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.     

顾客关系承诺研究:模型与实证

顾客关系承诺有三个维度,持续性承诺、规范性承诺以及情感性承诺。顾客关系承诺意愿越强,则其转换意图就越弱,忠诚度越高。持续性承诺的影响因素包括转换成本和服务质量;情感性承诺的影响因素包括满意和信任;规范性承诺的影响因素为主观规范。对山东省服务业的调查分析显示,情感承诺、规范化承诺和持续性承诺都与转换意向负相关,但是情感承诺由规范化承诺中介,即情感承诺越强,对服务供应商的规范化承诺越强。主观规范与转换意图之间的关系由规范性承诺中介,信任与转换意图之间的关系由情感承诺中介,转换成本与转换意图之间的关系由持续性承诺中介,服务质量和转换意图之间关系没有由持续性承诺中介。     

Supply chain integration and operational performance: The contingency effects of production systems

The boundary conditions of supply chain integration (SCI) have been widely studied in order to find out when SCI is applicable and effective. However, prior studies have mainly focused on external contextual factors, such as supply complexity, environmental uncertainty and country-level infrastructure. This study contributes to the SCI literature by examining the contingency effects of internal production systems on the relationship between supplier integration, customer integration and operational performance. Based on organizational information processing theory, we provide evidence to show that the impact of supplier and customer integration on operational performance varies across production systems, such as one-of-a-kind production, batch production and mass production systems. The empirical results also reveal how supplier and customer integration can be matched with different configurations of production systems in order to achieve the desired quality, flexibility, delivery or cost performance.     

The antecedents of employee commitment to customer service: evidence from a UK

This paper provides a first attempt at conceptualizing and operationalizing the notion of commitment to customer service (CCS) as part of a broader concern to explore the determinants of key aspects of service quality and of individual-level performance in service organizations. Based on an explicitly behavioral definition of commitment to customer service, we first set out a model of the antecedents of CCS. We then test it using data from a representative sample of 717 employees of a major food-retailing organization in the UK. The results suggest that commitment to customer service is primarily a non-calculative phenomenon driven above all by affective. normative altruistic concerns, rather than by overtly instrumental considerations. Additional significant determinants of CCS were job pressure, job routinization. job competence and employees' understanding of customer service requirements. Research and policy implications of the study are discussed.     

私人关系影响客户关系质量的实证研究——以上海、苏州银行业为例

构建与维持长期、稳固的客户关系是关系营销的主要目标之一。本文以上海、苏州银行业为例,实证性地分析私人关系对客户关系质量的影响。研究结果发现：第一、营销人员与客户有关人员私人关系状态与客户满意度并不存在显著的相关关系,而关系意愿对客户满意度有显著的正向影响；第二、营销人员与客户有关人员私人关系越好,企业与客户间的信任度越高；第三、营销人员与客户有关人员私人关系越好,组织间的承诺度越高。最后探讨了结果的应用。     

Linking organizational social exchange to intention to leave: Does normative commitment matter?

Abstract

This study examines the effects of organizational social exchange on normative commitment and intention to leave the organization. We develop a moderated mediation model with normative commitment as a mediator in the relationship between organizational social exchange and the intention to leave, and individual-level power distance as a moderator of the indirect link between organizational social exchange and the intention to leave via normative commitment. We collected the data for our two-wave study from 176 employees of a bank in Macau. The results of hierarchical regressions and bootstrapping analyses largely support our hypotheses.     

The role of organizational culture in the relationship between leadership and organizational commitment: an empirical study in a Greek organization

The aim of this paper is to explore the nature of relationships between organizational culture and leadership behaviours in affecting employees' commitment to their work organization. Building on organizational commitment literature, this study used a survey methodology. Empirical evidence was obtained from 300 employees working in a large Greek service company. The analyses indicated that the culture orientations examined served as mediators in the relationship between leader behaviour and followers' affective and normative commitment to the organization. The findings also indicated that continuance commitment is a two-dimensional construct; the ‘personal sacrifices’ dimension was found to be related to organizational culture and transactional contingent reward. This research paper has key messages for practitioners contributing to the fields of commitment, organizational culture, leadership and human resource management.     

Impact of eBusiness technologies on operational performance: The role of production information integration in the supply chain

While the information technology (IT) literature is mixed regarding the direct benefits of eBusiness technologies on performance, the impact of such technologies on supply chain practices remains largely an unexplored area of research. We hypothesize that while there may be no direct benefit of eBusiness technologies on performance, these technologies might support customer integration and supplier integration in the supply chain, which in turn might impact operating performance.To examine our hypotheses, we collected data from respondents who focused their responses to a single major product the process that manufactures it, a significant customer, and an important supplier. Our analyses showed that there was no direct benefit of eBusiness technologies on performance; however these technologies supported customer integration and supplier integration. Further, supplier integration was found to positively impact cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery performance; however there was no relationship between customer integration and performance. Consequently, there is a relationship between eBusiness technologies and supplier integration that leads to better performance. Further, there is an interactive effect between customer integration and supplier integration that supports the notion that firms that have both forms of integration, supported by eBusiness technologies, significantly outperform the others.     

当前中国电信客户关系管理中的问题及对策分析

提高客户关系管理水平和质量对于实现中国电信的持续健康发展具有不可忽视的重要意义。当前中国电信客户关系管理过程中存在缺陷,如不重视客户关系管理、缺乏实施客户关系管理的整体规划、对于客户信息分析整合力度明显不够等等。因此,为在日益激烈的电信市场竞争中占据有利地位,需进一步树立以客户为中心的经营服务理念、完善客户信息管理平台、以人为本,提供个性化差异化的服务、推行服务型的营销策略等。     

感知服务质量与顾客满意和顾客忠诚关系的实证研究

在实践中,中国服务业发展迅速,但营销水平有待提高,很多管理人员对营销以及服务管理的理解有限。在理论中,对感知服务质量各个维度、顾客满意和顾客忠诚之间的关系讨论很多,尚无定论。实证研究发现,是顾客满意正向影响感知服务质量各个因子,而不是相反,说明基于交易的顾客满意会影响对服务进行长期综合评价的感知服务质量。只有忠诚度一个因子影响顾客忠诚,因此企业在培养忠诚顾客上应该有所侧重。顾客满意和顾客忠诚的关系被验证并非线性关系,在线性方程模型中未能验证成功。     

Managerial perspectives on drivers for and barriers to sustainable supply chain management implementation: Evidence from New Zealand

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that drive or prevent companies' implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices. To this end, we interviewed 29 senior managers from 23 New Zealand‐based companies. The key reported drivers were customer expectation, top management commitment, moral and ethical values of managers, reputation management, and economic and operational benefits. Conversely, cost concerns, strategic and structural restraints, supplier and customer issues, and a lack of effective regulations were cited as critical obstacles to SSCM implementation. Thus, the evidence from our findings provides support for both instrumental and normative logics for SSCM implementation. The findings further indicate that, in general, instrumental and normative logics are congruent; however, varied tensions arise when managers seek to simultaneously address competing yet desirable SSCM aspects. Accordingly, we argue that it is imperative to understand, work through, and manage such tensions as balancing divergent sustainability aspects holds considerable potential for successful SSCM implementation.     

Customer concentration and corporate innovation: Evidence from China

This paper investigates the impact of customer concentration on corporate innovation in China. We hypothesize that a more concentrated customer base increases a supplier’s operational risk and causes firms to become more cautious with regard to investment in innovation. Moreover, a more concentrated customer base gives such customers stronger bargaining powers and makes suppliers less willing to make relationship-specific investments. Hence, the hold-up costs of customer concentration in China exceed the benefits that accrue from the economies of scale associated with such concentrations, which impede a supplier’s corporate innovation. Our results reveal that suppliers with higher customer concentrations produce fewer patents and invention patents. Moreover, our results are robust after adopting an instrumental variables approach. We further show that the effect is more pronounced in firms with lower business diversification and in firms that have lower stability in their major customers. Our paper sheds lights on the hitherto underexplored unfavorable impact of customer concentration on innovation.     

顾客关系营销的应用研究

在综述关系营销内涵及其与传统交易营销的区别的基础上,对国内外企业顾客关系营销的应用进行了研究,分析了我国企业应用顾客关系营销过程中存在的问题,提出了应采取的对策。     

Linking organizational support to employee commitment: evidence from hotel industry of China

Employee commitment is an important issue for both practitioners and academicians. Although antecedents of employee commitment have been examined in previous literature, organizational support, which is an important organizational characteristic to be developed by managers, and its relationship with employee commitment have not attracted enough academic attention nowadays. Meanwhile, enough empirical evidence of relationship between various dimensions of employee commitment, such as affective and normative commitments is not there. This article focuses on exploring the relationships among organizational support, affective commitment, and normative commitment, based on the data from the hotel industry of China. The results indicate that affective commitment has significant positive effect on normative commitment. Among the three dimensions of organizational support, i.e. managerial support, coworker relationship, and role ambiguity, managerial support has the greatest influence on employee commitment. Theoretical discussions and practical implications have also been provided.     

Applying the marketing concept to cultural organisations: an empirical study of the relationship between market orientation and performance

A recent trend in nonprofit organisations is an emphasis on business management and concepts. This paper examines the application of the marketing concept to nonprofit arts organisations through an analysis of the relationship between market orientation and organisational performance. Data were collected from arts organisations in two large Canadian cities, and a structural equations model was developed to test the impact of marketing activities and culture on three performance variables (customer satisfaction, peer reputation and resource attraction). The analysis shows that the model fits the data well and that six hypotheses pertaining to the relationship between market orientation and organisational performance were supported. The study concludes that those organisations that implemented more market‐driven activities into their marketing plans were more likely to develop a market‐oriented internal culture. A market‐oriented culture not only predicted a growth in resources and higher levels of customer satisfaction, but also a growth in reputation among peers. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

客户关系分析模型框架及营销策略的设计

客户关系管理吸收了关系营销,服务营销,消费者心理与行为学等营销观点,是当今管理领域研究的热点内容之一。主要表现在对客户满意与客户忠诚的模型研究上,适合于西方国家的宏观环境应用。客户关系管理在企业内的研究侧重于相关要素的分析,着重对企业客户满意模型的分析。本文从顾客的消费过程出发,通过对客户满意要素及其相互关系的分析,找到一种测量客户满意度的模型及评价方法,并运用该方法,给出一种提高客户忠诚度营销战略,以增强企业的营销能力和竞争优势。     

Unit-level linkages between employee commitment to the organization,customer service delivery and customer satisfaction

Service profit chain and service climate research identifies the importance of employee attitudes and employee service behavior as mediating between organizational practices and customer satisfaction. While the importance of employee attitudes and customer service performance are acknowledged, there are calls to more precisely specify proximal mediators between employee attitudes and customer satisfaction. We propose a model in which the relationship between unit-level organizational commitment and customer attitudes is not direct but mediated via employees' customer service delivery including queuing time, serving time and service quality. We conducted a longitudinal unit-level analysis (N = 39) aggregating employee (N over 893) organizational commitment and customer (N over 1248) satisfaction data, and customer service behavior drawn from organizational records. Our model received reasonable support from basic tests of the predictive associations between unit-level organizational commitment, customer-relevant employee behaviors and customer satisfaction; however, organizational commitment was not found to be an important predictor in more rigorous change analyses. The findings as a whole therefore suggest that organizational commitment is a feature of units delivering fast, quality service, but its causal role is as yet unclear.     

The moderating effect of leadership on perceived organizational justice and affective commitment: a study in China

While western literature proves the importance of procedural justice, interactional justice is found to have a greater impact on employees in China. This study investigates the effect of employees’ perceptions of organizational justice on affective commitment, and the moderating effect of leadership style in the relationship. The authors proposed that the positive association of interactional justice with affective commitment is stronger than the positive association of procedural and distributive justices with affective commitment. In addition, the authors hypothesized that leadership style in teams moderates the relationship between interactional justice and affective commitment. Data were collected from 10 companies in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Wenzhou, Wuhan, and Qingdao, China. The results support the hypotheses stating that interactional justice has a robust impact on affective commitment and that leadership in teams moderates the relationship. These findings have important implications for human resource management. When setting up HR policy in China, putting the right HR procedures in place is essential. Employees’ affective commitment relies heavily on interactional justice and whether or not employees perceive that they are being treated fairly by their managers. We discuss the implications of these findings.     

心理契约对企业核心员工流失的影响分析

心理契约是存在于核心员工和企业之间的隐性契约,体现了员工与组织间责任义务的相互关系。物质报酬、环境、发展空间是影响核心员工流失的主要因素,心理契约通过其物质激励、环境支持、发展机会三个层面的满足与否对核心员工的流失产生重大影响。因此企业应重视核心员工心理契约的建立与维护,规范制度环境,满足核心员工的发展需要,从根本上降低流失率。     

客户关系管理在物流公司的应用策略

伴随着我国经济与国际的接轨,市场营销中的客户关系管理（CRM）也已在各个行业应用,我国物流公司客户关系管理的发展仍处于起步阶段,不论在理论上还是在实践上都有待进一步提高。文章从物流客户关系管理的概念入手,阐述CRM应用对我国物流行业的重要性,并对以后CRM在物流行业的应用提出了相应的策略,提高物流企业的竞争力。