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1 – 10 of over 86000Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to propose a genetic algorithms approach to develop a collaborative supply chain network, i.e. a supply chain network with genetic algorithms embedded (GA‐SCN), so as to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a supply chain network.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodologies of the GA‐SCN are illustrated through a case study of a supply chain network of a Hong Kong lamp manufacturing company involving 10 entities, whose roles range from suppliers, purchasers, designers and manufacturers, to sales and distributors. A GA‐SCN is developed according to the information provided by the company, the performance results in the case study are discussed, and the concepts of network analysis are then introduced to analyze the equivalence structure of the developed GA‐SCN.
Findings
The genetic algorithms approach is a suitable approach for developing an efficient and effective supply chain network in terms of shortening the processing time and reducing operating time in the network: the processing time and operating cost are reduced by around 45 percent and 35 percent per order, respectively, in the case study.
Originality/value
This paper is the first known study to apply genetic algorithms for the development of a collaborative supply chain network to increase the competitiveness of a supply chain.
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In the context of a retailer with an international supply network, this paper develops theories of (a) how both stability and strong ties in an international supply network…
Abstract
In the context of a retailer with an international supply network, this paper develops theories of (a) how both stability and strong ties in an international supply network combine to yield a resource base that enables the development of flexible relationships with suppliers, (b) how stability and relationship flexibility in the international supply network of a retail reseller may in turn be driven both by the international diversity and by the density of the retailer’s supply network in a product category, and (c) how both the international diversity and the density of a retailer’s supply network may directly affect the likelihood of a retailer developing flexible relationships with its supplier. In doing so, this paper develops and presents six hypotheses and discusses some approaches to measurement of the underlying constructs and testing the hypothesized effects.
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Wei Yang and Yongxin Gao
This paper aims to describe typical regional document supply networks in China through detailed discussion of their framework, service mode and influence on the nationwide…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe typical regional document supply networks in China through detailed discussion of their framework, service mode and influence on the nationwide document supply networks.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper highlights various kinds of regional document supply networks in China that serve as document resource sharing cooperation networks within provinces, cities and university towns. Their framework, service mode and influence on the nationwide document supply networks are discussed, followed by suggestions for improvement.
Findings
Regional document supply networks have their natural advantages in local financial support and extensive local coverage and are capable of providing fine service to meet various user needs timely and economically. They become an important part and beneficial supplement to nationwide document supply networks.
Originality/value
This paper studies regional document supply networks in China which has rarely been addressed in the international library literature.
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“Mirror Worlds” were suggested by David Gelernter based on a bold assertion: “You will look into a computer screen and see reality.” With mirror worlds, managers could be…
Abstract
“Mirror Worlds” were suggested by David Gelernter based on a bold assertion: “You will look into a computer screen and see reality.” With mirror worlds, managers could be proactive, anticipating what might happen and acting accordingly, instead of waiting till events happen and then reacting. This paper extends the notion of mirrors worlds to supply chain management. In the case of supply chain management, managers could test the impact of making changes in their supply chains to study the impact.
However, mirror worlds could be extended to help actually monitor and manage supply chains to respond and adapt to changes in the world that affected the supply chain. In particular, mirror worlds could be “real” worlds if control for some of the activities between supply chain participants is in effect “turned over” to the mirror world. In that case, the mirror world would show the actual world, with the system making many of the decisions.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of V‐A‐T analysis in the management of supply chain networks.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of V‐A‐T analysis in the management of supply chain networks.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a conceptual overview of V‐A‐T analysis as a procedure for categorizing manufacturing facilities, and explores the use of V‐A‐T analysis as a technique for the management of supply chain networks.
Findings
There are several challenges to the effective management of supply chain networks. However, organizations can overcome these challenges by understanding the nature of network control points as revealed through the application of V‐A‐T analysis on their supply chains.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is conceptual in nature and must be validated through empirical research studies.
Practical Implications
The concepts presented can be used by supply chain professionals to increase the likelihood of effective supply chain management within their organizations, and by supply chain researchers to further explore the use of V‐A‐T analysis as a tool for examining supply chain networks.
Originality/value
The paper makes a start in filling a void in the literature concerning how V‐A‐T analysis can be used as a tool to facilitate improved supply chain management.
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Ji Yan, Zihao Yu, Kiran Fernandes and Yu Xiong
To explore the mechanism that shapes firms' supply chain learning (SCL) practices, this study examines the relationship between firms' knowledge network embeddedness and their SCL…
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the mechanism that shapes firms' supply chain learning (SCL) practices, this study examines the relationship between firms' knowledge network embeddedness and their SCL practice in a supply chain network, as well as the moderating role of supply chain network cohesion in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Using patent application data and supply chain partner information from 869 listed firms between 2011 and 2020 in China, this study uses fixed-effect regression models to reduce endogeneity problems by controlling for individual heterogeneity effects that cannot be observed over time.
Findings
Firms' knowledge network embeddedness has an inverted U-shaped effect on their SCL, and this non-linear relationship is conditional on supply chain network cohesion, which strengthens (weakens) the positive (negative) effect of knowledge network embeddedness on SCL.
Practical implications
The findings show that managers can reconcile the downsides of knowledge network embeddedness on SCL by fostering greater supply chain network cohesion.
Originality/value
Drawing from the network pluralism perspective, this study contributes to supply chain literature by extending the research context of the antecedents of SCL from a single-network setting to a dual-network setting. It extends the network pluralism perspective by showing that not only positive effects but also negative effects of network embeddedness can transfer from one network to another.
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Peng Luo, Eric W.T. Ngai and T.C. Edwin Cheng
This paper examines the relationship between supply chain network structures and firm financial performance and the moderating role of international relations. In this study…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the relationship between supply chain network structures and firm financial performance and the moderating role of international relations. In this study, which is grounded in social capital theory and applies the perspective of systemic risk, the authors theorize the effects of supply chain network structures on firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors extracted data from two Chinese databases and constructed a supply chain network of the firms concerned based on nearly 4,300 supply chain relations between 2009 and 2018. The authors adopted the fixed effects model to investigate the relationship between supply chain network structures and firm financial performance.
Findings
The econometrics results indicate that network structures, including the degree, centrality, clustering coefficients and structural holes, are significantly related to firm financial performance. A significant and negative relationship exists between international relations and firm financial performance. The authors also find that international relations strongly weaken the relationship between supply chain network structures and firm financial performance.
Originality/value
This study, which collects secondary data from developing countries (e.g. China) and explores the impacts of supply chain network structures on firm stock performance, contributes to the existing literature and provides practical implications.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore whether brokered network governance, run by the manufacturer, affects relational embeddedness and thus contributes to yielding the Coleman…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether brokered network governance, run by the manufacturer, affects relational embeddedness and thus contributes to yielding the Coleman rent in the triadic supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
Building upon the theoretical tenets of transaction cost analysis, complemented by the underpinnings of social capital theory, this study involves an empirical investigation that uses survey data collected from the triadic supply chains in Europe. The research covers a two-step analysis. In the first step, the Coleman rent was estimated through the regression analysis with the interaction effects. Then, partial least squares–structural equation modeling was used to estimate the reflective-formative nature of higher component model and test the research hypotheses.
Findings
The results of the study demonstrate that the distribution of three mechanisms in network governance is relatively even; however, market and hierarchy still emerge as the most impactful dimensions. Interestingly, though, this study shows that social capital can actually coexist with market and hierarchy in the triadic supply chains with the structural hole. Likewise, the research indicates that the impact of brokered network governance on the strength of network relational embeddedness is significant, but relatively weak, whereas network relational embeddedness has a strong and positive effect on the Coleman rent.
Research limitations/implications
This study makes three major contributions. First, this study is one of very few that explicitly considers brokered network governance, run by the manufacturer positioned on the structural hole in its triadic supply chain. Second, as the triadic perspective is still uncommon in the supply chain studies, this research investigates a triad with the structural hole within the manufacturing setting. Third, the paper seeks to investigate the ability to yield the Coleman rent in the triadic supply chains with the structural hole, although this type of rent is typically linked to another arrangement called closure.
Originality/value
Given the increasing attention paid to the role of social capital within supply chains, this study investigates how relational embeddedness can be used by the manufacturer, sitting on the structural hole and running the network governance mechanism, to yield the Coleman rent in the triadic supply chain.
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Leila Alinaghian, Jilin Qiu and Kamran Razmdoost
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and assess the current status of research on supply chain sustainability from a network structural perspective and provide an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and assess the current status of research on supply chain sustainability from a network structural perspective and provide an organising framework for future scholarship in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
By adopting an evidence-based approach, this study conducts a systematic review of 73 articles from 18 peer-reviewed journals published between 2000 and 2020.
Findings
Adopting a social network analysis approach, the review identifies specific node-level (i.e. degree centrality, closeness centrality and betweenness centrality) and network-level (i.e. network density, network sub-groups and network diversity) structural properties that play a role in supply chain sustainability. The results reveal that structural properties determine the extent of perception of sustainability risks, the diffusion of sustainability targets, introduction of sustainable innovations, development of sustainability capabilities, adoption of sustainability initiatives and the monitoring of sustainability performance throughout the supply chain.
Originality/value
By distinguishing between supply network and sustainable supply network types, this study extends the existing understandings of the role of network connectivity patterns in supply chain sustainability through synthesising and evaluating the extant literature. This study further clarifies the role of these network structural properties in supply chain sustainability by describing their impact on a set of sustainable supply chain management practices through which firms achieve sustainability goals across their supply chains.
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Thomas E. Johnsen, Federico Caniato, Osama Meqdadi and Toloue Miandar
This paper aims to investigate the bridging role of first-tier suppliers in diffusing sustainability in supply networks and how this role is facilitated by the procurement…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the bridging role of first-tier suppliers in diffusing sustainability in supply networks and how this role is facilitated by the procurement function.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on an embedded case study of two supply networks of a coffee beans roasting company. The embedded cases focus on coffee beans and packaging supply networks.
Findings
The findings reveal less than expected involvement of the focal company and its procurement function in sustainability implementation with first-tier suppliers. Instead, sustainability diffuses upstream to lower-tier suppliers but also downstream, against the tide, as a result of the various bridging roles performed by first-tier suppliers.
Research limitations/implications
This paper provides two theoretical contributions. First, it contributes to the sustainable supply network management literature by providing rich insights on sustainability diffusion to lower-tier suppliers and the role of first-tier suppliers in this process. Second, the paper contributes to structural hole theory by revealing a typology of bridging roles that actors, such as suppliers, undertake in the sustainability context.
Practical implications
The paper provides managers with practical insights on how sustainability can be diffused in the supply network and the different roles that first-tier suppliers can play in this direction.
Originality/value
This paper shows that sustainability diffusion to lower-tier suppliers is possible in the absence of focal company procurement involvement when bridging roles are undertaken by first-tier suppliers and their procurement functions are involved in the implementation process. These bridging roles facilitate sustainability diffusion both upstream and downstream.
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