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1 – 10 of over 9000Bharat Singh Patel, Cherian Samuel and Goutam Sutar
Agility is the ability of an organization to adjust its supply chain tactics and operations to respond quickly against altering business environments such as fluctuating demand…
Abstract
Purpose
Agility is the ability of an organization to adjust its supply chain tactics and operations to respond quickly against altering business environments such as fluctuating demand pattern, supply chain disruption and global competition. An agile organization must possess a promising capability of swiftly responding to dynamic conditions while being cost-effective without compromising the efficiency. Such high-performance adaptability necessitates the role of supply chain managers to maximize the agility of the supply chain through the efficient use of input resources. Therefore, the purpose of this study to reveal a new decision support tool that would allow the key decision-makers to maximize the agility of the supply chain while deploying the input resources more effectively.
Design/methodology/approach
In present study, an integrated approach of popular analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and goal programming (GP) has been adopted as a potential solution methodology. AHP has been implemented to allocate the local and global weights to decision variables, whereas GP incorporates the AHP weights into the desired model.
Findings
It was found that the proposed decision support tool restricts the value of the decision variables for maximizing the agility and optimizing the usage of input resources. The results obtained from the model validate the objective of achieving targeted agility level within the available resource limitations.
Research limitations/implications
The decision support tool developed in the proposed study offers a systematic and effectively simple approach to supply chain managers with a goal of identifying the degree of focus under each decision variable in the respective manufacturing organizations.
Originality/value
A novel decision support tool has been developed known as an agility control system), which helps the decision-maker to achieve the required agility in the supply chain by controlling the decision variables.
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Rashmi Ranjan Panigrahi, Duryodhan Jena, Jamini Ranjan Meher and Avinash K. Shrivastava
This study aims to examine the effect of supply chain agility (SCA) on operational performance (OP) measurements of steel manufacturing firms. It also investigates the role of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of supply chain agility (SCA) on operational performance (OP) measurements of steel manufacturing firms. It also investigates the role of cost efficiencies concerning enhance OPs.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on an experimental research design by collecting data from responses 398 responses of key officials of India’s steel manufacturing firms. Analyses are carried to explore this modern concept with the help of Smart-partial least square (PLS) version 3.3.2 with confirmatory factor analysis and PLS structural equational modelling.
Findings
SCA factor (SCAF) directly has influenced the firm’s OP. It also represents cost efficiencies that have partial mediation between the SCAF and OP. The impact of cost efficiencies on OPs is strongly significant as compared to the impact of SCAF on cost efficiencies.
Practical implications
Management teams in the manufacturing industry should stress the role of SCA as a comprehensive concept in responding to market needs in a volatile environment. SCA reflects one of its winning strategies in today’s dynamic and competitive world. Managers must thoroughly know the ramifications of agility to develop a mechanism for determining the procedures and identifying inequality in SC operation.
Originality/value
This study speaks explicitly about the linkage between SCAF, OP, CE. It is an addition to the existing theories of RBV. Enhancements in OP measurements, specifically performance and flexibility, will lead to better firm performance. study conceptualizing the complementing effects of SCA (IS capability) and OPs and second cost efficiencies play positive partial mediating effect in between the link. The achievement of SC agile is especially a critical approach to Boost customer satisfaction and differentiate market position.
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Bharat Singh Patel and Murali Sambasivan
The purpose of this study is to critically examine the scholarly articles associated with the diverse aspects of supply chain agility (SCA). The review highlights research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to critically examine the scholarly articles associated with the diverse aspects of supply chain agility (SCA). The review highlights research insights, existing gaps and future research directions that can help academicians and practitioners gain a comprehensive understanding of SCA.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study has adopted author co-citation analysis as the research methodology, with a view to thoroughly investigating the good-quality articles related to SCA that have been published over a period of 22 years (1999-2020). In this study, 126 research papers on SCA – featuring diverse aspects of agility – from various reputed journals have been examined, analysed and assimilated.
Findings
The salient findings of this research are, namely, agility is different from other similar concepts, such as flexibility, leanness, adaptability and resilience; of the 13 dimensions of agility discussed in the literature, the prominent ones are quickness, responsiveness, competency and flexibility; literature related to SCA can be categorised as related to modelling the enablers, agility assessment, agility implementation, leagility and agility maximisation. This research proposes a more practical definition and framework for SCA. The probable areas for future research are, namely, impediments to agility, effective approaches to agility assessment, cost-benefit trade-offs to be considered whilst implementing agility, empirical research to validate the framework and SCA in the domain of healthcare and disaster relief supply chains.
Practical implications
This paper provides substantial insights to practitioners who primarily focus on measuring and implementing agility in the supply chain. The findings of this study will help the supply chain manager gain a better idea about how to become competitive in today’s dynamic and turbulent business environment.
Originality/value
The originality of this study is in: comprehensively identifying the various issues related to SCA, such as related concepts, definitions, dimensions and different categories of studies covered in literature, proposing a new definition and framework for SCA and identifying potential areas for future research, to provide deeper insights into the subject and highlight areas for future research.
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Manish Mohan Baral, Subhodeep Mukherjee, Ramji Nagariya, Bharat Singh Patel, Anchal Pathak and Venkataiah Chittipaka
The micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) faced various challenges in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, making it challenging to remain competitive and survive in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) faced various challenges in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, making it challenging to remain competitive and survive in the market. This research develops a model for MSMEs to cope with the current pandemic's operational and supply chain disruptions and similar circumstances.
Design/methodology/approach
The exhaustive literature review helped in identifying the constructs, their items and five hypotheses are developed. The responses were collected from the experts working in MSMEs. Total 311 valid responses were received, and the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used for testing and validating the proposed model.
Findings
Critical constructs identified for the study are-flexibility (FLE), collaboration (COL), risk management culture (RMC) and digitalization (DIG). The statistical analysis indicated that the four latent variables, flexibility, digitalization, risk management culture and collaboration, contribute significantly to the firm performance of MSMEs. Organizational resilience (ORS) mediates the effects of all the four latent variables on firm performance (FP) of MSMEs.
Practical implications
The current study's findings will be fruitful for the manufacturing MSMEs and other firms in developing countries. It will enable them to identify the practices that significantly help in achieving the firm performance.
Originality/value
The previous researches have not considered the effect of “organizational resilience” on the “firm performance” of MSMEs. This study attempts to fill this gap.
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Muhamad Khairulnizam Zaini, Mohamad Noorman Masrek and Mad Khir Johari Abdullah Sani
This study aims to determine the extent to which information security management (ISM) practices impact the organisational agility by examining the relationship between both…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to determine the extent to which information security management (ISM) practices impact the organisational agility by examining the relationship between both concepts.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative method research design has been used in this study. This study was conducted throughout Malaysia with a total of 250 valid questionnaires obtained from managers and executives from the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)-status companies. Structural equation modelling (SEM) using partial least square was used to analyse the data and to test all nine hypotheses developed in this study.
Findings
Findings from this study indicate that operational agility (OA) is significantly related to ISM practices in MSC-status companies. The validation of the structural model of nine hypotheses developed for this study has demonstrated satisfactory results, exhibited six significant direct relationships and three insignificant relationships.
Research limitations/implications
This study has addressed the needs for a comprehensive, coherent and empirically tested ISM practices and organisational agility framework. The current theoretical framework used in this study emphasised on the ISM–organisational agility dimensions that are predominantly important to ascertain high level of ISM practices and perceived agility level among the information technology (IT) business companies in Malaysia. With the application of SEM for powerful analysis, the empirical-based framework established in this study was validated by the empirical findings, thus contributing significantly to the field of information security (InfoSec).
Originality/value
This study has filled the research gap between different constructs of ISM practices and OA. The model put forth in this study contributes in several ways to the InfoSec research community. The recognition of InfoSec practices that could facilitate organisational agility in the IT industry in Malaysia is vital and contributes to more value creation for the organisations.
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Karl Werder and Alexander Maedche
Agile software development helps software producing organizations to respond to manifold challenges. While prior research focused on agility as a project or process phenomenon…
Abstract
Purpose
Agile software development helps software producing organizations to respond to manifold challenges. While prior research focused on agility as a project or process phenomenon, the authors suggest that agility is an emergent phenomenon on the team level. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the theory of complex adaptive systems (CASs), the study captures the multiple influencing levels of software development teams (SDTs) and their interplay with self-organization and emergence. The authors investigate three agile SDTs in different contextual environments that participate with four or more different roles each.
Findings
The results suggest self-organization as a central process when understanding team agility. While contextual factors often provide restriction on self-organization, they can help the team to enhance its autonomy.
Research limitations/implications
The theoretical contributions result from the development and test of theory grounded propositions and the investigation of mature agile development teams.
Practical implications
The findings help practitioners to improve the cost-effectiveness ratio of their team’s operations.
Originality/value
The study provides empirical evidence for the emergence of team agility in agile SDTs. Using the lens of CAS, the study suggests the importance of the team’s autonomy.
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Information systems have received special attention in the literature on agile manufacturing. Some authors have rated IS as critical, important and ultimately required for the…
Abstract
Information systems have received special attention in the literature on agile manufacturing. Some authors have rated IS as critical, important and ultimately required for the agile enterprise. However, it is not quite clear the extension or involvement of information systems in achieving and supporting agility in manufacturing. On the other hand, the failure of IS to deliver expected benefits has been documented in different sectors, including manufacturing. The results of a case study involving two SMEs are used to identify clearly the role of information systems within the concept of agility and then used to develop a framework that ensures that information systems provide benefits to manufacturing organisations through enhancing the agility of its manufacturing processes.
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Yuan Sun, Zhu Mengyi and Anand Jeyaraj
This paper aims to investigate whether and how enterprise social media (ESM) affordances affect employee agility.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether and how enterprise social media (ESM) affordances affect employee agility.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting self-determination theory (SDT), this study examines a model in which the four ESM affordances (i.e. visibility, association, editability and persistence) impact employee agility through the three basic psychological needs satisfaction (i.e. perceived autonomy, perceived relatedness and perceived competence) of employees. Mplus 7.4 was used to analyze survey data gathered from 304 employees who used ESM in the workplace.
Findings
The authors’ findings show that all four ESM affordances contribute to perceived relatedness and perceived competence; visibility and association affordances also have positive impacts on perceived autonomy; and all three psychological needs satisfaction positively impact employee agility.
Originality/value
First, this study adapted SDT to explore how ESM influences employee agility. Second, this study enriches the relevant research on the antecedents of employee agility and also provides new evidence and theoretical support for employee agility. Third, this study effectively expands the antecedents and outcomes of employee basic psychological needs satisfaction in the domain of ESM and agility.
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Hongyi Mao, Yeming Gong and Ryad Titah
The system of information technology (IT)-oriented resources and processes that organizations need to develop to achieve operational agility remains unclear. The study research…
Abstract
Purpose
The system of information technology (IT)-oriented resources and processes that organizations need to develop to achieve operational agility remains unclear. The study research seeks to extend existing competency literature by incorporating the unique contextual nuances of the relationship between IT capabilities and operational agility.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a multi-method approach, this paper presents a theoretical framework of IT-enabled operations strategy that conceptualizes the role of IT capability in leveraging resources and processes for operational agility. Drawing on operations and information systems research, the authors advance that IT enables operational agility through two dimensions. From the perspective of a resource-based operations strategy, the authors explore the role of IT in resource-leveraging activities by investigating the nonlinear relationship between IT infrastructure and IT reconfiguration. From the perspective of a process-oriented operations strategy, the authors explore the role of IT in process-enhancing activities by investigating the nonlinear relationship between IT coordination and IT integration.
Findings
The study results, based on a sample of 113 organizations in Europe, Asia and North America, show that the interaction between IT infrastructure and IT reconfiguration positively influences operational agility, hence showing complementarity between the two constructs, while the interaction between IT coordination and IT integration negatively affects operational agility, hence indicating substitutability between the two constructs. A series of 62 interviews and a case study of Carrefour were further conducted to validate the field survey's results and to provide a finer grained explanation of the research model and quantitative findings.
Originality/value
The study findings offer an alternative explanation of the inconsistent relationship between IT capability and operational agility.
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Anthony Downs, William Harrison and Craig Schlenoff
This paper aims to define and describe test methods and metrics to assess industrial robot system agility in both simulation and in reality.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to define and describe test methods and metrics to assess industrial robot system agility in both simulation and in reality.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes test methods and associated quantitative and qualitative metrics for assessing robot system efficiency and effectiveness, which can then be used for the assessment of system agility.
Findings
The paper describes how the test methods were implemented in a simulation environment and real-world environment. It also shows how the metrics are measured and assessed as they would be in a future competition.
Practical implications
The test methods described in this paper will push forward the state of the art in software agility for manufacturing robots, allowing small and medium manufacturers to better utilize robotic systems.
Originality/value
The paper fulfills the identified need for standard test methods to measure and allow for improvement in software agility for manufacturing robots.
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