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The purpose of this paper is to explore how different forms of integration interact with environmental dynamism to influence the outcomes of a buyer–supplier relationship (BSR). Specifically, the authors assess the impact of communication, operational process integration (OPI) and joint knowledge exploration (JKE) on the economic value and competitive differentiation generated by the BSR. Furthermore, the authors assess the moderating role of environmental dynamism in changing the performance implications of these different forms of integration.

The authors empirically test the theoretical model using survey data collected from North America. The authors apply techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis, regression and a variety of robustness checks to ensure the validity of the findings.

The results indicate that OPI and JKE are useful in generating higher value from key supply chain relationships. However, communication does not directly influence performance outcomes, rather it assists in the implementation of other forms of integration. In stable environments, better returns can be obtained from focusing on OPI, while in dynamic environments JKE becomes far more important.

This study shows that different aspects of integration have very different performance implications and that selective integration can outperform broad-based integration in some conditions. More importantly, the performance implications depend on environmental dynamism in unique ways, where greater integration is not always the best response to dynamic business conditions. The results allow managers to make better decisions regarding what forms of integration to establish in key 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.

This paper proposes a framework that describes the boundary spanning supply chain management (SCM) initiatives taken by leading companies. Supported by existing literature and interviews with managers from large companies reflecting a cross section of businesses, the framework suggests four motivating domains or factors that could support SCM initiatives. They are supply chain understanding, design, improvement, and coordination. Based on the sand cone model, the framework also suggests four levels of SCM integration over which these motivating factors are relevant to the firm and/or supply chain. They range from no integration outside the functional silos of a single firm to a fully integrated multi‐tier supply chain. Unlike existing frameworks that are based upon the flow of material and information through the supply chain, our framework is derived by combining the concept of integration with the motivating domains that characterize SCM initiatives. It captures the combined and overlapping impact of supply chain initiatives from a more strategic perspective and is a useful additional resource for practitioners who seek to chart potential improvements to their supply chain from a competitive standpoint.

Contemporary organizations are facing an operating environment characterized by volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous, and “permanent whitewater.” To sustain high performance in this context, organizations must be able to change and develop as efficiently and effectively as possible. Within organizations, there are actors who catalyze and advance change in this manner; these actors are known as “champions.” Yet the scholar who wishes to conduct research concerning champions of change and organizational development is likely to be met by a highly fragmented literature. Varying notions of champions are scattered throughout extant research, where authors of articles cite different sources when conceptualizing champions; often superficially. Furthermore, many types of highly specific and nuanced non-generalizable champions have proliferated, making it difficult for practitioners and researchers to discover useful findings on how to go about making meaningful changes in their context. The purpose of this study was to address these problems for practitioners and researchers by engendering thoroughness, clarity, and coherence within champion scholarship. This was done by conducting the first comprehensive, critical yet insightful review of the champion literature within the organizational sciences using content analysis to re-conceptualize champions and develop a meaningful typology from which the field can be advanced. The chapter first suggests a return to Schön (1963) as the basis from which to conceptualize champions and, second, offers a typology consisting of 10 meta-champions of organizational change and development – Collaboration, Human Rights, Innovation, Product, Project, Service, Strategic, Sustainability, Technology, and Venture Champions – from which change practice and future research can benefit.

Career success such as it is classically modelled and measured is not necessarily representative of the perceptions of blue‐collar workers. Therefore, the goal of the present study is to understand what it means to succeed in blue‐collar occupations. A definition and a measure are useful starting points in explaining the individual's evaluation of success and in analysing the behaviour which results from it.

After a review of literature, in order to develop the theoretical framework for the research, 25 exploratory interviews were conducted with blue‐collar workers in order to obtain their criteria for career success. The results are reported, together with the methodological decisions and a proposed explanatory model.

Success is traditionally described as having an objective and a subjective part. In order to understand the perceptions of blue‐collar workers, it is necessary to recognise that their perceptions are influenced by material, psychological and social aspects.

The definitions developed in this paper could be used to develop employment programmes addressing the expectations of blue‐collar workers, and to attract new employees to this kind of occupation. More generally, with the flattening of organizations, it is necessary to re‐evaluate the concept of success for all workers, and to develop policies that are appropriate to changes in the labour market.

The majority of career studies focus on “white collar” workers. Traditional career theory has developed models which consider that all the employees are guided by the same systems of values (status, power, wages, etc.). Thus, this paper fulfils a need to develop an understanding of career success from the perspective of blue‐collar workers.

It remains unclear how environmental scanning (ES) can generate firm performance through supply chain management (SCM) practices. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of ES on operational performance through supply chain integration (SCI) and supply chain responsiveness (SCR).

The scanning–interpretation–action–performance (SIAP) model and organization information processing theory (OIPT) are used to explain the ES–SCI–SCR–performance (S–I–A–P) relationships, which were tested by structural equation modeling of survey data of 329 manufacturing firms in China.

The results indicate that ES has a significant positive effect on SCI and SCR. SCI is significantly and positively related to SCR. SCR partially mediates the relationship between ES and operational performance, and fully mediates the relationship between SCI and operational performance.

Supply chain managers should collaborate with senior executives to obtain signals from ES activities, as input for building SCI and SCR and use SCI as a joint interpretation mechanism of ES signals for developing SCR to reap operational advantages in the rapidly changing business environment.

Strategic management academics and practitioners have explicitly emphasized the importance of ES in developing strategic plans but are unsure about the role of SCM in creating operational advantages through ES. Using the SIAP model, this study theorizes and demonstrates how SCI and SCR transform signals from ES into operational performance. In doing so, a more precise application of OIPT is explicated in the supply chain context.

The need to maintain up-to-date technological skills despite an aging workforce makes it imperative that organizations increasingly focus on retraining older employees. This article develops an adult career model based on the acquisition of technological skills and gradual skill obsolescence. The model suggests the importance of retraining and provides practical implications to the development of retraining programs. Suggestions for future research are also offered.

Based on social learning theories, this conceptual paper attempts to develop a theoretical framework and testable hypotheses linking the relationship between certain personality traits and career success. Although there has been a long history of exploring the effects of personality on career development, its importance appears to be underestimated, and it is time to revitalize the psychological view of career studies. In this paper, we propose that several personality traits (locus of control, self‐monitoring, self‐esteem, optimism, and machiavellianism) along with job performance and person‐environment fit are determinants of career success. In view of social learning theories, knowledge of this relationship is of practical and theoretical value for individuals, organizations, and career consultants.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework for measuring public sector managers' career success.

The theoretical foundation used in this study is social cognitive career theory. To conduct a literature search, several keywords were identified, i.e. career success, objective and subjective career success, managers, managerial career development and social cognitive career theory. Several electronic databases available in the university's library, such as Emerald, EBSCOHost, SAGE, Science Direct and Blackwell Synergy, were used to search for resources. Literature includes sources written in both English and Malay.

The four factors that have predictive potential on managers' career success are individual‐related factors, organizational‐related factors, managerial competencies‐related factors, and the person‐environment fit factor. Career success should be operationalized using both objective and subjective career success.

The study was exploratory, based on a literature review. Empirical study is needed to examine the predictive potential of the four key factors (i.e. individual‐related factors, organizational‐related factors, managerial competencies‐related factors, and person‐environment fit factor) for public sector managers' career success.

Strengthening the HRD framework through organizational development, personnel training and development and career development may develop and unleash individual potential which leads to positive career outcomes (objective and subjective career success).

The research constructs a theoretical framework which outlines the predictive potential of four key factors on public sector managers' career success. The four key factors can be developed through HRD practices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate legal effects on social sustainability practices at buying firms. The US Dodd-Frank Act has forced listed companies to determine the degree to which their products contain conflict minerals (CM). The research question this study seeks to answer is the following: which factors influence a company’s ability to determine the provenance of its inputs?

The study examines secondary data in the form of CM reports of 50 US listed firms for two consecutive years using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach.

This study identifies different configurations of stakeholder salience and firm resources that lead individual companies to achieve high levels of traceability. Findings show that firms’ CM governance mechanisms are a key determinant in the firms’ capacity to meet regulatory traceability requirements. Further, the authors find that both the presence and absence of specific stakeholder pressures and firm resources can lead to traceability. Findings also suggest that firms can achieve traceability without any pressure from stakeholders.

The study investigates the practices of individual firms that are subject to the Dodd-Frank Act, rather than adopting a supply chain-wide perspective. Further, proxies had to be used to measure several constructs because of reliance on firms’ reporting, which implies that the study did not account for certain behavioral factors that influence traceability.

This study provides managers of both resource-rich and less resource-rich firms with possible pathways for achieving CM traceability.

The study contributes to the field of sustainability by providing exploratory insights into the antecedents of traceability and deriving theoretical propositions to guide further research. The authors apply fsQCA to investigate secondary data over multiple years, thus using a novel configurational methodology.