from three industries: paper making, chemicals and electronics. Explanations of the discrepancy between anticipated and actual results point to the reactive nature of purchasing and to performance measurement systems that focus on economic criteria.     

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.     

Modelling the Impact of Environmental and Organizational Determinants on Green Supply Chain Innovation and Performance

Both customers and suppliers are becoming increasingly concerned about environmental issues in modern food chains. A firm’s decision to implement green supply chain management is based on the social objectives of the firm and its management, its desire to pursue corporate social responsibility, its relationships with channel partners, and environmental determinants such as government legislation. The speed at which green supply chain management is implemented within an organization depends on its agility and its ability to facilitate innovation. Innovation may take the form of new product development or new process development, including the introduction of environmental management systems and total quality management in both production and purchasing. This article presents a conceptual model to explain how the various theoretical constructs are related and how innovation effects green supply chain management and performance.     

THE DOMAIN AND SCOPE OF SCM'S FOUNDATIONAL DISCIPLINES — INSIGHTS AND ISSUES TO ADVANCE RESEARCH

The authors examine and take stock of the changing nature and landscape surrounding supply chain management, and the related disciplines of purchasing, operations management, logistics and marketing channels of distribution. They identify, describe and synthesize the nature of research in those academic disciplines that are identified to be some of the objectives with respect to supply chain management's integration goals. Their examination highlights the considerable evolution and significant advances occurring within and among these disciplines. Additionally, they find this new landscape to provide both insights and issues for scholarship to those attempting to understand the evolving nature of supply chain management and its related fields. Such insights and issues suggest a number of proposals for progress with regard to SCM's future development.     

The Coevolution of Relationship Dominant Logic and Supply Risk Mitigation Strategies

How and why do risk mitigation strategies evolve? And which resources are needed for engaging in such changes? This paper contributes to the understanding of risk management in supply chains by developing theory about the interplay between supply risk mitigation strategies and the purchasing team's relationship dominant logic (RDL), which we define as the purchasing team's orientation toward and shared cognitive map of the management of its supply chain relationships. Specifically, we propose that RDL and supply risk mitigation strategies are fundamentally intertwined. Following a Straussian approach to grounded theory, this study analyzes data generated from the purchasing teams of Western green‐tech firms trying to mitigate supply risk for technically indispensable rare earth metals from China. Our findings from this context that is heavily shaped by state‐influenced supply chain members show that the firms chose their mitigation strategies in line with their RDL. Human capital, social capital, and financial capital seem to moderate the link between RDL and mitigation strategies. We link our findings with the strategic management literature in deriving theoretical propositions concerning these relationships.     

The Role of Marketing Channels in Supply Chain Management

This paper synthesizes five decades of supply chain-related research from premier managerially oriented marketing journals and provides a state-of-the-art integration and forecasting of where the field is heading. Such a review identifies where the field of supply chain management (SCM) has been, where it is, and where it is likely to go within the domain of marketing. Importantly, our paper involves a strategic discovery of the anchoring of SCM thought in marketing. A prominent feature of this paper is a set of takeaways, delineated from the cross-section of SCM literature bases (marketing channels, logistics, purchasing, and operations management) that will facilitate the development of the topic of SCM in marketing. These takeaways serve as agenda setters for future research and potential applications of SCM in marketing. Overall, we contribute to the marketing and SCM literatures by (1) reviewing the breadth of the most impactful literature on SCM that is directly connected to the field of marketing, (2) summarizing the state-of-the-art of the SCM in marketing literature, and (3) forecasting via a series of integrated takeaways what research is needed and where the SCM in marketing is likely to progress.     

The relationship of strategic purchasing to supply chain management

This research tested four hypotheses on the relationship of strategic purchasing to supply chain management. The hypotheses were tested with a survey of purchasing executives and the results were analyzed using a regression analysis. All of the hypothesized relationships were supported. The results indicate that strategic purchasing is positively related to supplier responsiveness, changes in the supplier market, supplier communication and the firm’s performance. Managerial and research implications are discussed.     

A Review of Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices in Canada

There is a growing body of research on the theory and practice of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). However, relatively little research has been conducted on the extent to which corporations have integrated sustainability principles into the management of their supply chain and the evaluation of supplier performance. The purpose of this article is to explore the extent to which corporate sustainability principles are integrated into supply chain management (SCM) in corporations. Canada is used as a case study in this article. The study included a content analysis of one hundred Canadian corporate sustainable development reports and in-depth interviews with 18 Canadian experts on SSCM. The article highlights the wide array of ways in which Canadian corporations address SSCM issues. Amongst other topics, issues associated with supply chain governance, standards for SSCM, collaboration with suppliers, performance measurement, and accountability within the supply chain are explored. The findings reveal that there are many challenges in integrating sustainability into SCM. These challenges shed light on possible future directions for research in SSCM. This article underlines the need for research that reflects the interconnected nature of the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability, particularly as it relates to measuring supplier performance on sustainability initiatives.     

RELATIONSHIP MAGNITUDE AND ITS ROLE IN INTERORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIP STRUCTURE

Close relationships between and among supply chain members are becoming more prevalent. However, there is lack of agreement in the literature and in practice concerning the characteristics of different interorganizational relationships. The resultant confusion is an obstacle to the progression of research and could cause problems among firms in a supply chain. Based on previous research and an exploratory study conducted with company executives responsible for supply chain management activities, this article seeks to introduce the concept of relationship magnitude (i.e., the extent or degree of closeness or strength of the relationship) and differentiate it from relationship type (i.e., classes of relationships that share common traits). Implications for managers and opportunities for future research are provided.     

基于特征分析的逆向供应链激励机制设计研究

逆向供应链是我国重点发展的回收再制造产业的重要组成,是解决资源紧缺和环境污染双重难题的重要途径。首先,研究针对我国逆向供应链中存在非正规回收商充斥市场的结构不合理现象进行研究,发现主要是由于逆向供应链的信息不对称、产品异质性、环境外部性和资产专用性等特征。其次,在特征分析基础上构建理想状态和逆向供应链特征影响下的均衡模型,研究发现低回收再制造水平的非正规回收商是非最优均衡的结果。再次,研究以逆向供应链前端、中端和后端为逻辑顺序,设计了信息甄别传递、提前延迟、违约惩罚和集聚合作四种激励机制,以激励约束逆向供应链的正规回收再制造行为。     

A supply chain management framework for services

While services represent the largest sector of the global economy, 86.8% in the United States, most supply chain management (SCM) research is focused on product flows. Executives in manufacturing firms have benefited from frameworks created to implement SCM processes, but this is not the case for their counterparts in service companies. The two most cited SCM frameworks for services have methodological and conceptual deficiencies. Drawing upon the service-dominant logic of marketing and using an empirical research approach, we developed supply chain structure maps for nine service firms. Our findings indicate that the supply chain structure maps of service companies are comparable to those in the product-based literature, which supports the service-dominant logic. Then, we identified the six key processes that constitute a framework to manage service supply chains. The customer relationship management and the supplier relationship management processes form the critical links in the supply chain, and the other four processes are coordinated through this linkage. The SCM framework for services provides direction for executives in service firms who need to increase cross-functional integration within their firms and with other members of the supply chain. For academics, 12 avenues for future research are identified.     

Purchasing Competence: A Stakeholder‐Based Framework for Chief Purchasing Officers

A specific research stream within the purchasing and supply management literature focuses on the development of purchasing competence frameworks. We apply stakeholder theory and multiple methods of data collection to develop and confirm a hierarchy‐specific purchasing competence management framework for Chief Purchasing Officers and validate it using confirmatory factor analysis on empirical data from 124 multinational companies. The results reveal a significant relationship between Chief Purchasing Officers purchasing management competence and different purchasing performance measures confirming the appropriateness of stakeholder theory for such a competence framework.     

Strategic and Operational Determinants of Relationship Outcomes With New Venture Suppliers

While the vast majority of the supplier selection and development literature has focused on relationships between mature, established firms, significantly less attention has been paid to relationships between established firms and new, entrepreneurial ventures. This study addresses this important topic and, using an interdisciplinary lens, investigates the question of how established buying firms can work with new ventures to achieve desired relationship outcomes. Drawing on the literature from the disciplines of entrepreneurship and supply chain management, we propose a theoretical model that links buying firms' strategic orientation in supplier selection (innovation and cost in strategic supplier selection) and operational approach in supplier development (direct and indirect development of new venture suppliers) with new venture‐specific relationship outcomes (purchasing volume and realized innovations). The model's predictions are tested on cross‐sectional survey data from 136 buying firms. Our results contribute to the emerging research stream at the supply chain management–entrepreneurship interface and enhance the understanding of relationships between established firms and new ventures.     

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。     

International Comparisons of Supply Chain Management in Grocery Retailing

This paper discusses a neglected area of international retailing research, namely an international comparison of supply chain management practices. The focus of this research is on the grocery industry sector and the comparative analysis is between US retailers and their counterparts in parts of Europe. The research shows that the logistical environment differs markedly between and even within countries. The amount of stock held in the grocery supply chain varies from over 100 days in the US to 29 days in the UK. The main reasons for these differences can be attributed to the intensity of price competition, conflict rather than collaboration between suppliers and retailers, commodity purchasing and holding of promotional stock and the varying rates of adoption of information technology, especially EDI usage. No two countries are the same, however; and range of factors such as geography and distribution ‘culture’ will require the international rnarketeer to assess all these factors in developing a logistics strategy for different country markets.     

Green light for greener supply

The supply chain management function is currently undergoing a dramatic change: it is adopting an increasingly strategic role. However, this growing financial importance is matched in only a handful of exemplary companies by a greater contribution to environmental protection initiatives in the supply chain. This paper explores some of the obstacles to greater supply chain management involvement in environmental protection and offers suggestions for greener supply. At a personal level, the gap between public opinion on the environment and managerial values needs to be closed, and the support offered by management education and by professional bodies needs to be improved. Within the organisation, the reward structure for supply chain managers needs to move away from narrow economic criteria. Greener supply would also benefit from a larger supply chain management role in corporate strategy making; the function could even be offered a seat on the Board of Management. Changes to the mode of supply chain management, including improvements to the information flow on environmental issues, the decision–making tools used in the face of complex environmental challenges and novel approaches to supply chain management need to receive urgent attention.     

Exploring strategic strengths and weaknesses of retail purchasing groups

Retail purchasing groups consist of small, independent, specialised stores that join together and collaborate on purchasing and other areas. In comparison to large-scale corporate retail chains, often labelled mega-retailers, retail purchasing groups are based on collaborative external integration between a central unit and the independent, local dealers. The overall purpose of this research is to explore the specific characteristics that underscore a retail purchasing group. The paper has two research questions: (1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of a supply chain structure based on external integration? and (2) In what areas are the purchasing groups' ownership structure particularly advantageous in comparison to the mega-retailers' vertically integrated organisations? This exploratory research is empirically grounded in a case study of two Swedish purchasing groups. The paper argues that under certain market conditions, a decentralised supply chain, which relies on collaborative external relationships, can provide a competitive alternative to a more traditional centralised structure. The paper elaborate three areas where the structure is particularly advantageous: (1) service-based competition in an industry otherwise focused on cost leadership, (2) in-depth understanding of local conditions and presence and (3) the ability to incorporate entrepreneurial strengths and innovations in the supply chain.