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Article
Publication date: 30 November 2023

Anas Iftikhar, Imran Ali and Mark Stevenson

This study aims to analyse whether the presence of supply chain complexity (SCC) influences firms to improve their supply chain (SC) resilience and SC robustness capability. This…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyse whether the presence of supply chain complexity (SCC) influences firms to improve their supply chain (SC) resilience and SC robustness capability. This study also examines an important paradox: whether investing in both exploitation and exploration practices is conflicting or complementary to enabling SC resilience and robustness in the presence of SCC.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a survey-based approach to collect 242 useful responses from SC professionals of Pakistani firms, an important emerging economy context. The data were analysed with covariance-based structural equation modelling to statistically validate the model.

Findings

The analysis reveals several key findings: the presence of SCC has a direct, positive influence on SC resilience and SC robustness; while exploitation practices only partially mediate the nexus between SCC and SC resilience, they fully mediate the relationship between SCC and SC robustness; while exploration practices partially mediate the nexus between SCC and SC resilience, they do not mediate the relationship between SCC and SC robustness and SCC has a significant influence on SC resilience and SC robustness sequentially through exploitation and exploration (i.e. one after the other).

Practical implications

These findings help to reconcile the exploitation versus exploration paradox in cultivating SC resilience and SC robustness in the presence of SCC. The findings assist SC managers in determining how to deploy their limited resources most effectively to enhance SC resilience and SC robustness while facing SCC.

Originality/value

The authors devise and empirically validate a unique framework that demonstrates how the presence of SCC works as a stimulus to build SC resilience and SC robustness.

Details

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-8546

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 April 2024

Nichapa Phraknoi, Mark Stevenson and Meng Jia

The purpose of this study is to define and investigate the governance requirements of supply chain finance (SCF).

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to define and investigate the governance requirements of supply chain finance (SCF).

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative analysis of 849 news articles published in UK newspapers (2000–2022) using the Gioia method.

Findings

SCF governance relies on developing capacities for reflexive scrutiny at two stages: (1) prior to entering into an SCF relationship and (2) during its operation. Based on the notion of SCF as a complex adaptive system, we theorise SCF governance requirements as a dual-layered semipermeable boundary. The semipermeability of the two layers allows for a dynamic exchange between the SCF system and its environment. The first layer is the capacity to selectively enable or control the entry and access of certain actors and practices into the SCF system. The second layer is a capacity for ongoing scrutiny of the SCF operation and its development. Further, we identify five aspects of governance to be enabled, i.e. enhancing adaptability, building confidence, improving efficiency, advancing technology and promoting transparency; and four aspects to be controlled, i.e. preventing abuse of power, curbing fraud risk, constraining operational risk and restricting risky extensions to SCF practices.

Practical implications

Our dynamic framework can guide supply chain (SC) members in making decisions about whether to participate, or continue to operate, in an SCF relationship. Moreover, the findings have implications for policymakers and authorities who oversee entry/access and the involvement of SCF providers, particularly, fintech firms.

Originality/value

The study contributes to both the SC and governance literature by providing a systematic analysis of what SCF governance has to accomplish. Our novel contribution lies in its analysis of SCF governance based on a complex adaptive system approach, which expands the existing literature where SCF is described in rather static terms. More specifically, it suggests a need for a dynamic duality of SCF governance through the semipermeable boundary that selectively enables and controls certain SCF actors and practices.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 April 2024

Brunna Sagioratto Coltro Oliveira, Alex Weymer, Pedro Piccoli and Simone Cristina Ramos

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between training and financial performance in cooperative organizations.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between training and financial performance in cooperative organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve this goal, the fixed-effect panel regression technique was used, from a single database containing hours and amounts invested in training by 35 large Brazilian agribusiness cooperatives over 10 years as the main independent variable of the econometric model. Financial performance was operationalized by the Net Margin and ROE.

Findings

It was possible to identify a positive relationship between expenditure on training and the future rate of return and profitability of the organizations in question. The results also indicate that this relationship grows stronger over the first three years after the investments are made and ceases to exist after this period. The findings are robust with regard to a series of alternative explanations and contribute to understanding the relationship between training and organizational performance in financial terms, considering the extent and duration of training.

Originality/value

The originality this study is justified by the pioneering spirit of presenting direct evidence linking investment in training and financial performance and the duration of this relationship. Thus, the study makes a significant contribution to the construction of knowledge on the subject.

Details

Social Enterprise Journal, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-8614

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Robin Roslender, Susan Hart and Christian Nielsen

This paper aims to identify and discuss insights from the business model field on the creation and delivery of value to customers that provide new thinking in relation to the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify and discuss insights from the business model field on the creation and delivery of value to customers that provide new thinking in relation to the strategic management accounting field.

Design/methodology/approach

The customer emphases exhibited in parts of the extant strategic management accounting literature are highlighted and amplified using insights from the business model literature, including those relating to value propositions, customer value creation and delivery and meeting customers’ value expectations.

Findings

The paper demonstrates that in addition to providing valuable insights for accounting to management, an extended strategic management accounting concept enables accounting and reporting to customers, now identified as major stakeholders, in the context of integrated reporting.

Practical implications

Through its customer resonances, the paper affirms strategic management accounting’s practical utility for organisations seeking a strong position in highly competitive marketplaces, via the addition of a focus on accounting to customers.

Originality/value

The paper’s use of insights from the business model literature further reinforces the view that strategic management accounting potentially constitutes a pivotal development within both managerial and financial accounting and reporting.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 April 2024

Wantao Yu, Chee Yew Wong, Mark Jacobs and Roberto Chavez

This study aims to address a significant and previously unanswered question for both academics and practitioners: how do organizations learn to apply Blockchain technology to…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to address a significant and previously unanswered question for both academics and practitioners: how do organizations learn to apply Blockchain technology to support modern slavery (MS) supply chain capabilities? Specifically, this study examines whether employees’ digital dexterity (EDD) and strategic investment in Blockchain technology (SIBT) can support three MS supply chain capabilities: internal MS capability (IMSC), MS capability with customers (MSCC) and MS capability with suppliers (MSCS).

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses resource accumulation and deployment perspective to explain how EDD promotes SIBT, which then drives the development of MS supply chain capabilities. Survey data collected from the Chinese manufacturing industry were used to test the proposed theoretical framework and hypotheses through structural equation modelling and moderated regression analysis.

Findings

EDD has a positive relationship with SIBT. SIBT has a positive relationship with IMSC. IMSC fully mediates the relationships between SIBT and MS capability with customers and suppliers.

Originality/value

By conceptualizing MS supply chain capabilities as a multi-dimensional construct for the first time, this study discovers the significant mediating roles of IMSC. The empirical findings also clarify digital dexterity of employees that drives investment in Blockchain technology to foster MS supply chain capabilities as resource accumulation and deployment processes.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 October 2023

David McGillivray, Trudie Walters and Séverin Guillard

Place-based community events fulfil important functions, internally and externally. They provide opportunities for people from diverse communities and cultures to encounter each…

Abstract

Purpose

Place-based community events fulfil important functions, internally and externally. They provide opportunities for people from diverse communities and cultures to encounter each other, to participate in pleasurable activities in convivial settings and to develop mutual understanding. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the value of such events as a means of resisting or challenging the deleterious effects of territorial stigmatisation.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors explore two place-based community events in areas that have been subject to territorial stigmatisation: Govanhill in Glasgow, Scotland, and South Dunedin, New Zealand. They draw on in-depth case study methods including observation and interviews with key local actors and employ inductive analysis to identify themes across the datasets.

Findings

The demonstrate how neighbourhood events in both Glasgow and Dunedin actively seek to address some of the deleterious outcomes of territorial stigmatisation by emphasising strength and asset-based discourses about the areas they reflect and represent. In their planning and organisation, both events play an important mediating role in building and empowering community, fostering intercultural encounters with difference and strengthening mutuality within their defined places. They make use of public and semi-public spaces to attract diverse groups while also increasing the visibility of marginalised populations through larger showcase events.

Research limitations/implications

The empirical element focuses only on two events, one in Glasgow, Scotland (UK), and the other in South Dunedin (New Zealand). Data generated were wholly qualitative and do not provide quantitative evidence of “change” to material circumstances in either case study community.

Practical implications

Helps organisers think about how they need to better understand their communities if they are to attract diverse participation, including how they programme public and semi-public spaces.

Social implications

Place-based community events have significant value to neighbourhoods, and they need to be resourced effectively if they are to sustain the benefits they produce. These events provide an opportunity for diverse communities to encounter each other and celebrate what they share rather than what divides them.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to examine how place-based community events help resist narratives of territorial stigmatisation, which produce negative representations about people and their environments. The paper draws on ethnographic insights generated over time rather than a one-off snapshot which undermines some events research.

Details

International Journal of Event and Festival Management, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1758-2954

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 November 2023

Shobod Deba Nath, Gabriel Eweje and Suborna Barua

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why multi-tier apparel suppliers integrate social sustainability practices into their supply chains and what barriers these suppliers…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why multi-tier apparel suppliers integrate social sustainability practices into their supply chains and what barriers these suppliers encounter while embedding social sustainability practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs a qualitative research design, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 46 owners and managers from 33 multi-tier apparel suppliers in Bangladesh, an important outsourcing hub for the global apparel industry. To corroborate research findings, the views of owners and managers were triangulated by further interviewing 11 key representatives of institutional actors such as third-party auditors, a donor agency, industry associations, regulatory agencies and a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Findings

The authors' findings suggest a range of divergent institutional drivers and barriers – coercive, mimetic and normative – that determine the implementation of multi-tier suppliers' social sustainability practices. The key reported drivers were buyers' requirements, external stakeholders' expectations, top management commitment and competition. Conversely, cost and resource concerns and gaps in the regulatory framework were identified as key social sustainability implementation barriers. In particular, owners and managers of second-tier and third-tier supplier firms experienced more internal barriers such as cost and resource concerns than external barriers such as gaps in values, learning and commitment (i.e. compromise for mutual benefit and non-disclosure of non-compliance) that impeded effective social sustainability implementation.

Research limitations/implications

Social sustainability in supply chain management has received significant attention from academics, business practitioners, governments, NGOs and supranational organisations. However, limited attention has been paid to investigating the drivers and barriers for social sustainability implementation from a developing country's multi-tier supplier perspective. The authors' research has addressed this knowledge gap.

Practical implications

The evidence from the authors' study provides robust support for key assumptions of institutional theory and has useful implications for both managers and policy-makers.

Originality/value

The authors' study contributes to the embryonic research stream of socially sustainable multi-tier supply chain management by connecting it to the application of institutional theory in a challenging institutional context.

Details

The International Journal of Logistics Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-4093

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2023

João Henrique Lopes Guerra, Fernando Bernardi de Souza, Silvio Roberto Ignácio Pires and Anderson Luiz Ribeiro de Sá

Supply chains are among the most important, complex and risky systems in the modern world. Thus, managing risk is no longer an option, but a fundamental process in organizations…

Abstract

Purpose

Supply chains are among the most important, complex and risky systems in the modern world. Thus, managing risk is no longer an option, but a fundamental process in organizations. Given the lack of pathways that guide companies toward supply chain risk management (SCRM), the purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual reference, in the form of a maturity model, to support them in the evolution and improvement of this process.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposal covered a broad literature review, a survey and a multiple case study. The research was conducted in the aerospace industry and included companies from the supply chain of a leading aircraft manufacturer.

Findings

The model elaborated with the research results has eight attributes and four levels, addressing critical issues for SCRM to achieve its scope and purposes. The attributes include the structuring and scope of the SCRM process, the importance it receives within the organization, the resources used and the qualification of employees, the role of leadership and the inter-organizational collaboration.

Practical implications

Managing risk along supply chains is particularly challenging, demands resources and knowledge and requires a continuous effort. The proposed model offers a reference for improvement, helping to identify areas that need to be strengthened and practices to be implemented. Thus, it can guide the focus and efforts in a more efficient and systematic way, in addition to support evaluations and comparisons.

Originality/value

Although maturity models are abundant in different fields and several are available for risk management, models specifically developed for SCRM are scarce. This study broadens the understanding of SCRM with novel insights about how to improve this process in an evolutionary way. While many researchers focused their efforts on the SCRM process steps, this study identified critical issues that transcend these steps. The research was carried out in a sector with a long tradition in risk management and included companies belonging to a same supply chain, that is, using an approach still little explored in studies on SCRM or risk management maturity models.

Details

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-8546

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 7 December 2023

Alexander Mitterle

Within the last two decades, entrepreneurship education has become institutionalized in Germany. It is offered as a stand-alone program or as part of a business degree, combining…

Abstract

Within the last two decades, entrepreneurship education has become institutionalized in Germany. It is offered as a stand-alone program or as part of a business degree, combining academic knowledge, practical skills, and personal development to enhance the entrepreneurial success of university graduates. While entrepreneurship education has experienced similar growth worldwide, its emergence in Germany is closely tied to the country’s political and economic developments. The significance of entrepreneurship education for a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and contemporary economic policy has been instrumental in advancing its academic recognition. This chapter provides a historical analysis of the academization of entrepreneurship in Germany. It explores the recursive and often idiosyncratic processes involving state and financial institutions, companies, and universities that have created, respecified, and mutually reinforced a subdiscipline and field of study. Academic entrepreneurship knowledge successively not only became relevant for starting a business but also for employment within the entrepreneurial infrastructure and beyond. This chapter follows a chronological order, highlighting three key stages in the academization of entrepreneurship education. First, the academic, financial, and political roots (I) of entrepreneurship up until the 1970s. Second, it explores the transformation (II) of entrepreneurship into a viable policy alternative and the challenges faced in establishing complementary research and education in higher education institutions during the 1980s. Finally, it sketches the institutionalization (III) of entrepreneurship as a central driver of government economic policy, allowing for the late bloom of entrepreneurship education and research at universities around the turn of the millennium.

Details

How Universities Transform Occupations and Work in the 21st Century: The Academization of German and American Economies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-849-2

Keywords

Abstract

Details

The Creative Tourist: A Eudaimonic Perspective
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-404-3

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