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The extant literature recognizes that trade credit is influenced by the power imbalance between buyers and suppliers but most studies focus on either buyer power or supplier power. The purpose of this study is to investigate how buyer power and supplier power interact and jointly influence trade credit. Moreover, this study examines the moderating effects of political ties in an emerging economy context.

A research framework was developed by combining resource dependence theory and institutional theory to investigate the interactive effects of market power (i.e. market share and supplier concentration) and non-market power (i.e. political ties) on trade credit. The proposed hypotheses were empirically tested by a fixed effects model using secondary data from 2,433 listed firms in China.

The results show that a buyer firm's market share promotes trade credit but this effect is weakened by supplier concentration. Moreover, the buyer's political ties enhance the impact of market share on trade credit and attenuate the negative moderating effect of supplier concentration.

This study contributes to the trade credit and supply chain power literature by identifying the interactive effects of market share, supplier concentration and political ties in trade credit. It advances our understanding of how trade credit is jointly determined by a variety of factors in emerging economies.

This study aims to investigate sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) through the lens of socio-technical system (STS) theory. Specifically, it examines the individual and synergistic effects of social and technical integration on two main sustainability practices (i.e. sustainable production and sustainable sourcing). Supply chain uncertainty is further explored as a key environmental factor.

A moderated joint effects model was hypothesized. A sample of 759 manufacturing firms was used to test the proposed hypotheses by hierarchical linear regression.

The results show that both social and technical integration have positive effects on sustainable production and sustainable sourcing. Interestingly, social and technical integration have an enhancing synergistic effect on sustainable sourcing, which is further strengthened in high-uncertainty supply chains.

This study extends the application of STS theory in the SSCM setting. It enriches the sustainability literature by uncovering the impact of the interplay among the firm's social, technical and environmental systems on sustainable production and sourcing, and offers system-wide insights for sustainability management.

The highly uncertain and turbulent environments nowadays intensify the paradoxical effects of supply base concentration (SBC) on improving cost efficiency while increasing idiosyncratic risk (IR). Digitalization is regarded as a remedy for this paradox, yet digitization's potentially curative effect has not been empirically tested. Leveraging the lenses of paradox theory and information processing theory (IPT), this study explores how two distinct dimensions of digitalization, i.e. digitalization intensity (DI) and digitalization breadth (DB), reconcile the paradoxical effects of SBC.

Using a panel dataset of 1,238 Chinese manufacturing firms in the period of 2012–2020, this study utilizes fixed-effects regression models to test the proposed hypotheses.

The authors discover that SBC enhances a firm's cost efficiency but induces greater IR. More importantly, there is evidence that DI restrains the amplifying effect of SBC on IR. However, DB weakens the enhancing effect of SBC on cost efficiency and aggravates the SBC's exacerbating effect on IR.

This study advances the understanding of the paradoxical effects of SBC on cost efficiency and IR from a paradox theory perspective. More importantly, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the authors' study is the first to untangle the differential roles of DI and DB in reconciling the paradox of SBC. This study also provides practitioners with nuanced insights into how the practitioners should use appropriate tactics to deploy digital technologies effectively.

The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the performance effects of supply chain risk management (SCRM). Besides financial performance, two aspects of operational performance are examined: operational efficiency and flexibility. Moreover, the authors explore the moderating role of supplier integration in the relationship between SCRM and operational performance.

A survey-based methodology was adopted. Based on the data from an international survey, this study applied the structural equation modeling and latent moderated structural equations approach to test the hypotheses.

The results indicate that SCRM positively influences both operational efficiency and flexibility, and has an indirect effect on financial performance. In addition, supplier integration enhances the impact of SCRM on operational flexibility, but does not moderate the relationship between SCRM and operational efficiency.

This study extends the existing literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of the performance effects of SCRM. It also provides managerial insights on both risk management and supplier integration.

Through examining the two constructs of inter-organizational complementarity and inter-organizational compatibility in supply chains, the purpose of this paper is to develop a taxonomy of focal firms’ inter-organizational fit (IOF) configurations with their suppliers and customers, and examine the relationship between these configurations and environmental innovation (EI) in order to answer the question of “with whom” to collaborate for EI development.

A survey instrument was elaborated and data from a sample of 171 US firms were collected. The authors adopted cluster analysis to identify the IOF taxonomy. Canonical discriminant analysis was employed to uncover underlying dimensions between clustering variables and cluster membership. Then, ANOVA tests were conducted to investigate relationships between IOF configurations in the context of EI in supply chains.

Three configurations were identified based on the complementarity and compatibility between focal firms and their supply chain partners. It is observed that the overall IOF level is positively related to firms’ EI outcomes. Moreover, inter-organizational complementarity facilitates incremental EI while inter-organizational compatibility plays a more crucial role in radical EI. Both are required to achieve the best innovation outcome.

This research develops the first taxonomy for depicting IOF in a supply chain innovation context and also clarifies different rationale behind the development of incremental and radical EI through examining distinctive effects of the complementarity and compatibility with supply chain partners.

Cross-functional integration has been an important factor for manufacturing firms' performance outcomes. The study aims to expand previous research by investigating the moderating role of goal-based incentive systems in the relationship between cross-functional integration and competitive performance.

Based on multi-source data from 269 manufacturing firms around the world, regression analysis is used to test the proposed research model.

The authors' findings suggest that cross-functional integration enhances manufacturers' innovation and operational performance. Moreover, cross-functional integration has a stronger impact on operational performance when firms implement a well-designed goal-based incentive system. However, the authors find that the goal-based incentive system does not moderate the relationship between cross-functional integration and innovation performance.

The study, by investigating the fit between goal-based incentive systems and cross-functional integration, provides practical insights into the ways that firms apply cross-functional integration and goal-based incentive systems to enhance competitive performance.

Drawing upon the theory of the resource-based view, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among relational resources, innovation capability and firm performance in the third-party logistics (3PL) industry.

Based on data collected from 203 3PL providers in China, this study adopts the approach of structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships among relational resources, innovation capability and firm performance.

The results of this research confirm that relational resources have a positive effect on firm performance. However, the effect is not direct, but realized through the mediation of innovation capability. This study indicates that relational resources are important for 3PL providers to achieve superior performance, and innovation capability plays a mediating role between relational resources and firm performance.

The main contributions of this paper to the literature are twofold. First, it extends the extant research by highlighting the mediating mechanism of innovation capability in relational resources’ influence on firm performance. Second, it advances the existing perspectives on 3PL firms in the Chinese context and this sheds light on logistics research on emerging markets.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the contingencies of supply chain risk management (SCRM) in manufacturing multinational corporations (MNCs) by exploring the moderating role of international asset dispersion in the performance effect of SCRM, as well as the counteraction effect of supply chain integration (SCI).

Multi-country survey data from a sample of 378 responses collected by the sixth round International Manufacturing Strategy Survey were analyzed. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results demonstrate that SCRM improves the operational effectiveness of manufacturing MNCs but this performance effect is attenuated by international asset dispersion. Nevertheless, external integration can counteract the negative effect of international asset dispersion and ensure the efficacy of SCRM practices.

The results of this study provide suggestions for supply chain managers of manufacturing MNCs to better conduct SCRM practices under the condition of dispersed international assets. Besides, supply chain managers can leverage external integration to ensure the efficacy of SCRM practices.

Although there are plenty of studies on the relationship between SCRM and operational performance, prior findings are inconsistent. This study sheds light on the SCRM-operational performance relationship by considering how a manufacturing MNC’s international asset dispersion can influence the efficacy of SCRM practices and how SCI can attenuate the negative effect of international asset dispersion.

Adopting the theory of planned behavior, this study attempts to investigate how subjective norms in the supply chain influence a firm's green innovation and how such influences are contingent upon the firm's internal and external factors (i.e. flexibility orientation and environmental dynamism). Two types of subjective norms are examined, i.e. injunctive norms (what supply chain partners say) and descriptive norms (what supply chain partners do).

Using survey data of 178 Chinese small and medium-sized manufacturers, we employ hierarchical linear regression to test the proposed hypotheses.

Our results indicate that both injunctive and descriptive norms are instrumental in stimulating firms to take actions on green innovation. Moreover, the flexibility orientation of a firm can strengthen the effect of descriptive norms. It is also observed that environmental dynamism weakens the efficacy of injunctive norms but strengthens that of descriptive norms on green innovation.

This study is among the first to apply the theory of planned behavior to explain the microfoundations of focal firm's green innovation and distinguish two types of subjective norms in the supply chain. In addition, it extends the theory of planned behavior by revealing internal and external contingent factors (i.e. flexibility orientation and environmental dynamism) of the relationship between subjective norms and firm behaviors.