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This paper aims to examine the existing literature on firms’ power through the lens of the supply chain and highlights some gaps that could be covered by future research.

This study uses a systematic framework-based review combining the insights of the antecedents, decisions and outcomes (ADO) and theories, contexts and methods (TCM) frameworks. The review was carried out using a sample of 108 articles published between 1984 and 2022 in 25 prestigious journals.

The ADO framework maps out the state of the art of the antecedents of power (i.e. sources and types of firm power), the decision to use power and the effect that exercising power over other firms may have on firm performance and the quality of inter-firm relationships. In addition, this framework highlights factors that mediate or moderate the decision to exercise power and the factors that mediate or moderate the outcomes of exercising power or power asymmetry. The TCM framework provides insights into the theories, contexts (i.e. countries, industries, level of analysis and sources of data) and methods used by the existing literature. The content analysis using the aforementioned frameworks provides the basis to elaborate propositions for future research on power in the supply chain from the perspective of gender differences.

This systematic literature review offers a comprehensive guide for researchers to understand the antecedents, decisions and outcomes of firm power in the supply chain, as well as the TCM used in the literature. The content analysis using frameworks provides a road map to investigate the proposed factors that might moderate the decision to exercise power and the outcome of exercising power or power asymmetry from the perspective of gender differences. In addition, based on content analysis, the authors make propositions about TCM that could be applied in future research.

From a practical perspective, this systematic literature review may help managers to better understand the sources and consequences of their firm’s power. This would allow managers to make better decisions when negotiating with their supply chain parties, which could potentially lead to better performance for their firms and the whole supply chain.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to conduct a comprehensive systematic literature review of the different dimensions of firms’ power in the supply chain.

An emerging body of literature has pinpointed the role of supply chain structure in influencing the extent to which supply chain members disclose information about their internal practices and performance. Nevertheless, empirical research investigating the effects of firm-level relational embeddedness on network-level transparency still lags. Drawing on social network analysis, this research examines the effect of relational embeddedness on supply chain transparency and the contingent role of digitalization in the context of environmental, social and governance (ESG) information disclosure.

In their empirical analysis, the authors collected secondary data from the Bloomberg database about 2,229 firms and 14,007 ties organized in 107 extended supply chains. The authors employed supplier and customer concentration metrics to measure relational embeddedness and performed multiple econometric models to test the hypothesis.

The authors found a positive effect of supplier concentration on supply chain transparency, but the effect of customer concentration was not significant. Additionally, the digitalization of focal firms reinforced the impact of supplier concentration on supply chain transparency.

The study findings contribute by underscoring the critical effect of relational embeddedness on supply chain transparency, extending prior literature on social network analysis, providing compelling evidence for the intersection of digitalization and supply chain management, and drawing important implications for practices.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of backward supply chain information sharing (SCIS) on the performance of different parties along supply chains.

Using data collected from 617 Chinese manufacturers, this study examines the effect of information sharing from manufacturers to suppliers (ISMS) on supplier and manufacturer responsiveness in both two- and three-tier supply chains and the transferrable effect of information sharing from customers to manufacturers (ISCM) on supplier responsiveness. The authors use structural equation modeling and regression analysis to estimate the proposed relationships.

ISMS is positively related to supplier responsiveness in both two- and three-tier SCIS, whereas its effect on manufacturer responsiveness is conditional, indicating that upstream receiving parties benefit more from backward SCIS. ISCM is positively related to supplier responsiveness, demonstrating the transferable effect of backward SCIS.

When designing SCIS strategies, managers should take into account the unequal distribution of benefits from SCIS and the transferable effect of backward SCIS. Specifically, companies should always motivate their downstream partners to engage in SCIS, while they themselves need to be cautious with information sharing. They should also be aware that their information sharing behavior may benefit a third upstream party.

This study provides deep insights into the distribution of the benefits from SCIS among supply chain partners and suggests that the direction and the role supply chain partners play (as receiving or disclosing parties) in SCIS matter.

Drawing on the social presence theory, this study aims to explore how supplier–customer social media interactions influence supplier observers’ trust in the customers and what mechanisms contribute to variation in trust experience.

A total of 36 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Chinese suppliers using WeChat for business-to-business interactions. Data were analyzed in three steps: open coding, axial coding and selective coding.

Findings reveal that varied trust is based not only on the categories of social presence of interaction – whether social presence is embedded in informative interactions – but also on the perceived selectivity in social presence. Observer suppliers who experience selectivity during social and affective interactions create a perception of hidden information and an unhealthy relationship atmosphere, and report a sense of emotional vulnerability, thus eroding cognitive and affective trust.

The findings contribute new understandings to social presence theory by exploring the social presence of interactions in a supplier–supplier–customer triad and offer valuable insights into business-to-business social media literature by adopting a suppliers’ viewpoint to unpack the mechanisms of how social presence of interaction positively and negatively influences suppliers’ trust and behavioral responses.

Emerging markets are characterized by weak institutions and strong relationships, which give rise to different market characteristics in supply chain relationships. This study investigates the impact of customer concentration on suppliers' real earnings management.

Based on China's relationship-based transaction, this study selects 2007–2019 Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchange A-share manufacturing listed companies as the research samples. The empirical analysis is derived from the ordinary least square regression model with industry and year fixed effects, and cross-sectional analysis is used for further analysis.

It is found that the higher the degree of customer concentration, the more likely a company is to engage in real earnings management mainly through discretionary expenses instead of accrual-based earnings management. Further research shows that when suppliers provide customers with higher commercial credit and make more relationship-specific investments, and when major customers are also major suppliers, the effect of customer concentration on real earnings management is more significant. It can be seen from the results that high customer concentration is beneficial for suppliers to cooperate with major customers in emerging markets.

This research expands the relationship between customer relationship-based transaction and earnings management from the perspective of collaboration. These conclusions are of great significance for market regulators to reform information disclosure related to customers and for participants to pay attention to the composition of major customers of the company.

This paper aims to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by buying centers in small and medium enterprises (SME) manufacturing companies in view of recent technological changes and the virtualization of communication.

This study uses a qualitative approach with multiple case studies to portray complex realities within the buying centers in the manufacturing SME context. The authors selected five Italian companies to portray the diverse characteristics, practices and policies of relevant stakeholders before reaching saturation with the issues explored.

The authors find that interactions among buying center members are more effective with greater collaboration and exchange (as opposed to competition and a struggle for power). Virtual/hybrid relations require greater intra-group cooperation, whereas diverse backgrounds and collaborative interactions help the flexibility and performance of the buying center. Greater use of technology produces certainty and automation, but it may also cause overload and biases that can be solved with the ability to analyze and clear responsibility for decisions.

The authors studied only five Italian companies in this study. Future research in other countries with diverse cultural and socio-economic conditions and methods would help extend this research.

The findings would improve the understanding of the challenges of adopting new purchase process technologies that would help automate routine tasks, produce useful data and support decision-making.

Unlike prior studies, this study uses an exploratory design to study the evolution of buying centers in SMEs to seek deeper insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by SMEs because of the growing use of emerging technologies.

This paper examines the role of purchasing in facilitating early supplier involvement in new product development (NPD) in contexts of technological uncertainty (TU). Taking a purchasing perspective, it develops a moderate model to explain the effects of supplier involvement on NPD performance and whether and how knowledge orchestration capability (KOC) and TU affect these relationships. Additionally, KOC drivers are defined.

A total of 317 usable questionnaires from Chinese high-technology firms were collected. Moderated multiple regression (MMR) was used to test all hypotheses. Resource orchestration theory (ROT) was the adopted theoretical lens.

Two forms of supplier involvement (as knowledge source and co-creator) were found to distinctly affect NPD performance and have potential substitutive relationships. Purchasing KOC positively moderates the relationships between forms of supplier involvement on NPD performance. TU strengthens the moderating role of purchasing KOC. Furthermore, purchasing status and supply complexity are important antecedents for purchasing KOC.

These findings serve as a blueprint for involving purchasing in technologically uncertain NPD projects and improve supplier NPD integration. Additionally, management should recognize the purchasing function's role and empower it to identify ideas, knowledge and solutions within supply networks.

This research contributes to the ROT by examining the role of purchasing KOC on supplier involvement in NPD performance, especially under TU. Moreover, it demonstrates significant and positive relations between purchasing department status and external supply complexity on its KOC.

The main purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive review and critical insights of the application of fuzzy methods in modeling, assessing and understanding the various aspects of green and sustainable supply chains (SSCs).

The present study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliometric analysis of 252 research articles. This study employs various tools such as VOSviewer version 1.6.10, Publish or Perish, Mendeley and Excel that aid in descriptive analysis, bibliometric analysis and network visualization. These tools have been used for performing citation analysis, top authors' analysis, co-occurrence of keywords, cluster and content analysis.

The authors have divided the literature into seven application areas and discussed detailed insights. This study has observed that research in the social sustainability area, including various issues like health and safety, labor rights, discrimination, etc. is scarce. Integration of the Industry 4.0 technologies like blockchain, big data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) with the sustainable and green supply chain (GSC) is a promising field for future research.

The authors' contribution primarily lies in providing the integrated framework which shows the changing trends in the use of fuzzy methods in the sustainability area classifying and consolidating green and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) literature in seven major areas where fuzzy methods are predominantly applied. These areas have been obtained after the analysis of clusters and content analysis of the literature presenting key insights from the past and developing the conceptual framework for future research studies.

This research aims to investigate how emerging destinations cope with digitalization of information, where they are in the process and how digitalization of information takes place in destination marketing organizations (DMOs). As a case for emerging destinations that must deal with the negative consequences of the digital divide, the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) will be examined. A new framework, solutions in general, and potential innovative approaches will be presented.

A mixed methods approach was used. Firstly, a content analysis comprising 68 criteria to examine 10 destination websites was conducted to evaluate the performance of provincial destination websites of VMD. Secondly, the authors interviewed five managers from VMD DMOs to reveal the strategy, status quo and their challenges with digitalization.

Some digitalization is evident in VMD DMOs, with the digitization of tourist information provision developing from analog formats to digital modes. The content analysis of the websites shows that provincial destination websites of VMD perform well with regard to communication but need improvements for transaction, and especially relationship aspects. Emerging destinations like VMD DMOs are reaching the second or third level in the digitalization process. Yet they face challenges with human and financial resources.

This research provides recommendations concerning destination website performance, the process of digitalization and how to promote digitalization and apply more digital instruments to move to the next stages of destination digitalization. Also, suggestions on how to overcome existing challenges/barriers in similar areas of the world are provided.

A new, extended more granulated version of the digitalization framework by Karpova et al. (2019) has been developed. The new model acknowledges the continued importance of printed information, provides information about the sequence of steps how to implement website dimensions, and which instruments are realistic to implement in different levels of digitalization considering the challenges and barriers developing destinations face.

Based on the resource orchestration perspective, this study aims to explore whether and how strategic supply management (SSM) affects firms’ operational performance (OP) and innovation performance (IP).

Survey data comprising 404 valid responses are collected from traditional manufacturing firms in China. Confirmatory factor analysis confirms the reliability and validity of the measures. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping are used to test all hypotheses.

SSM improves firms’ OP and IP. Furthermore, supply base resource mobilization (SBRM) and supply market resource mobilization (SMRM) have partial mediating effects on the relationships. SBRM has a greater effect on OP, while SMRM has a greater effect on IP. In addition, these two types of resource mobilization form different mediating paths between SSM and firm performance, and environmental uncertainty positively moderates this relationship.

With the development of national innovation strategies such as the “Made in China 2025” plan, the Chinese manufacturing industry aims to move from low-cost manufacturing to innovative and high-quality manufacturing. The study’s findings further emphasize the role of purchasing and supply management in external resource management. In addition to demonstrating the differential effects of heterogeneous resource mobilization on OP and IP, different mediation pathways through external resources mobilization are identified in the relationship between SSM and firm performance.