Search results

The purpose of this paper is to identify the role and main attributes of manufacturing companies which operate in virtual supply chains.

In order to identify the role and main attributes of manufacturing companies enabling to operate in a virtual supply chain, a three-step statistical analysis was employed, namely exploratory factor analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis and non-hierarchical clustering technique.

The findings show that virtual supply chain operations would not be supported by manufacturing companies offering highly customized products achieved by a unit production, developed in details and engineered to order. On the contrary, the large manufacturing companies of virtual supply chains report a high level of flexibility stemming from a wide scope of more standardized products offered to the market. The conducted study show that better ability of manufacturers supporting virtual supply chains is not industry specific.

The list of investigated attributes is not complete, and other characteristics of manufacturers in virtual supply chains should be identified. Another important shortcoming of the study is its quantitative character and generalization of the findings. Each “virtual” environment in supply chains may be unique and some of the compared characteristics may differ significantly. Therefore, the aforementioned attributes should be considered separately with a conscious focus on the environmental context. The quantitative study may be greatly enhanced by applying the case study approach, showing detailed solutions and practices, and thus making the study more valuable from the theoretical and managerial standpoints.

The conducted study showed that better ability of manufacturers to support virtual supply chains is not industry specific, since the branch of electronic products and electrical equipment and components was represented by an equal share of manufacturers, both in non-virtual and virtual clusters. Furthermore, in order to operate in virtual supply chains, managers should pay attention to the structure and range of products delivered to the market. The managers should also be aware that apart from considering cost and efficiency, operating in a virtual supply chain environment also requires quality of products and processes in order to manufacture and deliver a superior value for the customers.

Having recognized major groups of indicators demonstrating the level of ability of manufacturing companies to operate in a virtual supply chain, the attributes of three clusters of manufacturers possessing different bunch of features, significant for virtual supply chains, have been distinguished.

Drawing from recent work on online social networking and communities of consumption, the purpose of this paper is to explore, identify, and postulate key factors facilitating the growth and success of marketing in virtual worlds.

An empirical study was conducted employing netnographic evidence from three different virtual worlds and related user‐generated blog discussions.

The findings suggest mechanisms which enable virtual worlds to gain and maintain the interest of their users and therefore underlie successful marketer practices.

This is an exploratory study based on qualitative and ethnographic online research methods, and therefore the results are of a descriptive nature. The study was conducted to initiate the academic discourse about marketing in virtual worlds. As such, the paper believes that it can act as a reasonable starting‐point for future discussion.

The study suggests that traditional advertising has not proven to be a very effective way to exploit the special characteristics of virtual worlds. There is substantial potential in virtual worlds for new and innovative marketing methods that are highly engaging and take advantage of users' active role in virtual worlds. From the marketing point of view, virtual worlds can be especially used for connecting with customers, contributing to customer learning, and getting customer input.

The paper illustrates that virtual worlds have come to offer marketers new opportunities for engaging their customers into interactive and co‐productive marketplace exchanges. They uncover untapped potential, resources and creative means for building customer relationships.

Of relatively recent origin is the virtual organisation where companies are able to marshal the necessary competencies from a range of independent external agents through the strategic use of outsourcing mechanisms. The paper discusses the challenge of accounting for intellectual capital (IC) and intangible assets and presents a financial analysis and background of companies exhibiting different levels of virtuality, from traditional manufacturing to virtual manufacturing.

This paper is based on the interaction of the researchers with three companies examining their positions on the continuum from traditional to virtual manufacturing. Case studies of the companies and some key financial results for a period of years are presented in order to explore implications and inform strategic decisions.

It concludes that conventional financial reporting for IC and intangibles has limited scope. This is elaborated through contrasts in a number of conventional accounting measures and some others, less conventional, to highlight the implications of the intellectual capital employed. The results are reported and implications of these discussed in the context of the companies whose background and activities are briefly outlined.

The measurement and management of the intangible assets and intellectual capital of organisations has been the focus of recent research in accounting and finance. This has applied to the corporate reporting of financial results involving its impact on the balance sheet, managerial accounting concerned with decisions and the internal use of various financial and non‐financial performance measures and finance where market values of companies have been shown to differ significantly from their book values as shown in published accounts.

The content will be of interest to academics studying issues surrounding the reporting and decision making concerning intellectual capital and intangibles. Additionally, managers and consultants whose companies are engaged in outsourcing and or virtual/semi‐virtual manufacturing should find the results informative.

This study aims to examine the relationship between organizational capacity, slack resource, platform strategic choice and firm performance. It also tackles the endogenous issues regarding the strategic choice of platform types.

This study uses Heckman’s two-stage procedures to examine the relationship between the variables. The sample in this study comes from Compustat annual company and segment files. The sample used in the main analysis consists of 252 individual corporations globally and 3,528 firm-year observations from 2004–2017.

The empirical results suggest that: (1) firms are more likely to develop physical platforms than virtual platforms when they possess higher levels of available slack, potential slack, research and development (R&D) capacity and marketing capacity; (2) in general, firms developing physical platforms perform better than firms developing virtual platforms after the endogeneity bias are controlled; and (3) firms that choose to develop physical platforms perform better than if they had chosen to develop virtual platforms.

This study contributes to the platform research literature by proposing the endogenous role of platform type choice in firm performance in the context of the retail industry. Prior conceptual and theoretical platform studies have seldom focused on the retail industry through a strategic choice perspective. Furthermore, one of the contributions of this study is the derivation of empirical support for the research’s prediction using data from actual firms carried out by global physical and virtual platform companies. This study also presents many opportunities for further explorations on the relationship between firm strategic choice and firm performance in the context of platform retail industry.

The findings of this study suggest that firms must realize that their performance is not necessarily affected by these platform type choice determinants in terms of potential slack, available slack, R&D capacity and marketing capacity. By contrast, they should pay more attention to developing physical platforms if it is possible. The study findings indicate that although virtual platforms have grown rapidly because of the development of technology, firm performance is at all times superior when firms choose to develop physical platforms.

Prior platform studies have focused on the topic of network structure, platform architecture, pricing strategy, platform leadership and platform design and governance within the context of video game industry, software industry, hardware industry and telecommunications industry. Seldom of them focus on other industries through a strategic choice perspective. Furthermore, one of the contributions of this study is the derivation of empirical support for the research’s prediction using data from actual firms carried out by global physical and virtual platform companies.

The paper discusses the measurement of manufacturing virtuality and, in doing so, contributes to knowledge in the fields of operations strategy, operations management and accounting. Initially, the use of a virtual manufacturing operations strategy within the contemporary business environment is considered. Thereafter, a conceptual scale by which the extent of the virtuality of a manufacturing organisation can be measured is presented. A preliminary version of the scale is described together with its application to three companies manufacturing in the global electronic and electrical industrial sector. These companies, each having adopted different operations strategies, potentially represent the two extremes and a mid‐point on the virtuality scale. The empirical component of the work includes presentation of case study descriptions of the companies and the results of the application of the scale. These are shown to provide evidence of its validity. The final section of the paper analyses the current form of the model and describes how its performance might be informed by the incorporation of concepts from accounting that embrace the financial measurement of intangible company assets. It is a further demonstration of the limitations of conventional financial reporting in dealing with contemporary issues in management and business. The paper concludes by discussing the generic significance of the work and by presenting future directions for the research.

This paper investigates how global talent management processes are adopted and implemented in a virtual organization to successfully address the challenges of global work arrangements and the sustainable human and social outcomes that can be achieved.

Adopting a single, exploratory and critical case study methodology, this paper analyzes a global distributed company, Automattic Inc., to provide in-depth and rich insights on successful business process management in the human resources (HR) domain.

The findings offer some exemplary and valuable lessons in sustainable human resource management for firms in all sectors on how to embrace global talent management in a more creative and sustainable way – and the benefits in terms of efficiency and effectiveness that can be derived – by identifying talent through auditions, recruiting by inspiring others to apply, developing talent by sharing the value of learning and retaining talent by having fun.

The study contributes a more rounded understanding of successful business process management in the HR domain. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is particularly relevant and timely for all organizations (traditional or virtual) venturing into successful global work arrangements.

This study aims to present a general overview of the characteristics of virtual communities hosted by apparel retailers.

Content analysis was conducted on 2,521 web sites hosted by apparel retailers. Web sites of apparel retailers were identified from Stores Magazine “top 100 specialty retailers” and “top 100 retailers” listings, and Google search engine directory. Web sites were analyzed in terms of general characteristics of apparel retailers (e.g. apparel product categories, ability to purchase online, presence of brick‐and‐mortar stores). Two coders individually visited each web site and coded the contents.

A total of 13 virtual communities hosted by apparel retailers were found. Apparel retailers selling casual merchandise to the young teen market had the strongest representation. Most of the virtual communities used bulletin or message board tools. About half of the virtual communities had registration requirements and rules or membership policies. Discussion topics of community members varied.

The small percentage of apparel retailers hosting virtual communities indicates that more evidence is needed to make it a compelling case for retailers to host virtual communities. Virtual communities may be of value to marketers for consumer research and feedback.

This paper examines virtual communities of consumption hosted by companies that sell apparel products.

The case is related to strategy of innovation, strategic marketing and brand valuation.

The case consolidates techniques and methodologies of businesses that demonstrate use of technology and innovation to attain competitive edge. It is appropriate for Master's, executive level programme and advance specialized courses of strategy and entrepreneurship. Introductory classes on basics of strategy and information technology will be value add for students.

In the growing digital era of virtualization, the businesses are depended on technology to facilitate their multiple operations. Virtual events of conference and exhibition provide broad opportunity to connect and collaborate in real time across the globe. The case discussion applies to potential use of virtual platform as a collaborative tool to achieve business objectives. This case highlights the strategic decision making by an IT company – VSL, regarding product migration and services diversification. It focuses on considering the appropriate strategy of innovation and to make the right decisions. Strategy of innovation and marketing techniques applied by VSL management to sustain in the competitive environment describes the essence of the case. The case is written with the objective to enhance user conceptual understanding through VSL brand valuation and international strategic alliance with 6Connex.

The case familiarises the students with the complexities and challenges involved in a real business environment and put emphasises on the role of played by management for effective decision making. The case helps students to comprehend the relevance of innovation to achieve competitive edge. The case provides an opportunity of exposure to students so that they can understand the key elements of efficient marketing, strategy of innovation and brand valuation. (Elaborate teaching objectives are appended in the teaching note.)

Teaching notes.

To achieve their business objectives, many companies are exploring varying degrees of virtuality or remote working (away from the office location), facilitated by technology. Managers have to decide when, where, and for whom such virtuality is appropriate to ensure that rewards are maximized for the staff and for the organization. This paper explores the challenges for managers in establishing virtual offices or teams. It suggests that successful virtual offices require more than just technology. They require radical new approaches to evaluating, educating, organizing and informing workers. The real challenge in maximizing the virtual experience lies in designing the organization structure and processes to achieve agreed goals.

The design, manufacture and delivery of a product requires ever‐higher levels of knowledge and expertise within the supply chain. If concurrent engineering (CE) in tiered supply chains is to be fully implemented, a practical CE strategy needs to recognise that successful, concurrent designs are built on rich relationships amongst all parties. Virtual teaming is the most appropriate framework and mechanism in which to examine how such relationships can be created across a distributed supply chain, with members separated geographically. In principle, virtual teaming could allow joint commitment, feelings of mutuality, trust and creativity, and rapid decision making to operate within a supply chain. For this to be possible, a virtual team needs to be built by concentrating on process, teaming and technology factors. However, experience from other IT‐based initiatives is that technology will be concentrated on to the exclusion of other factors. Data from the two sources support this contention.