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World trade has been increasing rapidly and much faster than world output. This study analyzes the trade structures of major dynamic East Asian countries as well as regional subgroups such as ASEAN members and Northeast Asian countries. Emphasis will be on the complementarities that would enhance integration among them through international trade. In addition, potential trade levels for each combination of East Asian countries are estimated by applying the gravity model of trade to the trade flows of21 APEC members, as a reference group. It is estimated to have significant potentiality by regional subgroup, ASEAN or Northeast Asia, and not between the two regional subgroups. However, the potential integration between East Asian countries in different regional subgroups is more significant by considering complementarities in trade compared with the results from the basic gravity model. To enhance economic cooperation between East Asian countries, expanding relationships such as inter-industry trade in natural resources trade and industrial goods between the regional subgroups needs to occur. They should also utilize complementary relationships from intra-industry trade in industrial goods such as electric and electronic equipment, related parts and accessories. And they should focus on the implementation of trade facilitation measures based on global standards.

Being acquainted with both lean and action learning in theory and in practice, this study finds that the theoretical complementarity of these two research streams has traditionally been underexploited. In this conceptual paper, this study aims to advance the theoretical understanding of lean by exploring the complementarity of lean thinking and action learning leading to a proposed integrated theory of these two research streams. Target audience is the operations management research community.

By deliberately adopting a process of theorising, this paper explores, reflects upon and combines individual experiences of researching, teaching and engaging in lean and action learning as operations management scholars.

Having taken a gemba walk through the literature and practices of lean and action learning, this study views and notices a systematic and complementary relationship between the two domains. The overlapping theoretical and practical complementarities of lean and action learning suggest that these two research streams are ripe for synthesis into an integrated theory. This finding provides an opportunity to (1) progress towards an integrative design of interventions leading to more sustainable lean system adoptions and (2) add new depth to our theoretical explanation of the success and failures of lean system adoptions.

This paper contributes an original integrated theory perspective on lean and action learning.

This paper aims to analyse the extent to which health and safety action controls, results controls and informal controls affect the integration of health and safety issues into management actions, which in turn leads to improve health and safety performance. It also investigates the extent to which those health and safety control mechanisms contribute complementarily to the integration of health and safety issues.

A survey of 108 Italian non-listed firms tests a set of hypotheses based on complementarity theory and object of control framework.

Not all the health and safety control mechanisms positively influence the integration of health and safety issues into business practices and external stakeholder relations. Complementarity between health and safety control mechanisms is significant only for higher health and safety performance companies, indicating that the health and safety control mechanisms operate as a package.

The health and safety performance measure could be replaced in future research by improved inter-subjectively testable information, although collecting health and safety quantitative data is difficult. An additional limitation is the response rate.

The findings encourage companies to design and use a comprehensive set of health and safety control mechanisms to promote a healthy workplace.

The paper contributes to the management control, sustainability management control and health and safety accounting literature. The paper provides an in-depth interdisciplinary analysis of the effectiveness of different control mechanisms in the context of health and safety that hitherto has rarely been investigated despite the multiple importance of the topic.

This study advocates the importance of taking an evolutionary perspective in the strategic configuration of closed-loop supply chains (CLSC) in the transition to a circular economy. Building on the supply chain management and industrial dynamics research domains, an evolutionary analytical framework was developed and applied in the empirical context of the ongoing industrial transition to e-mobility.

This study is designed as an in-depth exploratory case study to capture the multi-layer dynamic complexities and their interplay in CSLC development. The empirical investigation was based on two-year interactions between the authors and various departments in a leading European heavy vehicle manufacturer. The proposed evolutionary analytical framework was used for investigating the dynamics of four CLSC configurations through ten possible trajectories.

The findings demonstrate that the evolution of each CLSC configuration comes with multiple challenges and requirements and point out the necessity for the co-development of technologies, product design and production, and infrastructure through long-term relationships among key supply chain actors. However, this evolutionary journey is associated with multiple dilemmas caused by uncertainties in the market and technology developments. All these factors were properly captured and critically analyzed, along with their interactions, thanks to the constructs included in the proposed evolutionary analytical framework.

The proposed evolutionary framework is applicable for examination of SC transformation in the context of market and technology development, and is particularly relevant for transitioning from linear SC to CLSC. The framework offers a single actor perspective, as it does not directly tackle dynamics and effects of actions taken by SC actors.

The developed framework can support SC managers in identifying, framing, and comparing alternative strategies for CLSC configuration in the transition process.

This study proposes the framework for understanding and guiding the evolutionary process of CLSC development. Its uniqueness lies in the integration of concepts from innovation and evolutionary theories coming from industrial dynamics and SCM literature streams.

This study investigates three issues associated with playing sports video games: the correlates of participation (and its intensity) in this type of activity, their complementarity with traditional sports and their perception as sport. Given the scarcity of data on esports participation, these results can be seen as an initial approach to these issues with regard to esports.

Sequential, two-part and regression models are estimated using a sample of 11,018 individuals from the Survey of Sporting Habits in Spain 2015.

First, the association of the correlates follows different patterns for participation in sports video games and its intensity. Second, complementarity with traditional sports is found using different approaches. Third, young people consider this activity as a dimension of their overall interest in sports.

The different association of the correlates with participation in esports and its intensity can be used to define marketing and brand investment strategies. The complementarity between esports and traditional sports should influence how the actual stakeholders in sport define future strategies to favour the growth of both industries. Finally, the increasing perception of esports as a sport should influence the future organisation of multi-sport events like the Olympic Games.

Using sports video games participation as a proxy of esports participation, this study is the first to provide empirical evidence of the relevance of distinguishing between participation in esports and its intensity, their complementarity with traditional sports and their perception as sport.

This study explores the relationship between corruption and shadow economy (SE) by examining the potential links and interactions between these two phenomena to see whether it is a one-way or two-way relationship and a complementarity or substitution linkage.

Using a dataset comprised of 145 countries all over the world between 1996 and 2015, the authors apply the simultaneous two-step system generalized method of moments approach to address the research question.

The study findings support a positive bidirectional relationship between corruption and SE. As such, this study has provided evidence supporting the complementarity association. In the authors' further analyses, they point out that several factors can moderate this positive bidirectional linkage. In particular, while Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows strengthen it, it is weakened by other institutional factors such as civil liberties and political rights. Finally, by splitting the full sample into three different subsamples and then examining countries at varying stages of economic development, the authors can gain valuable insights into the evolving dynamics of the relationship between corruption and SE. Specifically, while the authors observe that the positive direction of corruption to SE remains unchanged across different nations, they observe that the positive influence of SE on corruption is strongest among developed economies only.

The study findings provide an important policy implication. This study highlights the synergistic relationship between SE and corruption, indicating that reducing corruption will reduce the size of the SE. Consequently, this reduction in the SE can mitigate the adverse effects of corruption on economic development.

This paper is among the first empirical studies that critically investigate the interrelationship between SE and corruption. It then explores how this two-way linkage is conditional on some factors, such as economic development levels and institutional quality indicators.

This paper aims at examining the dynamic patterns and traits of bilateral trade between Korea and Vietnam. The major findings of this paper can be summarized as follows. First, the structure of trade between Korea and Vietnam conforms to each country’s factor proportion. Second, the structure of Korea’s imports from Vietnam did not change over the last two decades. In other words, Vietnam has failed to climb up the industrial ladder. Third, the degree of intra-industry trade between Korea and Vietnam has been low and unstable. Fourth, the trade pattern between Korea and Vietnam has been complementary not competitive in nature. Korea-Vietnam FTA will open a new horizon for the deeper vertical integration of the two.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how first-tier suppliers in multi-tier supply chains adapt their vertical and horizontal relationships to reduce the risk of slavery-like practices.

Using Archer’s morphogenetic theory as an analytical lens, this paper presents case analyses adduced from primary and secondary data related to the development of relational anti-slavery supply capabilities in Brazilian–UK beef and timber supply chains.

Four distinct types of adaptation were found among first-tier suppliers: horizontal systemisation, vertical systemisation, horizontal transformation and vertical differentiation.

This study draws attention to the socially situated nature of corporate action, moving beyond the rationalistic discourse that underpins existing research studies of multi-tier, socially sustainable, supply chain management. Cross-sector comparison highlights sub-country and intra-sectoral differences in both institutional setting and the approaches and outcomes of individual corporate actors’ initiatives. Sustainable supply chain management theorists would do well to seek out those institutional entrepreneurs who actively reshape the institutional conditions within which they find themselves situated.

Practitioners may benefit from adopting a structured approach to the analysis of the necessary or contingent complementarities between their, primarily economic, objectives and the social sustainability goals of other, potential, organizational partners.

A range of interventions that may serve to reduce the risk of slavery-like practices in global commodity chains are presented.

This paper presents a novel analysis of qualitative empirical data and extends understanding of the agential role played by first-tier suppliers in global, multi-tier, commodity, supply chains.

Due to dramatic transformation of the auto industry, governments are implementing innovation policies to ensure the domain of sustainable technologies. According to the literature, developing countries that depend on multinational subsidiaries must invest in complementary innovation to be part of their research and development (R&D) headquarters' long-term plans. This study analyses the Brazilian auto industry innovation policy (Rota 2030) to evaluate if it targets complementarity with the German's one (NPE). It also compares the institutional arrangements of the former against the latter to check for governance gaps.

It applies a case-oriented comparative method (Ragin, 2014) for the analysis of qualitative evidence on secondary data. It investigates evidence of complementarity between Rota 2030 and national platform for electric mobility (NPE) objectives and checks for governance gaps in Rota 2030 using NPE as a reference.

The results confirmed a loose fitting between the innovation policies mainly for a lack of determinism of Rota 2030 objectives. Governance gaps were also found on Rota 2030 policy formulation and operationalization.

It contributes for the improvement of Rota 2030, and its analytical frame may be used for the formulation or adjustment of other developing countries' innovation policies.

It contributes with innovation system and policy field development with a theoretical extension coming from the New Institutional Economics (NIE) (Menard, 2018). By examining the performance of “institutional arrangements” during the process of formulation and operationalization of innovation policies, it shows the importance of coordination for their effectiveness.