Global organizations and supply chain: New research avenues in the international human resource management

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to aim at proposing a research agenda in the intersection of strategic supply chain management and logistics (SCML) of global organizations from the perspective of international human resource management (IHRM).

Design/methodology/approach

To disclose the intellectual structure of research to date across both fields, the content of up to 280 articles dealing with IHRM and 174 papers addressing challenges in SCML in global organizations from a human resource management (HRM) viewpoint were analyzed. A stepwise hierarchical cluster and discriminant analysis were conducted to map a joint research agenda. Approaches from Upper Echelons theory and Co-Evolutionary theory of global organizations were adopted.

Findings

Top management teams (TMT) are crucial to manage SCML successfully in today’s global organizations. Research on this intersection should draw attention to find antecedents, consequences and the process showing how those talented people grouped in dispersed teams can be a source of competitive advantage. Six different areas of research are proposed. It is proposed that future research should focus on the human capital (HC); meaning those key individuals of an organization that make things happen. In the near future, the global organization’s competitiveness will be shaped by how the organization manages its HC in SCML. Methodologies such as meta-analysis are suggested to summarize the extant literature on IHRM when applied to SCML in global organizations.

Research limitations/implications

The search was conducted in SSCI-ISIWoK and Scopus databases. As a limitation, some articles and other scientific contributions not abstracted there were not included. Nevertheless, both searches enabled obtaining balanced results between scope and richness of content.

Originality/value

Only a marginal portion of literature reviews have been conducted by using mixed methods in the fields of IHRM and SCML. The results will be useful for scholars of both fields in their attempts to enlarge the knowledge boundaries in these areas. From a practitioner’s viewpoint, this research may provide an integrative framework for global organizations to build a competitive advantage based on managing HC and its SCML strategically.

Citation

González-Loureiro, M., Dabic, M. and Puig, F. (2014), "Global organizations and supply chain: New research avenues in the international human resource management", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 44 No. 8/9, pp. 689-712. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-08-2013-0222