Supplier Role Conflict: An Investigation of Its Relational Implications and Impact on Supplier Accommodation

Existing research on supply chain relationships suggests that one of the underlying tensions between supply chain partners is that of opposing perspectives and goals in the customer?supplier relationship. In today's business world with requirements in constant flux, suppliers are often asked to accommodate “special” requests made by their customers, not part of the contractual agreement. Suppliers frequently fill requests to protect the relationship with the customer, even if they fall outside of what they consider their role as a supplier. Issues of supplier role conflict emerge when customers and suppliers have different views of what the supplier's role should entail. There is little research examining the potential for supplier role conflict in supply chains. Specifically, this research draws on literature from multiple disciplines to consider supplier role conflict that may stem from accommodation and the impact of this role conflict and supplier accommodation on the supply chain relationship and future accommodation behavior. Hypotheses are tested using two scenario‐based experiments. Results suggest that supplier adaptation and flexibility both have positive relational effects. If suppliers perceive accommodation requests as outside of their contracted role, supplier role conflict can have detrimental effects on the supplier's relationship perceptions and their willingness for future accommodation.     

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.     

Embedding CSR Values: The Global Footwear Industry’s Evolving Governance Structure

Many transnational corporations and international organizations have embraced corporate social responsibility (CSR) to address criticisms of working and environmental conditions at subcontractors’ factories. While CSR ‹codes of conduct’ are easy to draft, supplier compliance has been elusive. Even third-party monitoring has proven an incomplete solution. This article proposes that an alteration in the supply chain’s governance, from an arms-length market model to a collaborative partnership, often will be necessary to effectuate CSR. The market model forces contractors to focus on price and delivery as they compete for the lead firm’s business, rendering CSR observance secondary, at best. A collaborative partnership where the lead firm gives select suppliers secure product orders and other benefits removes disincentives and adds incentives for CSR compliance. In time, the suppliers’ CSR habit should shift their business philosophy toward pursuing CSR as an end in itself, regardless of buyer incentives and monitoring. This article examines these hypotheses in the context of the athletic footwear sector with Nike, Inc. and its suppliers as the specific case study. The data collected and conclusions reached offer strategies for advancing CSR beyond the superficial and often ineffectual ‹code of conduct’ stage.     

INFORMATION GAMING IN DEMAND COLLABORATION AND SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE

Demand collaboration has recently been promoted by industry leaders as an important tool for supply chain management. Its greatest significance beyond the sharing of point‐of‐sale and forecast information stems from its potential to allow supply chain partners to extract private market information from each other for more effective planning and better supply chain performance. A simulation framework based on actual business processes is developed to investigate the underlying drivers of demand collaboration and the inherent risks and benefits of such collaboration.     

Business continuity in the COVID-19 emergency: A framework of actions undertaken by world-leading companies

The COVID-19 emergency has urged companies to operate in new ways to face supply chain interruptions, shifts in customer demand, and risks to workforce health. The organizational ability to respond to critical contingencies is crucial for business leaders in the perspective of continuing business. In our research, we investigate the actions undertaken by 50 world-leading corporations to respond to the pandemic. Applying content analysis to web pages and social network posts, we extract 77 actions related to 13 sub-areas and integrate these into a five-level framework that encompasses operations, customer, workforce, leadership, and community-related responses. We also describe six illustrative company examples of how the emergency can generate opportunities for creating new value. The study advances the scholarly discussion on the impact of emergencies on business continuity and can help leaders define response strategies and actions in the current challenge.     

The Growth of Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains: Mission Impossible for Western Small- and Medium-Sized Firms?

Multinational corporations (MNCs) have come under pressure to adopt private regulatory initiatives such as supplier codes of conduct in order to address poor working conditions in global supply chain factories. While a well-known literature explores drivers and outcomes of such monitoring schemes, this literature focuses mainly on large firms and has ignored the growing integration of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into global supply chains. Furthermore, the literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in SMEs primarily emphasizes domestic initiatives and not global challenges. Focusing on the Business for Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), this article examines the positions of private actors, who demand and supply private regulation as well as the positions of those firms, who are the targets of such schemes. As the BSCI has grown its membership, MNCs increasingly request that SMEs meet BSCI requirements in global supply chains even though compliance is a “mission impossible” for many smaller firms. As a result of this development, the private regulatory system is facing growing strain.     

Ethics in MBA programs: The rhetoric,the reality,and a plan of action

Unethical behavior on the part of business corporations and their leaders has led many business executives and university administrators to call for the inclusion of ethics in MBA programs. This paper reviewed studies and commentary relating to the teaching of ethics in MBA programs in the United States. The results showed that ethics has not yet gained an integral place in the curricula of business schools. A plan of action for the systematic incorporation of ethics into the MBA curriculum was proposed based on the system model of training commonly used in the training field. In concluding, a question about the total responsibility of the business schools toward the promotion of ethical behavior on the part of their graduates was raised.     

Imperfect markets: Business ethics as an easy virtue

This paper marks a radical diversion from the large body of prevailing literature in business ethics which primarily views the issue in individual-personal terms, i.e., corporate executive and employee, and suggests that making corporations more ethical would primarily come through changes in executive behavior. While this approach has strong intellectual roots in moral philosophy and religion, it fails in explaining the persistence of unethical and illegal behavior among corporations of all sizes, financial health, competitive market conditions, and, level of individual executive compensation. This paper argues for a fundamentally different approach to understanding ethical behavior, or lack thereof, among corporations and their executives. It is asserted that an overwhelmingly large rationale and/or inducement for proactive ethical business behavior is rooted in competitive aspects of particular markets, and industry structures prevailing in those markets. Furthermore, while highly competitive markets may promote efficiency, they do not guarantee ethical behavior and may indeed provide greater opportunities and incentives for unethical business behavior. Thus, by following the current prognosis, we could be wasting enormous resources in terms of teaching business ethics, and creating and imposing corporate codes of conduct. We assert that these approaches would at best make a marginal improvement in the ethical performance of corporations while at the same time exacerbate the problem by ignoring more fundamental, structural issues. Imperfect markets, with their above-market profits, are a necessary but insufficient condition for corporations to behave ethically. It is only under conditions of imperfect markets that individual executives can play an important role in guiding their corporations toward greater ethical norms. These are undertaken for a variety of reasons, including, protecting a corporation's good name, public expectations, competitive norms, and, corporate culture and individual executive's predilections, to name a few.S. Prakash Sethi is Professor and Acting Director, Center for Management, Baruch College, The City University of New York. He has widely published in the areas of corporate social responsibility, international business, business ethics, and corporate strategy and public policy. His most recent publication isMultinational Corporations and the Impact of Public Advocacy on Corporate Strategy: Nestle and the Infant Formula Controversy (Kluwer, 1994).     

THE BENEFITS OF USING E‐BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY: THE SUPPLIER PERSPECTIVE

The use of e‐business technologies between supply chain organizations has primarily been examined from the viewpoint of buying firms or retailers, with little attention given to the benefits accrued to suppliers. Further, previous studies have been limited to either financial or marketing performance measures, or a narrow range of operational measures. This study builds on research in this area by testing a model of the relationship between supplier use of e‐business technologies in communication with their primary buyer, degree of buyer‐supplier coordination, and a complete set of benefits that include strategic and operational performance measures. Using data from 241 first‐tier OEM suppliers in the computer industry, the findings show that supplier use of e‐business technologies positively impacts organizational benefits both directly and indirectly by promoting buyer‐supplier coordination.     

Testing the Negative Effects of Time Pressure in Retail Supply Chain Relationships

In today's rapidly evolving business environment, retailers must develop highly responsive supply chains in order to satisfy constantly changing market demands. One approach to achieving this objective is to leverage the capabilities of other supply chain members to achieve cycle time compression of key business activities. However, when viewed through the theoretical lenses of Social Exchange Theory and Reciprocity, a potential conflict exists between facilitating supply chain responsiveness and maintaining close retailer–supplier relationships. The purpose of this research is to quantitatively test how the imposition of time pressure affects key elements of retail supply chain relationships. Scenario based experimental methodology was utilized to test the effects of time pressure on two distinct types of retailer–supplier relationships. Results of this research offer evidence to support the notion that time pressure can reduce collaborative behaviors, relationship loyalty, and relationship value in critical retailer–supplier relationships.     

Using the balanced scorecard on supply chain integration performance—a case study of service businesses

Supply chains are indispensable to corporations that seek to serve suppliers and customers better, to boost organization performance, to strengthen competitiveness, and to achieve continuous success. Currently, corporations place great emphasis on both supply chains and on balanced scorecards (BSCs) to develop effective measures to evaluate firm performance. This study discusses the integration of supply chain and performance based on the BSC measures developed by Kaplan and Norton (Harv Bus Rev 71(5):134–147, 1993; Harv Bus Rev 74(1):75–85, 1996) and Brewer and Speh (J Bus Logist 21(1): 79–93, 2000). The research applies case studies and a conceptual framework, modifying propositions accordingly. The main objectives of this study are to discuss the construction and implementation of supply chains, to determine how to handle supply chain barriers and to evaluate supply chain integration performance using the idea of a BSC. Companies at different levels in the supply chain are better served by assigning different levels of importance to different types of integration. Case studies show that supply chain integration involves supplier, internal, and customer barriers. The results of these studies have suggested that integrated supply chains can be dominated by one controlling member, which can be located either upstream or downstream in the chain. A new finding in this study is that varying degrees of supply chain integration are obtained due to corporations’ different positions in an industry. The study provides some insights for firms in the process of implementing a supply chain management system.     

Collaborative Planning in Multi-tier Supply Chains Supported by a Negotiation-Based Mechanism and Multi-agent System

Effective business process collaboration between companies operating in a supply chain can bring about important benefits, but several barriers need to be overcome. One important obstacle evidenced by professionals is related to the information and communication technologies used to support such collaboration. Although a supplier and a manufacturer may be willing to establish a closer relationship, a lack of easy-to-operate enterprise applications can thwart their collaborative ambitions. Specific technologies are required for each type of collaborative business process as generic applications do not lend themselves to addressing complex situations. Complexity lies in the need to consider common standards for information and decision exchanges, and for designing and implementing the right information and decision flow among supply chain members to support collaborative processes. This paper focuses on collaboration of demand, production and replenishment planning along a supply chain, and proposes a multi-tier, negotiation-based mechanism supported by a multi-agent system. The research hypothesis is that improvements in the service and profit level of supply chain members, and in the entire supply chain, can be achieved by implementing this form of collaboration. The proposed collaborative planning model was used to address a real automotive supply chain configuration for the purpose of testing its appropriateness and validating its performance.     

Impacts of supplier–buyer relationships on modularization in new product development

Globalization of markets and new business practices are prompting high-tech firms to reconsider their strategic thinking, especially in supply chain and R&D management. This paper examines the effects of supplier–buyer relationships on modularization by evaluating the opportunities of modularization and corresponding interface constraints of a product at four different levels: component, module, sub-system, and system. The scope of modularization sensitivity is assessed in terms of the product's architecture, interface compatibility effects, component customization, value inputs, and supplier–buyer interdependence. The example of windshield wipers controller for Chrysler Jeeps illustrates that, higher opportunities for modularization can be attained through a more collaborative form of supplier–buyer partnership.     

Secrecy versus Transparency—A Comparative Study of Social and Environmental Disclosure Practice in Croatian and Swedish Corporations

Both agency, institutional, and cultural factors seem to explain transparency and disclosure practice. The aim of this study is to make a comparative study of disclosure practice among listed corporations in Croatia and Sweden. The study shows that Swedish corporations disclose significantly more social disclosures than Croatian corporations. Size and industry have a strong explanatory power in Sweden. In Croatia, industry has some explanatory power but surprisingly not firm size. However, unlike Sweden, the variable audit firm has an explanatory power in Croatia.     

Conceptualizing data‐deliberation: The starry sky beetle,environmental system risk,and Habermasian CSR in the digital age

Building on an illustrative case of a systemic environmental threat and its multi‐stakeholder response, this paper draws attention to the changing political impacts of corporations in the digital age. Political Corporate Social Responsibility (PCSR) theory suggests an expanded sense of politics and corporations, including impacts that may range from voluntary initiatives to overcome governance gaps, to avoiding state regulation via corporate political activity. Considering digitalization as a stimulus, we explore potential responsibilities of corporations toward public goods in contexts with functioning governments. We show that digitalization—in the form of transparency, surveillance, and data‐sharing—offers corporations’ scope for deliberative public participation. The starry sky beetle infestation endangering public and private goods is thereby used to illustrate the possibility of expanding the political role of corporations in the digital sphere. We offer a contribution by conceptualizing data‐deliberation as a Habermasian variation of PCSR, defined as the (a) voluntary disclosure of corporate data and its transparent, open sharing with the public sector (b) along with the cooperation with governmental institutions on data analytics methods for examining large‐scale datasets (c) thereby complying with existing national and international regulations on data protection, in particular with respect to privacy and personal data.     

Mattel,Inc.: Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP) – A Life-Cycle Analysis of a Company-Based Code of Conduct in the Toy Industry

Over the last 20+ years, multinational corporations (MNCs) have been confronted with accusations of abuse of market power and unfair and unethical business conduct especially as it relates to their overseas operations and supply chain management. These accusations include, among others, worker exploitation in terms of unfairly low wages, excessive work hours, and unsafe work environment; pollution and contamination of air, ground water and land resources; and, undermining the ability of natural government to protect the well-being of their citizens. MNCs have responded to these accusations by creating voluntary codes of conduct which commit them to specific standards for addressing these issues. These codes are created at both the industry-wide and the individual company level. Unfortunately, these codes have generated little credibility and public trust because their compliance claims cannot be independently verified, and they lack transparency and full public disclosure. In this article, we present a case study of the voluntary code of conduct by Mattel, Inc., the world’s largest toy company. The code, called the Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP), confronts the general criticism leveled against voluntary codes of conduct by (a) creating detailed standards of compliance, (b) independent external monitoring of the company’s compliance with its code of conduct, and (c) making full, and uncensored public disclosure of the audit findings and company’s response in terms of remedial action. We present a detailed account of how Mattel’s voluntary code of conduct was created, implemented, and ultimately abandoned over 9 years. We provide an evaluative analysis of the company’s GMP compliance throughout its life span, which suggests a bell-shaped curve, where early top management commitments were met with pockets of resistance from operational groups, who were concerned about balancing GMP compliance efforts with traditional performance criteria. The early stage response from Mattel’s top management was quick and supported with the requisite resources. As a result, the compliance process accelerated, becoming increasingly more robust and effective. The success of code compliance and increased transparency in public disclosure energized field managers with a sense of professional satisfaction and publicly recognized accomplishments. The decline in GMP compliance was equally steep. When all the easily attainable targets had been reached at the company-operated plants, addressing vendor plants’ compliance presented a new set of challenges, which taxed corporate resources and management commitment. It would seem that value-based and ethics-oriented considerations, i.e., doing the right thing for the right reason, were no longer the driving force for Mattel’s management. Mattel did not see any economic benefit from its proactive stance, when competitors did not seem to suffer adverse consequences for not following suit. The final contributing factor to the code’s abandonment was a widely publicized series of product recalls which absorbed top management’s attention.     

Corporate Governance and the Responsibility of the Board of Directors for Strategic Financial Reporting

One of the fundamental principles of good corporate governance is transparency, i.e., the disclosure of private information to external stakeholders, so that they may make judgments and decisions relating to the corporation. Equally important, but less discussed, is the competing value that corporations need to protect legitimate secrets. Corporations thus need a communication strategy for dealing with external stakeholders which addresses the conflict between disclosure and secrecy. This article focuses on an important element of that communication strategy in the context of financial reporting: the possibility that corporate insiders may consider it in their interest, or in the interest of specific stakeholders, to alter or manipulate the financial information that it discloses publicly. Using concepts from the corporate governance and financial reporting literatures, it addresses the ethical question of who (management or the board of directors) should be responsible for making the fundamental strategic choices whether and (if so) how the corporation alters or manipulates the financial information. This article argues that the board of directors is responsible for formulating (and monitoring) the corporation's communication strategy, and that management is responsible for carrying it out.     

Threats and opportunities faced by private businesses in China

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the environment experienced by private businesses in China through examining their relationships with the major stakeholders—namely government, supplier, employee, customer, and competitor.Since the announcement of the economic reform in 1978, substantial political and economic power has been delegated from the central government to the regions. Endowed with this power, local governments have crucial influence on the size of the private sector within their jurisdiction. Being outside the state allocation plan, private firms have less access to raw materials and credit. In the volatile political climate of China, they are vulnerable to attack during political campaigns. Maintaining a cordial relationship with local cadres, through paying bribes and various charges, is thus a prerequisite for survival. Having solicited political backing, a private entrepreneur can not only run his business more smoothly, but also may be more tolerated in his illegal activities such as tax evasion, profiteering, and selling banned products. In short, the whole situation can be described as a collusion of local governments and private businesses at the expense of the central government's interest.Under the economic reform, the distribution system has become less rigid than before. It is easier for private firms to secure supplies, whether raw materials or manufactured goods. Labor input is also not a problem for most private firms which are small in size and employ mainly unskilled workers. However, large private enterprises have to compete with state, collective, and foreign enterprises for managerial staff who are in short supply.There have been marked changes in the consumption pattern since the early 1980s. People spend less on staple foods and more on non-staple foods, consumer goods, and services. Moreover, China is experiencing a consumption boom. Altogether this offers great opportunities to the private sector, which has been expanding its share of industrial output and retail sales very fast. On the other hand, competition is becoming much keener. State enterprises are improving their efficiency and giant multinational corporations are rushing in. As there are few entry barriers, private entrepreneurs are also competing fiercely among themselves.The ideological contradiction of having labor exploitation by private entrepreneurs in a socialist country has prevented the Chinese government from actively encouraging private business. The private sector has been assigned a supplementary role in the dominant public economy. This status has led to discrimination against private firms in obtaining factor inputs, accounting partly for their vulnerability to bureaucratic harassment by local cadres. This will continue to hamper private business development. It is concluded that ideological and political reforms, in addition to the economic reform, are required for providing a more conducive environment for private businesses. The Chinese experience of liberalizing the private sector offers useful insights to governments of other developing countries.     

The Pragmatic and Ethical Barriers to Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: The Nike Case

Numerous studies have documented the demand for information regarding corporations’ relationships to society. Much recent research has demonstrated why stakeholders need this information, and how it benefits both companies and the public. These studies suggest numerous methods by which companies can effectively disclose corporate social responsibility (CSR) information to the public, but in practice, reporting this type of information is fraught with legal and ethical uncertainty often unexplored in most literature. This article represents a fresh analysis of the numerous pragmatic consequences and legal and ethical complications inherent in CSR reporting, using Nike Corporation as a case example. The article discusses the theoretical viewpoints surrounding the ethics of CSR disclosure, and presents the case of Nike and the complications it encountered while advertising CSR information. The article ends with an analysis of CSR auditing as a possible solution to companies seeking to improve the method and transparency of social responsibility reporting.     

供应链合作及供应商创新投资比较研究

供应链合约能够影响成员的创新投资决策,从而影响供应链整体绩效。当合约用来促进供应链上下游企业间交易并且供应商从事成本降低投资时,通过对供应链合作进行博弈分析,得出不同合约下的供应商创新投资结果及相关结论,同时通过两种合约的比较探讨其适用条件。