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The purpose of this paper is to inquire into how conceptualising is done in the industrial network approach (INA).

The description and analysis of conceptualising is based on key INA references and an example illustrating the characteristics of conceptualising in individual studies.

The paper concludes that there is an open and interactive way of conceptualising in the INA. The empirical and theoretical grounding achieved through combining concepts in individual empirical studies interplays with conceptual development in the research community over time.

Three paradoxes are suggested for further discussion of conceptualising as a key element in theorising in the INA community.

By explicating how INA researchers engage in conceptualising both in individual empirical studies and as a community, the authors identify characteristics similar to the empirical phenomena in focus of the research: interaction, combining and heterogeneity of concepts.

Regarding the retail internal supply chain (SC), both retailers and research are currently focused on reactive food waste reduction options in stores (e.g. discounting or donations). These options reduce waste after a surplus has emerged but do not prevent an emerging surplus in the first place. This paper aims to reveal how retailers can proactively prevent waste along the SC and why the options identified are impactful but, at the same time, often complex to implement.

The authors follow an exploratory approach for a nascent topic to obtain insights into measures taken in practice. Interviews with experts from retail build the main data source.

The authors identify and analyze 21 inbound, warehousing, distribution and store-related options applied in grocery retail. Despite the expected high overall impact on waste, prevention measures in inbound logistics and distribution and warehousing have not been intensively applied to date.

The authors provide a structured approach to mitigate waste within retailers' operations and categorize the types of barriers that need to be addressed.

This research provides a better understanding of prevention options in retail operations, which has not yet been empirically explored. Furthermore, this study conceptualizes prevention and reduction options and reveals implementation patterns.

This study aims to build on the dynamic capability view by examining dynamic capabilities associated with public value in public procurement.

A qualitative case study approach is used in this study. The interview and secondary data consist of eight cases of value-creating procurement from four public organizations.

The findings connect dynamic capabilities and public value in terms of innovation generation and promotion, well-functioning supplier markets, public procurement process effectiveness, environmental and social sustainability and quality and availability of products or services.

Dynamic capabilities in public procurement are necessary to improve public procurement.

This study extends understanding of how sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities contribute to public value creation in both innovative and less innovative (i.e. ordinary) procurement scenarios.

This study aims to determine the factors and dynamic systems behaviour of essential medicine stockout in public health-care supply chains. The authors examine the constraints and effects of mental models on medicine stockout to develop a dynamic theory of medicine availability towards saving patients’ lives.

This study uses a mixed-method approach. Starting with a survey method, followed by in-depth interviews with stakeholders within five health-care supply chains to determine the dynamic feedback leading to stockout and conclude by developing a network mental model for medicines availability.

The authors identified five constraints and developed five case mental models. The authors develop a dynamic theory of medicine availability across cases and identify feedback loops and variables leading to medicine availability.

The need to include mental models of stakeholders like manufacturers and distributors of medicines to understand the system completely. Group surveys are prone to power dynamics and bias from group thinking. This survey’s quantitative output could minimize the bias.

This study uniquely uses a mixed-method of survey method and in-depth interviews of experts to assess the essential medicine stockout in Nigeria. To improve medicine availability, the authors develop a dynamic network mental model to understand the system structure, feedback and behaviour driving stockouts. This research will benefit public policymakers and hospital managers in designing policies that reduce medicine stockout.

Agenda for knowledge creation within inter-project alliances and inter-firm supply chain networks has been extensively debated. However, the existing knowledge networks within consultant-supplier interfaces in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry seem to be vague, loose, incidental and insignificant. This study examines factors affecting knowledge networking intention (KNI) within construction service supply chain (CSSC) networks.

Data analysis was conducted on a quantitative survey of 161 consulting professional service firms in Tanzania, employing stepwise regression modelling as the statistical technique.

The results indicate that three types of knowledge inertia (KI) exert varying effects on KNI. While both procedural (PI) and learning inertia (LI) negatively impact KNI, experience inertia (EI) has no impact on KNI. In addition, knowledge governance (KG) mechanisms are found to strongly strengthen and leverage the negative effects of PI and LI on KNI and the positive link between EI and KNI within outbound and heterogeneous CSSC actors, with formal KG having greater leverage than informal KG.

The study offers guidance on how managers of PBOs should strategically orchestrate knowledge governance mechanisms within CSSC networks to leverage KI behaviours.

Current literature on KNI, KI and KG within CSSC networks offers a limited understanding of how KI behaviours influence KNI of project-based organizations (PBOs) in tapping vibrant outbound peripheral knowledge. The research presents two major original contributions. First, the empirical evidence contributes to deepening the current understanding of how heterogeneous external knowledge within consultant-supplier interactions is negatively influenced by KI. Lastly, the study suggests formal and informal knowledge governance strategies for managers on how to counteract KI forces, thus extending the theoretical debate on KNI, KI and KG literature.

In today’s business settings, most firms strive to closely integrate their resources and activities with those of their business partners. However, these linkages tend to create lock-in effects when changes are needed. In such situations, firms need to generate new space for action. The purpose of this paper is twofold: analysis of potential action spaces for restructuring; and examination of how action spaces can be exploited and the consequences accompanying this implementation.

Network dynamics originate from changes in the network interdependencies. This paper is focused on the role of the three dual connections – actors–activities, actors–resources and activities–resources, identified as network vectors. In the framing of the study, these network vectors are combined with managerial action expressed in terms of networking and network outcome. This framework is then used for the analysis of major restructuring of the car industries in the USA and Europe at the end of the 1900s.

This study shows that the restructuring of the car industry can be explained by modifications in the three network vectors. Managerial action through changes of the vector features generated new action space contributing to the transition of the automotive network. The key to successful exploitation of action space was interaction – with individual business partners, in triadic constellations, as well as on the network level.

This paper presents a new view of network dynamics by relying on the three network vectors. These concepts were developed in the early 1990s. This far, however, they have been used only to a limited extent.

Due to the current volatile environment and fierce competition, manufacturing firms (MFs) must improve their performance to survive. In this regard, checking and monitoring the suppliers' risk should significantly improve the performance of MFs. In addition, a relation based on not being an opportunist, confidence and reliance are influential factors in reducing the supplier defaults on his/her supply obligations and improving supply chain performance (SCP). Besides, the moderator function of supplier involvement (SI) in the relationship between quality of the relationship (QoR) and supply risk mitigation (SRM) is undeniable.

Based on the survey of 148 samples from small to large-sized MFs in Jordan, Turkey and Egypt, empirical evidence has been conducted to support a majority of the authors’ hypotheses. This paper provides a theoretical review of buyer–supplier relationships and supply risk. Hypotheses were tested by using structural equation modeling (SEM)/Smart PLS-4.

According to the results, confidence and reliance have statistically significant and positive impacts on SRM, resulting in better SCP. Moreover, the findings show that SI positively affects and moderates the relationship between confidence (C) and SRM, while it has no statistically significant influence on the relationship between reliance (R) and SRM.

This study provides necessary material for managers and decision-makers in MFs to confirm the importance and understanding of the QoR in building relationships and business dealings with partners in the SC, in addition to limiting and mitigating the risks of an interruption in supply in particular. Therefore, building a high-quality relationship as a practice based on trust and reliability with suppliers positively affects the performance of the SCs of MFs.

This research paper offers empirical evidence for using QoR within SRM resources of MFs' context for enhancing their supply chain performance. This study is one of few studies that examine the QoR and SRM that contribute to enhancing SCP in MFs in developing countries, which also can serve as a reference for many SC managers and practitioners.

This paper examines the role of purchasing in facilitating early supplier involvement in new product development (NPD) in contexts of technological uncertainty (TU). Taking a purchasing perspective, it develops a moderate model to explain the effects of supplier involvement on NPD performance and whether and how knowledge orchestration capability (KOC) and TU affect these relationships. Additionally, KOC drivers are defined.

A total of 317 usable questionnaires from Chinese high-technology firms were collected. Moderated multiple regression (MMR) was used to test all hypotheses. Resource orchestration theory (ROT) was the adopted theoretical lens.

Two forms of supplier involvement (as knowledge source and co-creator) were found to distinctly affect NPD performance and have potential substitutive relationships. Purchasing KOC positively moderates the relationships between forms of supplier involvement on NPD performance. TU strengthens the moderating role of purchasing KOC. Furthermore, purchasing status and supply complexity are important antecedents for purchasing KOC.

These findings serve as a blueprint for involving purchasing in technologically uncertain NPD projects and improve supplier NPD integration. Additionally, management should recognize the purchasing function's role and empower it to identify ideas, knowledge and solutions within supply networks.

This research contributes to the ROT by examining the role of purchasing KOC on supplier involvement in NPD performance, especially under TU. Moreover, it demonstrates significant and positive relations between purchasing department status and external supply complexity on its KOC.

This paper aims to identify critical factors that influence small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) suppliers’ involvement in their customers’ product development and contrast these with the factors identified from the customer perspective.

A multiple case study approach was used, including four companies. Data were collected through 32 semi-structured interviews, six workshops and documents.

A model is presented that merges this study’s nine identified critical factors with seven critical factors from the customer perspective. The model provides a dual perspective of supplier involvement in product development, wherein the supplier and customer perspectives are concurrently addressed. Some factors are unique for the supplier, but several mirror those on the customer side.

The study is based on data from SME suppliers in Northern Europe. As it is expected that SME companies are more constrained by limited resources, future studies could study critical factors at larger suppliers.

Customers and suppliers having insights about the critical factors can provide better conditions for product development for the other actor; for example, when evaluating customer–supplier integration.

The presented model of critical factors provides a more nuanced picture of supplier involvement in product development as prior research has been biased toward the customer perspective. This study emphasizes the importance of contextual information that has been unnoticed in the literature.

A deteriorating security situation and an increased need for defence equipment calls for new forms of collaboration between Armed Forces and the defence industry. This paper aims to investigate the ways in which the accelerating demand for increased security of supply of equipment and supplies to the Armed Forces requires adaptability in the procurement process that is governed by laws on public procurement (PP).

This paper is based on a review of current literature as well as empirical data obtained through interviews with representatives from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration and the Swedish defence industry.

Collaboration with the globalized defence industry requires new approaches, where the PP rules make procurement of a safe supply of defence equipment difficult.

The study's empirical data and findings are based on the Swedish context. In order to draw more general conclusions in a defence context, the study should be expanded to cover more nations.

The findings will enable the defence industry and the procurement authorizations to better understand the requirements of Armed Forces, and how to cooperate under applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

The paper extends the extant body of academic knowledge of the security of supply into the defence sector. It serves as a first step towards articulating a call for new approaches to collaboration in defence supply chains.