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The purpose of this paper is to explore and generate propositions of factors that affect the degree of performance management process integration in retail supply chains.

The performance management processes of two retail supply chains were explored and their degree of process integration was classified. Differences in the degree of performance management process integration and affecting factors lead to the generation of five propositions.

Dependence, brand importance, business process integration, performance demand and the existence of a performance management standard seem to be positively related to the degree of performance management process integration in the relation. Both factors that affect process integration in general and performance management process integration specifically are included. Some insights on integration in a vertically integrated retail chain were provided.

This study has specified the knowledge in process integration to the performance management process and expanded it into a retail context. It has generated a number of propositions on factors that affect the degree of performance management process integration, including a factor that was not found in previous research on manufacturing supply chains. The contribution to process integration theory is however limited until the propositions are validated in a broader study.

Knowledge in affecting factors is useful when “performance management managers” need to communicate integration ambitions with other managers within and outside their own company. The detailed descriptions of performance management processes and integration practices can serve as inspiring benchmarks, as in the daily groceries supply chain, where the industry standard is especially interesting. They can also indicate practices to avoid, as in the home textiles supply chain. Another managerial take-away is the need to handle each relation, manufacturer-wholesaler and wholesaler-retailer store, with their specific affecting factors in specific ways.

Previous knowledge on performance management process integration is mainly based on manufacturing companies. This study expands existing knowledge into a retail context.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Marketing managers have strategic choices when forming brand alliances. One such choice is integration, defined as the extent to which the offering is a fusion in the form and function of the partner brands. The paper aims to investigate how integration affects consumer attribution of responsibility to brand alliance partners.

This paper builds on the previous study on brand alliances and attribution theory. Multiple experiments are used to test three hypotheses.

This research shows that consumers are sensitive to the level of alliance integration, which, in turn, affects attributions of responsibility for the joint offering. Consistent with attribution theory, results show that responsibility for each brand varies systematically by integration and lead brand status vis-à-vis the alliance: while consumers perceive both brands as equally responsible for higher integration brand alliances, responsibility attributions diverge in lower integration alliances based on whether the brand is the alliance host. This pattern also holds for product-harm events.

It is important to explore brand alliance characteristics and to date, the level of integration between the partners has not been considered from a consumer standpoint. Consumers are sensitive to the level of partner brand integration and this perception influences perceptions of responsibility.

Managers should be aware that the level of brand alliance integration and lead brand status lead to different attributions of responsibility, which is strategically important, as brands seek to take credit in positive contexts and avoid blame for negative events.

This paper explores brand alliances via the level of integration and leads brand status, which are key determinants of consumer attributions of responsibility.

This study concerns two aspects of the integration process critical for the success of acquisitions: (1) levels of human integration and task integration and (2) speeds of human integration and task integration. The purpose of this study is to examine the interaction effects of human/task integration level and human integration speed advantage on acquisition performance.

This study collected data of companies in the Taiwanese high-tech industries at the financial, organizational and industrial levels to examine the proposed hypotheses. Corporate financial and patent data were collected from the Taiwan Securities and Futures Commission databases and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) databases. The organizational level data were collected from 142 publicly traded related acquisitions from 2008 to 2009 in the Taiwanese high-tech industries.

The results show that (1) a high level of human integration positively affects technological performance; (2) the interaction term of human integration level and human integration speed advantage (i.e., relatively faster human integration coupled with slower task integration) positively affects technological performance; and (3) the interaction term of task integration level and human integration speed advantage positively affects technological performance.

The originality of this study lies in advancing our understanding of how complex interactions between human/task integration level and human integration speed advantage affect acquisition performance.

This paper aims to analyze the impact of information technology (IT) system implementation on the integration of data and information between sales and accounting departments, and how data integration affects relations with supplier and customers.

The change between three different reservation and distribution systems in an airline company was assessed over 20 years based on qualitative data collected while events unfolded and interviews that traced events retrospectively.

This study finds that data integration challenges affect the capacity to use revenue and sales data for control purposes and integrating with suppliers and customers. The systems either facilitated the ability to integrate sales and accounting data or enabled integration in wider supplier and customer networks. The implementation of different reservation and distribution systems resulted in a trade-off between integration within the firm and into wider customer and supplier networks.

Data were mainly obtained from the focal firm, Air Greenland. The protracted study period meant that the data were not as concentrated as they would have been had the analysis been performed over a shorter duration or had the focus been on one implementation process.

Extant research suggests that integration challenges when implementing IT systems are caused by differences in information needs between groups with different logics. The authors illustrate how data integration is also a crucial challenge when implementing IT systems.

This study attempts to examine the performance differences between firms with and without integrated management systems (IMSs), and the impact of three integration strategies (i.e. implementing quality management system (QMS) first, then environmental management system (EMS) (QMS + EMS); implementing EMS first, then QMS (EMS + QMS); implementing QMS and EMS simultaneously (QMS − EMS)) on firm performance to reveal the IMS–performance relationship and provide empirical evidence.

Two panel datasets were collected during 2009–2019. This study used the Mann–Whitney non-parametric test and a sample of 33,155 observations from 4,316 Chinese listed firms to compare the performance differences between the IMS and non-IMS groups through performance indicators. This study also examined the effects of three integration strategies on firm performance using a cross-sectional time-series feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) regression model and a sample of 11,289 observations from 2,037 firms.

The results show that significant performance differences exist between IMS and non-IMS firms; however, the performance of firms with an IMS is not always better than that of firms without IMS. Furthermore, the simultaneous integration strategy has a positive impact, whereas sequential integration strategies (QMS + EMS and EMS + QMS) negatively affect firm performance. Compared with the EMS + QMS strategies, the QMS + EMS strategies have a more prominent effect on firm performance. Simultaneous strategies are more effective than sequential strategies.

Firms should fully consider the potential benefits and costs associated with the difficulties of IMS implementation and the implementation order of different management systems and the potential effects of the management systems in different conditions. Firms also should try to develop internal capabilities through implementing different integration strategies.

By comparing performance differences between firms with and without IMS, this study enriches the understanding of the performance benefits of IMS implementation in the Chinese context. By examining the impact of integration strategies that follow different sequences on firm performance, this study promotes an in-depth understanding of the integration strategies and their performance implications beyond simple descriptions and also provides new insights into operations strategy models.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how business uncertainty affects the implementation of supply chain integration (SCI). More importantly, this research divides business uncertainty into four dimensions and SCI into three dimensions to examine the role of each dimension. In addition, it investigates the moderating effects of manufacturing approaches, such as push and pull, in the relationship between SCI and performance.

Through a structured survey, this study collected 259 responses from supply executives, and supply and purchasing managers of US manufacturing firms. The empirical data analysis was done by using the partial least squares technique.

The results empirically support the findings that business uncertainty positively affects implementation of SCI. Among the four dimensions of business uncertainty, dynamism and hostility significantly affect implementation of internal integration, integration with suppliers, and integration with customers. In addition, manufacturing approaches, such as push and pull, have a moderating effect on the relationship between SCI and performance.

This study collected survey responses from a manufacturing firm in the supply chain to assist managers to find a solution while dealing with business uncertainty through the implementation of SCI. It also emphasizes manufacturing approaches, such as push and pull, in implementing SCI to improve performance. Thus, supply and purchasing managers should consider the business uncertainty that they are dealing with while developing their supply chain strategy.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide meaningful insights on the effects of SCI toward dealing with business uncertainty. More importantly, by dividing the dimensions of business uncertainty and SCI, this study presents empirical evidence of the significant role of supply chain practices in uncertain business conditions. In addition, this study addresses the gap in extant literature and shows that managers need to consider their manufacturing approach in SCI to improve business performance.

Additive Manufacturing offers much potential for industry, but at the same time is likely to have a significant impact on supply chain theory and practice. To-date there has been limited empirical work exploring the effect of Additive Manufacturing, and this study aims to provide a detailed appraisal of how supply chain integration, supply chain performance and firm performance may be affected by the adoption of Additive Manufacturing. These are critical factors for supply chain management, but have received little quantified attention to date.

A theoretical model is developed from a detailed review of the literature, from which a quantitative analysis is performed. Using data collected from 124 automotive manufacturers in European Union and the partial least square- structural equation modeling method, the research examines the relationships among different dimensions of supply chain integration, supply chain performance and firm performance from the perspective of Additive Manufacturing adoption.

The findings indicate that Additive Manufacturing adoption positively influences supply chain performance and as a consequence, firm performance. In addition, supporting the resource-based view perspective, the results show a positive indirect effect of supply chain integration on the supply chain and firm performance improvements, enabled by the Additive Manufacturing adoption. This helps to explain some inconsistent findings in previous research regarding the impacts of supply chain integration on performance.

The results of this study support the view that Additive Manufacturing can make a positive contribution to the supply chain, but this is not achieved solely by the technologies alone. Many of the traditional activities of supply chain management (i.e. integration) are still needed when using Additive Manufacturing, and research needs to understand whether Additive Manufacturing adoption will necessitate changes to the way these traditional activities are undertaken. Building on the findings of the current study, much more work is therefore needed to understand how operations within the supply chain may be changed, and how this may affect the integration and performance of the supply chain.

This study provides quantitative evidence to show that the adoption of Additive Manufacturing has the potential to affect both firm and supply chain performance. This is significant for those companies considering the adoption of Additive Manufacturing, and may serve as a valuable insight in the strategic decision-making process. For those already using Additive Manufacturing, this study serves to underline the potential for firm performance to be influenced, by focusing on improvements to their production strategies and policies.

This study provides an initial insight into some fundamental supply chain concepts within an Additive Manufacturing context, which have received very little research attention. It develops a novel conceptual model, and through a large-scale industry survey provides quantified evidence of the impact of Additive Manufacturing on the supply chain. To date, much of the supply chain research is exploratory and qualitative; the quantitative evidence presented in this work, therefore, makes an important and original contribution to both research and practice.

This paper investigates the inhibitors and enablers of supply chain integration (SCI) across multiple tiers in the supply chains of manufacturing-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malawi.

Following a qualitative approach, data were collected through face-to-face interviews across three supply chains, each consisting of a focal manufacturer, a major supplier and a retailer.

The research identified interpersonal relationships, supplier cost transparency and joint supply chain management (SCM) investments as key enablers of SCI. Concerning the inhibitors of SCI, the study found that a lack of external integration inhibited internal integration by acting as a source of disruption to intra-firm processes and relationships. Further, the research found weaker links between manufacturer–-retailer dyads than in manufacturer–supplier dyads, which constrained the ability to achieve multi-tier supplier–manufacture–retailer integration. The study also revealed that resource and infrastructural deficiencies, a culture of fear and intimidation within and between firms, corruption in sourcing transactions and a lack of inter-firm trust inhibited SCI.

The paper extends earlier evidence that internal integration is a prerequisite for external integration demonstrating that a basic level of external integration is necessary to prevent disruptions to internal integration.

This study is one of the few to go beyond the focal firm perspective and explore the inhibitors and enablers of SCI across multiple supply chain positions, and provides new evidence on the role of external integration in achieving internal integration.

Inter-firm integration is a multidimensional concept. This study aims to examine the performance effects of two aspects of inter-firm integration, coordination integration and authority integration, and their co-alignment with strategic and contextual factors.

The author conducted a quantitative empirical study using survey data of Japanese manufacturing companies’ relationships with their wholesalers to test hypotheses based on a literature review.

Coordination integration has a positive performance effect. There is co-alignment between high (low) coordination integration and high (low) product uniqueness. High (low) coordination integration is associated with high (low) demand uncertainty. High (low) authority integration is consistent with high (low) behavioral uncertainty.

This study contributes theoretically to marketing channel and business-to-business marketing literature by holistically examining the linkages among governance forms, marketing-strategic factors, exchange-contextual factors and inter-firm performance. A limitation of this study is that the research data were collected in only one country, Japan. Thus, country-specific factors might affect the analytical outcomes.

Appropriate co-alignment among governance, strategies and contexts significantly influences performance. The findings have significant implications for manufacturing firms’ channel strategies.

This study tests the influences of two distinct dimensions of inter-firm integration on inter-firm outcomes, which few previous studies address. It comprehensively examines the linkages among governance forms, strategic factors, environmental factors and performance.