An empirical analysis of supply chain risk management in the German automotive industry

The purpose of this paper is the empirical analysis of supply chain risk management practices. The analysis is based on a survey with 67 manufacturing plants conducted in the German automotive industry. After investigating the vulnerability of supply chains in general and examining key drivers of supply chain risks, the paper identifies supply chain risks by analyzing their likelihood to occur and their potential impact on the supply chain. The results are visualized in the probability-impact-matrix distinguishing between internal and external supply chain risks. Furthermore, instruments for dealing with supply chain risks are investigated. Therefore, the impact of supply chain risk management on performance is tested. In order to distinguish between companies with a high degree of supply chain risk management and those with no or only limited implementation the plants are grouped by means of a cluster analysis based on factors reflecting the instruments of supply chain risk management. In particular, groups are created representing two different approaches to deal with supply chain risks, i.e. reactive and preventive supply chain risk management. The clusters are investigated concerning differences in terms of performance criteria. The analyses reveal that companies with a high implementation degree show a better supply chain performance. Furthermore, the results show that the group using reactive supply chain risk management has higher average value in terms of disruptions resilience or the reduction of the bullwhip effect, whereas the group pursuing preventive supply chain risk management has better values concerning flexibility or safety stocks.     

Cross-border e-commerce firms as supply chain integrators: The management of three flows

Cross-border e-commerce is becoming increasingly popular around the world. With the development of technology, competition has gradually shifted from commodity-based attributes, such as cost and quality, to a supply chain's service capacity for e-commerce. Within this context, the present paper delineates how cross-border e-commerce firms can generate supply chain service capabilities that yield improvements in supply chain relationship quality to e-tailors and other platform users. Insights are derived through data collected via a multiple case study approach based on four Chinese cross-border e-commerce enterprises (OSell, Zongteng, BizArk and Linca); data were collected from 41 semi-structured interviews, field visits and secondary data. Relying on the service-dominant logic as the theoretical foundation, we identify three supply chain resources (flows related to information, logistics and finance) and their interplay as being critical for the development of supply chain service capabilities, which in turn lead to an improvement in the quality of supply chain relationships (assessed by the dimensions of trust improvement/commitment, risk mitigation, and customer satisfaction). The results offer important insights into how to best manage supply chain resources in relation to the three flows by cross-border e-commerce firms in order to foster relationship quality, an attribute that has become so critical today for competitive differentiation.     

Knowledge and information flows in supply chains: A study on pharmaceutical companies

A great deal of attention in the supply chain management literature is devoted to study material and demand information flows and their coordination. But in many situations, supply chains may convey information from different nature, they may be an important channel companies have to deliver knowledge, or specifically, technical information to the market. This paper studies the technical flow and highlights its particular requirements. Drawing upon a qualitative field research, it studies pharmaceutical companies, since those companies face a very specific challenge: consumers do not have discretion over their choices, ethical drugs must be prescribed by physicians to be bought and used by final consumers. Technical information flow is rich, and must be redundant and early delivered at multiple points. Thus, apart from the regular material channel where products and order information flow, those companies build a specialized information channel, developed to communicate to those who need it to create demand. Conclusions can be extended to supply chains where products and services are complex and decision makers must be clearly informed about technology-related information.     

Critical review of supply chain innovation research (1999–2016)

This paper aims to systematically review the supply chain innovation literature over the last 18 years. It examines the development and current state of supply chain innovation research in management and identifies research gaps. A literature review is conducted to identify and analyze publications in peer-reviewed academic journals that include contributions from different strands of management research. This paper analyzes the theoretical contributions of the supply chain innovation literature using Gregor's (2006) framework of theory classification. It also evaluates the levels of analysis of the literature using the structural view model proposed by Skinner, Han, and Chang (2006). This research identified and analyzed various topics related to the supply chain innovation construct and showed that supply chain innovations can be studied at multiple analytical levels. It also revealed that the field has largely relied on manufacturing firm-based samples and U.S. samples, limiting the generalizability of the findings. The identification and analysis of relevant articles highlighted the need to conceptualize the supply chain innovation construct and develop measurement scales to operationalize it. This literature review is the first to focus on supply chain innovations, summarizing the development of the last 18 years and providing fruitful opportunities for future research. The results presented can be applied to the decision-making process of managers regarding supply chain innovations.     

A hub-and-spoke model for multi-dimensional integration of green marketing and sustainable supply chain management

Since the concept of sustainability was transformed into business mainstream, both sustainable supply chain management and green marketing have become key topics of academic research and managerial practices. Great advances have been made in the two areas in parallel. It has been recognized that green marketing and sustainable supply chain management should be seamlessly integrated so that green customer's needs can be better met by the supply chain capabilities. Existing research has explored point-to-point integration approach. This paper proposes a new hub-and-spoke integration model to integrate green marketing and sustainable supply chain management from six dimensions: product, promotion, planning, process, people and project (called the 6Ps). Empirical study has been undertaken with industries to test the 6Ps integration model. Results from the empirical study on integration dimensions, integration strategies, and drivers and obstacles for multi-dimensional integration are presented together with managerial implications. The new integration model allows the flows of resources such as information, materials and funds between green marketing and sustainable supply chain management through multiple direct pathways. It has the potential to achieve better overall business performance against the triple bottom line objectives.     

Measurement,mitigation and prevention of food waste in supply chains: An online shopping perspective

This study introduces a framework and model, although applied in a practical setting, sets the stage for further theoretical development of mid-range theory. The methodology applied in the study has four main stages, namely interviews with managers from an online food retail supply chain, analysis of soft and hard data using questionnaire-based surveys of customers and suppliers, archival and factual information gathered from the supplier and the online food retailer to measure food waste across the supply chain and analytical models to quantify various effects. A number of propositions emerged from our multiple methodologies and observations. The major research contribution of this work is to advance Natural Resource Based View (NRBV) to the supply chain and various complexities involved in food waste management. Dynamic capabilities were clearly evident and necessary in rapidly changing industrial contexts such as online food supply chains. This paper also proposes a food waste minimization-and-mitigation model, establishes the direct and indirect outputs of food waste and brings attention of the food waste debate in the context of an exemplar online food supply chain, as well as provides a middle range theoretic framework to enhance understanding on theory and its application to this field informed mainly NRBV.     

Supply chain management in industrial marketing–Relationships matter

The focal research topics in industrial marketing management have evolved significantly since IMM was first published in 1971. Part of this evolution has been the inclusion of research in supply chain management, which is the focus of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to assess themes across the classic articles in supply chain management (SCM) published in IMM, and explore how the field of SCM has evolved since their publication. A systematic literature review was used to assess SCM research in IMM, identify themes and publication patterns, and use these themes to assess gaps in extant research and opportunities for future research. Results of the literature review show that over 58% of the SCM research published in IMM has focused on buyer-supplier relationships and other purchasing and supply management topics. These will continue to be key topics in IMM. In addition, our literature review suggests opportunities for more SCM research in IMM around sustainability, logistics, and manufacturing innovation. These areas within the SCM umbrella are under-researched, yet yield significant opportunities for future research in a time of constant change within companies' distribution models.     

Moderating the impact of global sourcing on inventories through supply chain management

In recent years, companies have paid growing attention to supply chain management at a global level. With regard to the upstream part of the supply chain, the need for better suppliers, the research into specific competences and concerns related to international competition have forced companies to improve their ability to cope with suppliers located in different countries around the world. The literature suggests that the geographical distance of suppliers should create higher inventory levels primarily because of longer and more uncertain lead times. However, as this paper aims to demonstrate, companies can limit this effect by means of specific investments in the supply chain and in their relationships with suppliers. The empirical analysis is based on data from the last edition of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS). The results show that companies performing global sourcing have invested in supply chain management (SCM) and that this has been helpful in keeping their inventories under control.     

Supply chain management: A multidisciplinary content analysis of vertical relations between companies, 1997-2006

The aim of this work is to contribute to a better understanding of the research conducted on supply chain management (SCM) at a multidisciplinary level. To this end, a content analysis was performed of the most significant scientific literature about marketing, logistics, management and marketing channels published over the period 1997-2006. As a result, a database of 414 papers from 14 journals was created. Analysis of these works reveals the level of development of the main lines of research into SCM and makes it possible to detect the topics that require greater attention and which may be the object of future studies conducted by researchers and academics. It also allows managerial staff to identify the methodologies and tools that can be used to improve the management of relationships within the supply chain. One of the main conclusions reached in the study is the shortage of studies conducted on the supply chain as a network of enterprises, since most research focuses on a single enterprise or, at the most, on its relationships with its suppliers or direct customers.     

基于BIM的建筑供应链信息流模型的应用研究

在我国项目管理领域推行建筑供应链管理是一种必然趋势.建筑信息模型(BIM)是数字技术在建筑业中直接表达,信息是项目管理中的重要资源,信息流对建筑供应链管理有着特别重要的意义.文章从BIM和建筑供应链的研究现状出发,提出了将BIM应用于建筑供应链信息流管理的设想,并设计了基于BIM的建筑供应链的信息流模型基本架构,进而研究了如何解决建筑供应链参与方的不同数据接口间的信息交换问题,以及基于BIM的建筑供应链信息流模型在信息共享方面所具有的优势.     

从产品供应链管理走向信息化篚价值网络管理：双案例研究

近年来产品供应链管理得到了广泛的关注,而产品供应链强调的是产品从供应商到分销商乃至最终客户的流程活动,基于此很多供应链信息技术的运用都是支持这一活动过程的,然而,随着经济全球化以及市场变化的加剧,使得企业越来越从产品供应链转向信息化为基础的价值网络。通过安吉物流以及苏宁电器的供应链信息化运作为研究对象,揭示了新时代价值网络管理的特征以及组织方式。指出价值网络管理的运行不仅是供需之间的产品经营和信息的协同,更是计划、知识、流程和投资行为的协同化,此外在组织方式上,则是以服务为中心、供需互动为手段、链式、辐射式、星座式创新为基础的综合管理体系。     

Electronic marketplaces and supply chain relationships

Electronic marketplaces and supply chain management (SCM) are two notions, which have attracted much attention among both academicians and practitioners during the last 5 years. However, the discussion of the relationship between the two notions has been limited and fragmented. In this paper, we will present a critical summary of the discussion of Internet-driven electronic marketplaces (IEMPs) based on an extensive literature review. Then, we will discuss the interrelation between IEMP and SCM from a procurement portfolio perspective. Our proposition is that different types of buyer-supplier relationships require different types of IEMPs. We propose a relationship/IEMP-grid that should help to identify the right selection strategy for IEMP in various procurement situations. Finally, we present proposals for future research within this area.     

Strategic marketing in global supply chains: Four challenges

Supply chain management has emerged as a critical arena in which firms can find significant cost reduction opportunities, giving them a cost advantage over competitors. When supply chain management orientations are adopted by several firms in a supply chain, together they can significantly reduce supply chain costs pitting supply chain against supply chain. However, the pursuit of cost savings opportunities is not the only objective of supply chain management. Superior supply chain management can facilitate marketing strategy and lead to the creation of superior customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty, which in turn lead to improved product profit margins, overall firm profitability, and overall corporate growth. However, marketing strategy is problematic in global supply chains. Specifically, four significant strategic marketing challenges exist that relate to the development and execution of marketing strategy in global supply chains. This article draws attention to these challenges to stimulate managerial and research efforts that will move marketing strategy through the 21st century.     

Reviewing the intellectual structure of product modularization: Toward a common view and future research agenda

Product modularization in new product development has attracted considerable interest among scholars and practitioners from diverse fields of specialization. This has resulted in cross-disciplinary diversity in the field, diverting attention from its overall intellectual structure and hindering the development of a common view and shared concepts. Extant research lacks an integrative review, transcending a focal discipline that could identify gaps and ambiguities while making recommendations to advance the field. Considering a period of 30 years (1990–2020), we generate a data set of 2988 citing publications to which we apply a co-citation analysis. Thereby, we uncover the intellectual structure of the field and find three research perspectives that represent key knowledge bases: (1) product system, (2) production system, and (3) organizational system. Delimiting the data set into four periods, we can track developments over time, where we notice an increasing disintegration of the product system perspective, which is rooted in the discipline of engineering design. Within the two other perspectives, we document extensive dynamism in terms of publications, especially in the two most recent periods, indicating an active discussion and a potential receptivity to new trends. For these periods, we also identify an emerging cluster of fundamental publications and an increasing emphasis on the concept of system architecture. Leveraging the synthesis of these results, we forge links between neighboring disciplines and recommend avenues for further research, ideally to develop a more common view.     

The governance of inter-organisational relationships during different supply chain maturity phases

Supply chains and inter-organisational relationships have increased in popularity in recent years and supply chain management has received a vast amount of academic attention. The objective of this paper is to explore the implementation of supply chain management and, in particular, the changing phases of a supply chain as it moves towards maturity. We employ the minimal structure framework of van der Meer-Kooistra and Scapens [“The governance of lateral relations between and within organisations”, Management Accounting Research, 2008] to analyse the governance of a supply chain as it moves through the various phases. Drawing on the findings from a case study in an aero-manufacturing company, we explore how the minimal structures emerge and evolve as the supply chain matures.     

Value innovation,deliberate learning mechanisms and information from supply chain partners

Although marketing scholars have emphasized both the importance of internal learning mechanisms and of external learning through supply chain partners research findings on how these factors influence each other are merely lacking. Analyzing survey data of 182 industrial firms, we examine how information provision by upstream and downstream supply chain parties moderates the effect of internal deliberate learning mechanisms on value innovation ability. Results of the PLS analysis suggest that internal learning mechanisms and external information exchange do not always work symbiotically. Our findings provide interesting results for (the management of) innovation processes and supply chain relations.     

The impact of trust on innovativeness and supply chain performance

Trust is identified as a significant predictor of positive performance in business relationships. On the premise that the effects of trust have not been given the deserved scholarly attention in the supply chain context, this paper investigates the effects of trust on innovativeness and supply chain performance. The hypothesised model is operationalised with survey data and analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings add credence to the positive effects of trust and identify trust and innovativeness as antecedents to higher performance in the supply chain.     

The tale of two research communities: The diffusion of research on productive efficiency

The field of theoretical and applied efficiency analysis is pursued both by economists and people from operational research and management science. Each group tends to cite a different paper as the seminal one. Recent availability of extensive electronically accessible databases of journal articles makes studies of the diffusion of papers through citations possible. Research strands inspired by the seminal paper within economics are identified and followed by citation analysis during the 20-year period before the operations research paper was published. The first decade of the operations research paper is studied in a similar way and emerging differences in diffusion patterns are pointed out. Main factors influencing citations apart from the quality of the research contribution are reputation of journal, reputation of author, number of close followers; colleagues, “cadres of protégés”, Ph.D. students, and extent of network (“invisible college”). Such factors are revealed by the citing papers. In spite of increasing cross contacts between economics and operations research the last decades co-citation analysis reveals a relative constant tendency to stick to “own camp” references.     

城市智慧供应链发展指数构建及其应用

在新一轮科技革命和产业变革浪潮的带动下,智慧供应链正在快速发展,与之相关的城市智慧供应链发展也成为当前供应链研究领域中的重要问题。然而,传统的供应链发展评价指标体系难以直接应用到智慧供应链评价中。为此,本文从企业视角和区域视角出发,从城市智慧供应链基础设施情况、人力资源投入情况、资金投入情况、企业创新情况、供应链效率和效益6个维度构建了中国城市智慧供应链的发展评价体系,设计了基于改进的TOPSIS方法的评价方法,并进行了中国城市智慧供应链发展指数评价,为城市管理部门量化智慧供应链发展水平提供了方法依据。     

Supply chain risk management in financial crises—A multiple case-study approach

Supply Chain Risk Management has become a key concern for organizations, which is even further emphasized by the current economic and financial crisis. Against this background, this paper investigates successful approaches and experiences by companies in dealing with this new reality, especially as it concerns the supply side. Using in-depth case studies conducted among eight European enterprises, we develop a set of propositions about how companies manage supply risks in financial crises, highlight how their risk management approaches have shifted, and illustrate how they are related to Enterprise Risk Management. Our framework is further differentiated based on whether firms are predominantly engaged in manufacturing or services—a factor influencing how supply chain risk is managed. Transaction cost economics serves as our main theoretical anchor. By rigorously grounding our research in both theory and empirical evidence, we provide valuable insight for both academia and practice.