Search results

1 – 10 of 51
Content available

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 39 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 May 2021

Byung-Gak Son, Sangho Chae and Canan Kocabasoglu-Hillmer

Catastrophic supply chain disruptions can significantly damage the operational and financial performance of firms. While a growing body of literature on supply network structures…

4716

Abstract

Purpose

Catastrophic supply chain disruptions can significantly damage the operational and financial performance of firms. While a growing body of literature on supply network structures has studied what influences supply networks' vulnerability to supply chain disruptions and capability to recover from them, it remains unclear how supply network structures change after major supply chain disruptions. We aim to provide an understanding of how these changes occur.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a natural experiment approach and supply network data from Factset, this study investigates how firms' supply network structures change after experiencing the catastrophic supply chain disruptions caused by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We capture post-earthquake supply network changes using the measures of degree centrality and ego network density.

Findings

The results of the analysis suggest that compared to unaffected firms, the affected firms experience changes in their supply network structures tending toward lower complexity measured by in-degree centrality, out-degree centrality and ego network density.

Originality/value

This study contributes to social network theory and the complex adaptive supply network literature by providing empirical evidence of structural changes in supply networks after catastrophic supply chain disruptions. A managerial contribution is made by providing a reflection on why these changes might be occurring and alert firms to the challenges of managing complexity in their supply networks.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 June 2022

Kati Marttinen and Anni-Kaisa Kähkönen

A firm's ability to cascade sustainability requirements further down to lower-tier suppliers might be affected by inter-firm power relations. This study aimed to identify the…

2431

Abstract

Purpose

A firm's ability to cascade sustainability requirements further down to lower-tier suppliers might be affected by inter-firm power relations. This study aimed to identify the power sources of focal firms and first- and lower-tier suppliers and to investigate how they may affect their ability to cascade sustainability requirements along multi-tier supply chains.

Design/methodology/approach

A multiple case study of 24 companies was conducted to investigate the sources of power in multi-tier supply chains. In total, 42 informants from five focal companies, ten first-tier suppliers and nine lower-tier suppliers were interviewed.

Findings

Differences were found between the sources from which focal firms and first- and lower-tier suppliers drew power. Findings revealed that firms' power sources may increase or impair their ability to cascade sustainability requirements to lower supply chain tiers. Furthermore, multi-tier supply chain-level power sources constitute a significant determinant of firms' ability to disseminate sustainability requirements to lower-tier suppliers.

Practical implications

The results can help companies and purchasing managers understand how their own and suppliers' power may affect their ability to cascade sustainability agendas to lower-tier suppliers. In particular, the results can be useful for supplier selection and the development of supplier relationship management strategies for fostering sustainability in multi-tier supply chains.

Originality/value

This study places traditional power perspectives in the context of multi-tier sustainable supply chain management, broadening the view beyond dyadic relationships that have traditionally been the focus of the supply management literature.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 42 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 August 2021

Axel Georg Zehendner, Philipp C. Sauer, Patrick Schöpflin, Anni-Kaisa Kähkönen and Stefan Seuring

Managing supply chains (SCs) for sustainability often results in conflicting demands, which can be conceptualized as sustainability tensions. This paper studies sustainability…

3643

Abstract

Purpose

Managing supply chains (SCs) for sustainability often results in conflicting demands, which can be conceptualized as sustainability tensions. This paper studies sustainability tensions in electronics SC contexts and the related management responses by applying a paradox perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

A single case study on the electronics SC is conducted with companies and third-party organizations as embedded units of analysis, using semi-structured interviews that are triangulated with publicly available data.

Findings

The study identifies tension elements (learning, belonging, organizing and economic performing) conflicting with general social–ecological objectives in the electronics SC. The results indicate a hierarchal structure among the sustainability tensions in SC contexts. The management responses of contextualization and resolution are assigned to the identified tensions.

Practical implications

Framing social–ecological objectives with their conflicting elements as paradoxical tensions enables organizations and SCs to develop better strategies for responding to complex sustainability issues in SC contexts.

Originality/value

The study contributes toward filling the gap on paradoxical sustainability tensions in SCs. Empirical insights are gained from different actors in the electronics SC. The level of emergence and interconnectedness of sustainability tensions in a larger SC context is explored through an outside-in perspective.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 17 May 2021

Helena Forslund, Maria Björklund and Veronica Svensson Ülgen

Sustainability approaches across product supply chains are well-known, while similar knowledge on transport supply chains (TSC) is limited. The purpose of this paper is to explore…

5877

Abstract

Purpose

Sustainability approaches across product supply chains are well-known, while similar knowledge on transport supply chains (TSC) is limited. The purpose of this paper is to explore sustainability approaches and managerial challenges in extending sustainability across a TSC.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a case study of a TSC with a shipper, a third-party logistics firm and a hauler. Each actor’s views on sustainability-related communication and relations with other TSC actors are analyzed through the lens of agency theory.

Findings

Each dyad in the TSC reveals different, more or less collaboration-based approaches. Challenges are revealed, including the lack of shipper understanding for the TSC context and the use of immature contracts, which disincentivizes sustainability compliance. The multi-tier study object reveals the silencing of distant actors and the need for actors to take on mediating roles to bridge information asymmetries.

Research limitations/implications

Combining literature perspectives (relations, communication and agency theory) provides a deeper understanding of the approaches applied and identifies different challenges. The inclusion of agency theory reveals principal problems such as information asymmetries between agents and less-informed principals and suggests complementary labels of supply chain actors.

Practical implications

Practical contributions include the highlighting of managerial challenges, which can aid managers in extending sustainability across TCSs.

Social implications

The case study method offers insights into collaboratively improving sustainability in supply chains (such as using contracts), thus having social and environmental implications.

Originality/value

The paper narrows knowledge gaps about managing sustainability among logistics service providers and analyzes data from multi-tier actors.

Details

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, vol. 27 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-8546

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 August 2021

Caroline Emberson, Silvia Maria Pinheiro and Alexander Trautrims

The purpose of this paper is to examine how first-tier suppliers in multi-tier supply chains adapt their vertical and horizontal relationships to reduce the risk of slavery-like…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how first-tier suppliers in multi-tier supply chains adapt their vertical and horizontal relationships to reduce the risk of slavery-like practices.

Design/methodology/approach

Using Archer’s morphogenetic theory as an analytical lens, this paper presents case analyses adduced from primary and secondary data related to the development of relational anti-slavery supply capabilities in Brazilian–UK beef and timber supply chains.

Findings

Four distinct types of adaptation were found among first-tier suppliers: horizontal systemisation, vertical systemisation, horizontal transformation and vertical differentiation.

Research limitations/implications

This study draws attention to the socially situated nature of corporate action, moving beyond the rationalistic discourse that underpins existing research studies of multi-tier, socially sustainable, supply chain management. Cross-sector comparison highlights sub-country and intra-sectoral differences in both institutional setting and the approaches and outcomes of individual corporate actors’ initiatives. Sustainable supply chain management theorists would do well to seek out those institutional entrepreneurs who actively reshape the institutional conditions within which they find themselves situated.

Practical implications

Practitioners may benefit from adopting a structured approach to the analysis of the necessary or contingent complementarities between their, primarily economic, objectives and the social sustainability goals of other, potential, organizational partners.

Social implications

A range of interventions that may serve to reduce the risk of slavery-like practices in global commodity chains are presented.

Originality/value

This paper presents a novel analysis of qualitative empirical data and extends understanding of the agential role played by first-tier suppliers in global, multi-tier, commodity, supply chains.

Details

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-8546

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 21 May 2018

Grazia D. Santangelo

Abstract

Details

Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1059-5422

Content available
Article
Publication date: 2 November 2023

Qi Yao, Yuntong Liang, Mengying Feng and Hao Wang

Based on the chain liability and green halo effects, this study uses the perspective of multi-tier supply chain management to examine the impact mechanism and boundary conditions…

Abstract

Purpose

Based on the chain liability and green halo effects, this study uses the perspective of multi-tier supply chain management to examine the impact mechanism and boundary conditions of suppliers' green innovation types on consumers' willingness to participate in value co-creation with focal firms from the perspective of multi-tier supply chain management.

Design/methodology/approach

Using four situational experiments, 660 participants were recruited in Credamo, and SPSS 23.0 was used for data analysis. Experiments 1a and 1b verify the effect of suppliers' green innovation on consumers' willingness to participate in value co-creation with focal firms; experiment 2 examines the mediating effect of green sincerity perception; and experiment 3 explores the moderating effect of innovation proactiveness.

Findings

The results show that suppliers' green innovation efforts are more sincere when they are substantive (vs. symbolic), thereby generating higher value co-creation intentions. As a driving force, innovation proactiveness moderates the influence of suppliers' green innovation types on consumer's willingness to co-create value with focal firms.

Originality/value

This study enriches the literature on green supply chain management (GSCM) and consumers' willingness to co-create value. Furthermore, this study provides firms with practical guidance to improve marketing performance and green innovation practices through multilevel GSCM.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 53 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 July 2022

Sara Harper

While localized small-series production is a significant opportunity, various tensions challenge implementation in high-cost contexts. This paper explores how managers view and…

2112

Abstract

Purpose

While localized small-series production is a significant opportunity, various tensions challenge implementation in high-cost contexts. This paper explores how managers view and respond to different tensions in small-series production implementation by adopting a paradox-based perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a multiple case study addressing small-series production within EU's apparel industry, as key context to address managerial awareness, and responses to tensions regarding location and supply network configuration decisions. Seven cases were selected for variation in customization and implementation (early/established), ownership, location and company size, to identity commonalities.

Findings

The study highlights performing tensions related to sustainability, and risk, in addition to confirming traditional goal-related tensions predominantly impacting small volume production. With on-demand/custom production, tensions include costs in conflict with process scale, and several process-related tensions (flexibility, expansion/development, risk management). Identified multidimensional responses do not include location or structural decisions, instead focusing on synthesis, through product-operations efficiency, knowledge development and process innovation and supply chain collaboration. Temporal separation is found with customization, including reducing product/process complexity short-term with enhancing process development, which suggests latent learning tensions and limited awareness.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should address the extent to which tensions can be resolved or remain paradoxical, as well as dynamic decision-making and latent tensions.

Originality/value

The paper shows how paradox theory facilitates a deeper understanding of complex network configuration decisions, including reshoring/localization. The findings identify organizing tensions/elements and elaborate upon performing/performing-organizing tensions suggested with small-series production, location decisions and supply chain management.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 42 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 September 2006

Andrew C. Lyons and Adrian E. Coronado Mondragon

357

Abstract

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

1 – 10 of 51