Does global value chain engagement improve firms' wages: Evidence from China

Better understanding of the effect of the global value chain (GVC) on wages is a key issue for determining welfare gains from engagement in international integration. We study whether and how China's engagement in the GVC enhances firms' wage by using firm‐level and customs transaction‐level data covering the period 2000–06 with the methods of propensity score matching (PSM), difference in differences (DID) and generalised propensity score (GPS). The empirical results show that first, GVC engagement can improve firms' wage. Second, the improvement effect is more prominent in capital‐intensive and foreign‐invested enterprises. Third, the degree of embedment in the GVC shows a U‐shaped relationship with wages (the marginal improvement changes from decreasing to increasing). Finally, by analysing the mechanism, we find that participation in the GVC ultimately improves the overall wage level of enterprises through the productivity effect and the reallocation effect of labour demand.     

Financing the global supply chain: Growing need for management action

This article investigates a growing desire by companies to better manage the financing of the global Management Action supply chain and explores best practices. Supply‐chain managers and finance or treasury managers, however, live in different worlds, and integration does not come easily. The article argues that decentralized finance functions lead to financial inefficiencies. The authors identify five subarchitectures to competitive supply chains and argue that visualizing the supply chain financially is the first step to controlling and improving it. Finance is embedded in every step of the supply chain — and business model. Management guidelines of what to change, what to eliminate, and what to adapt are presented along with the new starting points of strategy and customers' ever‐changing needs. Consequently, the end game is profit maximization rather than only cost minimization, and both within acceptable risk parameters. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Shopping in the omnichannel supply chain under price competition and product return

In recent years, omnichannel retailing has created value for prospective consumers. The rise of omnichannel retailing has changed consumers' buying habits, and manufacturers are facing stiff competition from retailers. To reduce this competition effect, manufacturers and retailers often work together to reduce showroom display costs. Despite this practice, there is little understanding of how omnichannel retailing impacts supply chain (SC) profit under competitive conditions. We investigate the test-in-store-and-buy-online (TSBO) retailing strategy and its impact on SC profit and price competition between manufacturers. The retailer sells products of both manufacturers through its website but displays products of only one manufacturer in the showroom, which bears the displaying cost. The retailer adopts a return policy for the other manufacturer. Stackelberg game was used to examine how members of the chain interact, and Nash equilibrium was used to find optimal strategies for players under decentralized and integrated channels. The results show that the TSBO strategy in retailing benefits all supply chain players under the integrated channel. A further interesting finding is that omnichannel SC profits are highest when retailers adopt a return policy. When two manufacturers compete and adopt different sales models, the manufacturer who uses the TSBO retail model reaps the most profit. Several other managerial insights are drawn from sensitivity analyses.     

Foreign bank lending: Evidence from the global financial crisis

We exploit highly disaggregated bank-firm data to investigate the dynamics of foreign vs domestic credit supply in Italy around the period of the Lehman collapse, which brought a sudden and unexpected deterioration of economic conditions and a sharp increase in credit risk. Taking advantage of the presence of multiple lending relationships to control for credit demand and risk at the individual-firm level, we show that foreign lenders restricted credit supply (to the same firm) more sharply than their domestic counterparts. A number of exercises testing alternative explanations for this result suggest that such more intense restriction also reflects the (functional) distance between a foreign bank's headquarter and the Italian credit market.     

Are you ready for your next product recall crisis? Lessons from operations and supply chain management

Most manufacturing companies face the possibility of a product recall crisis, if not within their own firms, then certainly somewhere within their supply chains. Recall crisis management typically finds a home within literature on crisis management, public relations, communications, marketing and brand management, and related fields. However, this research seldom addresses the operations support that must be mustered behind the scenes. The tumultuous material flows that can occur during a product recall imply a supply chain disruption. An effective response during the heat of a crisis therefore requires the foundation of a well-oiled supply chain. In this article I draw on learnings from the operations and supply chain management (OSCM) literature, integrate them with important precepts from the general crisis management and product recall literature, and identify managerial best practices that will help managers better prepare for product recall crises.     

Inter-partner learning in global supply chains: lessons from NOVO Nordisk

The interdependent forces of global competition and technological development have fundamentally changed the way in which firms define the boundaries of their own activities and those that are left to subcontractors. Joint skill development and inter-partner learning have become important in the global sourcing policies of firms. The purpose of the present paper is to develop a conceptual model for understanding inter-partner learning processes in international subcontractor relationships. We see this as a process of developing shared skills. Furthermore, we demonstrate how inter-partner diversity impedes this process. Because of a lack of previous research in this area, a reconstructive approach is taken, which involves extending the conceptual framework through a case study.     

Four supply chain management systems: From supply chain strategies to human resource management

This article develops a conceptual model that supports and aligns supply chain strategies with organizational culture and leadership styles. We examine various supply chain theories and organizational behavior concepts to develop an integrated supply chain: the human factor model. Based on the underlying dimensions of environmental uncertainty and product complexity, we propose a 2x2 typology to identify four different supply chain systems that can be used by organization leaders to identify suitable supply chain strategies and compatible people management practices. We provide a useful and practical framework to analyze the alignment between the external environment and the internal organization of a supply chain system.     

Foreign demand shocks,product switching,and export product quality: Evidence from China

Using Chinese customs data spanning from 2000 to 2013, we explore how foreign demand shocks in exporting markets impact product switching, factor adjustments, and export quality of Chinese exporting firms. We document that positive demand shocks would render firms to expand product scope by increasing the number of added varieties and decreasing the number of dropped varieties. In line with the expansion of product scope, firms adjust their factor reallocations by hiring more employees and producing in a more capital-intensive way when facing higher positive demand shocks. Higher capital intensity induces productivity improvement, and thus increases firms' export revenue, export price, and export-product quality. We also document that positive foreign demand shocks render firms to concentrate less on their core varieties by skewing their export sales away from the best performing products.     

Implementing product platforms in the global enterprise: Lessons from an LED industry leader

Product platforming—using technology subsystems or components that are shared within and across product lines—is a proven way to increase the effectiveness of innovation processes in established companies and startups alike. Yet, embracing the product platforming strategy turns out to be difficult in practice, particularly within the context of global, diversified companies. In this article, we examine the strategies and challenges of implementing product platforms across multiple business segments and multiple geographies. Using the experience of global LED industry leader Signify, we explore the challenges of global platforming and the technological, organizational, management process transformations needed for success. We also examine how platforming strategies change as manufacturers enter the world of connected things.     

Emerging economies and the global financial crisis: Evidence from China and India

The global financial crisis (GFC) spread from the US and the EU economies to the developing world. In this article, we seek to gain a better understanding of clear contexts, attendant mechanisms, and processes associated with the GFC in China and India. We identify and synthesize the available evidence on the size of the external shock, the cushioning effects, and responses associated with the GFC to propose a framework that enables us to analyze more deeply the antecedents and consequences of the GFC in these two economies. Because of differences in their economic, social, and political backgrounds, China and India have exhibited noteworthy differences in the impacts and responses to the GFC. The findings indicated that trade and investment linkages with the outside world and the degree of personal globalization affected the size of the external shock associated with the GFC. In China's case, a sound macroeconomic policy framework and the state's control on the economy provided a cushion effect, which acted as a buffer to protect the economy against the external shock. China's and India's responses to the GFC included a shift from export‐driven to domestic demand‐led growth and diversion and shift of economic links away from economies associated with the GFC. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Wildlife trafficking: Focusing on the entire supply chain

Fueled by her first-hand experiences with caring for wildlife, and the realization that efforts at fighting crimes against wildlife have hitherto been focused mainly on the supply side of wildlife trafficking, the author makes a case for a renewed focus on both the supply and the demand sides as well as the intervening link between them that facilitates such trafficking. After an engaging introduction, she discusses each of the above three parts in detail and concludes that a strategy involving the same intense focus on each of the three parts is sorely needed to eradicate crimes against wildlife. In the process, she argues that the adoption of the “carrot” approach would be far superior to the “stick” approach in achieving long-term success, and offers specific tactics pertaining to each of the three parts as actionable recommendations.     

Banking systems,innovations, intellectual property protections,and financial markets: Evidence from China

One unique feature of the emerging economies in Asia is the rich variation in the development of financial systems and technological sectors across different geographical areas. This unbalanced evolution provides us a potentially more powerful setting to investigate the dynamics among banking systems, innovations, intellectual property (IP) protections, and stock market reactions that are especially useful in understanding the policy–finance–innovation nexus in emerging economies. Using newly available data from China, this study confirms the nurturing role of financial systems on innovations, the value-enhancing function of firms' innovative activities, and the lead–lag predictive role of innovations on stock returns, in the context of emerging economies. More importantly, the study documents that stronger provincial IP protections reduce patent piracy and hence enhance local firms' market values.     

The building blocks of a supply chain management theory: Using factor market rivalry for supply chain theorizing

As the supply chain discipline matures, opportunities emerge to develop or define theories that are specific to supply chain phenomenon. The current research specifies characteristics that we offer which comprise the building blocks of supply chain theory. These characteristics include the flows of material through a supply chain network, the temporal management of these material flows, the dyadic and triadic interactions of firms within the supply chain network, and the outward focus on supply chain management (SCM), in other words a supply chain orientation, of firms in a supply chain. Further, recognizing that supply chain theories must contain the previously identified characteristics, we offer Factor Market Rivalry (FMR) as a theory of SCM. FMR refers to intense battles for resource positions that are needed to manufacture, provide, or deliver firm products or services. We argue that FMR only occurs within supply chain phenomena. The piece concludes with a future research agenda based upon the practical implications of further developing FMR as a theory of SCM.     

供应链管理视角下的采购模式探析

供应链管理是一种集成的管理思想和方法,供应链采购是一种供应链机制下的采购模式.传统的采购模式存在着交易成本大、采购质量难以控制以及供需双方关系对立等问题.而市场需求多样化的特征促使企业转变采购模式成为必然,供应链采购可以在适当的时间、地点,以适当的数量和质量提供买方所需的物料,极大地提升了企业的竞争力.     

The influence of bank ownership on credit supply: Evidence from the recent financial crisis

This study examines how bank ownership influenced the credit supply during the recent financial crisis in Russia, where the banking sector consists of a mix of state-controlled banks, foreign-owned banks, and domestic private banks. To estimate credit supply changes, we apply an original approach based on stochastic frontier analysis. We use quarterly data for Russian banks covering the period from the beginning of 2007 to the end of 2009. Our findings suggest that bank ownership affected credit supply during the financial crisis and that the crisis led to an overall decrease in the credit supply. Relative to domestic private banks foreign-owned banks reduced their credit supply more and state-controlled banks less. This supports the hypothesis that foreign banks have a “lack of loyalty” to domestic actors during a crisis, as well as the view that an objective function of state-controlled banks leads them to support the economy during economic downturns.     

Mind the gap: Tech-based dispute resolutions in global supply blockchains

Blockchain, a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT), can be used for supply chain and is commonly discussed among distribution giants and small players. Blockchain’s actual and perceived benefits, in addition to track-and-trace mandates from regulatory bodies, have driven these discussions. However, there is no mention of how existing dispute resolution processes have been overhauled in favor of blockchain smart contracts, which can be used to manage and resolve disputes. This conversation gap is critical as trust will erode if supply chain partners cannot settle disputes adequately. We highlight the importance of supply chain DLT management and suggest tactics for resolving the inevitable disputes that arise with disparate information. These guidelines, including adopting portable and enforceable contractual terms and a standardized dispute resolution process, can have practical applications beyond blockchain.     

Examining the differential use of global integration mechanisms across HRM practices: Evidence from China

This paper examines how multinational corporations use different mechanisms to integrate four HRM practices in their foreign subsidiaries: financial compensation, performance appraisal, training and development, and recruitment and selection. Our analysis of 76 European-owned subsidiaries located in China reveal systematic differences in the use of integration mechanisms across the four HRM practices. The findings suggest that the usage of global integration mechanisms is contingent on the purposes of integration – headquarters control, and inter-unit coordination – as well as on the degree to which the mechanism is capable of responding to needs for local adaptation of the individual HRM practice in question.     

Institutional and corporate drivers of global talent management: Evidence from the Arab Gulf region

This study analyses how talent management (TM) is molded by institutional and corporate drivers. We borrow from the vast institutional literature to understand how organizations adopt and implement TM practices within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) context. This context is valuable not only because it tackles an under-researched region, but also because the type of variables found further our understanding of TM processes in non-Western contexts. Companies abide by localization rules to sustain their “legal” legitimacy, while trying to improve efficiency through actions that enhance their economic sustainability. Companies try to strike a strategic balance between local adaptation and global assimilation of their TM processes. We conclude by presenting a framework that portrays how various forces impact the TM process.     

Factor Intensity,product switching,and productivity: Evidence from Chinese exporters

This paper analyzes how a firm's specialization in its core products after exporting affects its factor intensity and productivity. Using Chinese manufacturing firm data for the 1998–2007 period, we find that firms become less capital-intensive but more productive after exporting, compared to non-exporters that share similar ex ante characteristics. To rationalize these findings that contrast with existing studies, we develop a variant of the model by Bernard, Redding, and Schott (2010, 2011) to consider firms producing multiple products with varying capital intensity. The model predicts that when a firm in a labor-abundant country starts exporting, it specializes in its core competencies by allocating more resources to produce more labor-intensive products. Firm ex ante productivity is associated with a smaller decline in capital intensity after exporting. A sharper post-export decline in capital intensity is associated with a larger increase in measured total factor productivity. We find firm-level evidence supporting these predictions. Using transaction-level data for the 2000–2006 period, we show that Chinese new exporters add products that are less capital-intensive than their existing products and drop those that are more capital-intensive in subsequent years.