The impact of supply chain integration on performance: A contingency and configuration approach

This study extends the developing body of literature on supply chain integration (SCI), which is the degree to which a manufacturer strategically collaborates with its supply chain partners and collaboratively manages intra- and inter-organizational processes, in order to achieve effective and efficient flows of products and services, information, money and decisions, to provide maximum value to the customer. The previous research is inconsistent in its findings about the relationship between SCI and performance. We attribute this inconsistency to incomplete definitions of SCI, in particular, the tendency to focus on customer and supplier integration only, excluding the important central link of internal integration. We study the relationship between three dimensions of SCI, operational and business performance, from both a contingency and a configuration perspective. In applying the contingency approach, hierarchical regression was used to determine the impact of individual SCI dimensions (customer, supplier and internal integration) and their interactions on performance. In the configuration approach, cluster analysis was used to develop patterns of SCI, which were analyzed in terms of SCI strength and balance. Analysis of variance was used to examine the relationship between SCI pattern and performance. The findings of both the contingency and configuration approach indicated that SCI was related to both operational and business performance. Furthermore, the results indicated that internal and customer integration were more strongly related to improving performance than supplier integration.     

基于收入共享契约的三层供应链协调研究

构造收入共享契约模型,研究制造商-分销商-零售商组成的三层供应链利润协调问题。以利润最大化为目标,得出供应链各成员的最优订购量。研究表明,选择恰当的契约参数,可以使供应链各成员的利润大于在简单市场环境下的利润,实现收入共享、利润协调的目的。最后,通过模拟算例对结论进行验证。     

Supply chain variability,organizational structure,and performance: The moderating effect of demand unpredictability

Supply chain process variability is the level of inconsistency, or volatility, in the flow of goods into, through, and out of a firm. The research investigates the links among organizational structure (formalization and integration), supply chain process variability, and performance as moderated by environmental uncertainty. We found that in a predictable demand environment, only formal control affects supply chain process variability, leading to improved financial results; but in an unpredictable demand environment, only cross-functional integration affects supply chain process variability, leading to improved financial performance. We also examined whether supply chain process variability is a complete or partial mediator of the relationship between organizational structure and performance, and found that: (1) in a predictable demand environment, supply chain process variability completely mediates the relationship between formal control and performance and (2) in an unpredictable demand environment, supply chain process variability partially mediates the relationship between integration and performance. Supply chain process variability has an inverse relationship with financial performance, regardless of the demand environment; and organizational structure provides managers with the mechanisms to mitigate this variability's detrimental impact on financial performance.     

基于EVA视角的供应链业绩评价

本文认为,随着经济全球化的发展,公司之间的竞争已经演化为供应链之间的竞争。为实现供应链目标与优化供应链业绩,公司需要进行业绩评价并确定恰当的业绩评价指标。EVA分析框架能够同时计量和分析多家公司业绩,构建反映供应链运营业绩的指标并将其与股东价值动因直接联系起来,从而有助于提高供应链中各家公司的股东价值,实现各家公司行为与供应链目标的协调一致。     

Levels of strategic purchasing: Impact on supply integration and performance

The growing importance of supply chain management has led to an increasing recognition of the strategic role of purchasing, which has recently evolved and expanded from “buying” to “procurement” and “supply management”. In this study, we chart our sample firms’ advance in strategic purchasing, characterized by the strategic focus, strategic involvement of the purchasing function and the status and visibility of the purchasing professionals, into three stages.This study provides strong empirical support for the importance of strategic purchasing by showing that, by moving towards the more advanced stages, firms at the nascent stage of strategic purchasing can achieve better supply integration, a second-order construct composed of four facets of relational, process, information, and cross-organizational team integration. Our analyses further reveal that strategic purchasing can have a profound impact on supply chain performance for both buyer and supplier firms.     

Concentrated supply chain membership and financial performance: Chain- and firm-level perspectives

This study reports evidence that concentrated 3-firm supply chains achieve superior financial performance, and that supply chains’ financial performance varies systematically with measures of chain concentration and chain duration. Results from firm-level analyses suggest that the profitability benefits of supply chain relationships are captured predominantly by downstream chain members, whereas cash cycle benefits are realized throughout the supply chain. Firm-level tests also reveal that chain members’ financial performance varies systematically with measures of downstream bargaining power, downstream relationship duration, and degree of supply consolidation. The study's chain- and firm-level analyses employ data extracted from sample firms’ publicly available financial reports, including their major customer disclosures under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Nos. 131 (1997) and 14 (1976).     

The effects of innovation–cost strategy, knowledge, and action in the supply chain on firm performance

Despite the importance of supply chains within today's economy, we know little about how the knowledge of supply chains can contribute to superior performance at the firm level. Building on the resource-based view, knowledge-based view and strategic choice theory, we develop hypotheses linking two knowledge-driven supply chain phenomena (i.e., knowledge development capacity and intellectual capital), innovation–cost strategy, and action to firm-level performance. Using survey and archival data from 489 firms, we found that performance is influenced by how well knowledge development capacity and intellectual capital efforts complement alternative chain strategies. More specifically, each strategy type requires different constellations of knowledge development capacity and intellectual capital to enhance action and create superior firm performance. These results highlight the importance of supply chain phenomena for firm-level performance, and more broadly, the value of supply chains as a competitive weapon in contemporary firms.     

基于部分收益共享契约的双渠道供应链协调

构建了由一个制造商和一个零售商组成的双渠道供应链模型,其中制造商和零售商均拥有网络销售渠道,零售商为Stackelberg对策博弈的主方。分析、比较了集中式和分散式决策下双渠道供应链的最优均衡解,并从制造商与零售商合作的角度,对传统收益共享契约进行了改进,并论证了这种契约能够实现双渠道供应链的协调。最后通过算例分析,进一步验证了所改进的收益共享契约的有效性。     

三明治供应链契约模型

供应链合同作为企业间衔接的关键环节,能够协调供应链从而最大化整条供应链的利润。本文从协调供应链合同研究维度和一般条款入手,简要介绍了苏宁、国美的“三明治”采购合同,对此种合同建立数学模型,用定量方法分析采用此种合同的原因,最后指出此模型的一些改进建议,希望以后能够做进一步的研究。     

供应链管理中的协调机制设计

本文首先指出协调问题是供应链管理中的核心问题,阐述了协调机制的理论背景,基于博弈论和机制设计理论给出了协调机制的形式化描述,在此基础上提出协调机制设计的思路和方法,并指出委托代理理论是协调机制设计中的一个重要理论工具。     

Supplier selection or collaboration? Determining factors of performance improvement when outsourcing manufacturing

An empirical study was designed to determine factors of performance improvement when outsourcing manufacturing. Findings from a survey of 136 manufacturing plants in Sweden show that most of them achieve their outsourcing motives, but not without trade-offs. Factors of performance improvements such as economies of scale or operations in low-cost countries can improve one performance dimension, such as product cost, yet negatively impact volume flexibility, speed or product innovation. The results show part characteristics and supplier operating capabilities are more important than supplier relationship strategies when outsourcing manufacturing, meaning that supplier selection trumps supplier collaboration in the make-or-buy decision.     

Microsimulation of Business Performance

Microsimulation of business performance based on sample survey data is a relatively underdeveloped field, but its application in government economic policy formulation is potentially great since it can be used to measure the distributional effects of change rather than just average change. Techniques which account for the dynamic response of businesses to macro level price expectations have recently been developed (Kokic et al. , 1993). These allow individual level business performance to be forecast from sample survey data. In this paper we outline a general methodology for combining these forecasting techniques with Monte Carlo simulation in order to produce a microsimulation of business performance that accurately captures the true distributional characteristics of the underling survey data. Applying this methodology to Australian farm survey data, we show that these methods may be used to forecast the distribution of farm business production and performance within arbitrary subdomains of the surveyed population conditional on a given set of expected commodity price outcomes. The microsimulations reflect both the uncertainty due to climatic variation from one year to the next, which in the Australian context depends largely on geographic location, as well as the uncertainty of commodity prices.     

带有订单量和运输量折扣的供应链三方企业协调

考虑由供应商、运输服务提供商和购买商三者构成的供应链,市场需求是依赖于产品销售价格的随机变量,建立带有订单量和运输量双重折扣下供应链中三方企业的优化决策和协调模型。通过理论分析得到：提供订单量和运输量双重折扣可以促进供应链协调,同时提高供应商、运输服务提供商和购买商三方企业的利润。最后用算例验证了相关结论。     

The organizational antecedents of a firm’s supply chain agility for risk mitigation and response

Today’s marketplace is characterized by intense competitive pressures as well as high levels of turbulence and uncertainty. Organizations require agility in their supply chains to provide superior value as well as to manage disruption risks and ensure uninterrupted service to customers. Thus the cultivation of agility is approached as a risk management initiative that enables a firm to respond rapidly to marketplace changes, as well as anticipated and actual disruptions in the supply chain. Agility is of value for both risk mitigation and response.     

供应链一体化导向下农产品物流整合模式研究

首先分析了我国目前农产品物流实践环节中存在的农产品物流环节过多、批发市场不健全、农产品流通中信息化程度较低等问题,提出农产品物流必须按照供应链一体化的导向和要求对生产和流通环节进行整合和集成,最后重点研究和探讨了对农产品生产环节、流通环节以及生产流通环节的供应链一体化集成和整合方案.     

供应链中库存管理存在的问题及对策分析

存货管理是企业资产管理的重要组成部分,但仅仅对单一企业存货管理进行优化远远不能满足当前全球经济发展的趋势.在供应链条件下,企业必须综合考虑与供应链上的合作伙伴间跨企业的存货协同问题.本文主要阐述基于供应链条件下库存管理存在的普遍问题,并探讨其应对措施.     

The role of supply management innovativeness and supplier orientation in firms’ sustainability performance

Questions about the influencing factors and measurement of firms' sustainability performance have attracted growing research interest, as the requirements for sustainability have steadily increased. This study examines whether supply management innovativeness and supplier orientation make positive impacts on firms' overall sustainability performance. An empirical study based on a survey targeting large- and medium-sized manufacturing companies in Finland shows that innovativeness in supply management considerably influences a firm's overall sustainability performance and that supplier orientation positively relates to sustainability performance. The benefits of innovativeness in supply management and strategic supplier orientation are directly realised in sustainability performance. Therefore, supply management is not only a gatekeeper against sustainability risks arising from the supply base but is also a function by which new ideas aiming to influence supply markets and firms' sustainability are presented.