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Climate change requires the reduction of direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a task that seems to clash with increasing supply chain complexity. This study aims to analyse the upstream supply chain complexity dimensions suggesting the importance of understanding the information processing that these may entail. Reducing equivocality can be an issue in some dimensions, requiring the introduction of written guidelines to moderate the effects of supply chain complexity dimensions on GHG emissions at the firm and supply chain level.

A three-year panel data was built with information obtained from Bloomberg, Trucost and Compustat. Hypotheses were tested using random effect regressions with robust standard errors on a sample of 394 SP500 companies, addressing endogeneity through the control function approach.

Horizontal complexity reduces GHG emissions at the firm level, whereas vertical and spatial complexity dimensions increase GHG emissions at the firm and supply chain level. Although the introduction of written guidelines neutralises the negative effects of vertical complexity on firm and supply chain GHG emissions, it is not sufficient in the presence of spatial complexity.

This paper offers novel insights by suggesting that managers need to reconcile the potential trade-off effects on GHG emissions that horizontally complex supply chain structures can present. Their priority in vertically and spatially complex supply chain structures should be to reduce equivocality.

The view that supply chain learning (SCL) has become a fundamental capability that supply chains must employ to innovate and improve their financial, technological, operational, environmental and social performance is widely accepted. However, the SCL phenomenon is still understudied and not fully understood by scholars, decision-makers and government representatives. This article aims to make sense of the existing literature and to identify important research directions that require further attention.

This article reviews the diversity of SCL in the literature, proposes a typology of such a phenomenon, provides an overview of key articles in the literature and identifies a series of recommendations for the future development of the field.

This article combines two fundamental dimensions from the literature (i.e. SCL driver and SCL network) to produce a typology of four types of SCL: Captive, Consortium, Selective and Distributed.

The typology proposed here offers an important framework for supply chain decision-makers to rely on when implementing SCL initiatives. The implications of each type of SCL offer a robust rationale for decision-makers to adopt the most appropriate type of SCL or combinations of SCL types, given each situation. In addition, the typology supports policy-makers in further understanding the SCL phenomenon and creating effective innovation, economic development and sustainability policies through supply chains.

This article offers a novel typology that the authors hope will help scholars to advance the field of SCL in order to understand this important phenomenon. There is no good/bad/better/worse SCL type in the proposed typology, but the critical element for the success of SCL efforts is the level of fit between the type of SCL, the type of knowledge to be created and diffused, and the outcome supply chains aim to achieve with that learning effort. In addition, the authors coin the construct of “the learning supply chain”, which refers to a supply chain that learns constantly by employing all four types of SCL simultaneously.

The purpose of this paper is to show the benefits of bridging the gap between supply chain management (SCM) and political philosophy to challenge the underlying assumptions about SCM concepts and open doors to novel theory building.

A thought experiment is conducted to illustrate how the two philosophers Niccolò Machiavelli and Jürgen Habermas would tackle sustainability issues in coffee supply chains from a research perspective. The thought experiment is carried out using data from 30 semi-structured interviews with actors from the coffee industry. Supplementing the thought experiment with empirical insights allows for a deeper understanding of supply chain dynamics and how these are impacted by the application of the philosophical viewpoints.

The research stresses the importance of SCM scholars being aware of the underlying assumptions of their research, as these have a remarkable impact on theory building. A combination of empirical insights and philosophical understandings makes it possible to reflect on the underlying concepts of SCM, providing suggestions for reimagining SCM.

The contribution of the research is twofold. First, the paper presents an original view on SCM, as the thought experiment is introduced as an approach to better understand SCM concepts. By challenging the underlying assumptions with political philosophy, researchers will be better equipped to address grand challenges in the twenty-first century. Second, this is exemplified by the case study of the coffee supply chain, which provides the reader with insight into the dynamics of supply chains with prevalent power differences.

This study tries to investigate and examine the extent of power dynamics of diverse actors in supply chains (SCs) in affecting the (un)stable connections within the logistics service providers (LSPs) triad in manufacturing firms (MFs) in Australia as a developed country.

This study adopted a qualitative research approach by conducting 28 face-to-face semi-structured interviews, which was performed over a five-month period, between May and October 2022 with the targeted respondents via several Case MFs studies focusing on the triadic SC relationships through the power dynamics of LSPs (e.g. Case 1/MF-A, Case 2/MF-B, Case 3/MF-C, Case 4/MF-D and Case 5/MF-E) in order to gather primary data from the perspectives of logistics service clients, providers and suppliers that are dealing with MFs in Australia country. Interviewees were selected based on their knowledge, professional, expertise and tasks that are related to the study context if they are from MFs and/or LSPs. The researchers performed NVivo 12 Software as a tool for analyzing the collected primary data from the targeted interviewees, thus using a purposive sampling approach. This study constitutes a cornerstone for a conceptual exploration of the field of B2B and as it expands existing fields of broadcasting and investigation that focus on B2C within the manufacturing firms' context.

The findings clearly show the importance of stable purchase volume and resource ability for a focal company in the logistics triad. This leads it to have a strong long-term relationship through monitoring its partners and curbing evolutions in different dyads.

Identifying influential factors offers complementary insights to practitioners for depicting the SC relationship dynamics using the dominant power used by logistics service providers. Such findings encourage investigating an issues in emerging countries.

The study provides an extending novel piece of work on how to establish the relational embeddedness of two dyads through the power dynamics of the dominant player represented by LSPs that can significantly affect the triadic SC relationships in manufacturing firms (MFs). Such a perspective seems not to be similar to the classical standpoint in the SCM literature, in which the LSPs as a dominant and dynamic power derived from bridging the customer-supplier sustainable dyads relationship in the MFs context.

This study aims to propose a quantitative approach to reduce the number of suppliers in an organization. This method is based on grouping, and different parts are grouped based on the capabilities they need and are allocated to suppliers who have these capabilities. In this regard, an integrated model for supplier reduction and grouping of parts using a group technology-based algorithm is proposed.

Design science research methodology was used in this study. The main problem under investigation is a large number of suppliers in an organization’s supply base. The proposed model was used to solve this problem in the electric motor industry.

The results of implementing the proposed model in the electric motor industry showed that reducing suppliers had a significant effect on reducing cost, increasing information sharing, increasing supplier innovation and technology, enhancing the relationship between buyers and sellers and reducing risks in the production process.

From a managerial point of view, reducing the number of suppliers plays an important role in the company’s overall strategy, and seems to be a prerequisite for building a strong supplier partnership and an effective supply chain, and will have many benefits for the focal company and suppliers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, grouping and formation of product families have never been performed based on the similarity of the operational capabilities required for producing parts, and it has not been addressed as a solution for reducing suppliers.

Forced labour is one of the most exploitative practices in supply chains, generating serious human right abuses. The authors seek to understand how relationships for reducing forced labour are influenced by institutional logics. The emerging supply chain efforts of social enterprises offer particularly intriguing approaches, as their social mission can spur creative new approaches and reshape widely adopted management practices.

The authors study supplier relationships in the smartphone industry and compare the evolving practices of two cases: the first, a growing novel social enterprise; and the second, a high-profile commercial firm that has adopted a progressive role in combating forced labour.

The underlying institutional logic influenced each firm's willingness to act beyond its direct suppliers and to collaborate in flexible ways that create systematic change. Moreover, while both focal firms had clear, well-documented procedures related to forced labour, the integration, rather than decoupling, of forced labour and general supply chain policies provided a more effective way to reduce the risks of forced labour in social enterprises.

As authors’ comparative case study approach may lack generalizability, future research is needed to broadly test their propositions.

The paper identifies preconditions in terms of institutional logics to successfully reduce the risk of forced labour in supply chains.

This paper discusses how social enterprises can provide a learning laboratory that enables commercial firms to identify options for supplier relationship improvement.

One of the most active areas of study in the field of corporate governance, board interlocks is a phenomenon that is both pervasive and perplexing. This paper aims to examine and integrate the empirical research on board interlocks to fill the void left by the lack of a recent review.

The bibliometric analysis methodology, which emphasizes methodological rigor and transparency, was used to analyze the board interlocks literature. Eighty publications published since 2000 were chosen as the subject of this research because they reveal the key contributions to the field of board interlocks. Additionally, their clustering pattern is also identified.

The authors classify various studies conducted on board interlocks into three clusters: “Social Capitalization”, “Antecedents and Outcomes” and “Corporate Governance”.

This literature review helps better comprehend the board interlocks literature by pointing out several areas of study that, if pursued, would add to the existing body of knowledge and open future research directions.

Research studies on offshoring and reshoring have predominantly focused on the home company, widely ignoring the offshored company in the host country. The host company's influence and contribution have been unseen. This research explores how the host company responds to the home company's location decisions to maintain the dyadic relationship.

An exploratory case study in China was conducted to examine the host company's response to reshoring. The case company has two Japanese parent companies that acted for the emergence of reshoring drivers. Primary and secondary data were collected and analysed through thematic analysis. The host company's response strategies to the home company's relocation decisions were identified and explored.

The findings reveal that four strategies, identified here as being cost control, market expansion, knowledge seeking and relationship bonding, were implemented by the host company. The importance of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and knowledge transfer is also emphasised within these strategies.

This research identified active and practical strategies conducted by the host company to maintain a cooperative relationship with the home company(ies). Instead of encountering a passive response from the host company, the home company may consider working with the host to overcome difficulties caused by emerging reshoring drivers and create an outcome beneficial to both.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to study manufacturing reshoring from the perspective of the host company. It provides a new perspective to understanding this phenomenon.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic generated a worldwide financial crisis by impacting several links of the supply chain, however companies can take advantage by quantitatively measuring the disruptive impacts.

This study sought to develop the failure mode and effect analysis and supply chain resilience (FMEA-SCR), a hybrid tool developed using a potential failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) applied to supply chain resilience (SCR) and taking into account the capability factors and business processes.

In order to validate, the proposed model was applied into two different organizational study cases: an university and a cooperative managing urban solid wastes with recyclable potential (MSWRP). Through the procedures described here any organization can understand and assess in a simplified way the impacts over their supply chain generated by such a crisis.

This study synthesizes three different procedures into a single method called FMEA-SCR, allowing organizations to understand and assess in a simplified way, the impacts over their supply chain generated by COVID-19. To this end, it brought together the studies developed by Rajesh and Ravi (2015) and Curkovic et al. (2015), on possible causes of disruptions in SC, the capability factors of Pettit et al. (2010) used by organizations to mitigate the effects of disruptions, besides Lambert's and Croxton (2005) business processes, thus weaving a method that allows organizations to visualize, analyze and classify the pandemic impacts over their supply chain.

This study aims to conduct a thorough literature review to map current studies on international marketing capabilities (IMCs) applying dynamic capabilities view (DCV). The aim of this study is to increase the chances for more conceptual and terminological rigor in future research in this particular research area.

This is a systematic literature review following the established review process of reviews in leading (international) marketing journals. A multilevel analytical approach was adopted, combining inductive coding with deductive coding and following the logic of antecedents-phenomena-consequences.

Synthesis of 20 rigorously selected previous empirical studies on IMCs applying DCV reveals that academic interest in these capabilities is well justified and growing and there are some well researched antecedents to focal capabilities (e.g. inter-organizational capabilities, outside-in market orientation) as well as their prevalent consequences (e.g. export and innovation performance). There is little knowledge of moderators to these links, especially with regard to consequences. This review illustrates that the current research lacks consistency in how key constructs are defined and measured, provides the guide to future conceptualization and measurement of so-called International Dynamic Marketing Capabilities (IDMCs) and proposes some concrete research directions.

The authors extend prior research in the investigated topic by critically evaluating prior works, providing improved conceptualization of IDMCs as well as concrete research agenda for IDMCs structured along recommendations for Theory, Context and Methods (TCM framework).