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1 – 10 of over 46000Pushpendu Chand, Anil Kumar, Jitesh Thakkar and Kunal Kanti Ghosh
In today's globalized business environment, growing supply chain complexity (SCC) is arguably a major threat to the firm's business continuity with an adverse impact on the firm's…
Abstract
Purpose
In today's globalized business environment, growing supply chain complexity (SCC) is arguably a major threat to the firm's business continuity with an adverse impact on the firm's competitive advantage and business performance. Researchers, though, investigated the impact of SCC drivers on a firm's operational performance, but the key question “Which supply chain complexity drivers severely impact the supply chain performance (SCP)?” remains largely unanswered from empirical research. The present study aims to decompose the SCC into four major constituting sub-categories (upstream, operational, downstream and external) to explore the causal impact of SCC drivers on SCP in direct and mediated manner.
Design/methodology/approach
The indicators applied for measuring constructs in the “Measurement model” are obtained from existing literature to increase the validity and reliability of the model. First, a pilot survey involving 25 SC managers from various manufacturing firms was conducted for indicator refinement and content validation. Second, the large-scale response data were collected through extensive surveys. This research explores the causality by testing the hypothesis applying Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on the responses received from 246 firms.
Findings
The study investigates the impact of SCC drivers on SCP through direct and mediation effect. The results indicate that upstream and operational SCC drivers play a mediating role in managing SCP. The findings reveal that upstream and operational SCC drivers adversely impact the SCP. Furthermore, the impact of downstream complexity on SCP is moderated through operational complexity drivers. The result explains the theoretical relation among SCC drivers supported by empirical validity.
Practical implications
The outcome offers practical relevance to supply chain (SC) managers in SCC and SCP management. Knowing the effect of SCC drivers among themselves and on SCP will facilitate the SC managers in devising the right strategies. The study provides a framework for prioritizing the resource in addressing the SCC issues among many.
Originality/value
The study addresses the apparent gap in the literature by modeling the impact of SCC drivers on SCP, which remained largely unexplored. First, it contributes to developing complex relationships among SCC drivers. Second, the direct and mediated causal effect of the SCC drivers individually and combinedly on SCP are explicated.
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Sharareh Kermanshachi, Thahomina Jahan Nipa and Bac Dao
The purpose of this study is to ascertain and list the most effective management strategies in efficiently handling the project complexities to enhance the performance of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to ascertain and list the most effective management strategies in efficiently handling the project complexities to enhance the performance of the project.
Design/methodology/approach
To fulfill the aim of this study, a comprehensive literature review was conducted, and the qualitative Delphi technique in two rounds was applied. Participants of the Delphi technique consisted of 12 subject matter experts (SMEs) with cumulative experience of 250 years in working in construction projects. In the first round of the Delphi technique, SMEs were asked to provide complexity management strategies to address the complexities due to 37 complexity indicators (CIs) under 11 complexity categories. In the second round of the Delphi technique, SMEs identified the top three management strategies for each of the 37 CIs.
Findings
This study collected the outcome of the two-round Delphi technique and based on the output developed the list of strategies to manage complexities related to each indicator. For example, establishing a well-informed governance team, assigning a Project Manager (PM) when the number of projects is more than one in an organization, and assigning a PM efficient enough to communicate with higher authority effectively will help in managing complexity that arises due to faulty assessment of the influence of a project on the organization’s overall success.
Originality/value
This study will help practitioners in effectively managing the project complexities, and thus will reduce the monetary loss associated with project complexities.
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N. Van der Walt, C. Ingley, G.S. Shergill and A. Townsend
The purpose of this research paper is to explore the proposition that diversifying the board in terms of gender, ethnicity or skill base may require consideration of the specific…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research paper is to explore the proposition that diversifying the board in terms of gender, ethnicity or skill base may require consideration of the specific strategic environment of the organisation. The proposition arises from the question as to whether or not greater diversity in board configuration is desirable in certain circumstances and considers the group dynamics, skill mix and capabilities that are required by boards under different conditions of change and strategic complexity.
Design/methodology/approach
The study examines the financial performance of New Zealand publicly listed companies over a five‐year period and focuses on changes in board composition, strategic activity and implications for corporate performance.
Findings
The study finds limited support for the idea that board configuration, strategic context and corporate decision quality may be linked.
Originality/value
This paper will be of particular value to those involved in the appointment of directors within the private and public sectors. In particular, it focuses discussion on the strategic environment faced by the organisation and the relevance of a range of potential selection criteria when appointing new directors. It is also of interest to researchers evaluating the value of social capital and gender equity in contemporary organisations as, based on empirical reseach, it challenges conventional thinking. By implication, the paper also questions whether or not boards are actually able to influence key outcomes in the manner expected by legislators.
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Joana Geraldi, Harvey Maylor and Terry Williams
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to operations management (OM) practice contingency research by describing the complexity of projects. Complexity is recognised as a key…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to operations management (OM) practice contingency research by describing the complexity of projects. Complexity is recognised as a key independent (contingent) variable that impacts on many subsequent decisions in the practice of managing projects.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a systematic review of relevant literature and synthesises an integrated framework for assessing the complexities of managing projects.
Findings
This framework comprises five dimensions of complexity – structural, uncertainty, dynamics, pace and socio‐political complexity. These five dimensions present individuals and organisations with choices about how they respond to each type of complexity, in terms of business case, strategic choice, process choice, managerial capacity and competencies.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is to provide a clarification to the epistemology of complexity, to demonstrate complexity as a lived experience for project managers, and offer a common language for both practitioners and future empirical studies considering the individual or organisational response to project complexities. The work also demonstrates an application of systematic review in OM research.
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Many entrepreneurial theories suggest that corporate growth is not taking place in a continuous manner but in a rather disruptive way. Since many strategy planning frameworks…
Abstract
Many entrepreneurial theories suggest that corporate growth is not taking place in a continuous manner but in a rather disruptive way. Since many strategy planning frameworks implicitly assume that their underlying assumptions are not changing overtime this stands in some contradictory relation to growth transitions in rapidly growing firms. Hence, this paper proposes an approach called “Growth Scorecards” which is based on the Balanced Scorecard methodology and enables decision makers of high‐growth enterprises to identify the necessity and approximate scope of strategic revisions associated with a growth transition. The described approach therefore employs complexity‐theoretic concepts in order to classify the management’s propensity for growth measures as the internal likelihood of a growth transition. As a prerequisite for this the paper starts with a disquisition of the theoretic framework underlying this approach.
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Hong Liu, Lu Ma and Panpan Huang
The purpose of this paper is to test the assertion that the relationship between corporation performance and organizational complexity follows an inverted U-shape curve, and a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test the assertion that the relationship between corporation performance and organizational complexity follows an inverted U-shape curve, and a corporation gains the best performance when its organizational complexity fits its environmental complexity.
Design/methodology/approach
This research did not directly measure environmental complexity to verify the relationship between corporation performance and complex environment, but measured organizational complexity to subtly display the effect of the organizational complexity on the corporation performance while controlled the environmental complexity. To do so, a set of corporations that shared the similar environment was selected, and then these corporations’ performance and organizational complexity were calculated, the related hypotheses were tested empirically.
Findings
The paper proved the inverted U-shape relationship between organizational complexity and corporation performance, and also found that different corporation chooses different complex adaptive way, so the inverted U-shape relationship displays hierarchy.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should search out to calculate corporation’s environment complexity the fitness of organizational complexity for testing hypotheses.
Practical implications
The regularity of relationship between organizational complexity and corporation performance is helpful for managers to understand that a way to improve a corporation’s performance is to enhance the fitness of organizational complexity and environmental complexity.
Social implications
Organizational complexity may be competitive advantage, but excessive growth of it will be harmful.
Originality/value
Usually organizational complexity is thought of as a negative factor to corporation performance and tends to be constrained, but this research explored the role of organizational complexity to corporation performance and the findings helps managers to understand when to enhance organizational complexity and when to weaken it. The methodology of calculating the fitness of organizational complexity and environmental complexity by fixing environment is a contribution to complexity theory research.
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FRED. D. CARVER and THOMAS J. SERGIOVANNI
The major purpose of this study is to test the applicability of an eight‐variable axiomatic theory of organizations to the secondary school. Three corollaries, derived from the…
Abstract
The major purpose of this study is to test the applicability of an eight‐variable axiomatic theory of organizations to the secondary school. Three corollaries, derived from the seven major propositions of the theory, were tested with data from 36 secondary schools in Illinois. The methodological processes employed to obtain measures of complexity, adaptability, and job satisfaction are presented following explication of the larger theoretical framework. An extended discussion of the findings and their implications for the theory applied to schools concludes with suggestions for methodological changes and an expanded research approach.
Workers’ health is a main concern in industrialized countries. The structural evolution of the labor market should have encouraged better working conditions, as should have…
Abstract
Purpose
Workers’ health is a main concern in industrialized countries. The structural evolution of the labor market should have encouraged better working conditions, as should have increasing interest in corporate social responsibility. But work arduousness takes new forms as work organizations evolve. All workers are potentially affected by onerous working conditions. The purpose of this paper is to explore all types of working conditions that may affect workers.
Design/methodology/approach
The author creates four indicators of working conditions using the multiple correspondence analysis and also analyzes how they relate to the workers’ physical and mental health using a logit model.
Findings
Performing the analysis on data from the third and fifth waves of the European Working Conditions Survey, the author presents the results showing the growing importance of interpersonal relationships at work and observes a rise in inequalities in terms of health over the period 2000-2010 for people belonging to the vulnerable categories: women and lower-income groups.
Originality/value
The author offers to describe the evolution of the working conditions of the European workers over an interesting period during which many changes took place. Moreover, this paper investigates the respective impacts of different types of working conditions to come up with policy recommendations.
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Edmundo Inacio Junior, Eduardo Avancci Dionisio and Fernando Antonio Padro Gimenez
This study aims to identify necessary conditions for innovative entrepreneurship in cities and determine similarities in entrepreneurial configurations among them.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify necessary conditions for innovative entrepreneurship in cities and determine similarities in entrepreneurial configurations among them.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors assessed the necessary conditions for various levels of entrepreneurial output and categorized cities based on similar patterns by applying necessary condition analysis (NCA) and cluster analysis in a sample comprised of 101 cities from the entrepreneurial cities index, representing a diverse range of urban environments in Brazil. A comprehensive data set, including both traditional indicators from official Bureau of statistics and nontraditional indicators from new platforms of science, technology and innovation intelligence, was compiled for analysis.
Findings
Bureaucratic complexity, urban conditions, transport infrastructure, economic development, access to financial capital, secondary education, entrepreneurial intention, support organizations and innovation inputs were identified as necessary for innovative entrepreneurship. Varying levels of these conditions were found to be required for different entrepreneurial outputs.
Research limitations/implications
The static nature of the data limits understanding of dynamic interactions among dimensions and their impact on entrepreneurial city performance.
Practical implications
Policymakers can use the findings to craft tailored support policies, leveraging the relationship between city-level taxonomy and direct outputs of innovative entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs).
Social implications
The taxonomy and nontraditional indicators sheds light on the broader societal benefits of vibrant EEs, emphasizing their role in driving socioeconomic development.
Originality/value
The cluster analysis combined with NCA’s bottleneck analysis is an original endeavor which made it possible to identify performance benchmarks for Brazilian cities, according to common characteristics, as well as the required levels of each condition by each city group to achieve innovative entrepreneurial outputs.
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Gizem Bilgin, Huseyin Erol, Guzide Atasoy, Irem Dikmen and M. Talat Birgonul
Megaprojects are known as complex projects that involve high levels of uncertainty. This interpretive study explores and portrays perceived complexity in mega construction…
Abstract
Purpose
Megaprojects are known as complex projects that involve high levels of uncertainty. This interpretive study explores and portrays perceived complexity in mega construction projects by lived experiences of project managers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilises a ground theory approach to analyse data gathered from semi-structured interviews with 18 professionals involved in 11 megaprojects.
Findings
Complexity in mega construction projects is defined as a project property that stems from the interaction of project features, uncertain variables/conditions, and managerial actions forming a pattern, which emerges over time, based on the reflections of construction practitioners.
Originality/value
This study defines complexity based on the reflections of the practitioners in the construction industry and uniquely identifies complexity patterns that may have implications for project management, particularly risk management.
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