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This study follows the tenets of the resource dependence theory (RDT) to investigate the effects of four dimensions of industry-level environmental uncertainty – munificence, dynamism, complexity and innovative intensity – on a shipper's cross-buying (i.e. outsourcing across multiple service categories) in logistics outsourcing arrangements.

Negative binomial regression was used to test the hypotheses with a sample of US manufacturers. Measures were developed through information acquired from a proprietary database of 3PL companies obtained through Armstrong and Associates, Inc. and publicly available industry measures from the US Manufacturing Census and Compustat.

The findings indicate that individual dimensions of environmental uncertainty exhibit distinct influences on shippers' cross-buying in their logistics outsourcing arrangements. Specifically, the growth and initial innovative intensity of shippers' industries lead to an increased number of logistics service categories outsourced to 3PLs, while industry dynamism and exceptionally high innovative intensity drive the opposite effect.

These findings provide valuable guidance to 3PLs with respect to decisions related to the acquisition of specialized transportation, storage, information systems and personnel assets to serve specific industries. The findings highlight industry conditions that are more likely to lead shippers to outsource across a wider array of logistics service categories and, as a result, potentially yield higher customer retention and profit margins.

While extant 3PL literature posits that shippers' individual strategic orientations and capabilities impact their outsourcing strategy, this study contributes to the literature by providing a theoretical-based empirical examination of the industry-level influencers of such behavior.

Applying a middle-range theorizing to premises of signaling theory and the scarcity principle, this study aims to investigate the mechanisms and effects of different patterns of post-stockout disclosures that highlight the limited supply and high quality of a durable good on consumer satisfaction with the shopping experience and purchase intention, mediated by consumer perceived product scarcity.

The hypotheses are tested with two scenario-based experiments. The first experiment—a between-subjects design—explores the effect of post-stockout disclosures on consumers' perceived scarcity, satisfaction, and purchase intention. The second experiment – a within-subject design – examines the impact of time on consumer responses to stockouts.

Results indicate that perceived product scarcity mediates the relationship between post-stockout disclosures and consumer outcomes. Specifically, post-stockout disclosures present an indirect positive effect on consumer purchase intention, despite reducing satisfaction beyond the effects of the stockout. These results are consistent when disclosures are sent through multiple channels. Results also show that consumers' perceived scarcity and purchase intention decrease over time while dissatisfaction levels remain the same when stockouts persist.

Even though consumers will be dissatisfied upon experiencing a stockout, specific patterns of post-stockout disclosures can be a valuable strategy for consumer retention and lost sales prevention.

While recent consumer-centric supply chain management literature has investigated mitigation strategies of detrimental consumer response to stockouts, such as “save-the-sale” tactics and price discounts, the mechanisms and effects of different patterns of post-stockouts disclosures highlighting the limited supply and high quality of the product are yet to be investigated.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt and contribute to the further development of the relational view by examining the drivers of retailer-supplier collaboration and its effect on the performance of both the retailer and the supplier.

The paper draws its conclusions from a structural analysis of dyadic survey data collected from consumer packaged goods suppliers and retailers in Brazil. In addition, objective retailer performance measures (retailer in-stock performance) are included in the data set.

The results indicate that a supplier's customer orientation is an important determinant of supplier relationship-specific investments and, ultimately, supply chain collaboration. The empirical results also indicate that retailers stand to benefit the most from a supplier's collaborative efforts. In addition, there is evidence that a supplier's customer orientation is positively related to its own performance.

The limited sample size – a result of the dyadic nature of the data – constitutes a limitation and, at the same time, presents opportunities for future, larger-scale studies. Nonetheless, this study highlights the value of customer orientation and collaboration in terms of driving performance outcomes for both suppliers and buyers, while invoking the notion that the benefits of supply chain collaboration accrue differentially over time from the retailers’ and suppliers’ perspectives.

While many of the relationships set forth in this research have been implicitly assumed by proponents of the relational view, this study furthers the development of the relational view by explicitly modeling supplier relationship-specific investments and customer orientation as antecedents of collaboration. Moreover, the study contributes to the literature on buyer-supplier collaboration by simultaneously exploring to what extent both suppliers and retailers derive benefits from such collaboration.

The central tenet of this paper is that a firm's efforts to nurture a long-term relationship with a third-party logistics (3PLs) will be influenced by its strategic orientation toward its own customers. The purpose of this paper is to propose that there will be a spillover effect of a firm's relationship marketing orientation (RMO) toward its customers on the nature of a firm's relationship with its 3PL, positively impacting its logistics performance.

A survey was administered to logistics managers in Brazilian firms that employ the services of a large 3PL. The model was tested via structural equation modeling.

Results of this research suggest that a firm's RMO toward its customers has a positive impact on the long-term orientation (LTO) toward the relationship with its 3PL, ultimately improving the firm's operations performance. Additionally, the findings reveal that the positive effect of RMO on LTO is stronger for higher levels of a firm's dependence on its 3PL.

The results provide initial evidence that when a RMO is embedded in a firm's strategies toward its customers, there will be spillover effects on both the nature and outcomes of relationships with other partners, such as 3PLs. Research limitations include the survey implementation in an emerging market, and surveying clients of a single 3PL.

From the perspective of the 3PL, when selecting new clients, it is important to investigate how these potential clients relate to their own customers. In other words, 3PLs should investigate whether these potential clients embrace RMO toward their downstream customers. If that is the case, the client will be more likely to have LTO with the 3PLs with which it works.

While most studies in logistics outsourcing demonstrate that interorganizational conditions are key determinants of long-term and collaborative relationships with 3PLs, this study provides initial evidence that when a strategic orientation – RMO – is embedded in a firm's strategies and operations toward its customers, there will be spillover effects on both the nature and outcomes of relationships with 3PLs as well.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a basic scale for general logistics complexity that allows researchers to control for this issue in their studies.

The methodology consists of developing the scale based on a literature review and discussion with specialists. The proposed scale is then validated through data analysis from a web‐based survey of logistics managers in Brazil.

The paper provides a valid and reliable scale for general logistics complexity that can be easily incorporated into research surveys. The scale is general enough that it can be used in surveys of firms across diverse industries. In addition, the scale can be further adapted to address more specific logistics complexity issues.

Further testing of the scales across multiple contexts is necessary for validity enhancement.

Logistics complexity corresponds to a latent construct that has not been systematically developed in the logistics literature, but is often mentioned as a potentially important variable to control for in logistics studies. This study provides a general scale that can be used for a control variable as well as providing a base for further development of scales focused on more specific aspects of logistics complexity.

The accurate measurement of demand variability amplification across different nodes in the supply chain, or “bullwhip effect,” is critical for firms to achieve more efficient inventory, production, and ordering planning processes. Building on recent analytical research that suggests that data aggregation tends to mask the bullwhip effect in the retail industry, the purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether different patterns of data aggregation influence its measurement.

Utilizing weekly, product-level order and sales data from three product categories of a consumer packaged goods manufacturer, the study uses hierarchical linear modeling to empirically test the effects of data aggregation on different measures of bullwhip.

The authors findings lend strong support to the masking effect of aggregating sales and order data along product-location and temporal dimensions, as well as the dampening effect of seasonality on the measurement of the bullwhip effect.

These findings indicate that inconsistencies found in the literature may be due to measurement aggregation and statistical techniques, both of which should be applied with care by academics and practitioners in order to preserve the fidelity of their analyses.

Using product-weekly level data that cover both seasonal and non-seasonal demand, this study is the first, to the author’s knowledge, to systematically aggregate data up to category and monthly levels to empirically examine the impact of data aggregation and seasonality on bullwhip measurement.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the current state of implementation of lean production practices in China as compared to the USA. Moreover, an institutional‐theoretic framework is developed that explores the interplay among economic, socio‐cultural and regulative forces that may shape the adoption process of lean production practices in China.

The paper draws its conclusions from an analysis of survey data from samples of Chinese and US manufacturing executives. Lean production implementation is measured via a survey instrument, and the data are analyzed via regression analysis.

The results suggest that the degree of implementation of lean production in China is equal to, if not greater than lean production implementation in the USA. While the results are fairly consistent across industries, they vary across different lean production practice bundles. In light of these findings, an institutional theory perspective is adopted to develop further insight into the potential drivers of and barriers to lean production implementation in China. It is argued that, while several economic factors function as enablers for the implementation of these practices, various social processes and cultural traits in China still hinder the full adoption of lean production.

Larger‐scale empirical studies are required for further hypothesis testing and enhanced validity. In particular, the explicit measurement of institutional forces and the statistical analysis of their effects on lean production adoption are recommended for future research.

This is the first study to systematically compare the adoption of lean practices in China and the USA. The analyses and discussions provide a basis for further theory building and hypothesis testing research. In addition, the insights offered in this study may help firms gain a better understanding of the unique opportunities and challenges associated with adoption of lean production in China.