Search results

Organizations increasingly rely on cross-functional teams to deal with supply chain (SC) disruptions. These teams may use their broad range of connections and expertise to gather or scout relevant information, enabling them to develop integrative countermeasures and increase their organization’s resilience. Despite their potential, cross-functional teams often struggle to attain information scouting’s prospective benefits for effectively resolving disruptions. By drawing from group information-processing theory, this study aims to explore when and how cross-functional teams can realize information scouting’s full potential for ensuring their organization’s resilience.

Multisource, multi-informant data were collected from 80 cross-functional teams exposed to SC disruptions in a realistic SC management simulation.

The results show that a cross-functional team’s ability to effectively use information scouting for ensuring its organization’s resilience is contingent upon the degree to which the team’s members share information and align decisions internally (i.e. internal integration). The findings further reveal that this moderating role of internal integration is strengthened when the cross-functional team faces a volatile environment in which multiple SC disruptions are likely to occur (i.e. higher SC vulnerability).

This study contributes by advancing a more complete perspective on how a cross-functional team may contribute to its organization’s resilience. Specifically, the present research reveals how the benefits of a cross-functional team’s information scouting for dealing with SC disruptions are critically dependent upon internal conditions within the team, as well as external conditions related to its organization’s overall SC (i.e. beyond individual dyadic relationships).

The objective of this research is to explore integration and transition activities in large industrial projects. The purpose is to (a) obtain a better understanding of the integration and transition activities between the project front-end (FE) and project initiation phases (PIPs), (b) explore what, how and when these integrations and transitions occur, and (c) explore what the integration and transition activities mean to project practitioners.

A qualitative research design methodology is followed, based on interviews using open-ended questions. An expert panel is used to provide responses to questions pertaining to the integration and transition between the project FE and PIP. The research is focused on managing large projects in the South African electrical engineering industrial projects industry. A literature review combined with empirical analysis reflects the importance of integrating and transitioning in project business.

The findings provide guidance to researchers and practitioners on integration and transition mechanisms, how and when these occur. It highlights the benefits of integration and transition activities. Important lessons for researchers and practitioners are provided together with areas for future research.

This is an interpretative analysis of expert opinion. Expert panel members are experienced at senior decision-making level, and their expertise was accessed based on experience, education and knowledge. This extensive experience is shared in this paper providing insights into their opinions, experiences, success and failures. These inputs together with the literature review provide interesting implications for both a theoretical foundation as well as practical implications for practitioners.

With asymmetric investments in exchange (i.e. sourcing) relationships, both sourcing firms and suppliers invest but one party invests more than the other. This paper aims to examine the associations between asymmetric (i.e. unequal) investments in exchange relationships and the tendency of the strategic supplier base to shirk as perceived by the sourcing firm, as well as the moderation effects of cross-functional information sharing within a sourcing firm on these associations.

The authors analyzed survey data from 500 US middle-market manufacturers via ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation. Besides appropriate controls, the authors also employed the heteroskedasticity-based instrumental variable approach to ensure that analytical inferences are not influenced by endogeneity.

On average, when a sourcing firm invests more than its strategic supplier base into their exchange relationships, the perceived tendency of the strategic supplier base to shirk decreases. This negative association is more pronounced when a sourcing firm facilitates cross-functional information sharing. Conversely, when the strategic supplier base invests more than the sourcing firm into their exchange relationships, the perceived tendency of the strategic supply base to shirk is not detected unless the sourcing firm facilitates cross-functional information sharing.

Prior research reveals that investments by a sourcing firm or by suppliers influence supplier shirking. This paper provides new evidence as to how and why asymmetric investments in exchange relationships relate to the perceived tendency of the strategic supplier base to shirk and new evidence as to how and why cross-functional information sharing safeguards against this tendency when investments in exchange relationships are unequal.

This article aims to examine the influence of emotional intelligence on cross-functional teams, the formation of interorganizational networks and the impact of all three dimensions on operational effectiveness.

The analysis was based on 250 valid questionnaires collected from organizations in the Valle del Cauca region in Colombia in the service sector. The variables were analyzed using structural equation modeling to identify their relationships.

The results suggest that emotional intelligence contributes to establishing cross-functional teams but does not impact the development of interorganizational networks, influencing operational effectiveness only indirectly through the cross-functional teams. Contrary to what the literature suggests, interorganizational networks do not influence the operational effectiveness of organizations. Hence, in the pursuit of competitive advantage, companies in the studied region should encourage the creation of cross-functional teams within their organizations to maximize the returns received through the optimization of operational effectiveness.

Organizations are comprised of individuals whose emotional intelligence competencies and abilities enable them to form effective cross-functional teams. Furthermore, cross-functional teams that effectively establish relationships with other organizations are frequently employed in global, interorganizational collaboration environments like joint ventures and alliances. Cross-functional teams that fulfill their aims have the potential to benefit the organization's performance by boosting operational effectiveness and, therefore, its competitiveness.

The value of this article lies in providing a better understanding of the capabilities and strategies of organizations in the construction of interorganizational networks intended to improve their competitiveness. However, before operational effectiveness and a sustainable competitive advantage can be achieved, the role of the individuals comprising the cross-functional teams should be managed through the appropriate application of the concepts of emotional intelligence.

The study seeks to propose a linear model by applying complexity theory and resource-based theory to investigate how hotels achieve competitive advantage and organizational performance during the Covid-19 pandemic from the perspective of hotel leaders.

Using a standardized questionnaire and convenience sampling approach hotel managers and administrative employees were surveyed online. A total of 354 participants from five provinces in China were examined using Smart PLS and fsQCA 3.0 for analysis. The utilization of the asymmetric method facilitates the elucidation of relationships that may not be readily apparent when employing conventional symmetric approaches.

The results display a significant impact of transformational leadership (TL) on market orientation (MO), competitive advantage (CA) and organizational performance (OP). The results show numerous combinations using fsQCA that can be utilized to increase OP within the hotel industry.

At present, there is a lack of substantial empirical evidence to comprehensively investigate the impact of TL on MO, CA and OP in the field of hospitality research specifically in the context of the Covid-19. The study also contributes by providing an explanation of the factors that contribute to the development of a higher organizational performance base through TL, MO and CA during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This study aims to suggest a moderated mediation model addressing how internal integration interacts with information technology (IT) link with external customers to meet customer needs more efficiently and effectively.

This study tests the proposed hypotheses by using 268 data collected from manufacturing firms worldwide.

The results of this study reveal that internal integration plays a very important role in promoting customer satisfaction directly and indirectly by enhancing the ability to meet customers’ flexibility needs. In addition, the results show that IT link with customers strengthens this indirect influencing relationship.

By combining IT connectedness with external customers with internal capability, this study provides valuable insights into how manufacturing firms apply internal integration more effectively to enhance customer satisfaction.

The aim of this study was to identify interventions for and mechanisms of the digital transformation of purchasing and supply management (PSM) processes. The digital transformation of tactical and operational PSM processes has often progressed slowly despite the solid knowledge of advanced technologies.

This study used a qualitative exploratory approach based on 14 interviews with PSM executives from firms that are continuously working toward using advanced technologies in their PSM processes but have not yet gained full strategic benefits from digital transformation.

This study formulates five propositions regarding interventions and mechanisms that can positively influence the digital transformation of PSM processes. The main intervention in this regard is the renewal of data infrastructure, including platforms. PSM-related data should meet needs from both tactical and operational viewpoints. When applications serve as a source of data, they support digital transformation. Mechanisms such as supplier measurement and process improvement are outcomes of the digital transformation of PSM processes.

This study highlights the importance of common data sets for tactical and operational purchasing. These purchasing data should be owned and served by a cross-functional team. To create this interoperability, a firm needs global governance of open standards.

This study makes a theoretical contribution to the discussion of what kind of interventions positively influence on the digital transformation of PSM processes. Specifically, this study explains the integration needs of data and applications.

As the start of a new product development (NPD) process, the front fuzzy end (FFE) is believed to determine new product performance to a large extent. However, its effects on new product performance, particularly in terms of quality and cost, lack empirical evidence in the extant literature. Moreover, the joint performance effects of the FFE and cross-functional interfaces in later NPD stages (i.e. product development and product launch) are largely overlooked and deserve further investigation. Therefore, this study aims to explore the direct effects of the FFE and later stages’ joint moderating effects on new product performance (i.e. quality and cost) from a holistic process view.

A conceptual model is proposed to hypothesize the FFE–new product performance relationships and the joint performance effects of cross-functional interface management. A sample of 196 firms from an international survey is used and hierarchical linear regression is employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

This study finds that FFE implementation contributes to both new product quality and cost performance. Moreover, interface management in multiple NPD stages has synergistic performance effects. Specifically, the FFE, customer involvement in product development and manufacturing flexibility in product launch jointly improve new product quality performance, while the FFE, supplier involvement in product development and manufacturing flexibility in product launch jointly improve new product cost performance.

This study extends the NPD literature by deepening the understanding of the key roles of the FFE on new product performance and evidencing the synergistic effects of cross-functional interfaces in multiple NPD stages. Further, this study also highlights the differential joint moderating effects of interface management in later NPD stages on new product quality and cost performance. This study also offers insightful implications to NPD managers.

The purpose of this paper is to understand whether firms are driven by external pressure or intrinsic value to conduct green management; this study examines the effects of coercive pressure and ethical responsibility on cross-functional green strategy alignment (GSA) and green process coordination (GPC), and in turn, market and environmental performance.

Based on data from 206 Chinese manufacturers, this study empirically tests the proposed relationships using structural equation modeling.

The results highlight the role of coercive pressure in promoting both GSA and GPC that represent functional green efforts at both strategic and operational levels, indicating firms’ critical concern of obtaining external legitimacy from stakeholders. Ethical responsibility as an intrinsic value promotes GPC that demands joint working from different functions at the operational level. Besides, the authors find that GSA improves market and environmental performance, whereas GPC only enhances environmental performance.

This study adds to the knowledge of the drivers of cross-functional green management from external pressure and intrinsic value perspectives. The findings are also fruitful for practitioners and policymakers.

This paper aims to examine how market globalization orientation (i.e. a firm’s strategic commitment to developing the target markets beyond national borders) influences business-to-business (B2B) practices to achieve competitive performance outcomes.

A conceptual framework shows how to translate strategic orientation into integrated organizational practices for competitive outcomes. A research model defines key variables (drivers, B2B practices and performance outcomes). The research model is tested using an international survey of 439 firms from four continents. And the analysis results are reported.

The results suggest that market globalization orientation influences organizational practices and external B2B network processes to achieve desirable performance outcomes. Integrated product development is a crucial linkage mechanism that enables firms to translate strategic network coordination and product innovation goals into improved manufacturing and firm performance.

First, macro-level factors (e.g. the changing attitudes of domestic stakeholders toward globalization) do not necessarily dictate the critical aspects of the micro-level responses (e.g. firm-level practices). Despite negative narratives of globalization at the macro-level (e.g. economic inequality, unwanted immigration that spreads transmissible diseases, supply chain disruptions), firm-level responses toward global markets are determined by their missional direction and strategic priorities for achieving competitive advantage by expanding their B2B supply chains and market frontiers (Adams et al., 2019; Kobrin, 2020; Witt, 2019; Zinn and Goldsby, 2020). Second, the findings suggest that many firms take globalization orientation as an essential strategic driver that governs critical operational and network practices for achieving desirable performance outcomes. Market globalization orientation motivates B2B firms of all sizes –including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – to pursue globalization in their unique paths of differentiation. Globalization orientation expands their spheres of influence beyond their local, regional and domestic fronts. The globalization orientation of business leadership motivates firms to stretch their business frontiers without self-imposed geographical constraints.

Competitive firms choose market globalization orientation in their supply flow and implement strategic and operational practices to pursue global market opportunities. Globalization orientation is imperative to firms that seek new growth engines to achieve competitive performance that appeals to diverse market segments of the world.

Outstanding firms expand their value frontiers to secure a flexible supplier base and reach out to diverse B2B customers in their domestic and global market segments. This study also suggests that firms with a market globalization orientation aim to develop novelty products, offer essential services, support the livelihood goals of people and pursue a shared vision of a sustainable planet.

In the context of conflicting societal attitudes and political priorities toward globalization, this study examines the crucial role of market globalization orientation. Using an empirical study, this paper suggests that globalization efforts succeed as firms deploy their internal and network resources to address people’s essential and timeless needs beyond national boundaries.