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1 – 10 of over 15000The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it aims to explore the link between the industry 4.0 technologies, supply chain emergence and their resulting impact on relational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it aims to explore the link between the industry 4.0 technologies, supply chain emergence and their resulting impact on relational performance in the transitive service triads. Second, the study also seeks to recognize the role of supply chain emergence as a mediator between the industry 4.0 technologies and relational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded in the complex adaptive system theory and supply chain practice view, the author developed an empirical model, estimated through survey-based research. Data derived from 350 transitive service triads were fed into the partial least squares structural equation model to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
The results of the study indicate that the industry 4.0 technologies have a positive effect on supply chain emergence in the transitive service triads. Likewise, the research demonstrates that supply chain emergence has a positive effect on relational performance in triads. When estimating the model mediation, the author also found that supply chain emergence fully mediates the relationship between the industry 4.0 technologies and relational performance.
Research limitations/implications
First, it would be worthwhile to consider a detailed investigation of the effect of specific industry 4.0 technologies to obtain self-organization of actors and emergence. Moreover, it would also be interesting to further develop the methods for investigating variation in relational performance across the entire range of performance in triads. Finally, although the issue of relational performance has been relatively well explored within a dyadic setting, the author suggests pursuing the investigation on relational performance at the triadic level.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the theory of supply chain management and provides significant managerial implications on the role of the industry 4.0 technologies in obtaining supply chain emergence and producing relational performance in the transitive service triads.
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Bart L. MacCarthy, Constantin Blome, Jan Olhager, Jagjit Singh Srai and Xiande Zhao
Supply chains evolve and change in size, shape and configuration, and in how they are coordinated, controlled and managed. Some supply chains are mature and relatively unchanging…
Abstract
Purpose
Supply chains evolve and change in size, shape and configuration, and in how they are coordinated, controlled and managed. Some supply chains are mature and relatively unchanging. Some are subject to significant change. New supply chains may emerge and evolve for a variety of reasons. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of supply chain evolution and address the question “What makes a supply chain like it is?”
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses and develops key aspects, concepts and principal themes concerning the emergence and evolution of supply chains over their lifecycle.
Findings
The paper defines the supply chain lifecycle and identifies six factors that interact and may affect a supply chain over its lifecycle – technology and innovation, economics, markets and competition, policy and regulation, procurement and sourcing, supply chain strategies and re-engineering. A number of emergent themes and propositions on factors affecting a supply chain’s characteristics over its lifecycle are presented. The paper argues that a new science is needed to investigate and understand the supply chain lifecycle.
Practical implications
Supply chains are critical for the world economy and essential for modern life. Understanding the supply chain lifecycle and how supply chains evolve provides new perspectives for contemporary supply chain design and management.
Originality/value
The paper presents detailed analysis, critique and reflections from leading researchers on emerging, evolving and mature supply chains.
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Marlene M. Hohn and Christian F. Durach
Focusing on the apparel industry, this study extends current knowledge on how additive manufacturing (AM) may impact global supply chains regarding structures of…
Abstract
Purpose
Focusing on the apparel industry, this study extends current knowledge on how additive manufacturing (AM) may impact global supply chains regarding structures of interorganizational governance and the industry's social-sustainability issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Following an exploratory research design, two consecutive Delphi studies, with three survey rounds each, were conducted to carve out future industry scenarios and assess AM's impact on supply chain governance and social sustainability.
Findings
The implementation of AM is posited to reinforce existing supply chain governance structures that are dominated by powerful apparel retailers. Retailers are expected to use the increased production speed and heightened market competition to enforce faster fashion cycles and lower purchasing prices, providing a grim outlook for future working conditions at the production stage.
Social implications
Against the common narrative that technological progress increases societal well-being, this study finds that new digital technologies may, in fact, amplify rather than improve existing social-sustainability issues in contemporary production systems.
Originality/value
This article contributes to the nascent research field of AM's supply chain impact as one of the first empirical studies to analyze how AM introduction may impact on interorganizational governance while specifically addressing potential social-sustainability implications. The developed propositions relate to and extend the resource dependence and stakeholder perspectives on governance and social sustainability in supply chains. For managers, our results enrich the discussion about the potential use of AM beyond operational viability to include considerations on the wider implications for supply chains and the prevailing working conditions within them.
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Bruno S. Silvestre, Fernando Luiz E. Viana and Marcelo de Sousa Monteiro
A growing number of private, voluntary and mandatory sustainability standards have recently emerged. However, supply chain corruption practices as mechanisms to circumvent…
Abstract
Purpose
A growing number of private, voluntary and mandatory sustainability standards have recently emerged. However, supply chain corruption practices as mechanisms to circumvent sustainability standards have also grown and occur regularly. This paper strives to elaborate theory on the intersection of institutional theory, business corruption and the sustainability standards literature by investigating factors that influence the emergence of supply chain corruption practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on secondary data, four in-depth case studies of supply chain corruption practices are investigated through the use of adaptive theory and the method of constant comparisons to elaborate theory on this important phenomenon.
Findings
The paper suggests that although sustainability standards can improve supply chain sustainability performance, if they are adopted only symbolically and not substantively, unanticipated outcomes such as supply chain corruption may occur. The study proposes a typology of supply chain corruption practices, further explores the symbolic adoption of sustainability standards in supply chains and proposes the novel construct of “social isomorphism for corruption.” Since focal companies play central roles in leading supply chain corruption practices, we reason that they can also play a pivotal role in preventing supply chain corruption practices by promoting the substantive adoption of sustainability standards across their supply chains.
Originality/value
This paper elaborates theory on the challenging phenomenon of corruption in supply chains by linking the supply chain management literature to the corruption and the sustainability discourses and offers important insights to aid our understanding on the topic. It generates six propositions and four contributions to the sustainable supply chain management theory, practice and policy.
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The purpose of this paper is to understand why the quality markets are expanding in some areas of food production, while struggling in others. Across agricultural markets in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand why the quality markets are expanding in some areas of food production, while struggling in others. Across agricultural markets in advanced industrialized economies, there are movements toward quality production and consumption. The author argues that the quality turn in beer, coffee, wine and other transformed artisanal food production are fundamentally different from the quality movements in primary food products. The heart of that difference lies in the nature of the supply chain advantages of transformed versus primary agricultural products.
Design/methodology/approach
The author applies convention theory to explain the dynamics within transformed agricultural quality markets. In these producer-dominant markets, networks of branded producers shape consumer notions of product quality, creating competitive quality feedback loops. The author contrasts this with the consumer-dominant markets for perishable foods such as produce, eggs, dairy and meat. Here, politically constructed short supply chains play a central role in building quality food systems.
Findings
The emergence of quality in primary food products is linked to the strength of local political organization, and consumers have a greater role in shaping quality in these markets.
Originality/value
Quality beer, coffee, wine and other transformed products can emerge without active political intervention, whereas quality markets for perishable foods are the outcome of political action.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2020-0001.
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Peter W. Stonebraker and Rasoul Afifi
Despite years of research and application, integrated supply chains remain dynamic, multifaceted, and often misunderstood entities. However, in many environments the potential for…
Abstract
Despite years of research and application, integrated supply chains remain dynamic, multifaceted, and often misunderstood entities. However, in many environments the potential for process improvement remains. This paper categorizes four historical phases of supply chain development and classifies distinct supply chain strategies that are appropriate for each environment. These historical phases of the emergence of the supply chain are then equated to those of processes, facilities, businesses, and industries. A successful supply chain integration effort is then posited to depend on long‐, mid‐, and short‐term strategies and tactics that balance the differentiation of serial supply chain activities and the integrative effort applied. These relationships offer academics and practitioners a contingency perspective of supply chains and a model to define and anticipate supply chain situations as well as mechanisms to develop appropriate responses.
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Paul Childerhouse, Ramzi Hermiz, Rachel Mason‐Jones, Andrew Popp and Denis R. Towill
Improving competitive advantage to the first‐tier echelon of automotive supply chains is enabled via the requirement for transparent information flows in both the order‐generating…
Abstract
Improving competitive advantage to the first‐tier echelon of automotive supply chains is enabled via the requirement for transparent information flows in both the order‐generating and order fulfilment channels. However, four generic areas are identified which are barriers to improving performance. These are cultural (is it in our interests?); organisational (does the supply chain have the right structure?); technological (what common format and standards are required?); and financial (who pays the bill?). How these barriers may be overcome to the benefit of all “players” in the chain is discussed, plus benchmarking of current best practice. Exemplar supply chains are identified as noteworthy for the emergence of supply chain “product champions”. These have the vision, authority, and drive to implement new systems and set in place mechanisms to minimise regression to old working practices.
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This paper examines nationalism as a driver of political risk and how it can lead to supply chain disruptions for foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines nationalism as a driver of political risk and how it can lead to supply chain disruptions for foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs).
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual research based on a review of the literature on nationalism and supply chain risk management.
Findings
This research unveils how economic nationalism could engender supply chain disruptions via discriminatory practices toward all foreign MNEs and how national animosity may generate additional risks for the MNEs of nations in conflict with one another. These discriminatory practices include an array of host government and grassroots actions targeting foreign MNEs. While economic nationalism and national animosity emanate from within a host country, they may stimulate geopolitical crises outside the host country and thereby affect the international supply chains of foreign MNEs.
Research limitations/implications
This research lays the foundation for analytical and empirical researchers to integrate key elements of nationalism into their studies and recommends propositions and datasets to study these notions.
Practical implications
This study shows the implications that nationalist drivers of supply chain disruptions have for foreign MNEs and thus can help managers to proactively mitigate such disruptions.
Originality/value
This study reveals the importance of integrating notions of national identity and national history in supply chain research, since they play a key role in the emergence of policies and events responsible for supply chain disruptions.
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Mohd Nishat Faisal, D.K. Banwet and Ravi Shankar
With the emergence of the concepts of lean, agile and leagile paradigms for supply chains, organizations have little idea as to which model suits them based on the their supply…
Abstract
Purpose
With the emergence of the concepts of lean, agile and leagile paradigms for supply chains, organizations have little idea as to which model suits them based on the their supply chain's ability to counter risks and take on the challenges of the fast changing customer preferences. This paper aims to map supply chains on these two dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach
A model is proposed by which suitable supply chain strategy can be selected based on customer sensitivity and risk alleviation competency dimension. Graph theoretic approach is applied to quantify these dimensions for three case supply chains.
Findings
The proposed model was tested for three Indian SMEs clusters and suitable supply chain strategy was suggested.
Research limitations/implications
It is recommended that the model be tested for those supply chains which have established themselves as lean, agile or leagile entities.
Practical implications
Suggested model would help organizations to select suitable supply chain strategy based on customer sensitivity and risk alleviation competency and the transition required in tune with the market requirements in which they operate. Also the areas which need improvements from the perspective of risk alleviation competency or customer sensitivity can be easily delineated.
Originality/value
Mapping supply chains based on quantification of customer sensitivity and risk alleviation competency dimension is a novel effort in the area of supply chain management.
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Sara Liao‐Troth, Stephanie Thomas and Stanley E. Fawcett
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate research trends observed in the International Journal of Logistics Management (IJLM) during its first 20 years of publication.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate research trends observed in the International Journal of Logistics Management (IJLM) during its first 20 years of publication.
Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis was conducted of the IJLM's first 20 years of publication (330 articles in total) to identify changing trends in subject matter, use of theory, type of research methodology, and author, institution, and country contributions.
Findings
IJLM has evolved in every dimension evaluated. Specifically, content follows macro‐economic world events and reflects the emergence of supply chain management as an interdisciplinary domain. Recent research demonstrates a greater emphasis on theory development as well as more rigorous methods. Importantly, the increased theoretical grounding and rigor provides greater confidence in research that continues to be highly managerially relevant. Author, institution, and country findings are also discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to an analysis of IJLM's publications.
Practical implications
The research provides valuable insights into the evolution of articles published in IJLM. For managers, the findings suggest that readers can place greater confidence in the findings and recommendations proposed by current research published in IJLM. For researchers, the findings provide guidance regarding the types of research that are likely to be accepted for publication in IJLM. The findings also represent a call for more forward‐looking research.
Originality/value
The comprehensive review of IJLM's publications provides a longitudinal perspective on the evolution of research in IJLM.
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