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Previous approaches have employed the SCOR model for evaluating supply chain management, and in particular, have focused on cash-to-cash cycle time (C2C). This paper reviews the Supply Chain Index (SCI) developed by Supply Chain Insight LLC, which evaluates supply chain performance based on balance, strength, and resiliency. The main aim of this study is to review SCI as a new methodology to measure performance management, as well as to apply C2C for a case study of Korean firms, to compare and present differences for further complementary application.

As corporate sustainability is systemic, it cannot be achieved without effective involvement of suppliers. This study aims to examine the drivers of supplier companies’ resource allocation to a sustainability issue that affects customer companies and society at large.

Supplier companies’ resource allocation for a sustainability issue is explained from variables at the levels of the institutional, supply chain and internal environments of a supplier company. The framework is tested with a moderated regression model on 102 supplier companies in animal-based supply chains, focussing on their resource allocation for farm animal welfare.

The findings show that supply chain factors have the strongest influence on suppliers’ resource allocation, including a strong effect of investment specificity and a U-shaped effect of chain integration. Also, significant effects from institutional variables, namely, the pressure on consumer companies, and an inverted U-shaped effect of sustainability competition are found. The innovativeness, referring to the internal environment of supplier companies, appears as another important factor for the allocation of resources to animal welfare, as a sustainability issue.

The results have implications for consumer market companies to deal with sustainability issues that require involvement of their suppliers, for supplier companies to increase their competitive positions and strengthen their relationships within the supply chain, and for policymakers seeking solutions for sustainability issues in the market domain.

While existing literature focusses mostly on the corporate sustainability of highly visible and large consumer companies, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the drivers of supplier companies’ resource allocation for a sustainability issue, namely, animal welfare. It provides insights on what drives supplier companies, usually operating outside the spotlight, to become part of a sustainability transition.

A firm's ability to cascade sustainability requirements further down to lower-tier suppliers might be affected by inter-firm power relations. This study aimed to identify the power sources of focal firms and first- and lower-tier suppliers and to investigate how they may affect their ability to cascade sustainability requirements along multi-tier supply chains.

A multiple case study of 24 companies was conducted to investigate the sources of power in multi-tier supply chains. In total, 42 informants from five focal companies, ten first-tier suppliers and nine lower-tier suppliers were interviewed.

Differences were found between the sources from which focal firms and first- and lower-tier suppliers drew power. Findings revealed that firms' power sources may increase or impair their ability to cascade sustainability requirements to lower supply chain tiers. Furthermore, multi-tier supply chain-level power sources constitute a significant determinant of firms' ability to disseminate sustainability requirements to lower-tier suppliers.

The results can help companies and purchasing managers understand how their own and suppliers' power may affect their ability to cascade sustainability agendas to lower-tier suppliers. In particular, the results can be useful for supplier selection and the development of supplier relationship management strategies for fostering sustainability in multi-tier supply chains.

This study places traditional power perspectives in the context of multi-tier sustainable supply chain management, broadening the view beyond dyadic relationships that have traditionally been the focus of the supply management literature.

The study aims to assess the effect of English and French language literacy on the welfare of Ghanaian women in trade. Also, this study analyses the geographical variations of such effects from rural to urban areas.

Using the latest living standards survey data, the standard two-stage least squares instrumental variable approach was used to estimate the causal effects.

The results show that Ghanaian women in trade who are both English and French literate or only English literate are able to improve their welfare significantly relative to their fellows who are illiterate in both English and French or only English, whilst those who are solely French literate do not experience any significant improvement in welfare from trade compared with their counterparts. From the heterogeneous analysis, the findings indicate that the effect is significantly concentrated amongst rural traders but insignificant amongst urban traders.

The findings of this study inform government and policymakers to consider the effectiveness of the free senior high school (SHS) education policy in improving English and French language literacy and the welfare of women in Ghana. It also informs educational institutions on the importance of adult education in English and French, especially amongst women.

The study quantitatively estimates the effect of English and French language literacy on the welfare of Ghanaian women in trade by employing an instrumental variable approach to assess the causal effect. Uniquely, the study finds that language literacy is a significant tool in improving the welfare of rural women engaged in trade in Ghana.

This paper examines the network dynamics of the cross-border trades utilizing Social Network Analysis (SNA) based on data obtained from the WTO-OECD Trade in Value Added database from 2000-2011. The main results of this paper are as follows: regarding the top 10 in-degree centrality industries, industries in China, Germany, and the U.S. have emerged as the largest importers of foreign value added, implying that the global production network is dominated by two different types of industries. The first type includes processing and assembling functions in China and Germany. The other type of industry involves foreign value added largely for domestic final demand in the U.S. Secondly, there are also two types of brokerage roles. U.S. industries are operating in a liaison role, while Chinese and German industries are mostly operating as coordinator or gatekeeper. Thirdly, manufacturing industries in China and Germany which have emerged as higher in-degree centrality incur a large portion of their value added from the logistics industry. This suggests that those leading industries with the highest characteristics of hubness in the global production network cannot sustain their network status without efficient utilization of the logistics industry.

The maritime freight transportation industry has played an important role in the Korean economy. The Korean maritime freight transportation industry is faced with a period of transforming it competitively and efficiently in this global age. This paper, therefore, aims to identify the impact of the maritime freight transportation industry in the Korean national economy. Hence, this paper provides policy-makers with accessible and reliable information regarding the role of the Korean maritime freight transportation industry. This study employs input-output (I-O) analysis to examine the role of the maritime freight transportation industry in the national economy for the period 1995-2003, with specific application to Korea. This study pays particular attention to the maritime freight transportation industry by taking the industry as exogenous variable and then investigates its economic impacts. We identify inter-industry linkage effects in 20 sectors, production-inducing effects, added value-inducing effects, and supply-shortage effects of the maritime freight transportation industry.

The aim is to examine the importance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) see in different network partners regarding successful tendering in public procurement, and whether this perception predicts the number of joint bids and wins.

The data were collected by an electronic questionnaire which was sent to the registered users of the leading electronic platform for public procurement in Finland. The data were analysed with statistical methods.

The findings suggest that a favourable perception of the importance of horizontal networks in public procurement is associated with a larger number of joint bids and better success in joint bidding. However, the results do not establish a positive correlation between vertical networks and consortium bidding.

The data were collected from a single EU country. Since the criteria for bidding consortia may vary between countries, different results might have been achieved from other countries.

SMEs should be encouraged to form bidding consortia and acquire related experience. Policymakers should minimise barriers to consortium bidding, e.g. by offering more information. They should also assess the merits of joint bidding because they rarely encourage SMEs to bid as a consortium.

Consortium bidding is a way of enhancing SMEs’ possibilities to participate in public tender contests, even in large contracts.

While consortium bidding has been recognised to enhance SMEs’ possibilities of participating in public procurement, there is limited research into how SMEs’ network collaborations relate to bidding as a consortium.

Various barriers discourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from entering or expanding their export activities in the international markets, especially SMEs in emerging markets. The purpose of this study is to look at capacity building to accelerate SMEs’ export performance.

This study draws on contingency theory and takes a resource-based and market-based view to provide a holistic understanding of the issue. This study uses primary data collected via extensive surveys from active SMEs in three main industrial regions in Vietnam to undertake confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling for quantitative analysis.

The results confirm and show the significant effects of various determinants on firms’ export performance. These research findings have scientific contribution and significant implications by understanding the effective internal and external export drivers and mediators in an emerging market and enhancing SMEs’ export performance.

This study helps SMEs to improve their export performance by systemizing their decision-making in export activities, improving main export drivers highlighted in this study and developing required training programs for their teams. The outcomes also helps policymakers and regulators to improve the current SME ecosystem in Vietnam through training programs, improving policies, facilitating trades, providing more government assistance etc. The results of this study can be extended to other emerging markets with a similar economic structure and legal system.

Given the need for more work on export performance, this paper develops and tests a holistic conceptual framework that accounts for all aspects of export drivers, and provides a more comprehensive model for examining SMEs’ export drivers. This theoretical framework also incorporates three potential mediators (i.e. innovation strategy, export marketing strategy and business strategy) to investigate the effect of internal and external factors on export performance, highlighting the importance of the mediating effects on SMEs in achieving growth and competing in the international arena.

Agricultural aggregation schemes provide numerous farmer-facing benefits, including reduced transportation costs and improved access to higher-demand urban markets. However, whether aggregation schemes also have positive food security dimensions for consumers dependent on peri-urban and local markets in developing country contexts is currently unknown. This paper aims to narrow this knowledge gap by exploring the actors, governance structures and physical infrastructures of the horticultural value chain of Bihar, India, to identify barriers to using aggregation to improve the distribution of fruits and vegetables to more local market environments.

This study uses mixed methods. Quantitative analysis of market transaction data explores the development of aggregation supply pathways over space and time. In turn, semi-structured interviews with value chain actors uncover the interactions and decision-making processes with implications for equitable fruit and vegetable delivery.

Whilst aggregation successfully generates multiple producer-facing benefits, the supply pathways tend to cluster around urban export-oriented hubs, owing to the presence of high-capacity traders, large consumer bases and traditional power dynamics. Various barriers across the wider enabling environment must be overcome to unlock the potential for aggregation to increase local fruit and vegetable delivery, including informal governance structures, cold storage gaps and underdeveloped transport infrastructures.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first critical analysis of horticultural aggregation through a consumer-sensitive lens. The policy-relevant lessons are pertinent to the equitable and sustainable development of horticultural systems both in Bihar and in similar low- and middle-income settings.

This study analyzed Korea's relations table through network analysis. In particular, among the centralities, eigenvector centrality, PageRank centrality and degree were used. The author studied which network characteristics affected the value-added rate.

A network analysis method was used.

It is the inward relationship that affects the value-added ratio of Korea's industries and the outward relationship has less influence. In particular, the inward relationship not only acts as a cost but also has an effect on the rate of added value recently.

Since the three years of 2010, 2015 and 2019 are the target, the data are somewhat insufficient to generalize.

As for the value-added ratio of an industry, input is more important than output (sales). Therefore, where the input is received is very important.

It is possible to increase the understanding of the determinants of the value-added rate of Korean industries.

(1) It was clarified which side is inward or outward in determining the industry in Korea. (2) The relationship between PageRank, eigenvector centrality and degree was analyzed in Korean cases. (3) Input is a cost and acts to increase added value.