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There have been many studies on topics related to supplier relationship management (SRM), namely purchasing strategy, supplier selection and development, and collaboration with suppliers. However, these studies have not suggested a solution based on an integrative concept, as they focus only on domain‐specific problems. To overcome this limitation, the purpose of this present paper is to suggest a framework for an integrative SRM system by analyzing comprehensive approaches to overall SRM functions.

The paper reviewed and analyzed studies related to SRM from an integrative viewpoint, proposed a framework for an integrative SRM system, and performed a case study based on the analytical hierarchy process with a field survey.

The paper expects that the proposed framework can play a major role in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of SRM by adopting an integrative concept because the functions of SRM are highly interrelated. Furthermore, it verifies the applicability of the framework via a case study.

Not many approaches are available for organizing evaluators or evaluation sheets, which are used for selecting criteria, providing weight, and evaluating supplier performance, that can secure objectivity of the evaluation; thus, when applying this framework to the industry, special consideration is needed.

The proposed framework allows the purchasing members to scrutinize key features of SRM before and during the SRM system operation.

The paper provides useful knowledge about the role of SRM systems by holistically approaching SRM‐related processes while suggesting criteria and recommendations to a purchasing manager.

This study aims to systematise the links between firms’ strategies (corporate and business) and the cluster dynamics (through the cluster life cycle [CLC] perspective) and propose an integrative framework bridging firms’ strategic behaviour and cluster dynamics (CLC).

The methodology used is an integrative literature review, which provides a distinctive form of research.

The study identifies several links between firms’ strategies (corporate and business) and the cluster dynamics (CLC), namely: (1) firms’ strategies as a triggering factor of cluster evolution; (2) firms’ strategies and path's decline; (3) firms’ strategies and cluster’s renewal; (4) resilience strategies and the cluster life cycle; and (5) cluster’s features and firms’ strategies.

This study contributes to developing strategic management theory and cluster theory by bridging firms' strategies and cluster dynamics (CLC). It proposes a new conceptualisation of the impact of cluster dynamics on firms' strategic choices – firstly, it proposes a specific approach to identify the CLC; and secondly, it develops an integrative framework model that relates firms' strategies and each stage of the CLC. These are theoretical tools relevant for further advancements in this area of research, as they can be applied in studies of different clusters for validation, something that was not done.

The integrative framework is expected to be helpful to company managers, allowing them to design better strategies that account for dynamic cluster environments.

This study aims to fill this gap in the literature by systematising the links between firms' strategies (corporate and business) and the cluster dynamics (CLC).

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how changes in the management control systems (MCS) of post-secondary institutions (PSIs) in Western Canada can be described and explained in terms of formal and informal MCS; and whether and how changes in the MCS of PSIs in Western Canada can be described and explained in terms of an integrative contingency-based framework of MCS based on regulatory accountability systems, competitive markets and organizational culture?

The empirical research was undertaken with an exploratory mixed design. The first phase involved descriptive univariate and bivariate statistics as well as non-parametric statistics computed on data from annual reports and financial statements of 46 PSIs in Western Canada to quantitatively explore MCS. The second phase involved the grounded theory (GT) analysis of annual reports of 46 PSIs in Western Canada to qualitatively explore formal MCS in relation to changes in contingencies. The third phase involved the GT analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews of senior managers from PSIs in Western Canada to qualitatively explore informal MCS in relation to formal MCS and changes in contingencies.

The research showed that emphasis on formal MCS in Western Canadian PSIs resulted in biased compliance within informal MCS. The exploratory research also demonstrated that the distinction between formal and informal MCS was better understood in a wider framing of MCS in terms of regulatory accountability systems, competitive markets and organizational culture.

This research led to the elaboration of an exploratory theoretical framework to subsume the distinction between formal and informal MCS into an integrative contingency-based framework of MCS.

This study aims to build an integrative framework for explaining society's information access disparity, which takes both structure and agency as well as their interactions into consideration.

It adopts a qualitative survey design. It collects data on the development of 65 individuals' information access through interviews, and analyzes the data following grounded theory principles.

A theoretical framework is established based on seven constructs and their relationships, all emerging from the empirical data. It rediscovers practice as the primary structural force shaping individuals' information access, hence society's information access disparity; it shows, meanwhile, that the effect of practice is mediated and/or interrupted by four agentic factors: affective responses to a practice, strategic move between practices, experiential returns of information, and quadrant state of mind.

It urges LIS researchers to go beyond the embedded information activities to examine both the embedded and embedding, beyond actions to examine both actions and experiences.

It calls for information professionals to take a critical stance toward the practices they serve and partake in their reforms from an LIS perspective.

The framework provides an integrative and novel explanation for information access disparity; it adds a number of LIS-relevant concepts to the general practice theories, highlighting the significance of embedded information activities in any practice and their reverberations; it also appears able to connect a range of human-related LIS theories and pinpoint their gaps.

The purposes of this study are to (i) systematically review the state of the existing research of talent management (TM) in emerging markets and its connections with firm performance; (ii) recap the results in an integrative and multidisciplinary framework and (iii) recognize potential research contradictions and gaps that offer avenues for future study.

In this study, the authors apply a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology to review 31 peer-reviewed articles published in highly ranked journals (ABS journals list – ranking 3, 4 and 4*) over more than two decades.

This review shows that the state of the current research of TM in emerging countries and its connections with firm performance is characterized by complexity and fragmentation within the different countries investigated. This review summarizes and highlights five central categories of TM in emerging markets. In order to ensure that the field of research investigated continues to be relevant to diverse constituents, the authors incorporate the various prominent research perspectives into an integrative framework structured at macro (economies/countries), meso (industries) and micro (individuals/organizations) levels.

This research provides guidance for chief executive officers, chief financial officers and human resource directors in emerging countries to develop TM within their organization in order to capture its relevant aspects, from a strategic (purposeful and competency modeling), organizational (talent planning and career track planning) and financial point of view (remuneration policy and firm performance).

The authors offer a first holistic overview of the features of TM in emerging markets and also introduce firm performance. The authors present an integrative multidisciplinary framework that can serve as a starting point of a summary of areas covered by the literature. Finally, the authors identify several knowledge gaps, emerging topics and limitation of current research, through which ideas for future investigations are offered.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of smart city initiatives and big data on supply chain management (SCM). More specifically, the connections between smart cities, big data and supply network characteristics (supply network structure and governance mechanisms) are investigated.

An integrative framework is proposed, grounded on a literature review on smart cities, big data and supply networks. Then, the relationships between these constructs are analyzed, using the proposed integrative framework.

Smart cities have different implications to network structure (complexity, density and centralization) and governance mechanisms (formal vs informal). Moreover, this work highlights and discusses the future research directions relating to smart cities and SCM.

The relationships between smart cities, big data and supply networks cannot be described simply by using a linear, cause-and-effect framework. Accordingly, an integrative framework that can be used in future empirical studies to analyze smart cities and big data implications on SCM has been proposed.

Smart cities and big data alone have limited capacity of improving SCM processes, but combined they can support improvement initiatives. Nevertheless, smart cities and big data can also suppose some novel obstacles to effective SCM.

Several studies have analyzed information technology innovation adoption in supply chains, but, to the best of our knowledge, no study has focused on smart cities.

This paper aims to apply a broader perspective of branding to foster new insights and develop strategies to address product counterfeiting.

A review of the counterfeiting and branding literature leads to the development of a new conceptual framework that incorporates proactive, collaborative processes, in addition to the traditional product branding approach.

The integrative framework provides a basis to develop innovative, proactive strategies that complement traditional branding approaches to address product counterfeiting. The complexity of an integrative framework (or network) offers more opportunities for the firm to co-create robust meaning with multiple stakeholders. Identity elements are readily copied, whereas meanings are not. These strategies help to control counterfeiting by developing deep and inimitable relationships between managers and other stakeholders in a marketing network.

A research agenda is proposed to structure future studies on counterfeiting.

The framework outlines how to leverage collaboration between managers and brand stakeholders to complement conventional approaches to control counterfeiting based on traditional product branding.

This paper contributes to the growing body of counterfeiting and brand protection literature by adapting and applying contemporary integrative branding concepts, leading to novel strategies to address the issue.

A perception gap refers to the differences in perception among the stakeholders regarding any aspect of the supply chain relationship. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perception gap among service supply chain partners relating to the relative importance of key performance indicators (KPIs) and the association of this gap with service performance.

This paper presents an integrative framework that combines statistical methods and data envelopment analysis for computing perception and performance gaps, and for identifying the association between the gaps. The study follows a middle-range theorizing research approach where general inferences are induced from instances, and a theory can be developed from the observation of empirical reality.

Analysis of data from a leading global insurance service supply chain suggests that perception gap exists and can be recognised as a factor associated with performance gaps. The results suggest that the perception gap not only affects performance but can also be tracked as a meta-KPI to improve performance throughout the service supply chain.

The key implication of the presented research is that service companies can identify and resolve the differences in perceptions regarding the importance of the KPIs, by methodologically computing the gaps and tracking them as meta-KPIs.

The study extends the theoretical boundary of supply chain performance management by introducing the perception and performance gaps as novel meta-KPIs. These meta-KPIs can be computed through the integrative framework developed in the study.

Research in entrepreneurship education faces substantial tensions and methodological challenges. Building on a review of extant empirical studies in the field, the purpose of this paper is to develop an integrative methodological framework for studying entrepreneurship education. Central questions are: What forms of entrepreneurship education research exist? Which data sources, research methods and approaches are used in this research? What are the methodological strengths and weaknesses of entrepreneurship education research? How can entrepreneurship education research be improved methodologically?

The paper combines a literature review with a conceptual discussion. The review identifies 88 journal articles reporting empirical studies of entrepreneurship education published between 2002 and 2012. The literature is coded according to method used, type of study, data collection and analysis techniques. From the analysis of the reviewed literature, a conceptual discussion of the advantages and drawbacks of various methods is undertaken, and an integrated approach to entrepreneurship education research is proposed.

Research in entrepreneurship education is fragmented both conceptually and methodologically. Findings suggest that the methods applied in entrepreneurship education research cluster in two groups: first, quantitative studies of the extent and effect of entrepreneurship education; and second, qualitative single case studies of different courses and programmes. Benefits and drawbacks haunt both clusters. Quantitative studies bring objectivity, comparability and generalizability, but show limited appreciation of the heterogeneity of the education they seek to measure. Qualitative single case studies are ripe with contextually sensitive descriptions and best pedagogical practices, but suffer from limited comparability and generalizability as well as severe biases of teacher-researcher conflation.

The suggested methodological framework builds on a systematic review of the research methods applied in extant entrepreneurship education research. It integrates qualitative and quantitative techniques, the use of research teams consisting of insiders (teachers studying their own teaching) and outsiders (research collaborators studying the education) as well as multiple types of data. To gain both in-depth and analytically generalizable studies of entrepreneurship courses and programmes, the suggested framework integrates the empirical sensitivity of qualitative techniques and diverse research positions, with the rigour of quantitative measures. The authors argue that studies of entrepreneurship education benefit from this integration. Furthermore, the authors describe a variety of helpful methods, explore the potential relation between insiders and outsiders in the research process and discuss how different types of data can be combined. The integrated framework urges researchers to extend investments in methodological efforts and to enhance the in-depth understanding of the dynamics and challenges of teaching entrepreneurship.