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The purpose of this paper is to present the relationship between supply chain linkages and supply chain performance (cost‐containment and reliability of supply chain partners).

Multivariate regression models are developed in order to identify the characteristics of determinants of linkages in the supply chain stakeholders (suppliers, internal stakeholders and customers). The survey was administered to individuals identified from a list of US executive officers, directors, presidents, or vice presidents. Among four hundred respondents, 122 were considered as valid from those who practice supply chain management for their business operations.

Internal integration is the most important contributor to cost‐containment while integration with the supplier is the best strategy to achieve supply chain reliable performance. Availability of electronic ordering systems for customers is an important strategy in cost‐containment. Fast and easy ordering is the best strategy for customer in performance reliability. Reliable delivery with supplier collaboration in managing a broad supply chain operation is the best way to link with suppliers. Access to the inventory information creates the most favorable environment in internal integration.

A vigorous multivariate statistical modeling process was employed to seek a possible linkage between the level of integration and the supply chain performances at a different linkage stage. This study would open an avenue for further investigation using micro data such as financial performances, and other key supply chain indicators to operationalize some of the findings that this study presented.

This paper explored the relationship between supply chain linkages and supply chain performance so that management will be able to pursue better supply chain strategies applicable directly to their business environment. Study results provide management with innovative insights for planning and executing applicable supply chain strategies.

This study presented overall and individual determinants of each linkage affecting supply chain performance. In addition, this study presented a valid and reliable measurement instruments that academicians as well as practitioners can use in measuring the supply chain performance.

The concept of value in relationship marketing is a theme of increasing interest. This paper examines the concepts of employee value, customer value and shareholder value and the linkages between them. It reviews research on the service‐profit chain framework and other related models and then discusses the extent to which linkage models or enterprise performance models, which integrate these components of value, have been adopted by organisations. An example is used to illustrate the adoption and use of an enterprise performance model. Implications for the retail financial services sector are considered.

A perceptible gap has been observed in the literature concerning the adoption of product innovations into construction projects by designers (architects and engineers). This is seen specifically in the scant investigation into this group as a relevant source of construction innovation. It is also seen in the failure of current literature to reflect this group's interpretation of innovation linkages. The result is a gap in knowledge and a difficulty in correlating construction innovation models to the work of designers. The purpose of this paper is to seek to address this gap by identifying and classifying recent examples of innovation using an accepted construction innovation model.

The primary objective was to expand this accepted construction innovation model's interpretation of innovation linkages and identify those linkages that directly relate to the work of designers and address aspects of building form rather than merely aspects of cost and process efficiencies.

The results revealed that the interpretation of building linkages by designers were much more diverse than those as perceived by the manufacturers and suppliers of the products. New linkages included aspects of building orientation, facade design, services integration, floor layouts, lighting design, fire safety and sustainability. In some cases, the designer's interpretation of the product's linkages had substantial implications for the marketing strategy of the products, and even the potential to change the classification grouping of the innovation.

This paper forms part of a wider piece of research into the management of innovation for construction professionals. The timely research is necessary to motivate design professionals in the adoption of new product innovations into their building designs.

Models of value creation that have been proposed for supporting value-based management are described and analyzed, including the Balanced Scorecard, the Baldrige Quality Award Criteria, the Deming Management Method, the Service-Profit Chain, and the Skandia Intellectual Capital Model. These models are compared, their potential for guiding the identification of value drivers and performance measures for value-based management is assessed, and management issues that must be addressed if such models are to contribute to long-run value creation are explored. These issues include causally linking value drivers to each other and to financial outcomes, the extent to which the models take a dynamic, or whole-system, view of value creation, and whether multiple value drivers should be explicitly weighted and combined to form a “value index.” Finally, the substantial body of research evidence linking intangible value drivers to financial outcomes is reviewed, and some directions for further research are offered.

The purpose of this paper is to address the current theoretical gap in integrating knowledge and experience into Building Information Model (BIM) for risk management of bridge projects by developing a tailored Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS) and formalising an active link between the resulting RBS and BIM.

A three-step approach is used in this study to develop a tailored RBS for bridge projects and a conceptual model for the linkage between the RBS and BIM. First, the integrated bridge information model is in concept separated into four levels of contents (LOCs) and six technical systems based on analysis of the Industry Foundation Classes specification, a critical review of previous studies and authors’ project experience. The second step develops a knowledge-based risk database through an extensive collection of risk data, a process of data mining, and further assessment and translation of data. A critical analysis is conducted in the last step to determine on which level the different risks should be allocated to bridge projects and to propose a conceptual model for linking the tailored RBS to the four LOCs and six technical systems of BIM.

The findings suggest that the traditional method and BIM can be merged as an integrated solution for risk management by establishing the linkage between RBS and BIM. This solution can take advantage of both the traditional method and BIM for managing risks. On the one hand, RBS enables risk information to be stored in a formal structure, used and communicated effectively. On the other hand, some features of BIM such as 3D visualisation and 4D construction scheduling can facilitate the risk identification, analysis, and communication at an early project stage.

A limitation is that RBS is a qualitative technique and only plays a limited role in quantitative risk analysis. As a result, when implementing this proposed method, further techniques may be needed for assisting quantitative risk analysis, evaluation, and treatment. Another limitation is that the proposed method has not yet been implemented for validation in practice. Hence, recommendations for future research are to: improve the quantitative risk analysis and treatment capabilities of this proposed solution; develop computer tools to support the solution; integrate the linkage into a traditional workflow; and test this solution in some small and large projects for validation.

Through linking risk information to BIM, project participants could check and review the linked information for identifying potential risks and seeking possible mitigation measures, when project information is being transferred between different people or forwarded to the next phase.

This study contributes to the theoretical development for aligning traditional methods and BIM for risk management, by introducing a new conceptual model for linking RBS to BIM.

International business theory suggests that multinational enterprises (MNEs) seek to internalise resources embedded in local firms to complement their own through inter-organisational relationships, yet little is known about whether and how these business linkages differ between foreign (F)MNEs and domestic (D)MNEs. This paper aims to explore the linkage differential between DMNEs and FMNEs operating in the same single-country contexts and to examine whether foreignness, regional origin and technological capability make a difference.

This study is based on a unique firm-level data set of 292 MNEs located in five advanced, small open economies (SMOPECs). This study analyses the benefit received – in the form of technical and organisational resources and knowledge – by DMNEs and FMNEs via backward, forward and collaborative linkages with local business partners.

Our research finds FMNEs benefit less from linkages than DMNEs; and FMNEs originating from outside the region especially so. However, the results also show technological capability mitigates this difference and is thus a game changer for FMNEs from outside the region.

This paper differentiates between FMNEs and DMNEs in their propensity to benefit from resources received from different local partners and explores the influence of regional origin and technological capability. Despite the advanced and internationally oriented nature of SMOPECs, DMNEs still gain more benefit, suggesting either liabilities of foreignness and outsidership persist, or FMNEs do not desire, need or nurture local linkages.

Presentation of the different industrial carbon linkages of India. The purpose of this paper is to understand the direct and indirect impact of these industrial linkages.

This study uses a hypothetical extraction method with its various extensions. Under this method, different carbon linkages of a block are removed from the economy, and the effects of carbon linkages are determined by the difference between the original and the post-removal values. Energy and non-energy carbon linkages are also estimated.

“Electricity, gas and water supply (EGW)” at 655.61 Mt and 648.74 Mt had the highest total and forward linkages. “manufacturing and recycling” at 231.48 Mt had the highest backward linkage. High carbon-intensive blocks of “EGW” plus “mining and quarrying” were net emitters, while others were net absorbers. “Fuel and chemicals” at 0.08 Mt had almost neutral status. Hard coal was the main source of direct and indirect emissions.

Net emitting and key net forward blocks should reduce direct emission intensities. India should use its huge geographical potential for industrial accessibility to cheaper alternative energy. This alongside with technology/process improvements catalyzed by policy tools can help in mitigation efforts. Next, key net-backward blocks such as construction through intermediate purchases significantly stimulate emissions from other blocks. Tailored mitigation policies are needed in this regard.

By developing an understanding of India’s industrial carbon links, this study can guide policymakers. In addition, the paper lays out the framework for estimating energy and non-energy-based industrial carbon links.

From the intra- and inter-regional dimensions, this paper investigates the linkage between industrial agglomeration and inventory performance, and further demonstrates the moderating role of firm size and enterprise status in the supply chain on this linkage.

Using a large panel dataset of Chinese manufacturers in the Yangtze River Delta for the period from 2008 to 2013, this study employs the method of spatial econometric analysis via a spatial Durbin model (SDM) to examine the effects of industrial agglomeration on inventory performance. Meanwhile, the moderation model is applied to examine the moderating role of two firm-level heterogeneity factors.

At its core, this research demonstrates that industrial agglomeration is associated with the positive change of inventory performance in the adjacent regions, whereas that in the host region as well as in general does not significantly increase. Additionally, both firm size and enterprise status in the supply chain can positively moderate these effects, except for the moderating role of firm size on the positive spillovers.

In view of firm heterogeneity, managers should take special care when matching their abilities of inventory management with the agglomeration effects. Firms with a high level of inventory management are suited to stay in an industrial cluster, while others would be better in the adjacent regions to enhance inventory performance.

This paper is the first to systematically analyze the effects of industrial agglomeration on inventory performance within and across clusters, and confirm that these effects are contingent upon firm size and enterprise status in the supply chain. It adds to the existing literature by highlighting the spatial spillovers from industrial clusters and enriching the antecedents of inventory leanness.

Purpose – Rural–urban divides characterize many violent internecine conflicts. The lack of rural development is often cited as an underlying structural cause of this phenomenon, and thus strengthening rural–urban linkages is often touted as a way of dismantling the structural conditions for internecine violence. This chapter attempts to identify how both the strength and the form of rural–urban linkages influence the intensity of insurgent violence.

Methodology – Using geographic information systems, this chapter analyzes the intensity of specific violent attacks by rural insurgent groups in Maoist India as a function of rural–urban linkages and transportation network redundancy.

Findings – It finds that the degree of interconnectivity in transportation networks is a more robust determinant of restraint among violent actors than the sheer strength of rural–urban linkages. Production networks characterized by highly networked road systems are more likely to incent restrained behavior among rebel groups, which may be dependent on taxation or extortion through obstruction.

Limitations/implications – The chapter quantitatively analyzes a phenomenon, but does not identify causal mechanisms driving it. The policy implication is that providing transportation infrastructure within rural areas may be a more effective guard against insurgent violence than connecting urban and rural areas.

Originality – The chapter makes a methodologically unique link between the large existing literature on rural–urban linkages, and the growing literature on trade networks in violent conflict.

Crime linkage analysis (CLA) can be applied in the police investigation-phase to sift through a database to find behaviorally similar cases to the one under investigation and in the trial-phase to try to prove that the perpetrator of two or more offences is the same, by showing similarity and distinctiveness in the offences. Lately, research has moved toward more naturalistic settings, analyzing data sets that are as similar to actual crime databases as possible. One such step has been to include one-off offences in the data sets, but this has not yet been done with homicide. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how linking accuracy of serial homicide is affected as a function of added hard-to-solve one-off offences.

A sample (N = 117–1160) of Italian serial homicides (n = 116) and hard-to-solve one-off homicides (n = 1–1044, simulated from 45 cases) was analyzed using a Bayesian approach to identify series membership, and a case by case comparison of similarity using Jaccard’s coefficient. Linking accuracy was evaluated using receiver operating characteristics and by examining the sensitivity and specificity of the model.

After an initial dip in linking accuracy (as measured by the AUC), the accuracy increased as more one-offs were added to the data. While adding one-offs made it easier to identify correct series (increased sensitivity), there was an increase in false positives (decreased specificity) in the linkage decisions. When rank ordering cases according to similarity, linkage accuracy was affected negatively as a function of added non-serial cases.

While using a more natural data set, in terms of adding a significant portion of non-serial homicides into the mix, does introduce error into the linkage decision, the authors conclude that taken overall, the findings still support the validity of CLA in practice.

This is the first crime linkage study on homicide to investigate how linking accuracy is affected as a function of non-serial cases being introduced into the data.