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This study aims to empirically test the direct effects of three types of information technology (IT) use on three dimensions of supply chain coordination (SCC). It further explores the spillover effects of IT use on coordination beyond its domain across the SC. Besides, this study probes into the moderating effects of environmental uncertainty (EU).

Structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to examine data collected from 202 firms in Hong Kong. Furthermore, multi-group SEM analysis with a series of invariance tests was used to test the moderating effects of EU.

Internal, supplier and customer IT use have direct effects on internal, supplier and customer coordination, respectively. Besides, IT use generates forward spillover effects beyond its domain along the forward physical flow in an SC. EU positively moderates the relationships between external IT use and SCC but does not shape the effectiveness of internal IT use in enhancing SCC. Moreover, under a high EU, the spillover effects of IT use on coordination can be intensified. Besides, the spillover effects further expand to benefit coordination on a larger scale of the SC under a high EU.

This study contributes by revealing that in addition to direct effects, IT use in a specific domain could generate spillover effects on coordination beyond its domain throughout an SC. More importantly, it contributes by explaining the difference in the effectiveness of IT use under different levels of EU using multi-group SEM analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects that customer structured and unstructured information sharing (IS) can have on customer operational and strategic coordination and on supply chain performance (SCP). In addition, the study examines how customer IS influences customer coordination under various levels of demand uncertainty (DU).

The conceptual model for this study is designed on the basis of information-processing theory (IPT). Using data collected from 622 manufacturers in mainland China and Taiwan, the theoretical model is tested using the structural equation modeling method.

The authors find that both customer structured IS and unstructured IS are positively associated with customer strategic coordination. Customer structured IS increases customer operational coordination, but customer unstructured IS does not. DU positively moderates the relations between customer unstructured IS and strategic coordination, and between customer structured IS and operational coordination. Also, DU negatively moderates the relationship between customer structured IS and strategic coordination. Customer strategic coordination is positively related to SCP and to operational coordination. Customer operational coordination has no significant impact on SCP.

This study deepens our understanding of customer IS by distinguishing between customer structured and unstructured IS. The study also provides a greater understanding of customer coordination by making a distinction between the customer strategic and the operational coordination. The findings extend the empirical application of IPT. In addition, this study’s findings direct SC managers to apply varied customer IS practices that can enhance specific kinds of customer coordination activities, thereby enabling improved SCP.

This study aims to investigate the impact of cross-functional coordination (cross-functional system, process and team coordination) on customer coordination (customer strategic and operational coordination) and operational performance. Following the lens of information processing theory (IPT), this study examines the diverse mechanisms of cross-functional coordination practices in enhancing firms’ information processing capabilities (IPCs) to cope with the higher information processing demands resulting from customer coordination, finally improving operational performance.

Based on data collected from 410 Chinese manufacturers, the authors use the structural equation modeling method to test the theoretical model.

The authors found that cross-functional system coordination is positively associated with customer operational coordination (COC) but not customer strategic coordination (CSC). Cross-functional process coordination increases both customer strategic and operational coordination. Cross-functional team coordination significantly promotes CSC but not COC. Both customer operational and strategic coordination facilitate operational performance.

This research pioneers in identifying three dimensions of cross-functional coordination based on IPT and examine their distinct impacts on various customer coordination activities. The authors distinguish two customer coordination dimensions and reveal their effects on operational performance. This research contributes to the development of IPT. Additionally, this study provides guidelines for managers to coordinate internal departments and collaborate with external customers to enhance firms’ operational performance.

To explore the paths by which coordination investments with suppliers and customers relate to improvements in delivery speed, delivery reliability, and manufacturing lead‐time.

Regression analysis of data on supply chain coordination investment and delivery performance from 243 manufacturers from 13 countries.

Results provide evidence of direct relationships between supplier coordination investment and manufacturing lead‐time, and between customer coordination investment and delivery speed and delivery reliability. Moreover, they suggest that customer investment mediates the relationship between supplier investment and delivery reliability, and that supplier investment mediates the relationship between customer investment and manufacturing lead‐time.

To achieve sustainable improvements in multiple aspects of performance, management may need to invest in coordination with partners both upstream and downstream in the supply chain.

This appears to be the first study to provide evidence of both direct and mediated relationships between supplier and customer coordination investment, and delivery performance.

Sailing toward sustainability is becoming the strategic focus of shipping firms. Drawing on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), we investigated the impact of digital transformation (DT) on shipping firms’ sustainable management performance and the boundary conditions guiding this relationship.

The authors examined the hypotheses by employing hierarchical linear modeling on two-wave time-lagged data from 189 shipping firm employees in China.

The results suggest that a shipping firm’s DT is positively associated with its sustainable management performance and that the relationship is strengthened by having better cross-functional and customer coordination mechanisms. Furthermore, our three-way interaction analyses show that while injunctive norms in a shipping firm’s networks can strengthen the contingency roles of both cross-functional and customer coordination mechanisms, descriptive norms alone significantly influence customer coordination.

Drawing on organizational information processing and planned behavior theories, the present research provides new insights into leveraging DT for sailing toward sustainable success. Moreover, this study extends the current understandings of the boundary conditions of the relationship between DT and sustainable management performance by showing the two-way and three-way interaction effects of coordination mechanisms and subjective norms. The findings of the present research can be utilized as effective strategies for promoting sustainable management performance.

An important task following international acquisitions is to coordinate customer relationships; that is, to organise customer interfaces and possibly establish new relationships between customers and the acquirer/the acquired party. Yet, such coordination may prove to be problematic, not the least since customers react to acquisitions. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss customer relationship coordination challenges following international acquisitions. Focus is placed on business-to-business customers in the country of the acquired party.

The paper is based on three case studies representing overlapping customers, customers of an acquired party new to the acquirer, and customers new to the acquired party. Non-standardised, face-to-face interviews were the main data source, and were complemented with secondary data such as newspaper items and annual reports.

Three main challenges are identified: internal competition and cannibalisation; customers not being interested in the new party; and the acquired party demonstrating its independence through customers.

Managerially, any coordination of customer relationships needs to be weighted towards risks for customer losses. It is important to maintain ties to customers – sales and maintenance staff, the product/service, etc. – if customers are to continue with the firm. It is also important that sales and maintenance staff see the benefits of the acquisition.

While international acquisitions are a frequent means to reach new markets and customers, the problems of coordinating customer relationships following them have not been previously researched. Theoretically, the paper contributes to research through categorising and contextually explaining customer relationship coordination challenges in international acquisitions.

The existing literature on key account management (KAM) has focused more on sales forces and management levels than on their evolution. The purpose of this paper is to explore how sales activities can be coordinated to accommodate national and international KAM programs.

The paper is based on a longitudinal study of the industrial conglomerate ABB, 1996‐2008.

The diversity associated with geography and product complexity creates demands for a more flexible organization that can provide a more complete offering portfolio across national boundaries and still handle the demands of local organizations. In addition to internal organizational contingencies, the key factors and driving forces for the development of KAM programs are the marketing and purchasing strategies that buyer and seller firms perceive and encounter.

The data are limited to one corporation and some of its key customers in different industries. Although the internal and construct validity of the findings are strong, the external validity cannot be assessed precisely.

The 12‐year study brings valuable insights to the development of KAM programs in multinational corporations and addresses coordination issues related to geographical and product complexity.

This study aims to examine the relationship between market orientation and product innovation and the mediating role of technological capability in this relationship. It also aims to examine the effect of market orientation on product innovation within the framework of technological intensity classification of the fields of business activity.

The research data were obtained from 186 senior and mid-level managers of 627 manufacturing firms that are widely considered to be innovative, and that are ranked among Turkey's largest 1,000 manufacturing firms (ISO 1000). The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Customer orientation and interfunctional coordination, two distinct dimensions of market orientation, had positive effects on product innovation. Technological capability played a mediating role in the effect of customer orientation and interfunctional coordination on product innovation. In addition, interfunctional coordination positively affected product innovation in firms with low technological intensity, whereas customer orientation positively affected product innovation in firms with medium-high technological intensity.

For the success of product innovations, firms should establish mechanisms to obtain information about customer needs and expectations and to disseminate and effectively use this information among organizational functions. They also need to improve their technological capabilities to effectively transform market knowledge into product innovation.

The relationship between market orientation and product innovation has been examined in previous studies; however, there is an insufficient number of studies on the mediating role of technological capability in this relationship. This study aimed to eliminate the gap in the literature regarding the mediating role of technological capability. In addition, innovation activities of firms vary depending on the technological intensity, but only a limited number of evaluations have been conducted on this subject. This study contributes valuable knowledge to the relevant literature by examining the impact of market orientation dimensions on product innovation according to technological intensity.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the double-edged sword of customer involvement (perceived relationship quality and coordination cost) in new service development in the hotel industry, and to explore when customers should be involved from the service provider’s view.

A total of 252 valid questionnaires were collected from hotel managers, and ordinary least squares regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses.

Results not only show that customer involvement causes higher coordination cost but also show no direct positive effect on perceived relationship quality. Furthermore, this study finds that service climate reduces the negative effect of customer involvement and enhances its positive effect. By contrast, customer complexity intensifies the negative effect of customer involvement.

This study empirically examines the double-edged sword of customer involvement and tests the boundary conditions associated with hotel back and front office factors (service climate versus customer complexity).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships at the level of plant in a manufacturing network, labelled as networked plant in the paper, between inter-plant coordination and operational performance, supply chain integration (SCI) and operational performance and inter-plant coordination and SCI.

This paper is developed based on the data obtained from the sixth version of International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI). Specifically, this paper uses a subset of the IMSS VI data set from the 606 plants that identified themselves as one of the plants in a manufacturing network.

This paper finds that external integration is significantly related to operational performance of networked plant, whereas internal integration is not. As an enabler for external integration, the influence of internal integration on operational performance of networked plant is mediated by external integration. This paper also provides evidence to the purported positive impact of internal integration on inter-plant coordination, as well as the positive impact of inter-plant coordination on external integration. It further suggests that inter-plant coordination can influence operational performance of networked plant through external integration and also mediate the relationship from internal integration to performance through external integration.

This paper contributes to the SCI literature and extends the understanding of the impact of SCI on the operational performance by selecting networked plant as a unit of analysis. Besides, this paper distinguishes inter-plant coordination from SCI and investigates the relationship between inter-plant coordination, SCI, and operational performance for the first time.