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This study aims to investigate the influence of information and communication technology (ICT) capabilities on supply chain fraud and sustainability within the context of Ghana’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Additionally, the research explores the mediating role of supply chain fraud in the relationship between ICT capabilities and supply chain sustainability.

Data were collected from 102 respondents within Ghana’s SME sector, and the research employed the dynamic capability theory as the conceptual framework. The study utilized partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to develop and analyze the proposed model.

The results of the study reveal a significant reduction in supply chain fraud attributable to enhanced ICT capabilities within Ghanaian SMEs. Moreover, ICT capabilities exert a significant positive influence on supply chain sustainability. Importantly, supply chain fraud emerges as a mediator, elucidating its role at the nexus of supply chain sustainability and ICT capabilities.

This research contributes to the limited body of evidence on the interconnectedness of ICT capabilities, supply chain fraud and supply chain sustainability, particularly within the context of Ghanaian SMEs. Notably, this study pioneers an examination of the mediating impact of supply chain fraud on the relationship between ICT capabilities and supply chain sustainability.

The food supply chain has faced many challenges due to its complex and complicated nature. Blockchain technology is one of the mechanisms used to improve agri-food supply chain processes by evolving organization capabilities. A study is being conducted to scrutinize the adoption of blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain through the lens of the operational capability approach. It further makes an attempt to identify the capabilities of blockchain to improve supply chain processes.

The qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews was used to gather information from experts and professionals in the food supply chain and blockchain technology. The authors have adopted a systematic approach of coding using open, axial and selective methods to depict and identify the themes that represent the blockchain-enabled agri-food supply chain. The data were collected from 32 interviews of selected participants.

The result shows five critical areas where blockchain can come up to enhance the agri-food supply chain performance by providing traceability, transparency, information security, transactions, and trust and quality. Further, the study reveals that blockchain will provide safety, lower the cost of transactions and can create trust among users to communicate within the whole supply chain without the intervention of a third party. This study demonstrated that the capabilities need to be considered when introducing technology into the practice.

The study implies thought-provoking implications for bridging the theory-practice gap by examining the empirical data to demonstrate how the operational capabilities of blockchain technology further strengthen the agri-food supply chain. Additionally, this study provides some suggestions for utilizing the results and proposes a framework to understand more about blockchain use cases in the agri-food supply chain as well as extend the application of blockchain using an operational capability approach for future academic researchers in this area.

This study presented some more important managerial implications which reveal that the majority of organisations were in the initial stages of adoption process of blockchain technology. Further, the positive influence of managers and IT experts can help the information technology companies (IT) and stakeholders for developing and promoting blockchain solutions in the agri-food supply chain. The important implication of blockchain enabled agri-food supply chain is to maintain information security and incresae supply chain performance.

The study shows the operational capabilities of agri-food supply chain using blockchain technology. Blockchain can contribute in enhancing the agri-food supply chain to increase traceability and transparency and helps to reduce the risk of disruptions.

The purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of resource orchestration in inter-firm partnerships that appropriately configure and align strategic cross-firm supply chain resources and capabilities generating synergies to deliver superior performance.

Applying the resource orchestration logic, supported by the relational view of competitive advantage, the study draws from an empirical analysis of survey data from 152 top-level executives of US manufacturing firms to investigate the effect of leveraging and coherently combining cross-firm supply chain resources with capabilities on operational performance.

The study underscores the view that appropriately orchestrated combinations of key partnership resources and capabilities as mechanisms for marketing strategy implementation, enhance performance. Specifically, research results suggest that complementary inter-firm resources and lean align, and similarly idiosyncratic resources and agility align synergistically to deliver superior operational performance outcomes. The results also accent partnership responses to intense competition, enabling enhanced operational performance. The findings thus enrich the understanding of the resource orchestration logic and strategy, making important theoretical contributions.

As is typical in marketing and strategy research, the study research design has a cross-sectional framework, thus limiting insights on the resource orchestration dynamics that can otherwise be generated using a longitudinal design. Also, the resource orchestration stream is still nascent. Further research is needed to delineate the orchestration mechanisms that deliver on performance outcomes, especially in supply chains.

A key insight for supply chain and marketing managers is that close-knit inter-firm partnerships are critical for accessing idiosyncratic and complementary resources that can be configured and symbiotically aligned with market-facing agility and lean capabilities, respectively, to deliver market value. Proactive partnerships, especially in highly competitive and disruptive environments, enable mobilizing cross-firm resources and building appropriate matching combinations with capabilities to deliver on operational performance.

The study, guided by theory, advances the understanding of how key cross-firm resources and capabilities deliver performance gains. The key to competitive advantage and enhanced performance outcomes may lie in acquiring, leveraging and deploying appropriately matched resource-capability combinations. The present study investigates this proposition within the context of supply chain partnerships, focusing on cross-firm resources and capabilities.

Based on the dynamic capability theory, our study tries to explore the mediator mechanism of service supply chain dynamic capability between market orientation and service innovation performance, as well as the boundary conditions in which service supply chain dynamic capability plays a role, in order to reveal the key elements and their mechanisms for manufacturing enterprises to improve service performance.

With a total of 317 valid questionnaires, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the research model and hypotheses.

The empirical results confirm that the three types of service supply chain dynamic capability (environment insight capability, resource integration capability and resource reconfiguration capability) can partially mediate the relationship between firm market orientation (responsive and proactive market orientations) and service innovation performance. In addition, supply chain collaboration has different types of moderator effects on the relationship between the three types of service supply chain dynamic capability and service innovation performance.

This research discovers that market orientation and dynamic capability are the key factors leading to high service performance and reveals the mediating role of service supply chain dynamic capability between market orientation and service innovation performance. Moreover, this research explores the moderating role of supply chain collaboration in service supply chain resource reconfiguration capability and service innovation performance.

This study investigates the impact of supply chain governance (SCG, which includes relational governance and contractual governance) on supply chain resilience (SCR) using the information processing theory. Moreover, the study also examines the mediating role of information processing capability and the moderating role of digital technology (DT) deployment.

A total of 288 questionnaires were collected from the Chinese manufacturing industry, and hierarchical regression was used to empirically test the proposed model.

This study reveals that SCG positively impacts SCR. Moreover, information processing capability plays a mediating role between SCG and SCR. Furthermore, the breadth of DT deployment positively moderates the effect of relational governance on information processing capability, and the depth of DT deployment positively moderates the effects of both relational governance and contractual governance on information processing capability.

This study offers a novel perspective that helps to understand the importance of the supply chain-wide information acquired by SCG in respect of improving SCR. Furthermore, this article extends the application of information processing theory by providing empirical evidence of the mediating role of information processing capability and elucidating the moderating role of DT deployment.

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has created disruptions across the supply chain that are beyond the resources of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to effectively deal with. This study aims to examine the idea that top managers' business and political ties can play direct roles in enhancing SCR in SMEs during COVID-19 by providing access to valuable resources. The study further investigates integrative capability as an underlying mechanism through which the effects of business and political ties can be transformed into enhanced SCR.

Responses from 217 SMEs in the country of Jordan were received via an online survey. The measurement and structural models were tested using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique.

The study found that business and political ties are positively related to SCR. However, integrative capability fully mediates the relationship between business ties and SCR, whereas it partially mediates the relationship between political ties and SCR.

The study examined only the direct and indirect impacts of business and political ties on SCR. It could be extended by exploring the conditions under which they influence SCR.

The study explicates the role of top managers' business and political ties on improving SCR in a developing country context. It further examines the mediating role of integrative capability in the relationships between business and political ties and SCR.

This study empirically investigates how ambidextrous innovations and their balancing affect the supply chain financing performance (SCFP) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), based on signaling theory. Moreover, this study explores the moderating effect of the breadth and depth of digital technology deployment on the relationship between ambidextrous innovations and the SCFP of SMEs.

A mixed-methods design is used, including a qualitative study and a quantitative study. Qualitative data have been collected from six multi-cases in different industries. Questionnaire data have been collected from 259 SMEs in China, and a multiple regression model is used to verify the research hypotheses.

The findings indicate that, in supply chain financing, both exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation are helpful in improving the SCFP of SMEs. For resource-constrained SMEs, a relative balance between exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation can help improve SCFP. The breadth of digital technology deployment can strengthen the relationship between exploitative innovation and SCFP, while the depth of digital technology deployment can weaken the relationship between exploratory innovation and SCFP. In addition, increasing the depth of digital technology deployment strengthens the positive correlation between the relative balance of ambidextrous innovations and SCFP.

To effectively obtain supply chain financing, SMEs can either concentrate their limited resources on a single type of innovation or use relative balance strategies to simultaneously pursue two innovations. In addition, in the process of obtaining supply chain financing by ambidextrous innovations, SMEs should appropriately deploy digital technologies.

This study first deconstructs the impact mechanism of ambidextrous innovation capabilities on SCFP based on signaling theory, and then discusses the balancing effect of ambidextrous innovations on SCFP in the cases of resource-constrained SMEs. This study also goes further and finds the negative moderating effect of digital technology deployment in the process of supply chain financing.

Increasingly, studies are reporting supply chain analytical capabilities as a key enabler of supply chain agility (SCAG) and supply chain performance (SCP). This study investigates the impact of environmental dynamism and competitive pressures in a supply chain analytics setting, and how intangible supply chain analytical capabilities (ISCAC) moderate the relationship between big data characteristics (BDC's) and SCAG in support of enhanced SCP.

The study draws on the literature on big data, supply chain analytical capabilities, and dynamic capability theory to empirically develop and test a supply chain analytical capabilities model in support of SCAG and SCP. ISCAC was the moderated construct and was tested using two sub-dimensions, supply chain organisational learning and supply chain data driven culture.

The results show that whilst environmental dynamism has a significant relationship on the three key BDC's, only the volume and velocity dimensions are significant in relation to competitive pressures. Furthermore, only the velocity element of BDC's has a significant positive impact on SCAG. In terms of moderation, the supply chain organisational learning dimension of ISCAC was shown to only moderate the velocity aspect of BDC's on SCAG, whereas for the supply chain data driven culture dimension of ISCAC, only the variety aspect was shown to moderate of BDC on SCAG. SCAG had a significant impact on SCP.

This study adds to the existing knowledge in the supply chain analytical capabilities domain by presenting a nuanced moderation model that includes external factors (environmental dynamism and competitive pressures), their relationships with BDC's and how ISCAC (namely, supply chain organisational learning and supply chain data driven culture) moderates and strengthens aspects of BDC's in support of SCAG and enhanced SCP.

Although big data may enhance the visibility, transparency, and responsiveness of supply chains, whether it is effective for improving supply chain performance in a turbulent environment, especially in mitigating the impact of COVID-19, is unclear. The research question the authors addressed is: How do logistics firms improve the supply chain performance in COVID-19 through big data and supply chain integration (SCI)?

The authors used a mixed-method approach with four rounds of data collection. A three-round survey of 323 logistics firms in 26 countries in Europe, America, and Asia was first conducted. The authors then conducted in-depth interviews with 55 logistics firms.

In the first quantitative study, the authors find mediational mechanisms through which big data analytics technology capability (BDATC) and SCI influence supply chain performance. In particular, BDATC and SCI are two second-order capabilities that help firms develop three first-order capabilities (i.e. proactive capabilities, reactive capabilities, and resource reconfiguration) and eventually lead to innovation capability and disaster immunity that allow firms to survive in COVID-19 and improve supply chain performance. The results of the follow-up qualitative analysis not only confirm the inferences from the quantitative analysis but also provide complementary insights into organizational culture and the institutional environment.

The authors contribute to supply chain risk management by developing a three-level hierarchy of capabilities framework and finding a mechanism with the links between big data and big disaster. The authors also provide managerial implications for logistics firms to address the new management challenges posed by COVID-19.

The study presents a conceptual model of a firm's supply chain agility (FSCA) as a formative construct formed by sensing and responding capabilities. Both construct validity and predictive validity of the model are tested by investigating nuanced effects of FSCA on business performance. The study aims to empirically validate the sensing-responding theoretical framework of Overby et al. (2006) and extend the emergent stream on sensing-responding frameworks for supply chain agility.

Survey research is employed. Data are analysed using partial least squares technique and mediation tests by Hayes PROCESS macro.

FSCA is established as a revised construct formed by the distinct capabilities of sensing and responding. The efficacy of utilizing FSCA as a formative 2nd order construct was established. In addition, FSCA is shown to affect business performance through mediations of cost efficiency and customer effectiveness, establishing its predictive validity.

This study contributes significantly to the literature on supply chain agility in terms of both theory and practice for cultivating supply chain agility. Drawing on resource-based view and resource-advantage theories, as reformulation of supply chain agility as a formative construct of sensing and responding capabilities, this research opens up new lines of inquiry on agility.