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This study aims to explore and empirically test variables influencing material delivery schedule inaccuracies?

A mixed-method case approach is applied. Explanatory variables are identified from the literature and explored in a qualitative analysis at an automotive original equipment manufacturer. Using logistic regression and random forest classification models, quantitative data (historical schedule transactions and internal data) enables the testing of the predictive difference of variables under various planning horizons and inaccuracy levels.

The effects on delivery schedule inaccuracies are contingent on a decoupling point, and a variable may have a combined amplifying (complexity generating) and stabilizing (complexity absorbing) moderating effect. Product complexity variables are significant regardless of the time horizon, and the item’s order life cycle is a significant variable with predictive differences that vary. Decoupling management is identified as a mechanism for generating complexity absorption capabilities contributing to delivery schedule accuracy.

The findings provide guidelines for exploring and finding patterns in specific variables to improve material delivery schedule inaccuracies and input into predictive forecasting models.

The findings contribute to explaining material delivery schedule variations, identifying potential root causes and moderators, empirically testing and validating effects and conceptualizing features that cause and moderate inaccuracies in relation to decoupling management and complexity theory literature?

The purpose of this research is to systematically review the properties of supply chains demonstrating that they are complex systems, and that the management of supply chains is best achieved by steering rather than controlling these systems toward desired outcomes.

The research study was designed as both exploratory and explanatory. Data were collected from secondary sources using a comprehensive literature review process. In parallel with data collection, data were analyzed and synthesized.

The main finding is the introduction of an inductive framework for steering supply chains from a complex systems perspective by explaining why supply chains have properties of complex systems and how to deal with their complexity while steering them toward desired outcomes. Complexity properties are summarized in four inter-dependent categories: Structural, Dynamic, Behavioral and Decision making, which together enable the assessment of supply chains as complex systems. Furthermore, five mechanisms emerged for dealing with the complexity of supply chains: classification, modeling, measurement, relational analysis and handling.

Recognizing that supply chains are complex systems allows for a better grasp of the effect of positive feedback on change and transformation, and also interactions leading to dynamic equilibria, nonlinearity and the role of inter-organizational learning, as well as emerging capabilities, and existing trade-offs and paradoxical tensions in decision-making. It recognizes changing dynamics and the co-evolution of supply chain phenomena in different scales and contexts.

Megaprojects are known as complex projects that involve high levels of uncertainty. This interpretive study explores and portrays perceived complexity in mega construction projects by lived experiences of project managers.

This study utilises a ground theory approach to analyse data gathered from semi-structured interviews with 18 professionals involved in 11 megaprojects.

Complexity in mega construction projects is defined as a project property that stems from the interaction of project features, uncertain variables/conditions, and managerial actions forming a pattern, which emerges over time, based on the reflections of construction practitioners.

This study defines complexity based on the reflections of the practitioners in the construction industry and uniquely identifies complexity patterns that may have implications for project management, particularly risk management.

This paper aims to empirically explore the evolution of servitization and how platforms affect the transition between the stages of servitization.

The authors conducted an in-depth case study of a Chinese manufacturer (i.e. Haier) using a longitudinal design. Three rounds of data collection were conducted between 2014 and 2020. The authors carried out 50 semi-structured interviews and 11 workshops to collect data from senior and middle managers of Haier and its business partners.

The authors found that Haier’s servitization journey includes three stages (i.e. product-oriented solution, integrated solution and smart connected solutions) that evolve in the target of the services and the digital components of the solutions. Haier has also developed three types of platforms (i.e. service platform, supply chain platform and platform ecosystem) to support the implementation of servitization. The empirical evidence reveals that platforms can address the complexities that emerged when Haier implements the different stages of servitization as well as enable Haier to transition from one stage of servitization to the next.

This study enhances the current understanding of the evolution of servitization and the roles of digital technologies in the transition between the stages of servitization. It also provides empirical evidence regarding how the platform approach enables the development of servitization. By clarifying the interplay between servitization and platforms, this study provides guidelines for managers on how to develop platforms to both advance and benefit from servitization.

The study's objective was to examine whether and how mindfulness training and practice might impact indicators of three capacities identified as critical for leading in the twenty-first century: resilience, leading in complex contexts and collaboration.

We conducted a non-randomised wait-list controlled study with 57 senior leaders (81 per cent female) who undertook an eight-week “Mindful Leader” programme.

Our findings suggest the programme was effective in developing leaders in terms of their mindfulness, resilience and self-perceived leadership competencies such as collaboration and agility in complex situations. The amount of mindfulness practice the leaders undertook was associated with improvements in mindfulness, resilience and collaboration. Furthermore, participants reported that the programme was beneficial for them as leaders and that the training format was feasible. However, objective measures of cognitive functioning and leadership competence did not improve significantly within the mindfulness intervention group.

Mindfulness practice may be a promising and effective method for leader development. Our results suggest that mindfulness can be learnt and developed by executive leaders, as long as they practice for at least 10 min per day.

This is the first study to investigate how resilience, leading in complex contexts and collaboration can be developed through mindfulness training.

This paper provides a review of an innovative new leadership programme aimed at senior leaders in the police service and other public sector services. It considers the context and approaches to leadership that underpin the ethos of the programme. It provides a discussion on the learning approach of the programme and how it offers participants opportunities for critical reflection and for learning in collaboration with peers. It then discusses the use of strategic questions to provide practice for the participants in conducting and understanding an evidence‐based project. Through evaluation research it then considers how effective the approach is in terms of leadership development and in particular the application of this learning to the real world.

The purpose of this paper is to delve into the intricate depths surrounding the development of sustainable supply chains by conceptualizing the elemental aspects of superior performance in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM).

The paper is conceptual in nature and is grounded in the theories of SSCM and knowledge-based view.

The findings outline the elemental background processes governing the implementation of SSCM practices and superior performance outcomes. The conceptualization suggests that the superior performance of a sustainable supply chain is elementally dependent on the intricate efforts – to enrich the supply chain knowledge base with perspectives on SSCM. Thereby, these intricate efforts are delineated along the arcs of supply chain leadership, supply chain learning orientation, supply chain knowledge management (SCKM) and supply chain knowledge transfer. As such, while an SSCM orientation within the supply chain leadership is helpful in offsetting the inertia among the supply chain members to channelize intricate efforts in SSCM, the SSCM-based supply chain learning orientation further orientates the SSCM efforts of supply chain members toward the excavation of new knowledge in the frame of SSCM. Subsequently, the arcs of SSCM-based SCKM and SSCM-based supply chain knowledge transfer characterize the finer spaces of knowledge excavating actions, essential for enriching the supply chain knowledge base with perspectives on SSCM.

This conceptualization facilitates intriguing theoretical explanations to the linkage between SSCM implementation and superior performance outcomes. Specifically, from the knowledge-based angle, it delineates the root causes governing the superior/inferior nature of SSCM outcomes.

The study explores the relationship between information overloading and the complexity of reporting. In particular, it investigates whether voluntary information in a firm annual report is associated with its readability. Likewise, it examines how a firm's profitability and earnings management practices impact the nexus of voluntary disclosure and readability.

It uses the annual reports of the Egyptian nonfinancial firms listed in the EGX 100 index from 2010 to 2018. The readability of the annual report is measured automatically using the LIX index, and a predeveloped voluntary disclosure index is used to measure the level of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports.

The results reveal that the readability of annual reports is a negative function of voluntary disclosure, suggesting that Egyptian firms with more voluntary disclosure are likely to have more complex (i.e. less readable) annual reports. Likewise, less profitable firms and firms with earning management practices increase voluntary information in their annual reports, resulting in an adverse impact on their reporting readability.

It focuses only on the annual reports of Egyptian firms and considers a firm’s overall voluntary information rather than a particular area of voluntary disclosure. It introduces a code to measure the readability of Arabic-written texts, which can be applied to different areas of disclosure.

Policymakers in Egypt are encouraged to develop enforceable regulations to control voluntary disclosure in annual reports. Egyptian investors should view the practice of higher voluntary disclosure skeptically as its aim may be to divert attention from a firm's poor performance and earnings management practice.

The study is the first evidence from Egypt on the effect of information overloading, proxied by voluntary disclosure, on the readability of reporting. Likewise, it contributes to methodological development in measuring the readability of Arabic-written annual reports.

To deepen our understanding about the development of team performance, the purpose of this paper is to develop a model that explains how ambidexterity and ethical leadership affect knowledge sharing and team performance through within-team competition.

This study demonstrates the applicability of ambidexterity and within-team competition by surveying 78 teams from the high-tech and banking industries. This study further presents a three-way interaction among ambidexterity, politics and job complexity.

This study finds that both ambidexterity and ethical leadership are positively related to knowledge sharing and team performance through the mediation of team development competition.

This study confirms that ambidexterity and ethical leadership play critical factors for improving knowledge sharing and team performance through the mediation of team development competition. Furthermore, the moderating effects of politics and job complexity are also confirmed in the research.

Designing learning experiences that mimic real-life contexts has always been a challenge for leadership educators. As a result, many educators in leadership courses rely on studies of leadership perspectives, selfassessment activities, and textbook case analysis. However, many educators also successfully design microlevel processes and interactions that offer students the opportunity to experience the dynamics of power and influence whereby they practice leadership. Others explore the daunting challenges of placing students in various organizations to practice leadership. This latter type of practicing leadership is often full of challenges because of the reluctance of organizations to allow practicing students in decision making processes. In this paper, I present a two-week teaching segment in which leader dilemmas are used as inputs for practicing leadership in micro-level processes. The segment is designed in such a way that it mimics real life group dynamics, problem solving, and decision dilemmas. The objective is to provide a context wherein students practice micro-influence making as they experience the complexity of group life and, at the same time, learn to reflect on their learning, emotion, and the potential capacity to lead and follow.