Supplier Development Practices for Sustainability: A Multi‐Stakeholder Perspective

Supplier development for sustainability is a critical element of sustainable supply chain management and requires extensive multi‐stakeholder collaboration. This article establishes a conceptual four‐stage framework to analyse the collaborative mechanisms of supplier development practices, and presents an exploratory, qualitative analysis to identify the major contributors of sustainable supplier development practices, such as NGOs, industrial associations, consulting firms etc. Based on semi‐structured interviews about 63 organizations from different regions and industries, this article identifies three types of contributor: drivers, facilitators and inspectors. Instead of traditional stakeholder engagement processes, these contributors actively collaborate with buying firms and suppliers to design, implement and evaluate sustainable supplier development programs. The article then provides a matrix to describe the supply chain coverage and supplier performance of supplier development practices, given the absence or positive involvement of facilitators and inspectors. We conclude our study by suggesting future research directions as well as discussing managerial implications. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Green multi-tier supply chain management: An enabler investigation

Stakeholder pressure, from actors including regulators, consumers and non-governmental organizations, has made organizations more responsible for poor environmental performance of their direct and sub-suppliers. Thus, green multi-tier supplier management (GMSM) has become an emergent topic. Yet it is still unclear how to enable GMSM practices effectively, i.e. how to enable sub-suppliers' environmental performance improvement. To help address the gap in the literature, this paper aims to identify enablers for sub-suppliers' environmental performance improvement, and it further applies a Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)-based case study method to evaluate inter-relationships among these enablers and improve the focal company's GMSM practices, by using action research (AR) method principles. The data analysis and discussion with a follow-up evaluation after two years provided insights for the successful implementation of GMSM. The results show that top managers’ support from the organizations is a prominent and necessary foundational enabler. An interesting observation is that close proximity of supply chain members is regarded as a very prominent enabler. Evaluation and feedback on these enablers two years later found that the enabler mapping was beneficial, allowing them to address the most influential enablers, and thus the GMSM practices of the focal company has been highly improved. This paper concludes with directions for further research.     

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.     

分散决策下的双渠道供应链补偿策略——基于消费者渠道选择行为

为了有效解决由于对消费者的争夺从而引发的渠道之间关于定价、服务水平、利润等方面的冲突,基于消费者渠道选择行为,构建了网络直销市场与传统零售市场需求模型和双渠道供应链利润模型,运用Stackelberg模型,在制造商与零售商实施分决策时,通过制造商对零售商实施补偿激励前后的对比,分析了消费者渠道选择行为对网络直销渠道和传统零售渠道定价、制造商与零售商利润以及供应链总利润的影响,并求得最优定价及制造商的最优补偿额度和零售商的最优销售努力水平,进行了不同情况下的双渠道供应链利润的比较分析。结果表明,无论制造商是否实施补偿激励,都应随着网络消费者比例的增加而增加其网络直销价格;零售商的零售渠道价格应根据网络消费者比例的增加先降低到一定水平后再提升。当更多的消费者选择网络直销渠道时,制造商的补偿激励水平和零售商的销售努力程度均会下降。制造商应提高其补偿水平,进而激发零售商提高销售的努力水平,并使双方利润及供应链总利润最大化。研究结果为基于消费者选择行为的供应链补偿研究提供了新方法,对双渠道的供应链补偿研究有借鉴意义。     

Acquiescence and conflict in exchanges between inbound tour operators and their overseas outbound partners: A case study on Tanzania

Achieving partner acquiescence is critical in interfirm exchanges because it allows the focal firm to achieve its desired outcomes. Using a case study on dyadic relationships between inbound tour operators in Tanzania and their overseas outbound partners, this paper investigates the effect of partner irreplaceability and distributive fairness on acquiescence, and the subsequent effect that acquiescence has on conflict. The case study uses partial least squares structural equation modeling on data collected from 129 dyadic relationships. Results show that partner irreplaceability and distributive fairness are positively associated with acquiescence, which in turn reduces conflict. The effect of distributive fairness on acquiescence was found to be larger than that of irreplaceability. In addition, the direct effect of distributive fairness on conflict, although not hypothesised, was found to be significant. This emphasises the importance of distributive fairness, and its role as a possible buffer to conflict in less acquiescent exchanges.     

基于农产品“最后一公里”流通模式的思考

为加快农产品流通、减少流通环节,降低农产品终端零售价格,解决"卖难买贵"的难题,最近各地推出了"平价商店"和"平价市场"两种新的农产品流通模式。在客观分析"平价商店"对抑制农产品价格效果的基础上,指出其存在的不足,并提出建立公益性农产品直销"零收费平价市场"流通模式的设想以及配套措施的建议。     

Restaurant's decision to purchase local foods: Influence of value chain activities

In this paper we investigate how restaurant managements’ attitudes and behaviors influence decisions to purchase local foods as inputs to their products. An enhanced investigation of chefs’ and managers’ decision-making criteria could improve understanding of local food systems linkages with the restaurant industry. We apply a value chain framework to investigate activities that influence restaurants’ decision to purchase local foods. Results indicate that attitudes and behaviors associated with sourcing and product characteristics play an important role in local food purchase decisions in the restaurant value chain. Order processing time and uniqueness of products are the most significant reasons in restaurant managements’ decisions to purchase local foods. The implications of these findings for restaurants and producers are discussed. Our study contributes to the literature by expanding upon the criteria used by restaurants to make local food purchasing decisions.     

供应链视角下旅游者权力研究

文章借鉴渠道权力的定义,对供应链中旅游者权力进行了定义。在社会权力、渠道权力和消费者权力研究的基础之上,进一步将旅游者权力分解为奖惩权、合法权、被赋权、信息权和专家权,并根据权力行使机制和权力来源对其进行了分类。由于行权障碍等因素的存在,旅游者实际的影响力不仅受旅游者基础权力影响,还受到行权能力与行权意识的影响。由此得出旅游者实际权力公式,并分析了旅游者权力的影响因素。最后,提出应该突破以往供应商—中间商的二元分析结构,将旅游者纳入旅游供应链的研究中。     

产业分工、国际贸易摩擦及我国的对策——基于价值链视角的研究

国际分工格局的改变引致国际贸易格局随之改变,发达国家为持续占领和控制国际分工的主动权,必然采取保护相关措施抑制发展中国家急速扩展的国际贸易业务,进而减弱发展中国家在全球价值链分工体系中的位置,这就必然导致国际贸易摩擦事件频发。基于经济学视角,为了顺利推进我国开放型发展战略的实施,减缓我国国际贸易摩擦的困扰,未来应从内部层面继续加快中国开放型经济转型升级的步伐,创新对内对外的开放模式;从外部层面加速价值链升级工程建设,提升我国在全球价值链分工体系中的地位,逐渐摆脱贸易摩擦的被动地位。