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Technology uncertainty poses significant challenges to manufacturers, as rapid changes in product and/or process standards and specifications can disrupt the smooth flow of materials in extended supply chains. Practitioners and researchers alike who take a relational perspective widely regard supplier involvement as a potentially effective strategy to cope with technology uncertainty, as focal manufacturers can tap into their upstream supply networks for complementary resources and capabilities. However, the literature lacks a nuanced understanding of the supplier involvement processes. Specifically, the role of resource dependence for supplier involvement has yet to be systematically understood. To fill this gap, this study aims to combine the relational perspective with the resource-dependence perspective to explore how buyer dependence, supplier dependence and buyer–supplier interdependence influence buyers’ decision-making on tapping into upstream supply networks for coping with technology uncertainty.

To test the hypotheses, a survey is conducted among Dutch firms with more than 50 employees in the discrete manufacturing industries (ISIC 28-35), resulting in a sample of 125 manufacturers.

First, there is a significantly positive relationship between technology uncertainty and supplier involvement, giving support to the expectation that buyers are indeed involving their key suppliers in the product/process design and improvement, as a response to technology uncertainty. Second, buyer dependence and interdependence are found to be positively moderating the relationship between technology uncertainty and supplier involvement. In contrast, supplier dependence has a negative moderating effect on the baseline relationship.

The authors contribute to a relational view on buyer–supplier relationships by showing that the validity of this view, in the context of technology uncertainty, is contingent on the resource dependence between buyers and suppliers, and the authors contribute to the supply chain management literature more generally by combining a relational perspective with a resource-dependence perspective.

The findings provide several nuanced insights into the effect of resource dependence (buyer dependence, supplier dependence and interdependence) on supplier involvement for coping with technology uncertainty.

This study contributes to the supply chain management research by going beyond the benefits of supplier involvement and highlights the circumstances under which supplier involvement is likely to occur.

The aim of this study is to identify and rank the factors of innovation capability (IC) in Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This study focuses on ascertaining the important factors that help in enhancing the IC with an emblematic focus on the MSME sector of India.

This paper proposes a multicriteria decision-making methodology, which is based on fuzzy analytic hierarchical process to prioritize the factors that enhance the IC of MSMEs. Finally, sensitivity analysis is conducted to examine the ranking stability.

Knowledge management is the most important enabler, followed by creativity and idea management and organizational culture.

Several organizations promote the strategic measures for enhancing the IC. To increase their capability to innovate, there is a need to identify, acknowledge and implement the drivers of IC into practice.

Prioritization done in the study facilitates the entrepreneurs to determine the most important factors that need crucial attention in dealing with sensitive issues of IC. Entrepreneurs can take several steps to implement the most important factors for enhancing the IC into practices for meeting the needs of the consumers, generating profits and enhancing the competitiveness.

This paper aims to identify critical factors that influence small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) suppliers’ involvement in their customers’ product development and contrast these with the factors identified from the customer perspective.

A multiple case study approach was used, including four companies. Data were collected through 32 semi-structured interviews, six workshops and documents.

A model is presented that merges this study’s nine identified critical factors with seven critical factors from the customer perspective. The model provides a dual perspective of supplier involvement in product development, wherein the supplier and customer perspectives are concurrently addressed. Some factors are unique for the supplier, but several mirror those on the customer side.

The study is based on data from SME suppliers in Northern Europe. As it is expected that SME companies are more constrained by limited resources, future studies could study critical factors at larger suppliers.

Customers and suppliers having insights about the critical factors can provide better conditions for product development for the other actor; for example, when evaluating customer–supplier integration.

The presented model of critical factors provides a more nuanced picture of supplier involvement in product development as prior research has been biased toward the customer perspective. This study emphasizes the importance of contextual information that has been unnoticed in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate the mediating role of learning capability on the relationship between technological capability, relational capability and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance in developing economy of Africa.

A quantitative survey design was employed to collect the data from owner/manager of manufacturing SMEs in Nigeria. Partial least square structural equation model was used in the evaluation of both the measurement and structural models to determine the reliability and validity of the measurement and test the hypotheses, respectively.

The statistical result indicates a positive relationship between technological capability, learning capability and SMEs performance. Equally, relational capability significantly and positively relates to SMEs learning capability. However, relational capability negatively relates to SMEs performance, while technological capability also negatively relates to learning capability. Furthermore, learning capability mediates the negative relationship of relational capability and SMEs performance to significant positive relationship, while it does not mediate the relationship of technological capability and performance.

The analysis of this study is restricted to only resource-based view and dynamic capability theory. Data of the study were collected once a time on a self-reported technique. The study contributed significantly to the body literature on technological and relational capabilities and performance. It also demonstrated the need for SMEs manager to recognize and appreciate the roles of these strategic capabilities in achieving sustainable competitive position.

Through relational capability SMEs develops efficient collaborative relationship to acquire new techniques, knowledge. This is specifically, essential for SMEs firms from less developing and emerging economies as they are lagging behind at the global competitive platform, and that the possession of specific advantage locally may not be adequately enough to help penetrate the global markets. Similarly, technological capability enable firms to identify acquire and apply new external knowledge to develop operational competencies which may lead to the attainment of superior performance.

Government policies and programs designed to support technological development and innovation must be adjusted to consider the peculiar nature of SMEs firms in terms of technology and innovativeness that enhances competitive position and performance.

This study empirically examined the relationship of technological and relational capabilities and the SMEs learning capability and performance.

In this paper, the authors aim to introduce international dynamic marketing capabilities (IDMCs) theoretically derived from marketing capabilities (MCs), dynamic marketing capabilities (DMCs) and international marketing capabilities (IMCs) and provide a novel conceptualization of the concept by applying a holistic view of the international enterprise.

This is a literature review that maps the current research on MCs, DMCs and IMCs and serves as a basis for the theoretical conceptualization of a novel IDMCs concept as well as for the identification of research gaps and the development of future research directions on this phenomenon.

Existing typologies of MCs, DMCs and IMCs are classified into four categories: strategic, operational, analytical and value creation capabilities. A new typology of IDMCs is proposed, consisting of digital MC and dynamic internationalization capability as strategic capabilities, agile IMC, IM excellence and absorptive capability in IM as operational capabilities, IM resilience capability, IM knowledge management capability, AI-enabled IDMC and Industry 4.0-enabled IDMC as analytical capabilities, and ambidextrous IM innovation capability as value creation capability. Finally, the authors identify research gaps and develop research questions that open future research avenues for the coming years.

This paper offers a novel view of MCs, DMCs and IMCs and argues that, in contrast to the majority of previous research, a comprehensive understanding of these is only possible if all levels are considered simultaneously: the strategic, the operational, the analytical and the value creation level. A new conceptualization and typology of IDMCs follows this logic.

I aimed to obtain a deeper insight into the link between supplier involvement in product development (SIPD), supplier relationship resilience and company performance.

To collect data, a survey among 500 Polish manufacturing companies was conducted. I used quantitative methods (structural equation modeling) to test several research hypotheses referring to a single supplier–customer relationship. Thanks to the use of multi-construct measurement of SIPD and supplier relationship resilience, the study provides detailed research results on the topic.

Collaborative practices implemented during SIPD increase procurement flexibility and decrease redundancy in the relationship with the involved supplier. Communication during SIPD increases supplier flexibility and procurement flexibility. Increased supplier flexibility and increased procurement flexibility in the relationship with the involved supplier as well as collaborative practices during SIPD positively impact company performance. I confirmed the indirect effect between communication during SIPD and company performance when the mediators are supplier flexibility and procurement flexibility. Decreased redundancy in relationship with involved supplier does not impact company performance.

Supply chain managers need to rethink SIPD practice to effectively ensure supply chain resilience (SCRES), especially in the face of the contemporary global crisis and black swans affecting the supplier base. My article provides important managerial insights into drivers of SCRES and company performance.

To the best of my knowledge, this research is among the first to conclude that SIPD does not have an unequivocally positive or direct impact on supplier relationship resilience. The research fills the gap by analyzing the impact of SIPD on two main SCRES elements. The study examines supplier relationship resilience, understood as flexibility and redundancy elements, in a single supplier–buyer relationship perspective. Thus, the presented considerations go beyond the traditional understanding of flexibility and redundancy in supplier relationship management, that is through the prism of double or multi sourcing and having back up-suppliers.

Technology-enabled business-to-business (B2B) services contribute the largest share to GDP growth and are fundamental for an economy’s value creation. This article aims to identify key service- and digital technology-driven B2B innovation modes and proposes a research agenda for further exploration.

This conceptual paper adopts a techno-demarcation view on service innovation, encompassing three core dimensions: service offering (the service product, or the “what”), service process (the “how”) and service ecosystem (the “who/for whom”). It delineates the implications of three digital technologies – the internet-of-things (IoT), intelligent automation (IA) and digital platforms – for service innovation across these core dimensions in B2B markets.

Digital technology has immense potential ramifications for value creation by reshaping all three core dimensions of service innovation. Specifically, IoT can transform physical resources into reconfigurable service products, IA can augment and automate a rapidly expanding array of service processes, while digital platforms provide the technical and organizational infrastructure for the integration of resources and stakeholders within service ecosystems.

This study suggests an agenda with six themes for further research, each linked to one or more of the three service innovation dimensions. They are (1) new recurring revenue models, (2) service innovation in the metaverse, (3) scaling up service innovations, (4) ecosystem innovations, (5) power dependency and lock-in effects and (6) security and responsibility in digital domains.

Increasing amount of empirical research in operations and supply chain management is using institutional theory as its theoretical lens. Yet, a common scale to measure the three institutional pressures – coercive, mimetic and normative – is lacking. Many studies use proxies or a single, grouped, construct of external pressures which present methodological challenges. This study aims to present the development of multi-item scales to measure institutional pressures (in a purchasing context).

First, items were generated based on the theoretical construct definitions. These items were then tested through academic sorting and an international survey. The first empirical testing failed to produce reliable and valid scales, and further refinement and analysis revealed that coercive pressure splits into two separate constructs. A second q-sorting was then conducted with purchasing practitioners, followed by another survey in Italy to verify the new measurement scale for four institutional pressures.

The multimethod and multistage measurement development reveals that empirically the three institutional pressures actually turn into four pressures. The theoretical construct of coercive pressure splits into two distinct constructs: coercive market pressure and coercive regulatory pressure.

The results of the paper, namely, the measurement scales, are an important theoretical and methodological contribution to future empirical research. They present a much-needed measurement for these theoretical constructs increasingly used in management research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ex ante projected future trajectories of real tourism exports and relative tourism export prices of the EU-15, conditional on expert real gross domestic product growth forecasts for the global economy provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for the years 2013-2017.

To this end, the global vector autoregression (GVAR) framework is applied to a comprehensive panel data set ranging from 1994Q1 to 2013Q3 for a cross-section of 45 countries. This approach allows for interdependencies between countries that are assumed to be equally affected by common global developments.

In line with economic theory, growing global tourist income combined with decreasing relative destination price ensures, in general, increasing tourism demand for the politically and macroeconomically distressed EU-15. However, the conditional forecast increases in tourism demand are under-proportional for some EU-15 member countries.

Rather than simply relying on increases in tourist income, the low price competitiveness of the EU-15 member countries should also be addressed by tourism planners and developers in order to counter the rising competition for global market shares and ensure future tourism export earnings.

One major contribution of this research is that it applies the novel GVAR framework to a research question in tourism demand analysis and forecasting. Furthermore, the analysis of the ex ante conditionally projected future trajectories of real tourism exports and relative tourism export prices of the EU-15 is a novel aspect in the tourism literature since conditional forecasting has rarely been performed in this discipline to date, in particular, in combination with ex ante forecasting.

Keberkesanan penyampaian sesuatu maklumat memerlukan individu, alat mahupun saluran yang unggul dan bersesuaian. Usaha ini haruslah dirancang dan dipertimbangkan dengan teliti oleh pihak tertentu agar setiap apa yang ingin disampaikan dan dilaksanakan itu dapat diberigakan dengan mudah dan berkesan. Dari itu, penggunaan bahasa retorik dilihat sebagai batu loncatan yang memberikan keyakinan dan tahap keberkesanan yang tinggi bagi sesebuah wacana yang disampaikan tersebut. Kewibawaan retorik sebagai seni yang mempengaruhi bukan sahaja berperanan untuk memperkukuhkan kekuasaan mahupun mempengaruhi fikiran dan emosi orang lain namun sebaliknya mampu menstimulasikan keseimbangan hubungan sosial yang terbentuk melalui sistem pemerintahan sesebuah negara. Melalui penyelidikan ini, setiap ciri khas retorik dapat diketengahkan dengan menghuraikan peranan dan fungsi-fungsi yang dimainkan oleh jenis-jenis retorik dalam penulisan sesebuah wacana. Hal ini khusus bagi mengilustrasikan idea, gagasan mahupun suatu fakta terhadap sesuatu pendekatan dengan cara yang kreatif dan terbaik. Di samping itu, keutamaan bagi penerapan bahasa retorik dalam perutusan kerajaan seharusnya dapat diperkasakan sewajarnya dengan menjadikannya sebagai anjakan paradigma ke arah perpaduan dan nilai kesaksamaan dalam masyarakat. Justeru, kajian ini memanfaatkan Teori Retorik Moden oleh Enos dan Brown (1993) sebagai landasan utama dalam menganalisis sejumlah 20 perutusan rasmi berkaitan jangkitan covid-19 di Negara Brunei Darussalam. Berdasarkan pemerhatian dan penganalisisan yang dijalankan, hanya empat jenis retorik yang diaplikasikan dalam wacana tersebut. Kesimpulan statistik merangkumi 34% teknik pendedahan, 30% teknik penerangan, 33% teknik pemujukan dan hanya 3% bagi teknik penghujahan. Dapatan penyelidikan ini membuktikan bahawa penggunaan bahasa retorik dalam perutusan rasmi kerajaan adalah amat penting dalam memperkukuhkan sistem pemerintahan negara serta mampu melestarikan cara hidup yang relevan dan berkualiti.

The effectiveness of delivering information requiresindividuals, tools or channels that are superior and appropriate. This effort must be planned and considered carefully so that everything that is to be conveyed and implemented can be conveyed easily and effectively. Therefore, the use of rhetorical language is regarded as a stepping stone that provides confidence and a higher level of effectiveness. `Rhetoric as an influential art not only plays a role in strengthening power or influencing the thoughts and emotions of others but also stimulate sthe balance of social relations. Through this research, each rhetorical feature is highlighted to discuss its role and functions in the discourse. Using Enos and Brown’s Modern Rhetorical Theory (1993), a total of 20 official conferences on the latest developments of the spread of covid-19 infection were discussed. Findings have shown that there were four main types of rhetoric, i.e. Statistical conclusions which include 34% of expository techniques, 30% of descriptive, 33% of persuasion and only 3% for argumentation techniques. This also implies that rhetoric language is very important in ensuring the dissemination of knowledge among the institution and people is effective and and transparent.