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This research aims to analyse difficulties experienced by Brazilian managers in coordinating teams working from home during the coronavirus disease (2019) COVID-19 pandemic.

The methodological strategy used was a survey with 39 managers who led teams working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven difficulties indicated by current literature were analysed using a fuzzy scale. First, a hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) approach was used to group managers according to managers' similarities and capacity to infer the difficulties. Responses of each group identified were weighted considering the capacity to assess the theme. In the sequence, data were analysed via frequencies and the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approach and difficulties were ordered.

Comparatively, the main difficulties evidenced are (1) to reconcile personal and professional life tasks in the same place; (2) to motivate collaborators in a period when social isolation affect employee's mental health and (3) to keep team members integrated and working within the activities scope in a virtual environment.

The findings present in this paper contribute to theory and practice. For theory, this article contributes to the knowledge on WFH and leadership, evidencing in a comparatively way the difficulties that are experienced by managers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers in future studies can better analyse these difficulties. For practice, managers who conduct managers' teams remotely can use the information to analyse teams' practices and improve performance critically. This was an atypical moment of humanity, and different aspects need to be considered by managers compared with previous periods.

Supply chain management (SCM) is explored from an operational perspective, following a threefold approach. The article introduces a set of management techniques and supporting tools that can be used to analyse and describe SCM strategies. It proposes a new normative tool and uses it to examine a large set of relevant SCM case studies pertaining to seven industries: apparel, automobile, grocery, white goods, pharmaceuticals, computers and book publishing. The article develops a new conceptual framework for SCM strategies and test it based on empirical evidence. The new schemes proposed here provide a normative tool to define and represent supply chain strategies, a contingency model to support managers in designing supply chain strategies, and some hints for further research.

Asserts that information systems are an essential component in the efficacy of quality management systems and that information systems therefore merit greater recognition within the theory and the practice of quality management. Based on an empirically validated reference model which includes three dimensions: quality management practices, quality information systems (split into information flows and information technologies) and quality performance. The claim is stated through null hypotheses which are tested on a sample of 34 manufacturing plants, with more than 100 employees, in the electronics, machinery and auto‐supplier industries. The results show that: quality management practices are closely linked to quality information flows; the contribution of information flows to the obtaining of high quality performances is considerable; information technologies seem to contribute something to the achievement of high quality performance and in particular of low defectiveness but their contribution requires further investigation; the upstream links with suppliers and downstream links with customers strongly influence the achievement of quality performance.

Customization, a marketing strategy through providing personalized products, might be a new solution to motivate consumer feedbacks in electronic commerce (e-commerce) websites. Taking the dual-value of customization (emotional involvement and uniqueness expression) as the theoretical basis, this study aims to investigate the impact of customization on consumer's word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviors and contents by motivating: (1) more, (2) faster, (3) positive at first and then negative, (4) longer and (5) more helpful WOMs.

A field study was conducted with multi-sourced data: customer order data from a Chinese retailer and WOM data from Amazon.com. The two datasets were matched to filter out 463 online reviews among 6,892 customers who placed customized orders. Heckman's two-stage model, logistic regression, Ordinary least squares regression, Tobit regression, analysis of covariance and Lind–Mehlum U Test were used in the data analysis.

This study has found that (1) customization level motivates WOM behaviors including WOM posting and WOM speed, (2) an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between customization level and consumer rating and (3) customization level has a significantly positive impact on WOM helpfulness but not on WOM length.

This study advances theoretical development in the area of WOM motivators by proposing a new product-centric approach, customization, to stimulate voluntary WOMs. Empirical field research that analyzes consumer's real responses to customization is in scarcity. The dual-value of customized products is proposed as the underlying mechanism to explain the impact of customization level on consumer's WOM behaviors/contents. An interesting inverted U-shaped relationship is found between customization level and customer rating. This research provides nuanced practical guidance for websites, companies and consumers.

Online retailing changes all retail systems significantly. The growing importance of online sales requires the creation of new fulfillment models. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how retailers develop from separate multi-channel (MC) to integrated omni-channel (OC) fulfillment. OC retailing has an integrated perspective, with seamless interactions between online and bricks-and-mortar channels.

More than 60 internationally active retailers and experts from Germany participated in an exploratory survey. With a response rate of 40 percent the authors achieved the goal to adequately depict the German MC and OC retail market. It is currently the largest empirical study of MC and OC fulfillment.

It is the first study to comprehensively analyze the logistical development options open to retailers for integrated fulfillment. The authors discuss the conceptual development options and formulate propositions for an advanced OC fulfillment approach. OC retailers aim to pool their organizational units for fulfillment via different channels. Retailers with multiple channels develop their warehouse systems toward channel-integrated inventory enabling flexible and demand-driven inventory allocation. Retailers with channel-integrated inventory also organize their picking procedures in one common zone. The higher the outlet density, the more it becomes beneficial for retailers to introduce pick-up services.

The research is based on insights from retailers and experts from companies based in Germany.

The findings provide an insight into designing OC fulfillment and distribution structures. The concepts themselves, archetypes, challenges and development paths are analyzed. Identified logistics levers can be adjusted to pinpoint the steps required to advance integration.

The authors contribute by deriving propositions and a framework for transitioning from basic MC to integrated, extended OC logistics. Because this research area is still comparatively young, the authors take a more comprehensive, exploratory view of OC fulfillment.

This paper provides guidelines for the design and execution of survey research in operations management (OM). The specific requirements of survey research aimed at gathering and analysing data for theory testing are contrasted with other types of survey research. The focus is motivated by the need to tackle the various issues which arise in the process of survey research. The paper does not intend to be exhaustive: its aim is to guide the researcher, presenting a systematic picture which synthesises suitable survey practices for research in an OM context. The fundamental aim is to contribute to an increase in the quality of OM research and, as a consequence, to the status of the OM discipline among the scientific community.

The paper provides an overview of research published in the innovation and operations management (IOM) literature on 15 methods for cost management in new product development, and it provides a comparison to an earlier review of the management accounting (MA) literature (Wouters & Morales, 2014).

This structured literature search covers papers published in 23 journals in IOM in the period 1990–2014.

The search yielded a sample of 208 unique papers with 275 results (one paper could refer to multiple cost management methods). The top 3 methods are modular design, component commonality, and product platforms, with 115 results (42%) together. In the MA literature, these three methods accounted for 29%, but target costing was the most researched cost management method by far (26%). Simulation is the most frequently used research method in the IOM literature, whereas this was averagely used in the MA literature; qualitative studies were the most frequently used research method in the MA literature, whereas this was averagely used in the IOM literature. We found a lot of papers presenting practical approaches or decision models as a further development of a particular cost management method, which is a clear difference from the MA literature.

This review focused on the same cost management methods, and future research could also consider other cost management methods which are likely to be more important in the IOM literature compared to the MA literature. Future research could also investigate innovative cost management practices in more detail through longitudinal case studies.

This review of research on methods for cost management published outside the MA literature provides an overview for MA researchers. It highlights key differences between both literatures in their research of the same cost management methods.

This paper aims at examining how different types of shop floor performance feedback affect employee motivation and engagement. Based on this dataset, the authors analyzed the relationship between five types of performance feedback (safety, quality, productivity, improvement and individual performance) and three types of human-related outputs (motivation, role clarity and engagement) in light of socio-technical systems theory.

The authors designed a survey instrument and collected data from 492 employees of a large beverage distribution company. The authors used robust construct validity tests and multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses.

The findings indicated significant positive effects of feedback on overall production, improvements and individual performance on all human-related outputs. In turn, safety and quality performance feedback had no statistically significant impact in motivation or engagement. These findings highlight the mixed nature of the impact of performance feedback on human-related outputs that have been neglected in the literature.

The joint analysis of the social and technical portion of performance feedback is unusual despite its clear relevance, which characterizes an original contribution of the authors’ work. Although previous literature supports the effect of performance feedback on motivation and engagement, previous studies have not tested how different types of feedback affect those social constructs.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain a better understanding of the extent to which lean production permeates manufacturing companies in Malaysia by drawing on supply chain management (SCM) managers' or production managers' perception of lean production practices and level of performances in the industry.

The instrument used in this study is a structured survey questionnaire consisting of two major parts. The first part comprises several variables measuring lean production practices, and the second part consists of several performance measurements. Sample companies are chosen from Malaysian manufacturing companies listed in the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers directory. From the 300 companies sampled, 200 responses were completed, representing a 67 per cent response rate.

The results support the conceptual model, demonstrating strong association between lean production, product quality performance, and business performance. The structural equation modelling (SEM) results reveal that “reduced setup time” appears to be of primary importance in the linkage between lean production, product quality performance and business performance. It is also instructive, from a score of 67.21 on the Malaysian Lean Production Index (MLPI), that manufacturing companies in Malaysia must marshal their effort to implement a more effective lean production SCM in order to improve on product quality performance and business performance.

This research adds to the body of knowledge on lean production SCM in manufacturing industry. This paper may be of particular interest to practicing production managers, or SCM managers, as it suggests what factors should be emphasized in lean production.

The originality of this paper lies within the context in which this study is undertaken as it seeks to address key relationships between lean production, product quality performance and business performance within the Malaysian manufacturing industry, where relatively few studies are available. In addition, relationships between constructs are analyzed through SEM that measures not only magnitude but also the causal direction of the relationships.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the influence of two characteristics of supply chain management (SCM) (resilience and integration) on new product performance (NPP) via the mediation of marketing innovation orientation.

This study was designed by the quantitative method, and the research model was developed based on the resource-based view (RBV) theory of 211 managers from Israeli firms using SmartPls3 software.

The main finding that emerges from this study is that marketing innovation orientation serves as a full mediator in the relationship between supply chain resilience (SCR) and NPP as well as in the relationship between supply chain integration (SCI) and NPP. Thus, companies that wish to achieve a competitive advantage over their rivals should improve and strengthen their marketing innovation orientation. By doing so, they enhance the relationship between SCM and NPP.

The findings provide an applicable guideline for marketing managers. Managers should be ready to adapt to customers’ demands, environmental changes and, most importantly, disruptive events in a dynamic environment.

The current study sheds light on the mechanism for NPP via integrating suppliers, customers and the organization. So, managers should adopt SCR and integration to strengthen their marketing innovation orientation in order to achieve NPP.