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1 – 10 of 52Andreas Wieland, Mark Stevenson, Steven A. Melnyk, Simin Davoudi and Lisen Schultz
This article seeks to broaden how researchers in supply chain management view supply chain resilience by drawing on and integrating insights from other disciplines – in…
Abstract
Purpose
This article seeks to broaden how researchers in supply chain management view supply chain resilience by drawing on and integrating insights from other disciplines – in particular, the literature on the resilience of social-ecological systems.
Design/methodology/approach
Before the authors import new notions of resilience from outside the discipline, the current state of the art in supply chain resilience research is first briefly reviewed and summarized. Drawing on five practical examples of disruptive events and challenges to supply chain practice, the authors assess how these examples expose gaps in the current theoretical lenses. These examples are used to motivate and justify the need to expand our theoretical frameworks by drawing on insights from the literature on social-ecological systems.
Findings
The supply chain resilience literature has predominantly focused on minimizing the consequences of a disruption and on returning to some form of steady state (often assumed to be identical to the state that existed prior to the disruption) implicitly assuming the supply chain behaves like an engineered system. This article broadens the debate around supply chain resilience using literature on social-ecological systems that puts forward three manifestations of resilience: (1) persistence, which is akin to an engineering-based view, (2) adaptation and (3) transformation. Furthermore, it introduces seven principles of resilience thinking that can be readily applied to supply chains.
Research limitations/implications
A social-ecological interpretation of supply chains presents many new avenues of research, which may rely on the use of innovative research methods to further our understanding of supply chain resilience.
Practical implications
The article encourages managers to think differently about supply chains and to consider what this means for their resilience. The three manifestations of resilience are not mutually exclusive. For example, while persistence may be needed in the initial aftermath of a disruption, adaptation and transformation may be required in the longer term.
Originality/value
The article challenges traditional assumptions about supply chains behaving like engineered systems and puts forward an alternative perspective of supply chains as being dynamic and complex social-ecological systems that are impossible to entirely control.
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John Z. Ni, Steve A. Melnyk, William J. Ritchie and Barbara F. Flynn
The purpose of this paper is to focus on adoption of certified management standards, specifically public standards. Such standards play an increasingly important role in today’s…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on adoption of certified management standards, specifically public standards. Such standards play an increasingly important role in today’s business environment. However, to generate adoption benefits, they must be first widely accepted – a situation where they have become viewed as the de facto norms. For this state to occur early adopters play a critical role. Past research has argued that early adopters, in exchange for assuming more risk, are rewarded with higher economic returns. Yet, these findings are based on private, not public standards. With public standards, early adopters do not receive such benefits. There is evidence that public standards are becoming more important. This situation leads to a simple but important question addressed in this study – if early adopters assume the risks of embracing a new public standard without economic benefits, then what is their motivation? To resolve this question, this study draws on agency theory and prospect theory. The authors argue that early adopters embrace such standards because of their desire to minimize risk resulting from failure to support the goal at the heart of the public standards.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained from the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) Partners Cost Benefit Survey and analyzed through structural equation modeling.
Findings
Early adopters of public standards are not driven by economic benefits but rather by the need to minimize their exposure to the risks associated with failing to satisfy the goals associated with a public standard. In other words, they were motivated by the need to minimize costs. In the case of C-TPAT, these costs are those of failing to provide or improve network security.
Research limitations/implications
This study has shed new light on the standards adoption process by clarifying the specific motivations that drive early adoption of a public standard. In addition to identifying the loss aversion motives of early adopters and economic benefit motives of later adopters, the authors have also elaborated on the notion that standards have differing levels of precedence, particularly when comparing private with public standards.
Practical implications
In a world characterized by increasing demands for outcomes such as improved security and where governmental funding is falling, due to growing deficits and governments that are becoming more conservative, the authors expect the use of public standards to increase.
Originality/value
Different from prior research on private standard, the paper focuses on the organizations involved in the adoption and diffusion of a public standard, with special attention being devoted to the early adopters. The paper provides a theoretical explanation for the actions of early adopters of a public standard through the theoretical lens of prospect theory.
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Derek Friday, David A. Savage, Steven A. Melnyk, Norma Harrison, Suzanne Ryan and Heidi Wechtler
Inventory management systems in health-care supply chains (HCSC) have been pushed to breaking point by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unanticipated demand shocks due to stockpiling of…
Abstract
Purpose
Inventory management systems in health-care supply chains (HCSC) have been pushed to breaking point by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unanticipated demand shocks due to stockpiling of medical supplies caused stockouts, and the stockouts triggered systematic supply chain (SC) disruptions inconceivable for risk managers working individually with limited information about the pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to respond to calls from the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO) for coordinated global action by proposing a research agenda based on a review of current knowledge and knowledge gaps on the role of collaboration in HCSCs in maintaining optimal stock levels and reinforcing resilience against stockout disruptions during pandemics.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review was conducted, and a total of 752 articles were analyzed.
Findings
Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment practices are under-researched in the HCSC literature. Similarly, a fragmented application of extant SC collaborative risk management capabilities undermines efforts to enhance resilience against systematic disruptions from medical stockouts. The paucity of HCSC articles in humanitarian logistics and SC journals indicates a need for more research interlinking two interdependent yet critical fields in responding to pandemics.
Research limitations/implications
Although based on an exhaustive search of academic articles addressing HCSCs, there is a possibility of having overlooked other studies due to search variations in language controls, differences in publication cycle time and database search engines.
Originality/value
The paper relies on COVID-19's uniqueness to highlight the limitations in optimization and individualistic approaches to managing medical inventory and stockout risks in HCSCs. The paper proposes a shift from a fragmented to holistic application of relevant collaboration practices and capabilities to enhance the resilience of HCSCs against stockout ripple effects during future pandemics. The study propositions and suggestion for an SC learning curve provide an interdisciplinary research agenda to trigger early preparation of a coordinated HCSC and humanitarian logistics response to future pandemics.
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Robert Sroufe, Sime Curkovic, Frank Montabon and Steven A. Melnyk
This paper examines the role played by environmental issues during the new product design process. These issues are studied through an exploratory research project based on case…
Abstract
This paper examines the role played by environmental issues during the new product design process. These issues are studied through an exploratory research project based on case studies of ten companies. The firms studied can be categorized into one of five major groups: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. These groups strongly parallel the model of new product acceptance initially developed in the computer industry, as presented by Moore (1991). Of interest is the gap that exists between the early adopters and early majority users. This gap forms a chasm. Those factors that account for acceptance of environmentally responsible manufacturing in the innovators and early adopters are significantly different from those factors observed in the early majority, late majority, and laggards. This paper examines these and other differences, and the impact of these differences on the acceptance and use of environmental concerns within the new product design process.
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John D. Hanson, Steven A. Melnyk and Roger A. Calantone
The purpose of this paper is to develop an operational definition of alignment within the context of a performance measurement and management system in order to create a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an operational definition of alignment within the context of a performance measurement and management system in order to create a measurement model that can be used in survey‐based research, particularly under conditions of dramatic strategic change.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected using an in‐depth case study and analyzed using the methods of grounded theory development. Particular attention is given to multi‐level analysis within an organisation.
Findings
Alignment must be assessed with a multi‐dimensional model that looks beyond goals and performance. Distinctions must be made between goals and processes and between intrinsic definitions of alignment and their cultural context.
Research limitations/implications
The research was conducted within one major organisation that was undergoing a strategic shift from process efficiency to product innovation. Work by other researchers suggests that the findings may be more broadly generalisable, but further investigation remains to be done.
Practical implications
The ability to maintain alignment through a period of transition is a basis of dynamic capabilities. It is found that certain aspects of performance measurement and management must be de‐emphasised during these transitions.
Originality/value
By using grounded theory development, this study results in a criterion‐free measurement model of alignment that represents an operational definition of the construct.
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Steven A. Melnyk and Chris J. Piper
This article presents the results of a simulation study of implementation practices for material requirements planning systems. In particular, the role of safety lead times in…
Abstract
This article presents the results of a simulation study of implementation practices for material requirements planning systems. In particular, the role of safety lead times in ensuring effective delivery performance is analysed and some general guidelines are suggested.
Steven A. Melnyk, Roger J. Calantone, Joan Luft, Douglas M. Stewart, George A. Zsidisin, John Hanson and Laird Burns
To understand the use of metrics to attain alignment between the needs of the customer, strategic objectives, and the execution system. This paper examines the process by which…
Abstract
Purpose
To understand the use of metrics to attain alignment between the needs of the customer, strategic objectives, and the execution system. This paper examines the process by which metrics at the various levels are developed and the factors affecting this process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a series of “deep” case studies and 45 interviews of key managers at various levels within three related businesses. Open and axial coding on the data was performed and themes reported.
Findings
The findings show how metrics can generate two types of synergy, financial, and strategic and that numerous factors affect metrics deployment and alignment. There also exists a tension between those metrics that encourage sales growth through innovation and market development (i.e. the so‐called top line metrics) and those metrics that reduce costs or asset investments (i.e. bottom line metrics).
Research limitations/implications
Selective coding of the data to develop theoretical insight has yet to be performed.
Practical implications
Alignment is affected by both the goals used and the processes used in developing and implementing metrics. Furthermore, the study shows that those actions that foster cost reduction (e.g. through lean systems) may unintentionally hinder and limit those actions aimed at encouraging innovation.
Originality/value
The metrics alignment process is vital to effective management, yet the mechanisms of this process leading from understanding of the customer goals appropriate metrics for the execution system is effectively unexplored – a shortcoming that this paper begins to rectify.
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Marilyn M. Helms and Lawrence P. Ettkin
Time is the top priority. We now live in real time. It's no longer life in the fast lane because every lane is fast. The computer has changed the way we view time. We expect…
Abstract
Time is the top priority. We now live in real time. It's no longer life in the fast lane because every lane is fast. The computer has changed the way we view time. We expect everything to occur at Pentium speed! A time lag causes stress since it is viewed as an unnecessary waste. This is not a matter of immediate gratification; rather delays—such as standing in line—are viewed as something being wrong with the system, and the company that allows it to happen is perceived as not being up to speed! (Graham, 1996, p. 4).