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The purpose of this paper is to theorise and develop seven dimensions (strategic supplier partnership, level of information sharing, quality of information sharing, customer service management, internal lean practices, postponement and total quality management) into a supply chain management (SCM) practices (SCMPs) construct and studies its causal relationship with the conceptualised constructs of supply chain performance (SCP) and manufacturing firms’ performance (MFP). The study also explores the causal relationship between SCP and MFP.

Data were collected through a survey questionnaire responded by 249 Jordanian manufacturing firms. The relationships proposed in the developed theoretical framework were represented through three hypotheses: H1 – there is a significant relationship between SCMPs and SCP; H2 – there is a significant relationship between SCMPs and MFP; and H3 – there is a significant relationship between SCP and MFP. Linear regression, ANOVA and Pearson correlation were used to test the hypotheses. The results were further validated using structural equation modelling.

The results indicate that SCMPs have a positive effect on SCP (H1), which in turn also positively affect MFP (H3). Despite this intermediary positive effect of SCMP on MFP through SCP, the study also suggests that SCMPs have a direct and positive effect on MFP (H2).

This study provides hard evidence indicating that higher levels of SCMPs can lead to enhanced supply chain and firms’ performance. It also provides SC managers of manufacturing firms with a multi-dimensional operational measure of the construct of SCMPs for assessing the comprehensiveness of the SCMPs of their firms.

This study is among the very first SCM researches conducted on the Jordanian manufacturing sector, particularly, in relation to the practices that manufacturing firms in this country need to adopt to make their supply chains a solid competitive vehicle for their development. The results have broader implications for all manufacturing companies, particularly in developing economies where the growth of manufacturing and the development of integrated supply chains are key stages in economic development.

Quality 4.0 represents the integration of quality management principles with digital technologies to drive continuous improvement and innovation in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the essential organizational variables (OVs) for the successful implementation of Quality 4.0 in the Indian furniture industry.

Through a broad literature review, data from the Indian furniture industry and experts’ judgments a list of nineteen OVs have been recognized and classified into four major categories of digitalization, design, continuous improvement and employee training and up-skilling. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been used to give comparative importance and prioritize the identified nineteen OVs of Quality 4.0 in the context of the Indian furniture industry.

The results of this study reveal that the identified variables are very important for successful Quality 4.0 implementation and have been supported by empirical evidence from the Indian furniture industry. The variable “automation” under the digitalization-related category is a significant variable having a maximum weightage of 26.8% followed by Cloud computing (DI4) having a global weight of 12.8%.

In addition to offering valuable insights and practical recommendations, the study recognizes a few limitations, such as industry-specific and the limited sample size. To diminish these limitations, future research should believe in conducting similar studies in different industries and extend the scope of the study.

Quality 4.0 is a term that refers to the integration of advanced digital technologies and smart data analytics into quality management systems to implement it considering OVs.

Blockchain technology (BT) is creating a new standard for all business operations. It can assist businesses in handling the complexity of circular digital supply chain (DCM) management. Despite this optimistic view, several barriers hinder its implementation. In this regard, this study contributes to Industry 4.0, circular economy (CE), the viability with a critical emphasis on its potential ramifications and influence on the future agenda while using BT technology in the supply chain (SC). In addition, the research reduces the knowledge gap by investigating and ranking the key barriers to the deployment of BT in viable circular digital supply chains (VCDSCs) and studies their interdependencies and causal relationships. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

The barriers to BT adoption in the VCDSC are identified through a thorough literature review and considering viability performance. These barriers are then classified using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method. Decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is then employed to examine the cause/effect, correlation, and connection among the 14 barriers selected barriers from the AHP classification to estimate each barrier's overall degree of impact over the others.

This paper identifies and analyzes the BT adoption barriers in the VCDSC as well as examines how the key barriers interact. As a result, according to the AHP/DEMATEL method, the most prominent influencing barriers to the BT implementation in the VCDSC are “Data transparency,” “Market competition,” “Missing infrastructure,” “Lack of standardization,” “Complex protocol,” “Lack of industry involvement,” “Financial constraints,” “Missing infrastructure,” “Data transparency” and “Interoperability.” The outcomes offer a potential path for identifying important barriers as well as insight into the implementation of BT in the SC while integrating different capabilities such as viability, sustainability and CE principles.

Managers and researchers will benefit from this research by gaining an understanding of the challenges that must be prioritized and examined for BT to be implemented successfully in the VCDSC.

The use and implementation of blockchain-enabled VCDSC continue to face challenges despite an increase in relevant practice and research. Despite the benefits of BT, managers struggle to apply such technology in the context of their company. In this respect, this paper uses an integrated AHP–DEMATEL for categorizing the BT barriers as well as the interrelationship between them. In this respect, this paper presents the BT barriers studied are those related to the use of BT in the SC while integrating different paradigms such as viability, digitalization and CE. While many studies look at the barriers to BT adoption; none of them has ever included the viable capability, which means the ability to “react agilely to positive changes, be resilient to absorb negative events and re-cover after disruptions and survive at long-term periods.” The study concludes with insightful comments based on the findings and suggestions for eradicating those obstacles and their associated effects.

Circular economy (CE) has evolved as a result of the growing environmental awareness, environmental legislation and the need for social responsibility. However, awareness levels of CE are not as high as expected and practices are further behind than they should be, with a significant lack of research around the subject in the literature. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of awareness levels and the practices around CE in manufacturing firms. Moreover, the study aims to empirically validate one of the earlier proposed CE models.

The study adopts a quantitative survey questionnaire based approach. More than 500 people from various manufacturing organisations were contacted directly over a 40-day long sampling process through the FAME database, personal contacts and LinkedIn. The survey resulted in 103 completed responses. Given the exploratory nature of the study, the data were mainly analysed using descriptive statistics. To validate the CE model, a correlation analysis was also conducted.

The research findings show that with the growing emphasis on CE across the globe by governing bodies, firms are becoming more aware of CE practices. The analysis also shows some useful insights on the state of each of the pillars (economic benefits, environmental impact and resource scarcity) of CE. The findings also indicate that the environmental impact pillar of CE is at a more developed state than the other two pillars which are, mostly, in a research state.

The study provides manufacturing firms with a thorough understanding of the state of CE practices and importance of its successful implementation. The findings of the study advocates consideration of all three pillars of CE by managers as a guide to plan for an efficient strategy around CE implementation. Moreover, our study adds to existing efforts by the academic community to raise the awareness towards CE practice among all relevant stakeholders. The findings of this study are based on the responses from a limited 103 survey responses from manufacturing firms.

This study adds to the very limited empirical literature on CE awareness and practices in manufacturing firms. This is also one of the first studies attempting to empirically validate an existing CE model.

Industry 4.0 has been one of the most topics of interest by researches and practitioners in recent years. Then, researches which bring new insights related to the subjects linked to the Industry 4.0 become relevant to support Industry 4.0's initiatives as well as for the deployment of new research works. Considering “organizational learning” as one of the most crucial subjects in this new context, this article aims to identify dimensions present in the literature regarding the relation between organizational learning and Industry 4.0 seeking to clarify how learning can be understood into the context of the fourth industrial revolution. In addition, future research directions are presented as well.

This study is based on a systematic literature review that covers Industry 4.0 and organizational learning based on publications made from 2012, when the topic of Industry 4.0 was coined in Germany, using data basis Web of Science and Google Scholar. Also, NVivo software was used in order to identify keywords and the respective dimensions and constructs found out on this research.

Nine dimensions were identified between organizational learning and Industry 4.0. These include management, Industry 4.0, general industry, technology, sustainability, application, interaction between industry and the academia, education and training and competency and skills. These dimensions may be viewed in three main constructs which are essentially in order to understand and manage learning in Industry 4.0's programs. They are: learning development, Industry 4.0 structure and technology Adoption.

Even though there are relatively few publications that have studied the relationship between organizational learning and Industry 4.0, this article makes a material contribution to both the theory in relation to Industry 4.0 and the theory of learning - for its unprecedented nature, introducing the dimensions comprising this relation as well as possible future research directions encouraging empirical researches.

This article identifies the thematic dimensions relative to Industry 4.0 and organizational learning. The understanding of this relation has a relevant contribution to professionals acting in the field of organizational learning and Industry 4.0 in the sense of affording an adequate deployment of these elements by organizations.

This article is unique for filling a gap in the academic literature in terms of understanding the relation between organizational learning and Industry 4.0. The article also provides future research directions on learning within the context of Industry 4.0.

In recent years, circular economy (CE) has come to prominence as an alternative to the classic approach of “make-use-dispose”. How companies can exploit the opportunities of CE to position themselves better are not well articulated in the literature. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to identify the barriers and opportunities of CE in the manufacturing sector through a socio-political, economic, legal and environmental perspective.

The study adopts a positivist approach, which is deductive in nature. A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed to manufacturing companies operating in the UK and EU. The study used FAME database and social networking platform LinkedIn to identify manufacturing companies. More than 200+ companies were approached for this study and data collection lasted over two months.

The study provides a comprehensive review of the CE literature and identifies a number of barriers and opportunities to CE implementation from a socio-political, economic, legal and environmental perspective. The findings highlight key barriers, opportunities and benefits of CE for the manufacturing industries operating in the UK and EU.

The findings are limited to 63 responses from the survey questionnaire distributed to manufacturing companies in the UK and EU. The present study aims to equip manufacturers with necessary understanding of the key opportunities and barriers to address the challenges encountered during the implementation of CE.

This study adds to the limited empirical literature on CE barriers and opportunities to manufacturing organisations operating in the UK and EU. The paper also identifies barriers and opportunities of CE from a socio-political, economic, legal and environmental lens.

Specific research related to the study of innovation barriers in service SMEs in the Latin American region is limited. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects that external environmental, financial and human barriers have on innovation activities, particularly, within the context of Mexican service SMEs.

Three hypotheses were formulated and tested using structural equation modelling. Data were collected through an instrument that was developed based on relevant constructs adapted from the literature. The instrument was validated using confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach’s α test and the composite reliability index to ensure reliability of the theoretical model. The instrument was distributed among service SMEs in the Aguascalientes state of Mexico, from were 308 valid responses were obtained.

In general, the results indicate that all the three barriers investigated (i.e. external environmental, financial and human) hinder innovation in service SMEs, with the external environmental barrier being the most significant of the three.

The findings of this research can inform managers of service SMEs and policy makers when formulating and implementing strategies to reduce innovation barriers.

Evidence suggests that specific research related to the study of innovation barriers in service SMEs in the Latin American region is limited. This paper fills this research gap by expanding the limited body of knowledge in this field and providing further evidence on this phenomenon. The study also enables the distinctive characteristics of innovation barriers to be understood within a particular context, expanding in this way the body of knowledge on this field.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the best supply chain management (SCM) practices that are implemented in medium- and large-sized Gulf manufacturing firms (MFs).

This study has explored seven SCM practices, i.e. supplier collaboration, flexibility with partners, usage of internet, customer focus (CF), lean production (LP), internal integration (II) and quality management (QM). It assumes that the best-performing firms must be the ones implementing the best practices. t-test and multiple linear regression analyses were used to establish the best practices, implemented by medium and large-sized Gulf MFs.

The results showed that QM, CF and supplier collaboration are considered as best SCM practices in Gulf MFs. Usage of internet may have been the best practice previously, but not anymore. LP cannot yet be qualified as, but may develop into the best SCM practice.

The study provides a useful contribution to the field of best SCM practices as it provides better decision-making insights and a benchmarking base to top managers, policy makers and academics. It is likely to result in increased overall performance of their firms.

The study provides an understanding of the distinctive characteristics of the best SCM practices, implemented by Gulf MFs. It has broader implications for all MFs, particularly in developing economies where the growth of manufacturing and effective management of their supply chains is a key element for the economic development.

Theorising from a resource-based view perspective, the intersection of supply chain management and the use of information technology (IT) has been investigated in this study. This paper aims to investigate supply chain performance (SCP) as an essential outcome of the use of IT and explores the effect of supply chain collaboration (SCC) on SCP. In addition, volume uncertainty (VU) has been explored and tested to establish whether various associated uncertainties can be mitigated when the use of IT is involved.

A sample of 121 senior executives from agri-tech firms was collected by travelling and meeting the executives in person in various states of India. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesized relationship of VU to SCP via the use of IT and SCC.

The results show that VU significantly impacts SCC via the use of IT and SCP via SCC. The use of IT positively and significantly impacts SCP via SCC.

Witnessing the potential benefits of the emerging use of IT in the uncertainty reduction as reported in this study, agri-tech firms operating in emerging rural and agricultural economies can enhance SCC to improve SCP.

This study unfolds how risks in agricultural supply chains (ASCs) sourced because the VU can be mitigated through the use of IT and SCC to influence SCP in rural agricultural and developing economies.

VU at agri-tech firms and farmers is a ground reality that has led to an inability to plan and prepare, resulting in wastages and disruptions in ASCs and farmers’ struggles.

The purpose of this research was to develop new sustainability indicators consistent with the sand mould casting industry, through benchmarking of cleaner production (CP), in order to identify the levels of practice and performance of companies of the casting sector. In addition, a lean manufacturing checklist was specified in order to verify the presence of lean manufacturing techniques employed to eliminate waste towards CP. No previous work was found in the literature that attempts to assess practices and performance of companies performing sand mould casting (a significantly polluting manufacturing process) in the context of CP and lean manufacturing.

For the application of this benchmarking, nine companies from the sand mould casting sector were studied, where the profile of each company was analysed through eight variables and 47 indicators. Data was obtained through face-to-face visits and questionnaire application in the companies, and the data was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively.

The results obtained were the diagnosis of companies' practices and performance resulting from their position in the benchmarking charts, as well as the identification of the areas in which companies should implement improvements aiming at achieving CP.

This research was developed specifically for sand mould casting companies, and each process has its own characteristics

14 companies were invited to participate in this survey, but nine companies agreed to participate. Unfortunately, there were companies that declined to participate in the survey.

It is important to diagnose casting companies regarding CP practices, performance and deployment potential. Thus, important negative issues in the company can be identified, and with this information, they can develop actions focussed on cases that need more attention. In addition, this work contributes to evaluate the relationship and efficiency of improvement actions developed by companies in the context of both lean manufacturing and CP, aiming to reduce or eliminate the environmental impact. The improvement of practices and performance of a company regarding CP is considered to be beneficial to supply chain management in the context of sustainability, as the other participating companies are likely to seek ways to reduce environmental impact, and the diagnostics provided by this work may also be used by those companies.