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This study aims to analyse whether the presence of supply chain complexity (SCC) influences firms to improve their supply chain (SC) resilience and SC robustness capability. This study also examines an important paradox: whether investing in both exploitation and exploration practices is conflicting or complementary to enabling SC resilience and robustness in the presence of SCC.

The authors used a survey-based approach to collect 242 useful responses from SC professionals of Pakistani firms, an important emerging economy context. The data were analysed with covariance-based structural equation modelling to statistically validate the model.

The analysis reveals several key findings: the presence of SCC has a direct, positive influence on SC resilience and SC robustness; while exploitation practices only partially mediate the nexus between SCC and SC resilience, they fully mediate the relationship between SCC and SC robustness; while exploration practices partially mediate the nexus between SCC and SC resilience, they do not mediate the relationship between SCC and SC robustness and SCC has a significant influence on SC resilience and SC robustness sequentially through exploitation and exploration (i.e. one after the other).

These findings help to reconcile the exploitation versus exploration paradox in cultivating SC resilience and SC robustness in the presence of SCC. The findings assist SC managers in determining how to deploy their limited resources most effectively to enhance SC resilience and SC robustness while facing SCC.

The authors devise and empirically validate a unique framework that demonstrates how the presence of SCC works as a stimulus to build SC resilience and SC robustness.

The article examines the supply chain (SC) in a food industry in Bulgaria. The relations between suppliers and the degree of integration of the activities along with the SC will be studied by building forms of partnerships with suppliers and the areas of cooperation they work in. The relevance of the topic is determined by the increasing pressure exerted by the consumers in terms of quality and safety, caused by the scandals with food products, the regulations concerning the traceability along the SC and providing safety and quality. The purpose of the study, in the present paper, is the theoretical and applied aspects of collaboration along the SC and the use of modern information systems and technologies in the food industry in Bulgaria.

The objectives of the study, in the present paper, are the theoretical and applied aspects of collaboration along the SC and the use of modern information systems and technologies in the food industry in Bulgaria. The subjects of this study are the enterprises of the food industry in Bulgaria. The number of companies surveyed is 93. Small and medium-sized enterprises generate 48.7% of the turnover in the industry and 63% of the employment in the sector. A research survey with structured questionnaire was conducted in the period 2018–2019. The interrelations in the SC are underdeveloped and there is a low degree of integration between the participants in the food industry in Bulgaria. The implementation of information and communications technology (ICT) and blockchains in the SC in the food industry in Bulgaria is at a low level.

The subjects of this study are the enterprises of the food industry in Bulgaria. The number of companies surveyed is 93. Small and medium-sized enterprises generate 48.7% of the turnover in the industry and 63% of the employment in the sector. The sectors which are traditionally included in the food industry are as follows: flour milling, milk processing, meat processing, canning industry and production of dried and canned fruit, vegetables and seeds, fishery, production of sugar and confectionery, chocolate and desserts and production of spices. The present research study does not focus on production of drinks, mineral water bottles and production of alcoholic drinks, as well as production of tea and coffee, bread and bakery products. A research survey with structured questionnaire was conducted in the period 2018–2019. The questions included in the questionnaire helped to study general indicators for the evaluation of the degree of cooperation and the implementation of modern ICT in organizations in the food industry. The first part of the questionnaire included questions related to the general information about organizations, which determines the form of ownership, the existence of foreign participation in the enterprise, the number of settlements where the activity is carried out and geographic distribution of sales in the country and abroad. These questions are important to frame a general characteristic of the studied enterprises.

The study had few limitations, which in turn suggest avenues for further research. This study does not include the production of beverages, mineral water bottles and the production of alcoholic beverages as well as tea and coffee production. With regard to the subject of the study, the article focuses mainly on relations between suppliers and the degree of integration of the activities along the SC, which will be studied by building forms of partnerships with suppliers and the areas of cooperation they work in, while remaining outside the scope of the study themes and challenges in making SCs environmentally sustainable. Although a large amount of data were analyzed, there exists an opportunity to widen this study significantly. The possibilities of omnichannels along the SC in the food chain will be explored first as well as the possibilities for building an omnichannel strategy in the food supply chain.

This study provides insights to manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers and managers of the food industry for supply chain management (SCM) and for connections and cooperation with suppliers and partners. The research study provides clarity about the degree of integration in the management of SC and the opportunities for development of the cooperation between the SC participants.

This study reveals for the first time the SC in the food industry in Bulgaria and provides directions for development. This study shows the degree of SCM integration as well as the opportunities for developing cooperation between the actors in the chain.

This study aims to contribute to the supply chain management (SCM) literature differently. It offers insightful information about the main enablers that affect supply chain efficacy (SCE). Therefore, this study examines the significant roles and the relationships between SC absorptive capacity, SC risk mitigation, supply chain agility (SCA) and supply chain integration (SCI) among manufacturing firms (MFs) in the Middle East region.

This paper performed a quantitative survey-based study to analyze the substantial roles of SC absorptive capacity, SC risk mitigation, SCA and SCI on SCE. Thus, the authors conducted an online survey through 260 MFs that are listed in the Chamber of the industries of Jordan, Egypt and Turkey that only responded by email. The main respondents were chief executive managers, operations managers, managers and logistics employees from both mid and top levels. The conceptual model was tested by using a hypothesis-testing deductive approach. The findings are based on covariance-based analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) using partial least squares (PLS)-SEM software.

The PLS-SEM clearly shows a significant relationship between SC absorptive capacity, SCA and SCI on SCE, while surprisingly still, SC risk mitigation does not significantly affect SCE. Further, the outcomes of this study indicate that there is a significant effect of SCA as a mediating factor in the relationship between SC absorptive capacity and SCE directly and indirectly, as well as a moderating effect of SCI in the relation, whereas there is a nonsignificant effect by SC risk mitigation. Finally, there is a significant effect of SCI in the relationship between SC absorptive capacity and SC risk mitigation on SCE as a moderating factor.

This study introduces a theoretical insight and empirically presents that both SCA and SCI are proper logistics characteristics for mediating and moderating the impact of SC absorptive capacity on SCE. Such findings of this study can provide insightful implications for managers at different levels in MFs, stakeholders and policymakers regarding the importance of using the three mentioned enablers on SCE in MFs, in the Middle East firms, in particular, and in developing countries, in general.

This paper seeks to explore how a self-organised social group (SOSG) can facilitate supply chain resilience (SCRES) during an emergency condition.

A netnographic research was conducted on SONJO, an online SOSG emerging in response to problems in personal protective equipment (PPE) and food small businesses' supply chains (SCs) during the state of COVID-19 emergency in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Qualitative data of 237,010 words were extracted from the group chats among 223 SONJO WhatsApp Group (WAG) members and were analysed using template analysis.

This paper reveals five communicative acts through which the SOSG facilitates SCRES, namely supply chain (SC) knowledge sharing, networking, bridging, mapping, and mindfulness. The enactment of these communicative acts could foster SC collaboration and help rebuild and sustain the SC operations during the critical period of the pandemic. The SOSG also facilitates the SC actors to be heedful of their responsive actions and risky operations.

This paper emphasises the need for organisations to build and maintain relationships with social communities and to extend their social capital beyond their existing SC linkages as an alternative way to survive unexpected disruptions.

This paper offers a novel perspective to understand SCRES from an external force. It proposes that, in the face of a devastating disruption, SCRES is not a self-induced process and that the SOSG could play a pivotal role in rebuilding the disrupted SCs. It also shows how a humanitarian effort could help rebuild commercial SCs.

Using dynamic capabilities theory, this paper aims to posit logistics capabilities (namely information, demand, supply, cooperation and coordination) when integrated at the supply chain level gives rise to supply chain resilience. The current investigation explores further on the inter-relationship among dominant logistics capabilities and integrated logistics capabilities.

To test the proposed hypotheses, data were gathered from 339 supply chain professionals and were evaluated through structural equation modeling. The measures were pretested through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis and then measures were deployed for final testing.

Findings suggest that logistics capabilities do exert a strong influence on supply chain resilience through effective logistics integration. Further, these logistics capabilities do share certain inter-relationships among themselves. Supply chain resilience does have positive performance implications. The authors also tested for moderation of cooperation and coordination and proposed an alternate model which found support in post hoc testing.

The study holds immense value for practitioners and managers, as they undersigned that logistics capabilities need to be integrated at the supply chain level for developing overall supply chain resilience. Further, it underscored how the inter-relationship among the individual logistics capabilities varies in the development of supply chain resilience.

In spite of its potential benefits in a wide range of situations, supply chain risk mitigation strategies have received scant attention on the subject of managing the supply chain risk in the business environment. Especially, there is still a limited understanding of the importance of firms’ supply chain flexibility, resilience and responsiveness in the supply chain risk management (SCRM) literature. This research focuses on exploring the relationship between significant proactive risk mitigation strategies, namely supply chain (SC) flexibility, resilience and responsiveness, as well as SCRM performance to facilitate bridging the gap between mitigation strategies and SCRM performance. The moderating role of risk management (RM) culture was also hypothesized and tested.

A survey-based methodology is adopted. The data are analyzed using the technique of partial least squares.

The results indicate that SC resilience and responsiveness are positively associated with SCRM performance; however, SC flexibility does not. In addition, interestingly, RM culture does not moderate these relationships in spite of the extant literature. We argue that this could be due to the fact that risk management culture is at the beginning stage for an enterprise in Turkey.

This study extends the existing literature by advancing the knowledge on the relationship between proactive risk management strategies, which applied to overcome uncertainties and SCRM performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of digital supply chain (DSC) technologies in automotive supply chain resilience (SCR) practices to improve the supply chain performance (SC-Perf.) objectives of companies operating in the automotive industry. This study also compares the results of the associated SC-Perf objectives before and after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak lockdown situation.

The authors undertook in-depth empirical research using a questionnaire survey to explore the performance of automotive supply chains. The sample for this study consisted of practitioners from supply chain entities such as automotive original equipment manufacturers, Tier-1 component manufacturers and lead logistics providers in Asia-Pacific (AP) emerging markets. Research questions, framework and hypotheses were developed using the literature review.

The research outcome from analysis of the data the authors collected from an emerging market context, specifically the automotive sector, emphasizes the role of DSC technologies and encourages the firm’s SCR practices which, in turn, supports the SC-Perf objectives. The DSC technologies competency moderates the SCR and SC-Perf objectives relation, and the moderation effect is higher for post-COVID-19 pandemic outbreak lockdown situation than at prior state.

The scope of the study is restricted to the automotive firms in the AP region. The data were collected from a representative sample of the population through a questionnaire survey. The small size of the sample incurs a certain level of subjectivity.

This research provides practical insights for practitioners and academicians on DSC technologies’ influence in SCR practices to improve the firm’s SC-Perf. This research shares the literature insights on use of DSC technologies across the sector to allow the automotive firm to reassess the existing operational practices.

The paper adds insights on introducing or implementing DSC technologies across AP automotive firms to increase the operations’ performance by improving SCR practices and sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to first, determine the implications of management control system (MCS) information characteristics for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic through four performance indicators (quality, speed of delivery, availability and cost-effectiveness) of the public health supply chain and second, the mediating effect of four dimensions (broad scope, timeliness, integration and aggregation) of the MCS on external integration, internal integration, customer integration and operational performance of public health institutions in Ghana.

Using covariance-based structural equations modelling and based on contingency theory, a hypothesized model was developed and tested. The sample involves a survey of 214 public health institutions in Ghana.

Both external and internal integration were found to have a significant positive effect on MCS information and, in turn, on the supply chain operational performance of public health institutions. Also, customer integration has a significant positive impact on the four dimensions with a corresponding impact on supply chain operational performance.

The paper provides practitioners and policymakers with the usefulness of the contingency paradigm in enhancing the supply chain network of public health institutions during epidemics, hence, the need to adopt and develop the contingency approach in designing MCS within the public health sector. Effective public health management through a collaborative process between stakeholders (suppliers, customers and personnel) will mitigate stockouts of medical supplies and systematic disruptions in the public health supply chain.

The MCSs – supply chain integration interaction on organizational performance is one of the areas that has received very little attention in the literature particularly in service-oriented organizations. In this regard, this paper represents one of the few studies in Africa that examines performance implications of MCS – supply chain nexus with respect to public health emergencies service-orientec organizations. The paper contributes to the literature by providing invaluable insights into the usefulness of the MCS in enhancing the supply chain performance of public health emergencies.

To develop an EOQ based model to quantify the benefit accrue due to coordination for the one supplier and n retailer supply chain system and concept to share the benefits derived from coordination.

An intensive literature review has been done in the area of supply chain coordination covering both marketing and operational perspective. The analysis of literature has shown that models to quantify the benefits for supply chains consisting of a single supplier who supplies a product to multiple heterogeneous buyers are very limited. To fill this critical research gap the benefit sharing mechanism is derived based on optimal order quantity of the supply chain system.

This paper demonstrates the benefits of coordination to the supply chain system in terms of cost saving and generating the surplus money. It also suggests a way to find the range of prices to facilitated coordination. Under the developed pricing policy, no partner after coordination had to bear a loss. So in that sense we can say that the benefits of coordination are distributed to all the partners.

The proposed model for benefit sharing protects the interest of all supply chain partners and hence will be profitable to all. The pricing scheme suggested will motivate retailers to increase ordering quantity per order, thereby reducing the joint ordering and holding costs.

The paper is unique in terms of quantifying and sharing the benefits of coordination for one supplier – multi heterogeneous buyer supply chain system.

In today's globalized business environment, growing supply chain complexity (SCC) is arguably a major threat to the firm's business continuity with an adverse impact on the firm's competitive advantage and business performance. Researchers, though, investigated the impact of SCC drivers on a firm's operational performance, but the key question “Which supply chain complexity drivers severely impact the supply chain performance (SCP)?” remains largely unanswered from empirical research. The present study aims to decompose the SCC into four major constituting sub-categories (upstream, operational, downstream and external) to explore the causal impact of SCC drivers on SCP in direct and mediated manner.

The indicators applied for measuring constructs in the “Measurement model” are obtained from existing literature to increase the validity and reliability of the model. First, a pilot survey involving 25 SC managers from various manufacturing firms was conducted for indicator refinement and content validation. Second, the large-scale response data were collected through extensive surveys. This research explores the causality by testing the hypothesis applying Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on the responses received from 246 firms.

The study investigates the impact of SCC drivers on SCP through direct and mediation effect. The results indicate that upstream and operational SCC drivers play a mediating role in managing SCP. The findings reveal that upstream and operational SCC drivers adversely impact the SCP. Furthermore, the impact of downstream complexity on SCP is moderated through operational complexity drivers. The result explains the theoretical relation among SCC drivers supported by empirical validity.

The outcome offers practical relevance to supply chain (SC) managers in SCC and SCP management. Knowing the effect of SCC drivers among themselves and on SCP will facilitate the SC managers in devising the right strategies. The study provides a framework for prioritizing the resource in addressing the SCC issues among many.

The study addresses the apparent gap in the literature by modeling the impact of SCC drivers on SCP, which remained largely unexplored. First, it contributes to developing complex relationships among SCC drivers. Second, the direct and mediated causal effect of the SCC drivers individually and combinedly on SCP are explicated.