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This paper seeks to identify the up‐stream supply chain member's (manufacturers, suppliers, supplier's service providers) characteristics, economics, dynamic capabilities, technology and institutional perspectives of risk in relationship to develop a trust building model through risk evaluation and to address the issue: should a supply chain member strive to build the trust or strive to reduce the risk with its members and from which perspectives?

A conceptual framework was developed considering five key perspectives (characteristics, economics, dynamic capabilities, technology and institutions) to evaluate the member's risk in relationship and derived the hypothesis from the framework. A survey was conducted in UAE packaged food industry upstream supply chain covering senior managers of 102 companies. Data were analysed using multiple regression analyses through SPSS. The selected supply chain members of this industry include packaged food products companies as manufacturers, packaging material converters as suppliers of packaging material to manufacturers and packaging raw material suppliers as supplier's suppliers of manufacturer.

From the survey results it is found that characteristic and institutional risk perspectives influence significantly to initiate a trustworthy relationship. Economics, dynamic capabilities and technology risk perspectives play a significant role to maintain trust in relationship. No perspective of members is found to be significantly risk‐free.

This study has identified the perspectives of risk that can initiate and build trust between supply chain members in the context of a global business environment with a strong institutional system. Further research is required to identify the supply chain member's risk‐worthy characteristics, threshold levels of risk bearing capacity and the extent to which the institutions can reduce the membership risk to build trust.

The study results suggest that the supply chain members should strive to reduce the membership risk levels to build trust rather than striving to build trust to reduce the risk. As long as a member's risk levels are within their bearable limits trust can be considered as a risk coping mechanism and when the risk levels exceed their bearable limits the subject of trust turns into risk management/security management.

This study may be one of the first to develop a trust building model through a risk evaluation process and also one of the first to study the trust in supply chain member's relationship in UAE. Findings from this research should prove useful to management researchers and practitioners.

This paper examines the impact of a blockchain platform on the role and importance of trust in established buyer-supplier relationships.

A literature review provides insight into trust development in supply chains. Research uses a case study of two wine supply chains: the producers, importers, logistics companies and UK Government agencies. Semi-structured interviews determine how trust and trustworthiness develop in buyer-supplier relationships and the impact of a blockchain-based technology proof of concept on supply chain trust.

A blockchain-based platform introduces common trusted data, reducing data duplication and improving supply chain visibility. The platform supports trust building between parties but does not replace the requirements for organisations to establish a position of trust. Contrary to literature claims for blockchain trustless disintermediation, new intermediaries are introduced who need to be trusted.

The case study presents challenges specific to UK customs borders, and research needs to be repeated in different contexts to establish if findings are generalisable.

A blockchain-based platform can improve supply chain efficiency and trust development but does not remove the need for trust and trust-building processes. Blockchain platform providers need to build a position of trust with all participants.

Case study research shows how blockchain facilitates but does not remove trust, trustworthiness and trust relationships in established supply chains. The reduction in information asymmetry and improved supply chain visibility provided by blockchain does not change the importance of trust in established buyer-supplier relationships or the trust-based policy of the UK Government at the customs border.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, review the literature on the topic of behavioural antecedents of collaboration and their impact on supply chain integration and performance; second, lay the theoretical foundations and develop a conceptual model linking behavioural antecedents of collaboration, information integration, coordination of operational decisions and supply chain performance; and third, set out operationalisation considerations.

A conceptual model with theoretical basis on Relational Exchange Theory (RET) and extant supply chain theory is developed as a causal model that can be operationalised using structural equations modelling (partial least squares) and a “single key informant” approach.

Positive relationships between behavioural antecedents of collaboration (trust, commitment, mutuality/reciprocity), information integration, coordination of operational decisions and supply chain performance (efficiency, effectiveness) are hypothesised. RET provides adequate theoretical background that leads to the theoretical establishment of hypotheses between behavioural antecedents, supply chain integration and performance, which are worth testing empirically.

The ideas presented in this paper enrich the study of behavioural factors in supply chain management and their impact on supply chain performance, and may benefit researchers in the field. The paper also sets the scene (experimental design, measurement items) for the upcoming field research. The empirical part of the work will provide the necessary evidence for the validation of the established hypotheses.

The proposed linkages may stimulate the interest of supply chain strategists towards more collaborative relationship management and affect their decisions on the behavioural antecedents of relationship formation and management. Moreover, the proposed model may help clarify how the integration of critical operational contingencies – information, operational decisions – can help achieve superior supply chain performance.

The paper establishes a causal relationship between constructs which have not been researched (mutuality/reciprocity, coordination of operational decisions) or have been researched individually or in combination (impact of integration on performance, impact of collaboration on performance) but not in the proposed integrated way. It also addresses the challenge of lack of theoretical justification on the development of knowledge that will assist decision making in SCM/logistics and its integration into models, processes and tasks. Finally, by using RET in selecting of behavioural factors and establishing hypotheses, it adds to the body of knowledge concerning the use of interorganisational theories in supply chain relationships.

This paper studies buyer–supplier relationships (BSRs) by taking a routine-based approach and develops a taxonomy of BSRs. Recent advances in the BSR literature have shown that firms implement a host of diverse routines, called integrative practices, with their supply chain partners. Relationships differ based on what integrative practices are present in them. This paper aims to develop a taxonomy of supply chain relationships based on integrative practices measured at the relationship level.

The authors use survey data collected from North American manufacturers to establish the measurement properties of new relationship level constructs that represent different aspects of integration. Cluster analysis is used with these new constructs to develop a taxonomy of supply chain relationships. Regression and bootstrapping techniques are used to establish the predictive validity and stability of the taxonomy.

The results show four distinct types of relationships. On comparison, the authors find salient differences between their results and past classifications. As a result of taking a routine-based multidimensional view of integration, the authors find two types of relationships that have not been discovered by past taxonomies.

The new relationship level constructs will allow academics to have greater precision in their research questions on BSRs, as not all aspects of integration behave in the same manner. The four types of relationships identified by this study provide a useful framework to manage supply chain relationships for practitioners.

While the concept of supply chain resilience has received lots of scholarly and policy interest over the past few years, empirical research examining its sources and outcomes remains inadequate, particularly, in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Grounded in the resource-based view and social capital frameworks, the study examines the relationship between social network relationship, supply chain resilience and customer oriented performance.

The study develops and empirically tests a research model that proposes social network relationships and customer-oriented performance as the antecedent and outcome respectively of supply chain resilience. Data was obtained from a survey of 110 SMEs in Ghana.

The findings of the study suggest that a firm's external and internal social networks can be leveraged to enhance its supply chain resilience and customer-oriented performance. Supply chain resilience was also found to enhance customer-oriented performance. Additionally, supply chain resilience was found to significantly mediate the effect of social network relationships on customer-oriented performance.

This is the first study that empirically explores and establishes the relationship between social network relationships, supply chain resilience and customer-oriented performance to the best of the authors’ knowledge.

Effective and efficient supply chain coordination requires the integration of all product flow processes. However, inconsistent empirical results have been obtained with respect to the relationships between supply chain integration (SCI) and performance. Drawing on efficiency-flexibility arguments, this paper seeks to develop a SCI model that includes buyer-supplier-supplier relationships, and proposes a contingency framework for reexamining the SCI-supplier performance relationship under demand and technological uncertainties.

A two-stage data collection process was conducted, and a total of 878 suppliers that listed in the Taiwanese “Center-Satellite Production System” with supply contract were contacted for this study. Finally 164 suppliers were gathered and screened as valid responses. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses in this study.

Evidence indicates that SCI has a significant positive effect on the suppliers' performance. The positive SCI-performance relationship can be moderately weakened by demand uncertainty; however, this positive SCI-performance relationship will be strengthened by technological uncertainty.

While supply chain management is needed to manage the vertical and horizontal relationships simultaneously, this study offers a framework to solve efficiency-flexibility dilemma arguments when dealing with “exploitation” and “exploration” alternatives to help to reexamine the inconsistent SCI-performance relationship. Furthermore, based on transaction cost theory, this paper takes the nature of uncertainty into account for improving the theoretical background of the SCI-performance relationship arguments. Empirical results indicate the existence of an ambidextrous supply chain integration strategy which justifies the choice of which one is preferable in efficiency-flexibility dilemma arguments.

This paper aims to investigate the complexity of collaborations in supply chain networks, particularly the influence of horizontal collaborations (e.g. international joint ventures) on vertical collaborations (e.g. supplier–manufacturer partnering relationships).

A multiple case study including four horizontal collaborations and five vertical collaborations within a supply chain network is presented in the context of the Chinese automotive industry. Data interpretation from interviews is structured by key collaborative activities and collaborative behaviors.

The analysis highlights a variety of collaborative behaviors under different types of collaboration and their interaction. The complexity of collaboration is revealed in a range of dimensions including culture diversity, drivers/facilitators, competitive/collaborative advantages and the engagement of all. Collaboration evolves as the structure of the supply chain changes; the key is to appreciate the existence of cooperation, competition and culture conflicts and to manage the trade-offs.

A window of opportunity is presented for future research to investigate the complexity of supply chain collaboration in a wider industrial or geographical context, including statistical validation and comparative analysis.

A contingent view on supply chain collaboration is promoted to practitioners (e.g. international supply chain managers), where collaborative activities should be aligned with the motive and type of business relationships which may change as collaboration develops.

A rare empirical study captures the complexity of supply chain collaboration including the interaction between different forms. A dynamic collaboration approach recognizes the changing process, varying cooperation behaviors as well as characteristics of partners which have not been sufficiently reflected in the literature.

The aim of the study is to explore how two dimensions of interpersonal relationships (i.e. size and range of relationships) affect supplier-initiating risk management behaviours (SIRMB) and supply-side resilience. Further, the study aims to explore the moderating role of dependence asymmetry.

Nine hypotheses are tested based on a moderated mediation analysis of survey data from 247 manufacturing firms in China. The data are validated using a subset of 57 attentive secondary respondents and archival data.

SIRMB positively relates to supply-side resilience. Further, SIRMB mediates the positive relationship between range and supply-side resilience, and this relationship is stronger at lower levels of dependence asymmetry. Yet, although dependence asymmetry positively moderates the relationship between range and SIRMB, it negatively moderates the relationship between size and SIRMB. We did not, however, find evidence that size has a conditional indirect effect on supply-side resilience through SIRMB.

Managers in buying firms can incentivise SIRMB to enhance supply-side resilience by developing a diverse rather than a large set of interpersonal relationships with a supplier. This might include allocating particular employees with a wide range of contacts within a supplier to that relationship, while it may be necessary to adopt different networking strategies for different supplier relationships. Firms in a highly asymmetrical relationship may seek to raise supplier expectations about the necessity to initiate risk management behaviour or look to change the dynamic of the relationship by managing contracts for fairness.

New knowledge on SIRMB as a mediating variable underpinning the relationship between interpersonal relationships and supply-side resilience is provided; and empirical evidence on the opposing moderation effect of dependence asymmetry is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for evaluating and comparing supply chain relationships, specifically when, small and medium scale enterprise (SME) is considered as focal company.

The paper proposes a mathematical solution based on interpretive structural modeling and graph theory matrix to determine the supply chain relationship index. The application is demonstrated for the case of Indian automotive SMEs based on the secondary data reported.

Solution determines supply chain buyer‐supplier index for upstream and downstream. Based on which coefficient of similarity and dissimilarity are determined to evaluate the net pool of buyer‐supplier relationship on focal small and medium scale automotive component manufacturing industry.

Developed approach and results will help SMEs in general and Indian automobile component manufacturing SMEs to rethink on their supply chain relationships and identify the reasons behind their present failures and establish the criteria for win‐win partnership.

The paper addresses the following issues: how buyer‐supplier relationships can be quantified and the impact measured for the present working of focal SME; how SMEs can convince upstream and down stream supply chain players to initiate improvement on some dimensions of buyer‐supplier relationships; and on what basis change in relationships (from transactional to alliance) can be made to minimize the supply chain pressure on a focal company.

This study aims to examine the effects of behavioural antecedents of collaboration in supply chain relationships on supply chain integration and performance by developing and empirically validating a model linking these constructs.

A conceptual model was developed based on the relational exchange theory, social exchange theory and resource-based view. An international survey with supply chain/logistics managers from manufacturing focal firms based in Europe, USA and Asia was conducted; they provided input on upstream and downstream relationships based on their actual interaction and experience with supply chain partners. The collected data, which reflect supply chain managers’ perceptions on the above described phenomena, were analysed using the partial least squares method.

Mutuality, reciprocity, trust and commitment are instrumental for the formation of supply chain relationships characterised by higher information integration. In turn, information integration has much stronger impact on the coordination of operational decisions related to production and demand planning than on decisions related to actual production processes, but, interestingly, the latter affects supply chain performance much more than the former.

The research could benefit from a longitudinal rather than a cross-sectional approach, incorporating multiple respondents such as representatives of supply chain partners and senior management of the focal firm, to capture potentially varying opinions on the supply chain phenomena under examination.

The results can assist supply chain decision-makers in understanding the importance of behavioural closeness between supply chain partners for the development of collaborative supply chain relationships that lead to higher integration and superior performance. Insight is provided on linkages between examined dimensions of supply chain integration. A process view of intermediate steps needed to translate collaborative relationships into higher supply chain integration and performance across the supply chain is offered.

The development and testing of an integrated model examining linkages between supply chain relationship antecedents, integration and performance is an original contribution. By proposing and confirming a sequential order of the influence of behavioural antecedents, integration dimensions and their impact on supply chain performance, the paper sets foundations of a roadmap for achieving higher supply chain performance from collaborative supply chain relationships. Finally, the paper contributes to the limited theoretical justification on the development of knowledge for assisting decision-making in SCM/logistics and its integration into models, processes and tasks.