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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.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: firstly, to provide a measurement instrument for supply chain 4.0 ambidexterity by applying the theoretical perspective of ambidexterity to advance Industry 4.0; secondly, to empirically analyse how supply chain 4.0 ambidexterity and lean supply chain management contribute to enhancing the focal firm’s operational performance.

Empirical results are obtained through analysis of survey data from a sample of 209 Spanish focal firms in industrial sectors in an intermediate position in the supply chain. Structural equation modelling was performed to test the three proposed hypotheses.

Drawing on resource orchestration theory and the relational resource-based view, this study empirically demonstrates the full mediating role of lean supply chain management in the relationship between supply chain 4.0 ambidexterity and the focal firm’s operational performance.

Although recent research has highlighted the pertinence of applying inter-organisational ambidexterity to foster Industry 4.0 (Hofmann et al., 2019), to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to apply this theoretical framework to explain the transition to supply chain 4.0. In addition, to date, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study exists that has developed a measurement scale and used this concept in an empirical analysis to advance theory development.

Employee knowledge is an essential contributor to managing supply chain ambiguities and supply improvement. The current research examined green technology (GT) implementation and knowledge management (KM) processes toward knowledge worker supply performance (KWSP). The present study postulates that GT implementation's positive impacts on the KM process and KM process lead to improved KWSP based on employee knowledge contribution.

To accomplish the research objective, the data were taken from those production houses that are utilizing GT. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed in Zhengzhou city, and feedback was received (343). The feedback data were studied through partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). fsQCA is used to analyze improving the multiple configurational paths of KWSP.

The study revealed that GT implementation is positively associated with the KM process, and KM processes substantially influence the improvement of KWSP. The consequence of fsQCA demonstrated that various combinations improve supply chain performance. The study combines certain dimensions of GT implementation with the KM process, revealing that supply chain performance improved based on knowledge sharing in manufacturing firms.

This study guides decision-makers and academics on using the knowledge process associated with GT to improve supply chain performance. Moreover, future researchers should use information technology in supply houses and compare the result with the literature to generalize the results better.

The asymmetric technique assists in differentiating the connections that are not directly investigated by the traditional symmetric method. The study covers and identifies various approaches that can be used in manufacturing firms to improve the supply chain process and employee satisfaction. The study combines the two techniques to understand supply performance based on knowledge sharing in manufacturing firms.

This study aims to develop a moderated mediation model to explain the practices of supply base management and how they can achieve innovation performance, and the authors explore the boundary conditions of this implementation mechanism.

The authors used the bootstrap procedure to conduct empirical tests on 328 Chinese manufacturers to verify the proposed model.

The results showed that supplier innovation focus, supply-base structuring and long-term relationship focus have a positive impact on innovation performance through supplier innovativeness, and the mediation performs differently under technology and demand uncertainty.

The authors only focused on innovation performance, and it does not explore the links between supply base management and other performance outcomes. This study involves part of the supply network which is easier to manage, i.e. supply base. The authors ignored the importance of other members in supply network. Finally, the data obtained in this study belong to the cross-sectional data during the same period but it accomplishes the research aim well.

The focal firm needs to improve their supply base composition, establish permeable organizational boundaries, and build long-term strategic partnerships characterized by equality and trust with suppliers to stimulate supply base members to make innovative contributions.

This study complements the implementation path of manufacturers around innovation, emphasizing multidimensional characteristics of supply base management. And this study clarifies the mechanism and boundary conditions between supply base management and innovation performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of total quality management (TQM) and supply chain management (SCM) practices on operational performance, and their interlinkage between each other.

Constructs those are critical to pharmaceutical quality and supply chain have been identified with the help of literature and experts from industry. The impact of TQM practices on supply chain practices and on operational performance has been evaluated. Similarly, the impact of supply chain practices on operational performance has been evaluated. Further, alternate models are tested and evaluated through structural equation modeling.

It was observed during testing of alternate models that TQM practices have a direct impact on operational performance. However, TQM practices also directly impact supply chain components, which, in turn, influence overall operational performance. In comparison of alternate models, the model in which TQM practices affect supply chain practices and supply chain practices further affect the operational performance is found most appropriate.

This study provides some useful implications from industry point of view. TQM practices are critical to pharmaceutical industry. TQM practices are the core of attaining a smooth supply chain, which will have greater impact to achieve operational performance. Strategic supplier partnership, procurement management, information sharing, and quality and inventory management practices are driven by TQM practices. This tri-linkage helps to achieve the desired operational performance.

There are very limited studies that have considered both the areas together to achieve better operational performance. In pharmaceutical industry, both TQM and SCM are the critical areas for any organization to drive its growth.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the value chain processes that represent the “black box” between supply logistics integration and competitive operational performance in firms. To realize this objective, the authors develop a research model which comprises a series of linkages from supply logistics integration to operational outcomes using Porter’s concept of value chain and the relational view of resource-based theory as theoretical lenses.

The data set for testing the hypothesized relationships in this study was drawn from 232 Australian manufacturing firms.

The findings show that there is no significant direct relationship between supply logistics integration and competitive operational performance; rather, the relationship is fully mediated by inbound supply performance and internal lean production processes. Further, lean production processes have a positive effect on inbound supply performance.

The study shows the importance of managing both internal (production processes) and external processes (logistics and supply chain) of firms’ operations in an integrated manner in which supply logistics integration act through key internal processes to impact competitive performance which the end customers actually experience.

This is the first study which uncovers what happens “in between” the incoming materials and the end outputs delivered by firms into the market. This “in between black box” is important in improving our understanding of how inbound supply activities are translated into outbound competitive performance outcomes.

This study aims to investigate how compatibility between supply chain partners’ technological systems, as well as cultural and operational values, enhance supply chain process integration. Additionally, the paper examines whether supply chain capabilities mediate the relationship between supply chain process integration and organizational performance. The contradictory findings on the relationship between supply chain process integration and organizational performance in prior research point to the need for investigating the possibility of supply chain capabilities having a mediating effect on the link between the two factors.

The study used survey data from 302 managers and executives responsible for supply chain functions in food and hardware retailing businesses in Australia. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses, and then Zhao et al.’s (2010) procedure was used to test for mediation effects.

The results indicate that technical, operational and cultural compatibility facilitates supply chain process integration. In support of dynamic capabilities theory, the study reveals the importance of integrating resources among supply chain partners to achieve supply chain capabilities, operational and competitive performance. Additionally, the current study found supply chain capabilities to play a mediating role on the relationships between supply chain process integration and organizational performance.

The paper contributes to supply chain management literature by identifying technical, operational and cultural compatibility as antecedents to supply chain process integration. By revealing the mediating role of supply chain capabilities, the paper highlights how supply chain process integration enhance operational and competitive performance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of supply chain quality management (SCQM) and to propose a research model that considers the impact of SCQM practices on firm performance.

Based on a comprehensive literature review, SCQM most relevant practices were analyzed and selected. These practices were categorized into four dimensions: upstream (supplier assessment, supplier quality management (QM)), downstream sides of a supply chain (customer focus), internal process (product/service design, process management and logistics) and support practices (top management support, human resource management, information and supply chain integration). The measurement instrument of firm performance was also developed, including three aspects: operational performance, customer satisfaction and financial performance.

An innovative conceptual framework that provides a comprehensive picture covering core dimensions of SCQM and various aspects of firm performance was proposed. This conceptual framework can be used as “a guideline” for theory building and measurement instrument development of SCQM and firm performance. More importantly, on the road to gain a further insight, an extensive structural model that identifies direct and indirect relationships between SCQM and firm performance was also developed. Practitioners/managers can apply this model as “a road map” for implementing SCQM practices.

It is necessary to test the rationality of these models by using empirical studies in different contexts.

The integration of quality and supply chain management still remains limited in the literature. Therefore, it is necessary to have a more focussed approach in assessing QM issues within the internal and external supply chain contexts. This study concentrates on the practices which improve quality aspects of the supply chain, known as SCQM practices. Proposed research models in this paper not only fill out the voids in the literature, but also contribute with conceptual frameworks for theory building in SCQM and firm performance. The authors also expect that this research can offer a useful guidance for measuring and implementing SCQM practices as well as facilitate further studies in this field.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of operations strategy (cost, quality, flexibility and delivery) and supply chain integration on innovation performance under influence of learning orientation.

Taking a quantitative and deductive approach, a conceptual framework was developed and tested by analyzing data gathered through survey questionnaire from 243 UK manufacturing firms using structural equation modeling.

The findings show that learning orientation influences operations strategy and supply chain integration, but it does not have a direct impact on innovation performance. Additionally, quality and flexibility strategies affect innovation performance and supply chain integration positively, while cost and delivery strategies do not have a significant effect on these variables.

Operations strategy types (cost, quality, flexibility and delivery) were studied as distinct variables, whereas supply chain integration also has several dimensions but that has not been investigated separately in the present research. The findings are also based on limited 243 responses from UK manufacturing firms.

Innovation performance of manufacturing firms can be improved through a more integrated supply chain if managers embody flexibility and quality capabilities in their operations and become learning oriented.

The effect of supply chain integration on innovation performance and learning orientation on supply chain integration and operations strategy types have not been fully explored in literature. Also, having all four operations strategy types in a direct relation to supply chain integration and innovation performance is another original aspect of the current study.

The purpose of this paper is to use empirical data to examine the impacts of integrating sustainability elements on the performance of supply chains of manufacturing small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).

The conceptual framework was based on the systems theory and the triple bottom line concept. Purposive sampling approach was used to collect data from a cross-section of manufacturing SMEs. Partial least square (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to explore the relationships among the constructs.

The results indicate strong statistically significant positive relationships between each of the three sustainability elements and integration constructs. Sustainability integration is a mediating variable that explains a significant variance in performance of a supply chain. Supply chain performance is determined by the degree of integration of the three sustainability elements.

The research focused on SMEs in the manufacturing industry in a less developed economy. An extension of the findings to the service industry and larger manufacturing firms and different operating environments may be limited.

Sustainability integration enhances supply chain performance and can be a competitive tool for manufacturing SMEs. The research emphasizes the value of sustainability integration into supply chains of manufacturing SMEs in less developed countries.

This is an original research that examined the impacts of sustainability integration on performance of supply chains of manufacturing SMEs in a developing economy. This research used empirical data to establish that integration of the three sustainability elements collectively acts as a critical mediating variable that determines the performance of a supply chain. The research also demonstrates the use of PLS-SEM to analyze supply chain attributes that cannot be directly measured.