Pseudo resilient supply chains: concept,traits, and practices

Supply chain vulnerability (SCV) and its counterpart supply risk management are increasingly researched in recent years. SCV is often quantifiable and can be effectively monitored if practices are implemented on a systematic basis. It is essentially more important to extend the research in supply chain risk management so as to address certain traits where the companies perform poor or areas where they overlook their performances. Here, we introduce the concept and property, the so-called pseudo resilience in supply chains where supply chains pretend to perform better in its risk management capabilities, but are essentially vulnerable. Pseudo resilience is an incessant nature of many supply chains to overlook concomitant risks. Typical traits of pseudo resilience were identified in this research and a brief analysis of the disruptions and its effects was done. This research is a maiden effort in the direction of addressing the property of pseudo resilience in supply chains. It is imperative for managers to identify the traits of pseudo resilience in their supply chains so as to avoid the ill effects resulting from it. Further quantitative and qualitative researches are recommended for evincing the property of pseudo resilience in supply chains.     

THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN: SURVEY AND EXTENSIONS

This paper investigates the capabilities of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Digg and others, for their current and potential impact on the supply chain. In particular, this paper examines the use of social media to capture the impact on supply‐chain events and develop a context for those events. This paper also analyses the use of social media in the supply chain to build relationships among supply‐chain participants. Further, this paper investigates the of use of user‐supplied tags as a basis of evaluating and extending an ontology for supply chains. In addition, using knowledge discovery from social media, a number of concepts related to the supply chain are examined, including supply‐chain reputation and influence within the supply chain. Prediction markets are analysed for their potential use in supply chains. Finally, this paper investigates the integration of traditional knowledge management along with knowledge generated from social media. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Even beyond humanity – a comment on ‘Change and commitment: beyond risk and responsibility’ by Silvio Funtowicz and Roger Strand

Due to past major food scares, food-safety perceptions have become a widely investigated topic. The aim of the present study was to examine food-safety perceptions separately for every step of the total meat supply chain, as such a detailed approach yields more promising strategies to ensure food safety in the future. Using a large-scale survey, we examined people’s risk perceptions of 18 steps describing the total meat supply chain. The results revealed a clear distinction between risk perception at the production stage and risk perception at home in the total meat supply chain, in that people perceived significantly less risk at home. However, people’s risk perceptions of the single stages in the total meat supply chain were overall slightly above average. Additionally, there were individual differences, as risk perception at the production stage was highly correlated with risk perception at home, meaning that some people perceived more risk than others overall. Using a multiple regression analysis, we found food-safety perceptions to be barely significant next to other important variables affecting people’s meat-consumption decisions. For those analyses, we asked participants to assess several constructs previously found to be associated with meat consumption. The goal was to determine how food-safety perceptions influence people’s meat consumption next to other important constructs in situations in which no major food scandal is present. The present paper concludes by discussing possible marketing and policy strategies to overcome people’s inaccurate safety perceptions of the stages of the total food chain.     

Toward an ontology‐driven blockchain design for supply‐chain provenance

An interesting research problem in our age of Big Data is that of determining provenance. Granular evaluation of provenance of physical goods (e.g., tracking ingredients of a pharmaceutical or demonstrating authenticity of luxury goods) has often not been possible with today's items that are produced and transported in complex, interorganizational, often internationally spanning supply chains. Recent adoptions of the Internet of Things and blockchain technologies give promise at better supply‐chain provenance. We are particularly interested in the blockchain, as many favored use cases of blockchain are for provenance tracking. We are also interested in applying ontologies, as there has been some work done on knowledge provenance, traceability, and food provenance using ontologies. In this paper, we make a case for why ontologies can contribute to blockchain design. To support this case, we analyze a traceability ontology and translate some of its representations to smart contracts that execute a provenance trace and enforce traceability constraints on the Ethereum blockchain platform.     

The impact of the UK's Modern Slavery Act (2015) on the disclosure of FTSE 100 companies

This paper explores the impact of the UK's Modern Slavery Act (2015) on the disclosure of the FTSE100 companies. It conducts a content analysis of modern slavery disclosures in the modern slavery statements, annual reports, and sustainability reports from 2013 to 2019. By utilising the framework by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, Practical Guidance by the Home Office and the Global Reporting Initiative, we assess the extent and quality of modern slavery disclosures. Our analysis reveals a high level of compliance to the Act's minimum disclosure requirements. We also note an increase in the extent and quality of disclosures following the introduction of the Act, although quality remains low throughout the period as symbolic disclosure is predominantly in evidence. Drawing on normativity theory we identify intrinsic and contextual conditions for norm development. We find that while the presence of intrinsic conditions has positively contributed to the extent and quality of some disclosure themes, the lack of controllability and communication with suppliers has undermined related disclosure provision and constitutes a major hurdle for improving accountability in supply chains.     

零售商主导型供应链中不同博弈结构的分析

在零售商主导的二级供应链中,供应商之间不同的博弈结构对产品价格、供应链各成员以及整体利润有影响。当供应商实力均衡并同时决策时,产品的批发价、零售价都要低于供应商之间为主从关系时进行决策行动的情况。此时,供应商的利润受损,而零售商和整体供应链的利润增加,另外,当产品之间的替代率增加时,产品批发价、零售价和供应商的利润都减少,而零售商的利润增加,供应链的利润变化不大,说明产品替代率的增加只是改变了供应链成员的利润分配。     

Commissioning and GPs: to commit[tee] or not?

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), part of the UK's National Health Service (NHS) since April 2013, are complex organizations requiring buy-in by GPs for strategic success. CCG budgetary deficits and lack of sustained engagement by GPs are a problem. This paper utilizes evidence of GP experience in commissioning models to determine the factors that may influence engagement in the governance of CCGs by GPs, which is crucial if clinically-led commissioning is to be part of a financially sustainable NHS.     

Corporate failure in the UK: An examination of corporate governance reforms

In the context of major corporate collapses, executive compensation, board network, gender diversity and oversight committees have all received attention in a package of corporate governance (CG) reforms that were recently issued in the UK. This paper examines whether these reforms of CG can influence the likelihood of corporate failure (CF). It also investigates how efficient they are when CF approaches. After controlling for variables that prior research shows to be related to CF, we find that CF is less likely when a firm is characterized by a lower executive compensation, larger size of the board's social network, and smaller degree of the board's managerial network. However, board gender diversity and independence of oversight committees do not reduce the likelihood of CF. We further observe that the explanatory power of these CG variables is significant but relatively decreased as the time to CF closes. This implies that despite the capability of these variables to render early warning alerts of CF, they are less helpful (efficient) as failure becomes closer. Our results remain robust after a battery of sensitivity tests and addressing potential endogeneity problems. Collectively, the evidence provided by our paper should be of interest to the UK's regulatory bodies (Financial Reporting Council) and legislators (the UK's Parliament), since it shows the practical implications of the UK's CG Code and other governance regulations on reducing future corporate collapses. This paper provides timely evidence-based insights to major recent structural reforms aiming at proposing remedies to CG problems in the UK.     

Supply chain risk: empirical research in the automotive industry

Supply chain risk management (SCRM) has become a popular topic over the past decade. It is not a surprise that the automotive industry has been a motivating arena for research within this field; however, the few existing empirical studies reveal that SCRM practices within this industry are still in their infancy. Because the identification of risks can be viewed as the trigger for SCRM, attempts to develop a risk profile for this industry that could serve as a guide to start the SCRM process are needed. This research identifies the main risks along the automotive supply chain by investigating their manifestation in three supply chains in Brazil and offers an initial risk profile for the Brazilian automotive industry. Although the importance of SCRM has been recognised by all analysed companies, the research findings underline the lack of preparedness regarding either identifying risk or considering risk-mitigation strategies and risk assessment. In this context, this study identifies the main risk in which a supply chain can be exposed, through the analysis of real-life manifested risks along different supply chains, as a way to help the supply chain start a SCRM process.     

La participación laboral femenina y el uso del tiempo en el cuidado del hogar en México

This paper presents empirical evidence showing that women's time assigned to non-paid household work constrains their workforce supply in the formal labor market in México, where household duties and child and elderly care activities are mostly undertaken by women. Heckman's selection model is used in the paper to fix the potential selection bias in the sample as the latter does not directly measure female conditions in the labor market. Our results are based on data from the 2009 Time Use National Poll for the 32 states of the Mexican Republic.     

Do LBO Supermarkets Charge More? An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of LBOs on Supermarket Pricing

This article examines changes in supermarket prices in local markets following supermarket leveraged buyouts (LBOs). I find that prices rise following LBOs in local markets in which the LBO firm's rivals are also highly leveraged and that LBO firms have higher prices than their less leveraged rivals, suggesting that LBOs create incentives to raise prices. However, I also find that prices fall following LBOs in local markets in which rival firms have low leverage and are concentrated. These price drops are associated with LBO firms exiting the local market, suggesting that rivals attempt to “prey” on LBO chains.     

小微企业的物联网供应链融资模式创新研究

供应链融资以核心企业为中心为上下游企业提供融资,可以缓解链上的小微企业资金紧缺,并成为小微企业的主要融资方式之一,但同时也受到信息孤岛、不便监管等因素的制约。物联网技术将物与物以及人与物进行信息转换连接,具有"可视化"监管、多向交互式联系等特点,可以实现对现实世界的货物信息等的实时跟踪。从互联网供应链融资模式发展现状出发,通过分析认为风险连锁扩大、信息判断失误、监管难度加大等问题是互联网背景下供应链融资模式发展中存在的主要问题。尝试设计物联网供应链融资模式框架,从数据处理平台、模式运行路径等机制进行论述。结合典型应用案例分析物联网供应链融资在小微企业的应用,探索小微企业融资的创新模式,剖析实际运行中可能出现的问题,并提出了强化物联网运行安全、加强质押物监管等建议。     

Governmentality in accounting and accountability: A case study of embedding sustainability in a supply chain

This paper examines how the introduction of sustainability accounting has been used by an organization as a means to seek to govern social, economic and environmental issues relating to suppliers. The concept of governmentality and four analytics of government are proposed as a means to examine systematic ways of exercising power and authority. This theoretical framework illuminates the specific rationales and practices of government that enable particular aspirations of reform – such as sustainability – to be constituted. The analysis is informed by the discussion of the implementation of sustainability-orientated regimes of practice in the context of a single supply chain within a major supermarket chain in the UK against the theoretical analytics of government. The paper provides novel empirical insights into how sustainability accounting shaped forms of power, rationales and practices in a supply chain. It explores the extent to which senior decision-takers frame and use sustainability accounting to foster disciplinary effects based ostensibly upon social and environmental goals. These are found in practice to be reformulated primarily according to an economic (rather than social or environmental) regime of practice.     

农业供应链金融视角的农户信用增进研究

基于核心企业的横向选择、横向监督和商业激励行为,采用“主体+债项”的评价方法,综合主成分分析法和Logistic回归方法,考量农业供应链金融的农户信用增进机制。结果表明：农业供应链金融能显著提高农户的守约概率,实现农户的信用增进。鉴此,应转变农户信用风险评价方式,构建内外部增信机制,发展农业供应链金融,缓解农户信贷约束。     

Owning the consumer—Getting to the core of the Apple business model

This paper uses a business model framework to analyze the main limitations of Apple Inc. post-2003, a significant turning point in the company's history. As such, we move beyond an exclusive focus on what makes Apple unique or different by evaluating the mundane and out-dated elements of its business model. To do so, we examine the end-to-end supply chain, from source to store, to present a more holistic evaluation of the Apple business model. Drawing on the existing literature, we argue that the quintessential element of the Apple business model is its ability to ‘own the consumer’. In short, the Apple business model is designed to drive consumers into its ecosystem and then hold them there, which has been hugely successful to date and has allowed Apple to wield enormous power in the end-to-end supply chain. We demonstrate this through a detailed evaluation of Apple's physical and content supply chains and its retailing strategy. Moreover, we find that the very business processes that enable unparalleled corporate control bring with them new problems that Apple has thus far been unable, or unwilling, to adequately address.     

Does common auditor have an impact on corporate tax avoidance? An investigation from the supply chain perspective

We find that, at both the audit firm and partner level, having a common auditor in the supply chain has a significant positive association with the supplier company's degree of tax avoidance. Companies report a higher level of tax avoidance when they are audited by an industry-expert or a tax expert common auditor, when the common audit partner is economically dependent on the supplier company, when the audit client is in a highly competitive industry, and when the company is subject to a high level of information asymmetry. Moreover, we find potential audit quality issues embedded in common audits in the supply chain.     

中小企业融资问题：基于供应链金融的启示

中小企业融资难是困扰我国经济发展的一大顽症,我国正处于经济结构调整和转型的发展过程中,破解中小企业融资困境是当务之急。文章分析了中小企业融资现状以及融资困难原因,讨论供应链金融在解决中小企业融资问题中所具有的优势以及存在风险,为发展供应链金融解决中小企业融资困境提供了新的思路。     

Whose rights? Professional discipline and the incorporation of a (human) rights framework: The case of ICAS

Professions typically develop disciplinary systems that allow them to caution, fine or expel members whose conduct falls below expected standards. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) has amended its disciplinary procedures following challenge under the UK's Human Rights Act 1998. This paper aims to explore the implications of the incorporation of a (human) rights’ framework on ICAS's professional discipline. Disciplinary procedures are located in the context of the nature of professions and professionalism. Human rights legislation relevant to professional discipline is examined and its impact in the context of the nature of rights in general, and human rights in particular, is explored. The ICAS disciplinary changes are discussed in the context of a Hohfeldian-type framework of a range of types of rights. ICAS's procedures are shown to be multifaceted and, when examined in terms of rights (and, where relevant, duties) provide added insight into the nature of accountancy's professional discipline, but deficiencies remain, with the public interest continuing to be subservient to the private interest of accountants and their professional body.     

The Role of Auditing in Buyer-Supplier Relations

Supply chain management has emerged as one of the more important topics in managerial accounting. The importance of information exchange between parties involved in supply chains has also been well documented. By addressing the value of audits in this setting, this theoretical paper serves to link two strains of accounting research: the managerial topic of supply chain effectiveness and the value of the audit function, in particular audits of the suppliers conducted by the buyers. We analyze the role of supplier audits with long-term, profit sharing contracts between the buyers and suppliers. Through a stylized model, we demonstrate that when random supplier audits are conducted, the buyer can effectively leave zero informational rents to the supplier, regardless of the supplier's cost type.     

Allocating Grant to the UK's Devolved Territories by Needs Assessment: Lessons from School Funding Formulae in England and Scotland

The UK's devolved governments (DGs) receive block grants to finance almost all their expenditure. The Barnett formula used to calculate these grants is often criticised because it does not consider the DGs’ spending needs. However, the feasibility of allocating block grants by needs assessment is often questioned, given the contestability of spending needs. This paper compares the formula used within England to assess the education spending needs of local authorities there with the equivalent Scottish formula, by using each formula in turn to calculate the relative spending needs of the UK territories. The rationale is to consider how similar the two formulae are in how they estimate the territories’ relative spending needs for education, a major responsibility of the DGs. The results show that the English and Scottish education allocation formulae produce similar estimates of the territories’ relative education spending needs. This suggests that it may be more feasible to allocate education resources to the UK's devolved territories based on needs assessment than some have suggested. The results also suggest some inequity in current patterns of education spending across the UK.