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Interorganizational power dependence has become an increasingly important factor for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve product innovation. This paper examines the role of power dependence in SMEs' product innovation trade-offs between exploration and exploitation. The article further studies the mediating effect of supply chain adaptability and the moderating effect of knowledge acquisition on the relationship between power dependence and product innovation.

The study proposes a model to verify the impact of power dependence on SMEs' product innovation trade-offs based on social network theory. Two conceptually independent constructs, “availability of alternatives (ALTRN)” and “restraint in the use of power (RSPTW),” are used to evaluate the power dependence. The model also analyzed how these effects are mediated by supply chain adaptability and moderated by knowledge acquisition. The authors test these relationships using data collected from 224 SMEs in China.

The empirical analysis shows that ALTRN has a more substantial effect on exploration for product innovation, while RSTPW has a more significant impact on exploitation for product innovation. Moreover, empirical data indicate a partial mediating effect by supply chain adaptability between power dependence and product innovation of SMEs. The results also show that knowledge acquisition positively moderates the relationship between ALTRN/RSTPW, supply chain adaptability and product innovation.

Overall, the findings of the study advance the understanding of the roles of power dependence in product innovation for SMEs. In addition, the research also uncovers the impact mechanisms of existing theoretical frameworks and extends the boundaries of the theory.

This chapter reviews the origins and primary arguments of resource dependence theory and traces its influence on the subsequent literatures in multiple social science and professional disciplines, contrasting it with Emerson's power-dependence theory. Recent years have seen an upsurge in the theory's citations in the literature, which we attribute in part to Stanford's position of power in the network of academic exchange. We conclude with a review of some promising lines of recent research that extend and qualify resource dependence theory's insights, and outline potentially fruitful areas of future research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the best supply chain management (SCM) practices that are implemented in medium- and large-sized Gulf manufacturing firms (MFs).

This study has explored seven SCM practices, i.e. supplier collaboration, flexibility with partners, usage of internet, customer focus (CF), lean production (LP), internal integration (II) and quality management (QM). It assumes that the best-performing firms must be the ones implementing the best practices. t-test and multiple linear regression analyses were used to establish the best practices, implemented by medium and large-sized Gulf MFs.

The results showed that QM, CF and supplier collaboration are considered as best SCM practices in Gulf MFs. Usage of internet may have been the best practice previously, but not anymore. LP cannot yet be qualified as, but may develop into the best SCM practice.

The study provides a useful contribution to the field of best SCM practices as it provides better decision-making insights and a benchmarking base to top managers, policy makers and academics. It is likely to result in increased overall performance of their firms.

The study provides an understanding of the distinctive characteristics of the best SCM practices, implemented by Gulf MFs. It has broader implications for all MFs, particularly in developing economies where the growth of manufacturing and effective management of their supply chains is a key element for the economic development.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate retailers’ power-dependence management through the lens of supply chain diversification, and explore how it is linked to their logistic arrangements in managing suppliers and their retail performance.

Hypotheses are tested using a structural equation modelling based on survey data from 186 merchandising division heads at Japanese retail companies.

The results reveal that quick-response inventory replenishment is positively related to retailers’ use of power-dependence management. This management practice leads to enhanced retail competitiveness and, thus, higher sales growth in supply chain relationships.

This study contributes to understanding how retailers’ logistic arrangements work by modelling power relations within supply chains, drawing on power-dependence theory. The authors propose an alternative view of logistics systems to that of the widely adopted transaction cost theory. The authors find that supplier investments in quick-response inventory management may not be a relationship-specific asset.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of relational power/dependent asymmetries and symmetries in shaping socially responsible supply chain management, whilst also examining how these issues are moderated by geographical distance between buyer and supplier.

The study draws on data from 339 buyer‐supplier relationships, and the authors use a set of regression models to test their hypotheses.

Joint dependency positively influences socially responsible supply chain management, whilst supplier power constrains it. Both joint dependency and buyer power become increasingly important determinants of socially responsible supply chain management as geographic distance increases.

Further work is needed to examine the conditions under which organisations will exercise their power advantage or their joint dependence position to improve socially responsible processes in the supply chain, as there may be situations where the buyer chooses not to exercise their power positions.

The authors' results indicate that jointly dependent relationships create the best conditions for socially responsible supply chain management, but they also find that supplier power advantage can constrain such initiatives.

This is the first paper to systematically analyse the implementation of socially responsible supply chain management, within a model that considers power a/symmetric positions of the buyer‐supplier relationship, and the role of geographical distance as a moderating influence on these power positions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a model investigating the relationship among inter-departmental communication, buyer innovativeness, and retail competitiveness. The authors also explore whether a retail strategy of supply base diversification for managing suppliers moderates the association between innovativeness and competitiveness.

Hypotheses were tested using a structural equation model and survey data drawn from general merchandise managers of 149 supermarket retailers in Japan.

The results indicate that inter-departmental communication between merchandising and store divisions drives innovativeness among retail buyers and ultimately strengthens firm competitiveness. Moreover, when buyer innovativeness is evident and less actively the retail buyers utilize supply base diversification, the stronger is the retailer’s competitiveness. The study failed to find any direct impact of inter-departmental communication on retail competitiveness.

This study offers managerial insights into the roles that buyer innovativeness, inter-departmental communications, and supply base diversification play in developing effective competitive strategies.

This study makes two key contributions. First, it is novel in using inter-departmental communication to explain the antecedents of buyer innovativeness. Second, drawing on the power-dependence theory, the authors extend the well-established innovativeness-performance linkage by exploring the moderation effect of supply base diversification.

This paper aims to provide insights into stakeholder expectations regarding the types of disclosures a firm should make, and if dissatisfied with the disclosure policy, whether it will use different intervention strategies in an attempt to induce the desired disclosure outcome.

An inductive qualitative framework is used in the study. In‐depth interviews, triangulated against relevant web site and media releases, are used to identify the salient stakeholders and the major environmental issues in Malaysia. Then an experimental approach is used based on role‐playing whereby experienced participants are introduced to hypothetical vignettes that relate to environmental issues identified.

The results indicate that the preferred form of disclosure is for the firms to “defend” the reasons behind the environmental event and/or explain what has been done to rectify the situation. With relatively few exceptions, the preferred strategies chosen by various participants align well with the influence strategies identified by Frooman. The findings confirm that although Frooman's model is useful in predicting stakeholder influence strategies, its effectiveness is tempered by the level of significance placed on the event by the stakeholders.

Although based on a small sample, the results suggest that stakeholder theory has much to offer in terms of understanding management/stakeholder behaviour and corporate environmental disclosures.

The paper extends the application of stakeholder influence strategies in the “environmental reporting” domain. Likewise, it attempts to address the scarcity of literature taking the view of a wide array of stakeholders and how they choose to influence the firm. Finally, it confirms that stakeholder theory can be extended to aid the understanding of events in non‐western developing economies such as Malaysia.

This article aims to identify critical aspects of Chinese‐Western intercultural guanxi relationships that have largely been ignored as a domain for study in international business and industrial marketing, and to suggest a way forward.

A theme analysis across a range of academic and business journal articles is undertaken to capture major themes involving China‐focused research that relates to international business and industrial marketing, and also to locate critical themes that may have been overlooked.

Intercultural interaction at a personal level is both unavoidable and critical for successfully doing business with China. This study introduces the term guanxi gateway ties to highlight a special class of facilitating relationships that can emerge through interactions between guanxi insiders and guanxi outsiders. Insiders and outsiders can meet and work together in this middle‐cultural territory for the instrumental purpose of obtaining passage through the “gateway”.

Inevitably some journal articles of interest may have been missed in the review due to the chosen scanning boundary. Nevertheless the search method provides a sufficient base to reveal recurrent research themes, and also overlooked themes of potential significance.

Guanxi gateway ties assist companies and individual business actors to find a path through the cumbersome Chinese bureaucracy and hierarchical levels by activating personal relationships.

This study reveals a commonly overlooked perspective of guanxi, that is, as a facilitator of culture‐bridging ties. The conventional business perspective of guanxi can be viewed as evolving from a gated community into an intercultural facilitating mechanism.

The aim of this paper is to look at power and job‐related dependencies in organisations. A list of the references cited is given at the end.