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1 – 10 of 34Jean-Noël Beka Be Nguema, Gongbing Bi, Zulqurnain Ali, Aqsa Mehreen, Christophe Rukundo and Yangqian Ke
Several manufacturing firms are facing various internal concerns such as financial and operational issues, which strongly pushed the firms to search for solutions (e.g. supply…
Abstract
Purpose
Several manufacturing firms are facing various internal concerns such as financial and operational issues, which strongly pushed the firms to search for solutions (e.g. supply chain finance; SCF) to sustain their supply chain operations and supply chain effectiveness (SCE). In this view, this study attempts to explore four key factors influencing the adoption of SCF, which, in turn, impacts SCE in Chinese manufacturing firms. Therefore, this study aims to propose that how information sharing, external collaboration, digitization and financial institutions enable manufacturing firms’ to adopt SCF that subsequently enhances SCE. Moreover, how supply chain risk (SCR) mediates the association between SCF adoption and SCE.
Design/methodology/approach
The current research recruited 177 Chinese manufacturing firms administrating a questionnaire to supply chain managers and tested the proposed conceptual model and associations using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results reveal that all four factors are positively related to the adoption of SCF, which consequently improves the SCE of manufacturing firms. Moreover, the findings show that the effect of SCF significantly and positively impact SCE. Further, the result also confirmed that SCF significantly mitigates SCR, thereby leads to improves SCE.
Research limitations/implications
The current study mainly focuses on Chinese manufacturing firms, which may generate low generalizability. In addition, this study was based on a cross-sectional research design which may generate common method bias. Therefore, more comparative studies are needed between developed and developing countries to enhance the generalizability of the study findings.
Practical implications
This study provides significant new insights about how marketing managers and practitioners can adopt SCF in manufacturing firms via information sharing, external collaboration, digitization and financial institutions to mitigate firm risk and enhance SCE.
Originality/value
The approach used in this research differs from many of the previous studies and investigates the factors of adoption of SCF and their impact on SCE in the manufacturing firm sector within the context of the Chinese economy. Therefore, this research is an important guide for scholars, managers and executives of marketing, while providing them with a new model, significant insights which are significant in their organizations.
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Zulqurnain Ali, Bi Gongbing and Aqsa Mehreen
A growing need for financing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has become a significant obstacle to the development of firms. To remove this barrier, the purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
A growing need for financing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has become a significant obstacle to the development of firms. To remove this barrier, the purpose of this paper is to examine how supply chain finance (SCF) assists the firms to improve their performance by utilizing the resource-based view (RBV). Furthermore, the present study also pursues to test the effect of trade digitization as a moderating variable in the relationship between SC finance and the firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from the textile sector, the authors run confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS 24 and hierarchical linear regression model in SPSS 23 to measure the proposed model and hypotheses, respectively.
Findings
The study suggests that SCF significantly improves the SMEs performance. Moreover, trade digitization strengthens the relationship between SCF and SMEs performance. Thus, the current study significantly describes the firm RBV through SCF and trade digitization to predict the SMEs performance.
Practical implications
SMEs entrepreneurs or executives can optimize the working capital through SCF and enhance the visibility of transactions through digitization for improving SMEs performance. Moreover, SCF protects the SMEs due to its nature of risk mitigation strategy.
Originality/value
This study covered the unexplored gap in the previous literature of supply chain management by establishing the relationship between SCF and the firm performance empirically while identifying the role of trade digitization as moderating variable in the context of textile SMEs by employing RBV theory.
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Zulqurnain Ali, Bi Gongbing and Aqsa Mehreen
Currently, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are facing different types of risk, and mitigating these risks is the primary concern for the emerging firms. This study intends to…
Abstract
Purpose
Currently, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are facing different types of risk, and mitigating these risks is the primary concern for the emerging firms. This study intends to investigate “do vulnerability mitigation strategies (VMSs) predict firm performance (FP)”? Moreover, it explores the mediation mechanism of supply chain risk (SCR) in the association between VMSs and FP.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a survey method, the authors recruited 355 textile SME entrepreneurs and tested their proposed model and hypotheses in AMOS.
Findings
The findings depict that all VMSs significantly minimize SCR, which subsequently enhances FP. Moreover, he atudy also identifies supply chain finance (SCF), a new VMS in the context of textile SMEs.
Practical implications
The findings help SME officials to minimize SCR through proper implementation of VMSs in the firm's daily operations. SCF is strongly recommended to SMEs because it optimizes working capital and minimizes the risk of default.
Social implications
This research supports SMEs to overcome vulnerabilities using VMSs and provide sustainable employment to individuals in the society.
Originality/value
This study reviews four VMSs and how these strategies simultaneously mitigate SCR and enhance SME performance in the emerging market context, which was skipped in the literature of supply chain management. Moreover, the study identifies SCF as a significant risk mitigation strategy for SMEs.
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Zulqurnain Ali, Bi Gongbing and Aqsa Mehreen
The purpose of this paper is to examine how a supply chain (SC) network helps small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to obtain liquidity and working capital for enhancing their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how a supply chain (SC) network helps small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to obtain liquidity and working capital for enhancing their performance while developing the relationships among SC members through information sharing. Moreover, this study also investigates whether a strong tie or bridge tie improves the availability of SMEs’ credit and performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a survey approach, data were collected from textile SMEs, located in Pakistan. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression model were run to validate the proposed model and the relationships.
Findings
Findings highlighted that strong tie and bridge tie of SMEs positively and significantly enhance the credit quality and SMEs’ performance. Furthermore, information sharing significantly moderates the relationship between SC network ties and SMEs’ credit quality. Credit quality significantly explains the indirect (mediation) association between the strong tie and the firm performance.
Practical implications
This study will help the SMEs’ entrepreneurs and SC executives to strengthen the liquidity position of SME and improve SMEs’ performance by developing the bridge ties. SMEs should share more information in their SC network while performing business transactions so that financers or lenders can easily access their operational capabilities and individual characteristics to offer them quality credit such as supply chain finance (SCF).
Originality/value
SMEs always face the issue of risk-free financing which adversely affects the firm performance. This study covered the hidden gap in SCM and SMEs’ financing literature by identifying the crucial role of SCF as quality credit in the development of SMEs. Moreover, SMEs can get benefits (e.g. quality credit=SCF) for better embedding in an SC network through information sharing.
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Zulqurnain Ali, Bi Gongbing and Aqsa Mehreen
Due to globalization, textile small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operations have become complex which raised the needs of risk-free financing solutions to support the SMEs’ daily…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to globalization, textile small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operations have become complex which raised the needs of risk-free financing solutions to support the SMEs’ daily processes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of supply chain (SC) finance, a risk-free financing solution, on SC effectiveness (SCE) in the context of textile SMEs by employing transaction cost (TC) approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The participants of the study were recruited from textile SMEs through a structured questionnaire. The proposed model and structural relationships were assessed by employing AMOS 24.0.
Findings
The results of this paper indicate that supply chain finance (SCF) has a significant effect on SCE. Furthermore, all proposed factors of SCF adoption have a positive and significant effect on SCF.
Practical implications
This study helps the SMEs executives or owners to adopt SCF as a secure financing scheme to reduce the credit TCs, optimize the firm working capital, reduce the risk of default, and improve SC effectiveness. SMEs and suppliers can build strong relationships while adopting the findings of this study. SMEs can engage the suppliers to work under strategic alliance through negotiation, collaboration, and work digitization, and extend their payment terms while providing an opportunity to the suppliers to get their payment back before a fixed time through discounting from financial institutions as needed.
Originality/value
The present study covered the gap related to SCF and SCE by identifying unique factors of SCF adoption which was ignored in the previous literature by employing TC approach.
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Gongbing Bi, Yue Wu and Hang Xu
This paper aims to investigate the impact of quality loss in transit on e-commerce supply chain pricing, production and financing decisions.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impact of quality loss in transit on e-commerce supply chain pricing, production and financing decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors consider a Stackelberg game model with a supplier, logistics firm and e-commerce platform. The logistics firm is capital-constrained and obtains funding from the e-commerce platform by debt financing or equity financing. Through backward induction, this paper first solves the equilibrium results under the two financing schemes and then reveals the financing preferences of all parties.
Findings
The results demonstrate that equity financing reduces financing costs and promotes production significantly. However, it may also lead to overproduction, particularly in markets with poor profitability and high cost factors. When the percentage of product quality loss is large, equity financing is preferable. With the increasing of transportation level, the benefits of debt finance are steadily growing. In addition, equity financing is the Pareto dominant scheme for all firms under certain circumstances. The extensions consider hybrid financing and another quality loss type.
Practical implications
The paper derives the equilibrium solutions and financing preferences, then specifies the threshold for applying financing schemes. Provide guidance for logistics firms’ finance model innovation and core enterprise involvement in the logistics industry.
Originality/value
The paper investigates how logistics firms’ financing strategies are impacted by product quality loss.
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Yuqian Zhou, Gongbing Bi, Jiancheng Lv and Hongping Li
This paper aims to develop an optimal buyback promotion strategy for enterprises, including multibuyback strategy and self-buyback strategy, taking both the consumer's…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop an optimal buyback promotion strategy for enterprises, including multibuyback strategy and self-buyback strategy, taking both the consumer's multichannel psychological acquisition attributes and remaining market into account.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the game theory and Hotelling model, the authors formulate a new model to study the equilibrium of different buyback models, given the utility maximization of the consumers, the profit maximization and the constraint on nondecreasing market share of the enterprises, and the authors conduct comparative analysis.
Findings
Intuitively, enterprises buying back products of other brands would appeal to some consumers. However, the authors find that after implementing the multibuyback scheme, enterprises may not be able to seize competitors' markets or even lose their original customer base in the context considered in this article counterintuitive. In addition, the size of remaining market share and the consumer's multichannel psychological acquisition affect the choice of buyback promotion strategies. Moreover, after implementing multibuyback scheme, customers with old products subsidize those who receive additional discounts. Finally, the authors point out that the buyback strategy choices of companies with different goal-oriented are diverse.
Practical implications
This study has a very solid realistic background and provides guidance for enterprises to implement buyback promotion strategies. In addition, the authors unearth new influencing factors to provide a reasonable explanation for different buyback strategies in reality.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the multibuyback promotion strategy as a new buyback method, where the two influencing factors the authors have not been proposed so far.
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Jean-Noël Beka Be Nguema, Gongbing Bi, Temidayo O. Akenroye and Jamal El Baz
This paper aims to draw on the dynamic capabilities approach and aims to empirically investigate the impact of supply chain finance (SCF) on firm performance (e.g. operational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to draw on the dynamic capabilities approach and aims to empirically investigate the impact of supply chain finance (SCF) on firm performance (e.g. operational risk and operational performance), the critical effect of environmental dynamism (ED) as moderator and supply chain risk (SCR) and a mediator in the relationship between SCF and organizational performance (OP).
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on empirical data collected from a survey of 210 companies and their supply chains in mainland China. Structural equation modeling is used to test the proposed relationships.
Findings
The findings show that SCF significantly mitigates the SCR, which subsequently has a significant positive effect on OP (e.g. operational risk and operational performance). The findings also show that when ED is high, the relationship between SCF and SCR is stronger and vice versa. Moreover, SCR mediates the relationship between SCF and OP. The hypothesis regarding the moderating effect of ED on the paths joining SCF and SCR was also supported. SCR has a significant negative effect on OP. However, the hypothesis regarding the effect of ED on SCR was not supported.
Research limitations/implications
This study has some limitations. First, this paper conducted the research with Chinese organizations. This may result in low generalizability in other contexts. In addition, this paper used the survey method and cross-sectional data design in this study, which may generate the potential issue of common method bias. However, the findings of this study will help organizations across China and other emerging economies to adopt SCF as a secure financing mechanism to enhance working capital and mitigate risk. In addition, the paper provides some new managerial insights for decision-makers in organizations, while exploring different factors such as SCF, SCR and ED and their effect on the organization.
Originality/value
This study has greatly developed a general SCF adoption model that helps to guide empirical research investigating the critical impact of SCF on firm performance.
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Gongbing Bi, Qinghua Xiang, Botao Geng and Qiong Xia
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the crowdfunding platforms on reward-based crowdfunding projects. This study offers guidance for the creator on how to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the crowdfunding platforms on reward-based crowdfunding projects. This study offers guidance for the creator on how to choose among platforms and how to make optimal product and pricing decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
Usually, crowdfunding platforms are able to help creators to lower unit costs and charge platform fees in return. In this paper, the reduction of the unit cost and the platform fee are selected for determining the competitive strength (CS) of a platform. Then, the CS affecting the creators and the backers of the projects is analyzed.
Findings
In the basic model, when the product quality level is exogenous, the optimal price increases in the product quality level and decreases in the difficulty level of the project, while the corresponding expected profit is a unimodal function of the product quality level and the difficulty level. In the endogenous case, the optimal price is exactly twice the unit cost. With the influence of platforms, platforms with higher CS tend to help the creator to lower the prices and to achieve higher profitability. Moreover, platforms with higher CS usually help the creator to offer higher quality products and to charge higher prices.
Research limitations/implications
The opportunity cost is zero in this paper. In reality, backers arrive at the project in different order. Usually, earlier backers bare more opportunity cost and risk.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first one to offer suggestions for creators on how to choose among crowdfunding platforms. The study provides theoretical guidance on product and pricing decisions on an analytical side.
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Gongbing Bi, Ping Chen and Yalei Fei
The purpose of the paper is to explore impacts of financing and supplier subsidy on capital-constrained retailer and the value of returns subsidy contract under a situation where…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to explore impacts of financing and supplier subsidy on capital-constrained retailer and the value of returns subsidy contract under a situation where the retailer makes joint operations and finance decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper considers a two-level supply chain, including a retailer and a supplier. Facing problems of capital constraints and even customer returns, the newsvendor-like retailer orders from a well-capitalized supplier. The supplier allows the retailer a delay in payment and provides a subsidy contract to alleviate its problems if it is profitable. Considering their difference of initial capital status, the retailer is assumed to be Follower of Stackelberg Game and the supplier is the Leader.
Findings
The supplier return subsidy contract has some merits for both of partners in the chain. And it does not coordinate the supply chain when the retailer has enough initial capital; however, when the retailer is capital constrained, it does. In addition, the retailer’s initial capital level significantly affects the supplier’s subsidy decision.
Research limitations/implications
Return rate is simplified to a fixed proportion of completed demand. In addition, trade credit is only financing source in this paper, and other types of financing methods, such as bank credit, can be taken too.
Originality/value
This paper first incorporates trade credit financing and customer returns into a modeling framework to investigate the capital-constrained retailer’s joint operations and finance decisions and the value of supplier’s subsidy contract.
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