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It has been claimed that job satisfaction is the most important and frequently studied attitude in organizational behaviour research. However, as most studies relate to lower hierarchical levels, the purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of job satisfaction and organizational commitment among high-level managers – military leaders in this case.

A grounded theory approach was used. The empirical material is based on 12 interviews, two of which were with women. The informants had wide experience of a number of leadership positions as well as participation in international operations. Their ranks ranged from Colonel to Brigadier General, and they represented army and naval units, the Armed Forces Headquarters and Swedish Defence University.

The qualitative analysis resulted in a theoretical model that describes the job satisfaction of military leaders at the strategic level, which concerns establishing and balancing organizational commitment. This means that top level managers develop, manage and recreate a “sense of oneness” between themselves and the organization – a strong identification that is established, challenged, changed and renegotiated in a continuous process. Establishing and balancing organizational commitment is built on two overarching categories: keeping up the organizational image and responding to organizational greediness.

Research limitations are as follows: small sample, lack of representativeness and lack of elaboration on possible gender-related aspects.

The suggested model may be valuable in educational settings when evaluating the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of high-level officers. The model may have practical implications when it comes to selection, retention and leader development of high-level military officers.

A new integrative, theoretical model of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of high-level officers is developed and discussed.

The integration of supply chains together with the disintegration of individual actors in the supply chain shifts the focus from actors to challenges in the interaction between actors. This paper aims to identify risk strategies for different supplier interactions in triadic configurations to outline supply strategies.

Companies participating in a research project recounted the challenges they faced regarding the integration of customer order-based management and supply from a triad perspective. Six triad configurations were identified, based on the literature, resulting in three risk strategies, which were empirically illustrated in practice by the participating companies.

A key finding is that a triad perspective for a customer-differentiated approach to supplier interaction results in a material classification that highlights the circumstances in which to apply “balance efficiency”, “postpone”, “balance responsiveness” and “speculate” supply strategies.

The research has focused on process drivers and controllability, and the results may require careful interpretation when there is a mix of standardized and customized products because further interaction differentiation may then be required.

The strategies developed herein provide guidelines for differentiated supplier interaction with explicit focus on triads where customer actors directly influence supplier actors. This approach highlights how outsourcing must be carefully executed when supplier actors are involved in delivery to customer orders.

The paper sheds new light on how customer requirements impact supplier interaction in terms of decoupling points related to both delivery strategy and control strategy. The study also presents a novel application of the Kraljic matrix in in terms of risk strategies in different triad configurations.

The purpose of the study is to describe the implications of strategic lead times (SLTs) for return on investment (ROI).

This study was part of an interactive research project and is based on the logic of theory application leading to theory building. It uses a multiple case study with five holistic single cases. Empirical data (ED) have mainly been collected from interviews and focus groups.

The length of and uncertainty in SLTs have implications for companies' financial performance. These implications vary in strength and can be either direct or indirect. These findings are incorporated into a framework on SLTs' implications for ROI.

The presented array of SLTs' implications for ROI could be further investigated, focussing on their strength. Additionally, it would be interesting to substantiate the findings in the context of environmental and social sustainability (i.e. the triple bottom line).

The findings offer practitioners a rich description and understanding of SLTs' actual implications for financial performance in terms of ROI. This knowledge can support practitioners in analysing supply chain designs based on financial performance.

Using a combination of a relative financial performance measure (ROI) and a set of SLTs (systems perspective), this study focuses on SLTs' actual implications for ROI. The findings provide evidence that different sections of a supply chain can have different implications for revenue, cost and investment (i.e. the three absolute measures related to ROI).

The objective of this research is to develop a structure for a materials supply systems (MSSs) design process to be used during product development projects (PDPs).

The research is based on a qualitative study at a first tier supplier in the automotive industry. Empirical data were gathered over the course of one year and analysed by means of a previously developed MSSs design model and the company's product development phases.

A structure for a MSSs design process has been developed, based on the following four phases: planning, concept development, system‐level design and detail design.

Future research could further develop the structure discussed in this paper and complement it with engineering tools for use during the design process.

The results underline the importance of a MSSs design process and emphasise that such a process should cover activities at an early stage of PDPs. Moreover, the necessity of coordinating the specifications of the various materials flows and evaluating the entire MSS before becoming absorbed by detailed design issues is highlighted.

This paper complements the rapidly growing literature on concurrent engineering by emphasising the importance of integrating the materials supply aspects at an early stage of PDPs and designing the MSS in integration with the product and the production system.

This research aims to develop a model for describing and analysing materials supply systems (MSSs) design in product development projects (PDPs).

Literature on materials supply and production systems design is reviewed in order to derive a MSSs design model. The model is applied to empirical data from a qualitative case study, which exemplifies how the model can serve to describe MSSs design in PDPs. Moreover, the model is used to analyse the empirical data related to the focus and characteristics of the design issues.

The model developed contains six areas: materials feeding, storage, transportation, handling, packaging, and manufacturing planning and control at four levels: supply chain, plant, sub‐unit, and utility.

Future research could complement the model by developing a design process to enable systematic design of the MSS as well as the integration of materials supply aspects at an early stage of PDPs. Such a design process should also consider the design of the flows of specific components.

The importance of considering the relationships between the six design areas as well as evaluating the whole MSS is highlighted.

The paper focuses on the materials supply aspects dealt with in PDPs, which have been the subject of little research interest so far, despite the fact that extensive resources are required for materials supply activities.

The aim was to describe the development of a theoretical model for leader evaluation and development, an instrument based on this model, and a strategy for large scale implementation in the Swedish armed forces. The model rests on an interactional person by situation paradigm. It emphasises “developmental leadership”, which is inspired by transformational and functionalistic leadership approaches. The developmental leadership questionnaire (DLQ) was operationalised from the model and refined through structural equation modelling. The model and the DLQ will be used for three purposes: yearly evaluation of all personnel in the Swedish armed forces; yearly planning dialogues between each employee and his or her nearest supervisor; and a tool for leadership training. The implementation strategy includes an initial course in developmental leadership for all colonels. This is followed by the selection and training of local trainers, who, in turn, initiate the comprehensive programme locally. The system should be fully implemented by 2005.

There is an increasing focus on reducing time‐to‐market for new products and a prerequisite for succeeding in this is the ability to transfer and use information about the products early on in projects, thus facilitating early problem‐solving. This paper focuses on the use of product data and information systems for the design of materials supply systems in product development projects. The results from a case study show that there are product data available at an early stage in the project. However, the product data have to be retrieved from several information systems and from information systems, which the materials supply systems designers cannot use. In addition, product data can be obtained by means of personal communication much earlier than they can be retrieved from the information systems. It is concluded that research and development is required so that the information systems can be utilised for both early release and retrieval of preliminary information.

Presents a hyperbranched polymer, a hydroxyl functional aliphatic polyester which consists of a polyalcohol core from which branches extend, forming a core‐shell structure with a large number of hydroxyl groups at its peripheral surface. It is polydisperse and consists, apart from the main core/shell fraction, of a minor fraction with tree‐like branches. Hyperbranched polyesters of this type have been found to contribute to improved physical, as well as chemical and mechanical, properties. Due to the unique molecular architecture, it is possible to design the hyper‐branched polyester in numerous ways to acquire the desired properties in different applications. Focuses on and illuminates how molecular design might affect properties in not only one, but many applications. Illustrates this by way of examples in the field of alkyds, where presented hyperbranched polymer contributes to low viscosities combined with excellent drying; in amine cured epoxies, where a hyperbranched epoxy demonstrates dramatically increased toughening; and in polyurethanes and radcure, where rapid curing can be obtained by proper molecular design.

The United States (US) sugar program protects domestic sugar farmers from unrestricted imports of heavily-subsidized global sugar. Sugar-using firms (SUFs) criticize that program for causing US sugar prices to be higher than world sugar prices. This study examines the financial performance of publicly traded SUFs to determine if they are performing at an economic disadvantage in terms of accounting profitability, risk and economic profitability compared to other industries.

Firm-level financial accounting and market data from 2010 to 2019 were utilized to construct financial metrics for publicly traded SUFs, agribusinesses and general US firms. These financial metrics were analyzed to determine how SUFs compare to their agribusiness peer group and general US companies. The comprehensive financial analysis in this study covers: (1) accounting profit rates, (2) drivers of profitability, (3) economic profit rates, (4) trend analysis and (5) peer comparisons. Quantile regression analysis and Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney statistics are employed for statistical comparisons.

Regarding various profitability and risk measures, SUFs outperform their agribusiness peers and the general benchmark of all US firms in terms of accounting profit rates, risk levels and economic profit rates. Furthermore, compared to other US industries using the 17 French and Fama classifications, SUFs have the highest return on investment and economic profit rate―measured by the Economic Value Added® margin―and the second-lowest opportunity cost of capital, measured by the weighted average cost of capital.

This study finds nothing to suggest that the US sugar program hinders the financial success of SUFs, contrary to recent claims by sugar-using firms. Notably in this analysis is the evaluation of economic profit rates and a series of robustness techniques.