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This paper aims to explore the impact of fourth-party logistics (4PL) adoption on the agility, adaptability and alignment (AAA) capabilities within humanitarian supply chains (HSCs).

Semi-structured interviews with individuals from a large non-government organisation were combined with secondary data to assess the influence of 4PL adoption on AAA capabilities in HSCs.

The results indicate that HSCs exhibit some of the AAA antecedents but not all are fully realised. While 4PL positively affects the AAA capabilities of HSCs, its adoption faces challenges such as the funding environment, data security/confidentiality and alignment with humanitarian principles. The study suggests an AAA antecedent realignment, positioning alignment as a precursor to agility and adaptability. It also identifies three core antecedents in HSCs: flexibility, speed and environmental uncertainty.

The study shows the positive impact 4PL adoption can have on the AAA capabilities of HSCs. The findings have practical relevance for those wishing to optimise HSC performance through 4PL adoption, by identifying the inhibiting factors to its adoption as well as strategies to address them.

This research empirically explores 4PL’s impact on AAA capabilities in HSCs, highlighting the facilitating and hindering factors of 4PL adoption in this environment as well as endorsing a realignment of AAA antecedents. It also contributes to the growing research on SC operations in volatile settings.

To determine how to best deploy the Triple-A supply chain (SC) capabilities (AAA-agility, adaptability and alignment) to improve competitive advantage (CA) by identifying the Triple-A SC model with the highest CA predictive capability.

Assessment of in-sample and out-of-sample predictive capacity of Triple-A-CA models (considering AAA as individual constructs) to find which has the highest CA predictive capacity. BIC, BIC-Akaike weights and PLSpredict are used in a multi-country, multi-informant, multi-sector 304 plant sample.

Greater direct relationship model (DRM) in-sample and out-of-sample CA predictive capacity suggests DRM's greater likelihood of achieving a higher CA predictive capacity than mediated relationship model (MRM). So, DRM can be considered a benchmark for research/practice and the Triple-A SC capabilities as independent levers of performance/CA.

DRM emerges as a reference for analysing how to trigger the three Triple-A SC levers for better performance/CA predictive capacity. Therefore, MRM proposals should be compared to DRM to determine whether their performance is significantly better considering the study's aim.

Results with our sample justify how managers can suitably deploy the Triple-A SC capabilities to improve CA by implementing AAA as independent levers. Single capability deployment does not require levels to be reached in others.

First research considering Triple-A SC capability deployment to better improve performance/CA focusing on model's predictive capability (essential for decision-making), further highlighting the lack of theory and contrasted models for Lee's Triple-A framework.

This case demonstrates the difficulties encountered by small family businesses when the founder passes away without having properly prepared for succession. AAA Construction was a company held together for over thirty-six years by a family patriarch, Jack Hudson. His choice of his grandson to succeed him was obvious. However, there were serious questions about whether David Robbins up to the task.

This paper aims to examine the feasibility of artificial intelligence (AI) performing as chief executive officer (CEO) in organizations.

The authors followed an explorative research design – classic grounded theory methodology. The authors conducted face-to-face interviews with 27 participants that were selected according to theoretical sampling. The sample consisted of academics from the fields of AI, philosophy and management; experts and artists performing in the field of AI and professionals from the business world.

As a result of the grounded theory process “The Vizier-Shah Theory” emerged. The theory consisted of five theoretical categories: narrow AI, hard problems, debates, solutions and AI-CEO. The category “AI as a CEO” introduces four futuristic AI-CEO models.

This study introduces an original theory that explains the evolution process of narrow AI to AI-CEO. The theory handles the issue from an interdisciplinary perspective by following an exploratory research design – classic grounded theory and provides insights for future research.

This study looks beyond firm boundaries to depict supply chain (SC) adaptability and classifies it into internal, customer and supplier dimensions to investigate their performance implications, respectively. This study also examines the enablers of SC adaptability based on information processing theory.

This study applies the structural equation modeling method to investigate relationships among SC information sharing, SC adaptability and operational performance using data collected from 216 manufacturers in China.

Internal information sharing has a positive impact on three dimensions of SC adaptability, whereas supplier and customer information sharing only have a positive impact on supplier adaptability. Customer and supplier information sharing interact to positively influence the three dimensions of SC adaptability, while internal and customer information sharing interact to negatively affect customer adaptability. We also find that all the three dimensions of SC adaptability can enhance operational performance.

This study contributes to providing a holistic definition of SC adaptability and classifies it into three dimensions. It also investigates antecedents and performance outcomes of SC adaptability.

There is still significant variation in firms' efforts to address modern slavery issues in supply chains despite the importance of this grand challenge. This research adopts the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework to investigate AMC-related factors that help to explain this variation.

The authors hypothesize how AMC-related factors, including media coverage of modern slavery issues, slavery risks in supply chains and corporate sustainability performance, are related to firms' efforts to address modern slavery in supply chains. The proposed hypotheses are tested based on 201 UK firms' modern slavery statements and additional secondary data collected from Factiva, Factset Revere, The Global Slavery Index, Worldscope and Sustainalytics.

Consistent with the AMC perspective, the test results show that firms put more effort into addressing supply chain modern slavery issues when there is greater media coverage of these issues, when firms source from countries with higher slavery risks, and when firms have better corporate sustainability performance. Additional analysis further suggests that firms' financial performance is not related to their efforts to address modern slavery issues.

This is the first study adopting the AMC framework to investigate firms' efforts to address modern slavery in supply chains. This investigation provides important implications for researchers studying firm behaviors related to modern slavery issues and for policymakers designing policies that enable firms to address these issues, in view of their awareness, motivation and capability.

The purpose of this paper is to show that fixed‐mobile convergence (FMC) has gathered much interest in the telecommunications industry lately. Integrated operators (who own both fixed and mobile networks), are keen to exploit FMC benefits in order to save costs and generate new revenues. This paper aims to analyze the effects of converged network and service environment on the business of existing telecommunication operators.

After an introduction to the regulatory, market, and technology related issues of convergence, the authors focus on analyzing the role of FMC technologies and services in their businesses of an integrated operator with existing fixed and mobile operations in a large Western European country.

Results reveal that an integrated operator can benefit from cost savings, customer retention and prevent revenue erosion by migrating to FMC.

This paper examines the effects of fixed‐mobile convergence to an integrated operator.

Experiencing more frequent, system-wide disruptions, such as pandemics and geopolitical conflicts, supply chains can be largely destabilized by a lack of materials, services or components. Supply chain resilience (SCRES) constitutes the network ability to recover after and survive during such unexpected events. To enhance the understanding of SCRES as a system-wide quality, this study tests a comprehensive SCRES model with data from multiple industries.

The study proposes a theoretical framework conceptualizing SCRES as system quality, extending the classical proactive/reactive taxonomy by multiple system states consisting of the supply system properties, behaviors and responses to disruptions. Underlying hypotheses were tested using an online survey. The sample consists of 219 responses from German industries. Maximum likelihood structural equation modeling (ML-SEM) and moderation analysis were used for analyzing the survey data. The study was particularly designed to elaborate on supply chain theory.

Two pathways of parallel SCRES building were identified: proactive preparedness via anticipation and reactive responsiveness via agility. Both system responses are primarily built simultaneously rather than successively. The present study further provides empirical evidence on the central role of visibility and velocity in achieving comprehensive SCRES, while flexibility only exerts short-term support after a disruption. The study additionally points to potential “spillover effects” such as the vital role of proactive SCRES in achieving reactive responsiveness.

The present study confirms and expands existing theories on SCRES. While stressing the multidimensionality of SCRES, it theorizes the (inter-)temporal evolution of a system and offers practical guidelines for SCRES building in various industrial contexts. It thus supports the transformation toward more resilient and viable supply chains, contributing to the increasing efforts of middle-range theory building to achieve an overarching theory. The study also points to potential future research avenues.

Sustainability is of growing significance in the contemporary business landscape as organizations strive to minimize their environmental impact and optimize supply chain (SC) operations. Gaining insights into the influence of Triple A SC practices on sustainable performance can offer valuable perspectives for practitioners and policymakers. This study aims to comprehensively review existing academic literature on Triple A supply chain management (SCM) and sustainability, examining its impact on sustainable performance while identifying key influencing factors.

This review follows the six steps and 14 decisions of conducting a systematic literature review to comprehensively review 57 papers published between 2004 and 2023.

Based on the content analysis of the selected papers, this study summarizes the antecedents, practices and outcomes of Triple A SCM, with a particular focus on its implications for sustainability. This paper builds a conceptual framework from the descriptive and thematic findings to enrich the relevant aspects of Triple A SCM.

This study establishes a connection between Triple A SCM and sustainable performance by examining its impact on economic, social and environmental aspects. This review identifies research gaps and acknowledges the lack of specificity in implementing Triple A SCM across diverse industries, regions and competitive markets with varying external environments. It emphasizes the necessity to customize approaches based on contextual factors and provides valuable recommendations for future research to advance the concept of Triple A SCM.