Power, shared goals and supplier flexibility: a study of the HUB-and-spoke supply chain

PurposeSupplier flexibility reflects a supplier's operations-related decisions in responsively providing the necessary inputs to the focal firm. Drawing on resource-dependency theory and transaction cost economics, this study develops a conceptual framework to explain the differential effects of a focal firm's power over supplier flexibility in the context of the hub-and-spoke supply chain (SC). This study also considers the goals shared between the focal firm and its suppliers as an important contingency factor within the framework.Design/methodology/approachThis study tests the proposed conceptual framework using dyadic survey data from a hub-and-spoke SC consisting of a large construction contractor and its 100 suppliers in Indonesia.FindingsThe findings show that coercive power has an inverted U-shaped effect on supplier flexibility, while legal-legitimate power has a U-shaped effect. Furthermore, shared goals positively moderate the U-shaped effect between legal-legitimate power and supplier flexibility.Originality/valueThis study differentiates between the impacts of coercive power and legal-legitimate power on supplier flexibility in the hub-and-spoke SC. It also demonstrates that shared goals play a moderating role in affecting the impacts of legal-legitimate power on supplier flexibility. These findings also have important implications with regard to integrating resource-dependency theory and transaction cost economics to explain these associations.

Undergraduate Research and the Public Humanities

This article proposes that an unexplored avenue of pedagogy in undergraduate research lies in courses that merge English and the public humanities. These disciplines often have shared goals, including increased interest in the humanities and engagement with local communities, greater accessibility to scholarly materials, more research opportunities for and fewer burdens on instructors, and more frequent occasions for scholars at all levels to participate in knowledge making. Examining a course titled Writing About Public Problems, this article argues that undergraduates are capable of undertaking theoretical, creative, and practical writing and research when paired with empirical data collection on public stakeholders. Additionally, performance theory can facilitate experiential learning and a greater connection in undergraduate public humanities work between academics and the publics with which they seek to communicate.

Spillover Benefits and Achieving Sustainability of Age-Friendly Communities

As the age-friendly movement grows in its second decade, urgent questions of initiative sustainability have taken hold in the academic literature and among advocates implementing age-friendly changes. The creation of authentically age-inclusive environments requires not just the continuation of the initiative itself, but that its principles become embedded in formal and informal organizational processes, across sectors and beyond familiar networks focused on older populations. This paper argues that sustainability of age-friendly initiatives is enhanced by “spillover” effects, in which a behavioral or policy change in one environment spurs change in another environment. Evidence for such spillover and an understanding of how and when it occurs is currently limited in the context of age-friendly environments. This paper draws on the experiences of Age-Friendly Boston, which has been working towards age-friendly goals for more than five years. Based on Boston’s experience, we identify, describe, and exemplify three pathways to positive spillover across environments: 1) branding positively; 2) publicizing successes; and 3) embarking on new relationships, while strengthening existing ones, in pursuit of shared goals. We also draw conclusions about what positive spillover means for the sustainability of age-friendly environments.

Conceptualization and Measurement of Trust in Home–School Contexts: A Scoping Review

Objective and Method: This review unravels the complexity of trust in home–school contexts across the globe by drawing on 79 peer-reviewed quantitative empirical studies spanning over two decades (2000–2020). The goal is to refocus attention on how trust has been defined and operationalized in recent scholarship.Findings: The findings reveal four essential pillars in the conceptualization of trust: the trustor’s propensity to trust, shared goals, the trustor–trustee relationship, and the trustee’s trustworthiness. However, the operationalization of trust in existing measures does not fully capture these essential pillars, as it is mainly based on trustee characteristics of benevolence, reliability, openness, competence, and honesty rather than on the trustor’s actual trust behavior.Conclusion: Most “trust studies” are essentially measuring trustworthiness and not the purported trust. Therefore, a shift in the conceptualization and measurement of trust is proposed. The review contributes to the understanding and assessment of home–school and workplace relationships.

How is Supply Chain Visibility Affecting SME's Operating in International Supply Chains?

<p>Supply chain visibility is generally seen as a positive attribute for individual supply chain partners and the supply chain as a whole. There is limited research on how increasing levels of supply chain visibility can impact individual organizations, particularly smaller entities (SME's). This paper uses an Australasian SME (Orion) as a case study to investigate how increasing visibility is affecting them and the way they operate within international supply chains. The results indicate that increasing visibility can pose significant challenges and potentially negative consequences for smaller organizations. In addition to the extra resources required and complexity for the SME itself, diverging expectations and a lack of trust between supply partners can negatively impact on supply chain relations and long term supply chain innovation. Within the supply chains Orion operates, increasing visibility does not appear to be leading to improvements in collaboration, risk sharing or shared goals. Viewed through the lens of Michael Porter's five forces model Orion is in a precarious environment, although there remain options for increased visibility to be used to Orion's advantage.</p>

How is Supply Chain Visibility Affecting SME's Operating in International Supply Chains?

<p>Supply chain visibility is generally seen as a positive attribute for individual supply chain partners and the supply chain as a whole. There is limited research on how increasing levels of supply chain visibility can impact individual organizations, particularly smaller entities (SME's). This paper uses an Australasian SME (Orion) as a case study to investigate how increasing visibility is affecting them and the way they operate within international supply chains. The results indicate that increasing visibility can pose significant challenges and potentially negative consequences for smaller organizations. In addition to the extra resources required and complexity for the SME itself, diverging expectations and a lack of trust between supply partners can negatively impact on supply chain relations and long term supply chain innovation. Within the supply chains Orion operates, increasing visibility does not appear to be leading to improvements in collaboration, risk sharing or shared goals. Viewed through the lens of Michael Porter's five forces model Orion is in a precarious environment, although there remain options for increased visibility to be used to Orion's advantage.</p>

How Did We Get Here? One District’s Approach to Device Assisted Learning Technology Implementation

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the importance of online and device-assisted learning. What was demonstrated at this time was how prepared districts were to make this transition. Lincoln Public Schools, in Lincoln, Nebraska, was one district that successfully planned and implemented device-assisted learning technology into their school system ahead of the pandemic. This study sought to better understand the process that district leadership enacted to inform practice on developing a technology plan and its implementation. The study's findings show that five key elements are required for successful replication: (a) shared goals, (b) right people and right-fit, (c) cross-communication, (d) implementation, and (e) growth and support. This article serves as a practitioner's guide to implementation as many districts across the country are still trying to figure out how best to serve their students and families.

The Ties That Bind: Camaraderie in Military Interprofessional Healthcare Teams

ABSTRACT Introduction Multiple aspects of interpersonal dynamics can help or hinder the success of teams, particularly those in a Military Interprofessional Healthcare Team (MIHT). One specific mechanism for MIHTs’ success is camaraderie and how these military teams are able to achieve, maintain, and enable the development of this important characteristic. Despite our understanding of military service members as being bonded like a family, we have a limited understanding of how this bond is translated into their MIHT experiences. Materials and Methods This study conducted interviews among 30 individuals who had participated in, led individual, and/or led many MIHTs, using a grounded theory methodology. Participants represented 11 different health professions, including officers and enlisted military members, and three branches of the U.S. military (e.g., army, navy, and air force). Data were collected and analyzed in iterative cycles until saturation was achieved. Results We identified six themes that shaped the overarching concept of camaraderie in MIHTs. These themes were (1) confidence in competent peers, (2) shared goals, (3) mutual respect, (4) desire to help one another improve, (5) personal is professional, and (6) bonds of military service. This paper describes each of these themes, provides illustrative examples from the data, and describes how these components contribute to MIHTs’ team dynamics. We present a model for how to understand these themes. Conclusions Through the identification and exploration of these aspects of camaraderie, we are able to better understand how MIHTs are able to be successful. MIHTs that demonstrated confidence in their brother/sister in arms possessed shared goals and missions, while maintaining mutual respect, a desire to help one another do better, and creating a personal and professional overlap tended to form stronger bonds of military service. Critically, these six aspects support a more nuanced understanding of the spirit of camaraderie and how it underpins MIHT success.

The Appreciative Dance: Questions and Dialogues to Embrace Change

En un entorno altamente cambiante, los líderes enfrentan el reto de ayudar a sus equipos a abrazar los planes de cambio para seguir siendo competitivos. El propósito del artículo es ayudar a los equipos enfrentar este reto a través de preguntas y diálogos que les permitan encontrar sentido y les motiven a cambiar juntos, utilizando sus fortalezas, para lograr un propósito compartido. In a highly changeable environment, leaders face the challenge of helping their teams embrace plans for change in order to remain competitive. The aim of this article is to help teams meet this challenge by asking questions and engaging in dialogues that enable them to find meaning and to motivate them to change together, using their strengths to achieve shared goals.

Organizational Differences among Universities in Three Socioeconomic Contexts: Finland, Spain and Ecuador. Relational Coordination Approach

The knowledge of local culture is essential to establish competitive strategies in higher education. The objective of this research was to identify the organizational differences among three universities with different international contexts and satisfaction level. An approach was made regarding Relational Coordination (RC) attributes: accurate, frequent and problem-solving communication, shared knowledge, mutual respect and shared goals, by discriminant analysis method. A random sample of 300 students, 100 belonging to each university, was surveyed on the 23 RC variables in 2017–2018. First, the RC variables were evaluated by general linear model (GLM). The three universities—Arcada University of Applied Science (ARCADA) in Finland, University of Cordoba (UCO) in Spain and Agricultural Polytechnic of Manabi “MFL” (ESPAM) in Ecuador—and the two levels of student satisfaction—Low and High—were used as fixed factors. Second, a discriminant model was built with RC variables. A higher level of RC practices concerning to accurate, frequent and problem-solving communication achieved higher levels of satisfaction, regardless of the universities’ socioeconomic context. RC differentiation among three universities showed that shared goals with lecturers and administrative officers and problem-solving communication among classmates were the variables with the highest discriminant power. Two clusters were obtained, where UCO was the most differentiated university. In conclusion, organizational practices made a difference among the three universities. Discriminant analysis can be adapted and extended to different universities to improve quality.