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1 – 5 of 5Ismail Badraoui, Ivo A.M.C. van der Lans, Youssef Boulaksil and Jack G.A.J. van der Vorst
This study aims to compare the expectations of non-collaborating professionals and the actual opinions of collaborating professionals regarding success factors of horizontal…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to compare the expectations of non-collaborating professionals and the actual opinions of collaborating professionals regarding success factors of horizontal logistics collaboration (HLC) and investigates the reasons behind the observed differences.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a mixed-method approach. First, a survey is conducted to collect data from two samples representing collaborating and non-collaborating industry professionals. Second, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to compare the measurement models from the two samples and identify their similarities and differences. Third, a Delphi study is conducted to identify factors limiting collaborative behavior.
Findings
The results show that collaborating professionals exhibit lower levels of joint relationship efforts and trust than expected. This is primarily due to inadequate information sharing, poor collaboration formalization and the absence of a clear costs and benefits allocation mechanism.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that, in HLC, managers should give high importance to facilitating timely and complete information exchange, putting in place an acceptable costs/benefits allocation mechanism, formalizing the collaboration and prioritizing integrity over competency when selecting partners.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that shows the existence of differences between industry professionals' pre-collaboration expectations and the actual experiences in HLC. This is also the first study that points to the exact HLC enablers that fail in practice and the barriers responsible for it.
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Rebecca Maughan and Aideen O'Dochartaigh
This study examines how accounting tools and techniques are used to create and support membership and reporting boundaries for a multi-entity sustainability scheme. It also…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how accounting tools and techniques are used to create and support membership and reporting boundaries for a multi-entity sustainability scheme. It also considers whether boundary setting for this initiative helps to connect corporate activity with planetary boundaries and the SDGs.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study of a national agrifood sustainability scheme, analysing extensive documentary data and multi-entity sustainability reports. The concept of partial organising is used to frame the analysis.
Findings
Accounting, in the form of planning, verification, target setting, annual review and reporting, can be used to create a membership and a reporting boundary. Accounting tools and techniques support the scheme's standard-setting and monitoring elements. The study demonstrates that the scheme offers innovation in how sustainability reporting is managed. However, it does not currently provide a cumulative assessment of the effect of the sector's activity on ecological carrying capacity or connect this activity to global sustainability indicators.
Research limitations/implications
Future research can build on this study's insights to further develop our understanding of multi-entity sustainability reporting and accounting's role in organising for sustainability. The authors identify several research avenues including: boundary setting in ecologically significant sectors, integrating global sustainability indicators at sectoral and organisational levels, sustainability controls in multi-entity settings and the potential of multi-entity reporting to provide substantive disclosure.
Originality/value
This paper provides insight into accounting's role in boundary setting for a multi-entity sustainability initiative. It adds to our understanding of the potential of a multi-entity reporting boundary to support connected measurement between corporate activity and global sustainability indicators. It builds on work on partial organising and provides insight into how accounting can support this form of organising for sustainability.
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Kangkang Yu, Jack Cadeaux, Ben Nanfeng Luo and Cheng Qian
This study aims to extend ambidexterity theory from the perspective of organisational learning and examine how process ambidexterity, which comprises operational flexibility and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to extend ambidexterity theory from the perspective of organisational learning and examine how process ambidexterity, which comprises operational flexibility and operational routine, responds to environmental uncertainty and ultimately reduces organisational risks.
Design/methodology/approach
This study tests the hypotheses by analysing 464 annual reports of 115 listed companies in the Chinese agricultural and food industry using content and secondary data analyses. Four case studies are also provided.
Findings
The results show that (1) environmental uncertainty has a positive effect on either operational flexibility or operational routine; (2) both operational flexibility and operational routine have negative effects on organisational risks, supporting the view that process ambidexterity mediates the relationship between environmental uncertainty and organisational risks; and (3) organisational slack plays the role of “double-edged sword” by negatively moderating the effect of environmental uncertainty on operational flexibility and positively moderating the effect of environmental uncertainty on operational routine.
Originality/value
In an uncertain environment, companies are exposed to greater risk. This study contributes to risk management in three ways: first, it extends ambidexterity theory to process management and proposes how process ambidexterity balances operational flexibility and routines. Second, it distinguishes between the different conditions under which flexibility or routines are superior. Third, it explains the mechanisms related to how organisations can resolve environmental uncertainty into risk through process ambidexterity.
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Francis Lwesya and Jyoti Achanta
The purpose of the paper is to present research trends in the food supply chain in the context of changes in food systems due to globalization, urbanization, environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to present research trends in the food supply chain in the context of changes in food systems due to globalization, urbanization, environmental concerns, technological changes and changes in food consumption patterns in the world.
Design/methodology/approach
The present investigation was performed by bibliometric analysis using the VOSviewer software, visualization software developed by Nees and Waltman (2020). In this work we performed co-citation, bibliographic coupling and keyword evolution analyses.
Findings
The results show that research in the food supply chain is rapidly changing and growing. By applying co-citation analysis, The authors found that the intellectual structure of the food supply chain has evolved around six clusters, namely, (a) collaboration and integration in the supply chain (b) sustainable supply chain management, (c) food supply chain management (FSCM), (d) models for decision-making in the food supply chain, (e) risk management in the supply chain and (g) quality and food logistics in the supply chain. However, based on bibliographic coupling analysis, The authors find that new or emerging research niches are moving toward food supply market access, innovation and technology, food waste management and halal FSCM. Nevertheless, the authors found that the existing research in each of the thematic clusters is not exhaustive.
Research limitations/implications
The limitation of the research is that the analysis mainly relates only to the bibliometric approach and only one database, namely, Scopus. Broader inclusion of databases and deeper application of content analysis could expand the results of this research.
Originality/value
There are limited studies that have examined research trends in food supply chains in both developed and developing countries using bibliometric analysis. The present investigation is novel in identifying the thematic research clusters in the food supply chain, emerging issues and likely future research directions. This is important given the dynamics, consumer demand for quality food, technological changes and environmental sustainability issues in food systems.
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Joanne Louise Tingey-Holyoak, Sarah Ann Wheeler and Constantin Seidl
Australian agriculture is facing increasingly uncertain weather patterns which is impacting financial performance, exacerbated by worsening terms of trade and a decline in…
Abstract
Purpose
Australian agriculture is facing increasingly uncertain weather patterns which is impacting financial performance, exacerbated by worsening terms of trade and a decline in commodity prices. Increasing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the primary production sector is of key importance. Governments and farmer groups often depict technology adoption as the salvation of farming, frequently ignoring the importance of decision-making processes and soft information skills and needs. The purpose of this study is to explore farmer decision-making and resilience and, in doing so, address ongoing challenges with soft information, including the inaccessibility of accounting data and a lack of awareness of its formal role in strategic decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a strategic choice perspective, we explore the links between farmer characteristics, attitudes, technology orientation, decision-making and financial performance to investigate how accounting data and tools could better support growers’ adaptive capacity. Detailed on-farm interviews were conducted with 25 grape growers across the Riverland in South Australia, with information thematically and descriptively analysed.
Findings
Results show that farmers with low operating profit margins spend double the time making decisions and struggle with minimising variable costs, especially water costs. Lower profit growers were also less likely to perceive climate change as a threat and demonstrated lower resilience.
Originality/value
The results highlight the potential for accountants to make more use of data-driven technological advances and for this information to be used to enhance on-farm strategic decision-making and support innovative business models. Simply packaged biophysical and financial data could also support strategic decisions and adaptation of farmers struggling to make a profit.
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