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The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of numerous writings addressing quality performance-geared contracting (PC) and self-stated performance.

The study systematically reviewed 134 refereed papers across various fields published between from 2000 to 2018. A categorization framework of PC is suggested addressing fundamental dimensions of its plan and management.

The relative analysis of pertinent articles advancing interdisciplinary perspective encourages learning and provides knowledge about quality management in organizations especially at individual and organizational levels.

The outcomes indicate that much of the present-day wide-ranging performance contracting studies do not have robust theoretical grounds. Studies are also inclined to certain theories for instance agency theory and play down other theories with the likelihood of contributing to quality management.

Performance contracting between citizens and public entities is important in that the written contract limits what the public entities, for instance, the government can and cannot do and informs on the rights and privileges of citizens, thus contracts to form the core of a free society.

This review demonstrates that performance contracting is useful in performance improvement if proper job design and contract management exist.

The study sets out to demonstrate how a lifecycle perspective on complex, public-sector procurement projects can be used for making qualitative assessments of procurement policy and practice and reveal those procurement capabilities that are most impactful for operating effectively.

Agency theory, institutional theory and the lifecycle analysis technique are combined to abductively develop a framework to identify, analyse and compare complex procurement policies and practices in public sector organisations. Defence is the focal case and is compared with cases in the Nuclear, Local Government and Health sectors.

The study provides a framework for undertaking a lifecycle analysis to understand the challenges and capabilities of complex, public-sector buyers. Eighteen hierarchically-arranged themes are identified and used in conjunction with agency theory and institutional theory to explain complex procurement policy and practice variation in some of the UK’s highest-profile public buyers. The study findings provide a classification of complex buyers and offer valuable guidance for practitioners and researchers navigating complex procurement contexts.

The lifecycle approach proposed is a new research tool providing a bespoke application of theory by considering each lifecycle phase as an individual but related element that is governed by unique institutional pressures and principal-agent relationships.

This paper aims to present an analysis of the perception of performance management practices and transformations by investigating what devolved governments of Kenya are doing and ought to do after which the approaches of performance and performance management are evaluated.

A descriptive assessment of five devolved governments of Kenya is carried out. This study covered 518 respondents across the above-sampled governments.

The outcomes demonstrated that there are guidelines established by the counties to measure the performance of workers where tested variables about setting performance standards and performance review information against their effect on performance improvement and performance measurement, respectively, are statistically significant, and therefore have a positive impact on the eventual performance of devolved governments.

The results support scholars, practitioners and social scientists in development studies for the planning and management of public organizations. The thought of factors that enhance or impede devolved government workers’ performance can be explored in future research.

The thought of performance management perception, especially in a developing country, is a theoretical milestone.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management is split into six sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Logistics and Distribution Strategy; Supply Chain Management; IT in Logistics and Distribution; Just‐in‐time Management; Accounting for Logistics; International.

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, to examine the contingent role of the product life cycle on the efficacy of purchasing practices. Second, to use the results of the first investigation to explore the adequacy of the profit‐maximization framework for explaining purchasing decision making. This second investigation is motivated by growing evidence on the role of institutional factors in explaining supply chain management practices.

Survey data from a sample of North American manufacturing firms, across four standard industry sectors, are analysed using ANOVA and linear regression, to examine the hypotheses.

The results indicate that product life cycle has a contingent effect on the efficacy of some purchasing practices but not on others. Interestingly, the results suggest that the profit‐maximization framework is capable of explaining only some purchasing decisions but not others; firms adopt certain purchasing practices in certain product life cycle stages, even when these practices have no apparent effect on purchasing performance. This raises a need for an alternative framework to profit‐maximization, to better understand purchasing decision making.

The paper pioneers an empirical examination of how product life cycle moderates the relationship between purchasing practices and purchasing performance. The paper presents novel insights on the inadequacy of the rational profit‐maximization framework to explain purchasing decision making. Furthermore, the paper presents testable propositions on the role of institutional factors that are potentially driving purchasing decision making in managing the product life cycle contingency.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the management of hazards arising from the make-buy choice in the face of radical technological change. This sourcing choice can lead to distinctive exchange and hierarchical hazards. This study’s main interest is in investigating the research question “How can firms reduce those distinctive exchange and hierarchical hazards arising from the make-buy sourcing strategy when dealing with radical technological change?”

The author develops hypotheses that the in-house retention of outsourced component knowledge will likely reduce exchange hazards arising from the buy strategy choice. And prior exploratory technological experience will likely reduce hierarchical hazards arising from the make strategy choice. The author explores the US mountain bicycle industry from 1980 to 1992 to test the developed hypotheses. For endogeneity arising from the make-buy sourcing decision, the author uses Heckman’s two-stage switching regression model.

The major findings are that the in-house retention of outsourced component knowledge and prior exploratory technological experience is distinctive moderating factors improving performance of a buy strategy and a make strategy, respectively.

Since the extant literature tends to focus on which of the two sourcing strategies provides the greatest performance advantages in the face of radical technological change, there is a strong implication to suggest that if a firm performs poorly with one sourcing decision, the firm should switch to an alternative one. Different from the expositions of the literature, this study elevates the understanding regarding how firms can improve the performance of their current sourcing orientation rather than whether they should switch from one sourcing strategy to another.

Explores the theoretical linkage between organisational learning and organisational performance by analysing the different systems of performance management. Aside from focusing on the traditional financial aspects of performance, deals with the much‐hyped qualitative nature of non‐financial performance measures. Discusses in conjunction with organisational learning outcomes which can be seen to be operating at two levels: formal and informal. Arguably, the former involves the bottom‐line tangible indicators while the latter, the intangible indicators. Further suggests alternative views of performance measures by examining the cognitive and behavioural development of individuals. This, to a large extent, deals with intellectual capital and knowledge acquisition, and how they can be translated into competence which will in turn benefit the organisation financially.

This paper presents a new and well-structured framework that aims to assess the current environmental impact from a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions perspective. This tool includes a new set of Lean Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which translates the well-known logic of Overall Equipment Effectiveness in the field of GHG emissions, that can progressively detect industrial losses that cause GHG emissions and support decision-making for implementing improvements.

The new metrics are presented with reference to two different perspectives: (1) to highlight the deviation of the current value of emissions from the target; (2) to adopt a diagnostic orientation not only to provide an assessment of current performance but also to search for the main causes of inefficiencies and to direct improvement implementations.

The proposed framework was applied to a major company operating in the plywood production sector. It identified emission-related losses at each stage of the production process, providing an overall performance evaluation of 53.1%. The industrial application shows how the indicators work in practice, and the framework as a whole, to assess GHG emissions related to industrial losses and to proper address improvement actions.

This paper scrutinizes a new set of Lean KPIs to assess the industrial losses causing GHG emissions and identifies some significant drawbacks. Then it proposes a new structure of losses and KPIs that not only quantify efficiency but also allow to identify viable countermeasures.