Demand chain management theory: constraints and development from global aerospace supply webs

This paper develops an empirical and theoretical approach to where strategic capabilities should lie within global aerospace supply chains. Theory from transaction cost economics (TCE) and the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm are applied to the aerospace sector and used to underpin a theory of demand chain management (DCM). A two-stage research process was used to generate and validate data from aerospace supply chain case studies. Demand chain driver and resource-based response categories were identified from these data and are presented. Concluding comments concern current limits of a demand chain theory and implications for practitioners.     

Success factors for continuous supply chain process improvement: evidence from Japanese manufacturers

This study explores how firms can realise ‘continuous’ supply chain process improvement. Specifically, this study proposes the success factors of routinised activities (also called ‘repeated activities’) in the supply chain process improvement. Eight Japanese manufacturers are selected for the case studies. These firms are selected based on their supply chain process operation capabilities. From the case studies, we find that the planning of supply chain process improvement depends on the existing stage of the firm’s Supply Chain Management reform. In addition, even firms with high scores for supply chain process operation capabilities do not have supply chain performance systems. Furthermore, quite surprisingly, many Japanese manufacturers tend to improve their supply chain processes in the absence of such systems.     

Efficiency meets accountability: Performance implications of supply chain configuration, control, and capabilities

The public increasingly holds firms accountable for social and environmental outcomes, such as product toxicity problems and human rights violations, throughout their global supply chains. How can companies improve the social and environmental performance within their supply chains, particularly as other competitive pressures, such as cost and quality, continue to escalate? Starting from an efficient versus responsive supply chain framework, we develop an integrative model that blends together elements of supply chain configuration, stakeholder management, and capability development. Specifically, we spotlight the dimensions of control and accountability that collectively determine stakeholder exposure, and show how this new construct affects the linkages between supply chain capabilities, configuration, and performance. In particular, this analysis reveals that the nature of stakeholder exposure determines how social/environmental technical and relational capabilities impact social and environmental outcomes. We conclude with implications for research and practice, discussing how current supply chain theories must be extended to incorporate external stakeholders, to clarify strategies and identify potential pitfalls, and to better predict performance outcomes.     

Understanding the dynamics of global supply chain sustainability initiatives: The role of institutional distance from the buyer's perspective

Research points to sustainable supply chain management as a core strategic goal for most global firms. However, managers continue to struggle with implementing successful sustainability initiatives both internally and throughout their globally dispersed supply chains. Using grounded theory, our findings uncover a potential explanation for how firms manage sustainability initiatives in the context of global supply chain management, from a buyer's perspective. Institutional theory of the firm is applied to help explain the challenges of developing and implementing global supply chain sustainability-related initiatives within buyer-supplier relationships. Analysis of the data from qualitative interviews show that institutional distance is an influential factor that produces mixed effects on the global buyer-supplier relationships in our sample in the context of buyer and supplier strategic orientation toward sustainability. The findings can help guide managers when approaching sustainability-related initiatives in the context of global supply chains. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed as well as areas for future research.     

Sustainable supply chain management and partner engagement to manage climate change information

Climate change poses significant new risks and challenges for businesses and their supply chains. Additionally, in many sectors, Scope 3 indirect greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the sourcing and distribution of goods and services are larger than firms' own carbon footprints. Here we study how firms engage their key stakeholders in their supply chains in obtaining, processing, and transferring relevant climate change‐related information designed to overcome information asymmetry and drive sustainable development. Grounded in organisational information‐processing theory (OIPT), we draw on data from the Carbon Disclosure Project's Climate Change Supply Chain initiative for a qualitative content analysis of a large sample of global firms. Consistent with OIPT, we find that although firms primarily engage their supply chain partners in a variety of ways to reduce information uncertainty around indirect emissions data, effectively interpreting and managing broader sustainability information equivocality becomes a growing priority. Our findings further suggest that firms engage suppliers, customers, and other supply chain partners through basic, transactional, and collaborative types of engagement. We contribute to literatures on interorganisational information processing and sustainable supply chain management by providing a more detailed understanding of how firms engage supply chain partners in the context of climate change.     

Perspectives on risk management in supply chains

Managing risk in supply chains is an important topic in supply chain management. The topic's importance is due to several industry trends currently in place: increase in strategic outsourcing by firms, globalizations of markets, increasing reliance on suppliers for specialized capabilities and innovation, reliance on supply networks for competitive advantage, and emergence of information technologies that make it possible to control and coordinate extended supply chains. This article identifies some important aspects of risk management in supply chains and summarizes the four articles that are in this special issue. This emerging area of research interest deserves considerable attention and it is our hope that the articles in this special issue would spur additional research on this important topic.     

Supply chain integration mechanisms for alleviating supply problems in manufacturing firms

Suppliers are expected to reduce manufacturing firm supply risks by minimizing supply failures and by resolving supply problems, even those ones resulting from firm’s actions. Integration mechanisms may enhance interaction and collaboration in the firm supply chain, especially in the buyer-supplier interface, to reach these goals. Based on case studies in four North-American manufacturing companies in the electronic and aerospace industries, we analyzed the importance of integration mechanisms for manufacturing firms to address supply problems. We also explored some drivers supporting those mechanisms. Supplier commitment was found to be a key integration factor to address supply problems. This may be accomplished by trust and power mechanisms. Internal integration between purchasing and manufacturing groups also played a significant role in supplier collaboration at the problem solving process. Customer integration seemed more important to address supply problems for contract manufacturers than for Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) firms. Although supply problems might originate several stages upstream in the supply chain, surprisingly there was no integration beyond direct suppliers in the manufacturing firm supply chain.     

自贸区背景下以上海为枢纽的全球供应链体系发展探讨

供应链管理是一种全新的经营理念,随着全球经济一体化的发展,全球供应链体系逐渐形成。而随着中国经济的快速发展,全球供应链重心逐渐向中国转移。上海作为我国经济发展中心,其在全球供应链体系中的枢纽作用也逐渐体现。文中通过资料收集分析及行动研究等方法对全球供应链体系的现状进行了全面的调查分析,并指出了全球供应链体系会朝着更加敏捷、更加绿色、信息化、顾客化的方向发展。结合上海自身条件和自贸区的成立带来的关税和外汇政策上的放宽、航运业的快速发展、制造产业的集聚等优势,分析了上海作为全球供应链枢纽的必然性,最后通过借鉴发达国家港口经验,提出了相关的建设意见以促进以上海为枢纽的全球供应链发展。     

An empirical investigation into supply chain vulnerability

A growing number of academicians and practitioners have put supply chain risks on their agendas, particularly triggered by a recent series of catastrophic events that have disrupted economies and supply chains around the globe. Given the increasing awareness of this important topic, the purpose of this research was to study supply chain risks in more detail and to investigate the relationship between supply chain vulnerability and supply chain risk. Responses from 760 executives from firms operating in Germany reveal that supply chain characteristics such as a firm's dependence on certain customers and suppliers, the degree of single sourcing, or reliance on global supply sources are relevant for a firm's exposure to supply chain risk. Overall, this research represents the first large-scale investigation of this important relationship and provides a finer understanding of the antecedents of supply chain vulnerability.     

Investigating effects of organisational culture and learning on environmental collaboration and performance of Korean exporting firms

This paper presents an empirical study of the effect of organisational culture and learning capability factors on environmental collaboration and performance in green supply chains. A conceptual model and variables were derived from organisational culture, learning, and collaboration theory and tested with Korean exporting firms. Learning capability was found to positively affect environmental collaboration as staff behaviour, attitudes and learning about environmental practices in a focal firm can be increased from suppliers and customers and then disseminated internally. Further, environmental collaboration was found to positively affect environmental performance due to a focal firm sharing these learned capabilities about the environment with other supply chain partners. However, organisational culture was not found to positively affect environmental collaboration. The findings suggest firms can improve environmental capabilities and performance through shared learning with supply chain partners and ensuring they are internally disseminated in the focal organisation.     

The use of electronic data interchange for supply chain coordination in the food industry

Supply chain management (SCM) is concerned with the relationship between a company and its suppliers and customers. It is characterized by interorganizational coordination: companies working jointly with their customers and suppliers to integrate activities along the supply chain to effectively supply product to customers. More developed SCM is indicated by systematic integration, i.e. standardized and automatic interorganizational interfaces. Information technology (IT) engenders such systematic integration by allowing more efficient and automatic information flow.This research focuses on electronic data interchange (EDI), an important class of IT used for interorganizational information transfers in the supply chain. Data from a survey of the food industry is used to examine the use of EDI with respect to interfirm coordination activities involving suppliers and customers. The influence of demographic characteristics on EDI use is also investigated. The results suggest that firms view EDI as a tool for improving efficiencies rather than as a tool for facilitating supply chain integration. There is also a surprising difference in firms use of EDI with customers vis-à-vis suppliers. Firms tend to be much more accommodating of the desires of their customers than of their suppliers.     

The effect of operational slack,diversification, and vertical relatedness on the stock market reaction to supply chain disruptions

This paper empirically examines whether operational slack, business diversification, geographic diversification, and vertical relatedness influence the stock market reaction to supply chain disruptions. The results are based on a sample of 307 supply chain disruptions announced by publicly traded firms during 1987–1998. Our analysis shows that firms with more slack in their supply chain experience less negative stock market reaction. The extent of business diversification has no significant effect on the stock market reaction. Firms that are more geographically diversified experience a more negative stock market reaction. We find that firms with a high degree of vertical relatedness experience a less negative stock market reaction. These results have important implications on how firms design and operate their supply chains to mitigate the negative effect of supply chain disruptions.     

Opening up the firm: What explains participation and effort in voluntary carbon disclosure by global businesses? An analysis of internal firm factors and dynamics

A voluntary climate initiative that has emerged over the past two decades as an institutional arrangement for corporations around the globe to signal and demonstrate their proactive climate leadership is the CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project). Unlike the extant literature that has emphasized stakeholder and regulatory pressures, this paper argues that voluntary carbon disclosure is both beneficial and costly for corporations with respect to the existence of supportive management structures, explicit CSR practices, and the existence of complementary assets. Moreover, there is variation between European firms and other global businesses because of Europe's distinctive national business systems framework in conjunction with global supply chain imperatives. Empirically, this study employs a novel discrete‐continuous modeling approach to distinguish between a corporation's decision to disclose and the linked but subsequent decision of how much to disclose climate change information. Results indicate that the main drivers of participation in voluntary carbon disclosure by the Global 500 firms is the existence of senior managers and executive‐level officers and the adoption of ESG principles by global businesses. Conditional on participation, European Union‐based and other global businesses that articulate a corporate vision for environmental sustainability, adopt ESG principles, and invest in complementary assets disclose climate change strategies and emissions at higher levels than companies without these internal firm capabilities. This study has implications for national climate policy and global climate change governance more generally, both of which increasingly focus on concrete climate solutions by corporations.     

Essential tools of supply chain management

At a recent conference, the keynote speaker provoked an incredulous response when he said, "Today, competition among individual firms is dead." He then went on to explain that today, competition is supply chain against supply chain. Whichever firm has the superior supply chain will win out in the marketplace. Given the global marketplace in which we all operate, most of us would agree that his statements are true. How does a firm establish a world-class supply base? What kinds of contracts and agreements are necessary to support the diverse requirements of today's firms? How should a firm select from among the available contract types? These are foundation questions for supply chain management.     

An examination of sustainable development of supply chain using foreignness perspective

This multidisciplinary paper examines the sustainability of supply chain partners from a foreignness perspective. The arguments draw from the research on institutional theory to explain the underlying mechanisms. We propose and discuss a comprehensive conceptual framework evaluating the relationships of foreignness to economic, social, and environmental sustainability. In addition, we consider contingent factors such as the level of development of supplier's nation, level of global integration of buyer, and type of industry, on sustainable development of focal firms. The direct and contingency frameworks introduced in this paper are presented along with research propositions that provide valuable insight into the sustainable supply chain management from the international business perspective.     

How supply chain architecture and product architecture impact firm performance: An empirical examination

In order to enhance performance, manufacturing firms are building various capabilities and utilizing supply chain networks that are geographically dispersed around the globe. This study examines how decisions related to supply chain architecture and product architecture influence organizational competitiveness. Building on the co-specialization perspective, we evaluate the performance implications of product modularity and supply chain agility. While, product modularity constitutes a product configuration related to sourcing and assembling of products, supply chain agility is a supply chain configuration related to velocity (sensing, comprehending, and responding) and visibility (supplier network, internal operations, and external environment). Both the product and supply chain architectural decisions can impact performance, individually and in conjunction with each other. We empirically test the hypothesized relationships using data collected from 103 manufacturing firms. Results show that supply chain agility and product modularity directly enhance responsiveness and enable organizations to reduce cost. Furthermore, supply chain agility partially mediates the relationship between product modularity and both responsiveness and cost reduction. We elaborate on the key contributions of this study for both research and practice, discuss limitations, and also offer various avenues for further research.     

中小电影企业的嵌链战略分析

中国电影市场已经呈现出由少数大型电影企业与国外企业生产的大片占据主要票房的格局，而数量众多的中小电影企业则在市场边缘苦苦挣扎，如何改善它们的经营绩效是关系中国电影产业发展的重要战略问题。供应链管理的发展为中小型电影企业的发展战略提供了新的思路。中小电影企业通过明确产品定位和市场定位，利用利基战略积极“嵌入”电影供应链，通过核心能力与顾客关系的动态匹配，不仅能够提高自身的发展能力，而且可以促进中国电影产业的整体发展。     

Assessing and ranking the innovation ability and business performance of global companies in the aerospace and defense industry

This study examined the innovation ability and business performance of global companies in the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry by using dynamic data envelopment analysis and ranking methods with the DuPont model. Results indicated that compared with business performance, A&D companies exhibit lower scores and higher standard deviations in the innovation ability, which signified that they should first work on reducing the gap in the level of innovation ability. DuPont analysis indicated that typical A&D companies exhibit the highest ROE. Finally, this study offers managers and policymakers detailed insights into potential areas of improvements in innovations, business performance, and profitability.     

The boundary spanning capabilities of purchasing agents in buyer-supplier trust development

This study examines how individual purchasing agents function as boundary spanners with suppliers to influence trust development in themselves and the buying firms that employ them. Building upon boundary theory and supply chain cooperation research, we identify three boundary spanning capabilities of purchasing agents and empirically test how these capabilities shape buyer-supplier trust development. Using two samples of data collected from suppliers in the automotive industry and food industry, we found that a purchasing agent's effectiveness in strategic communication with suppliers affects a supplier's trust in the buying firm, while an agent's professional knowledge and ability toreach compromises with suppliers affect a supplier's trust in the purchasing agent representing the firm. Trust in the purchasing agent in turn affects trust in the buying firm. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.