Examination of service triads in humanitarian logistics

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore service triads in humanitarian logistics (HL). The study uses agency theory to understand the dynamics between principal(s) and agent(s) and how contractual arrangements influence the service buyer–service provider alignment in humanitarian service triads. Design/methodology/approach This is a case study on a specific humanitarian service triad, with qualitative data being collected in a field study, utilising participant observation and in-context interview techniques for rich data collection. Findings The findings highlight the importance of both contractual and relational contracts between the service buyer, service provider and end customer – here donor (government), United Nations agency and implementing partner (IP). The alignment of the three parties in the service triad is more easily achieved through hybrid contracts rather than legal arrangements focussing on outcomes only. Research limitations/implications Results stem from a specific case study that constitutes a typical humanitarian service triad. An increased understanding of managing services and their service providers in the triadic context of outsourced service delivery adds to the body of knowledge in supply management. Originality/value This is the first examination of governance structures in contractual arrangements in a humanitarian service triad. The research fills the gap in humanitarian literature regarding the interaction of practitioners in HL, specifically, a service buyer organisation (a donor – government), a service provider (a UN agency) and the end customer (an IP). The research is field based and is grounded in empirical observations thus adding to the literature and offering insights to practice.

Semiotic Niche Construction in Musical Meaning

According to Peirce’s pragmatic semiotics, meaning (semiosis) is not an infused concept, but a power to engender interpretants. Semiosis is a triadic, context-sensitive (situated), interpreter-dependent (dialogic), materially extended (embodied and distributed) dynamic process. Although meaning is context-sensitive and materially extended, its locus is not well-captured by the notion of an environment. Inspired by biological concepts, we suggest the locus of meaning to be a niche. Here, we develop a semiotic account of musical meaning that emphasizes the location of musical signs in semiotic niches.

Role of power in supply chain performance: evidence from agribusiness SMEs in Uganda

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of power on supply chain performance (SCP) in the context of small and medium sized agribusiness enterprises (SMEs). Contrary to most of previous studies, which collect and analyze data from one side of a relationship dyad using a focal firm approach, a matched triad approach was employed in data collection and analysis. Design/methodology/approach Empirical data was collected from 150 agribusiness supply chain members from the maize supply chain in Uganda. Analysis was done using multi-group analysis and structural equations modeling. Findings Results highlight the differences in the perception of power use and how it influences SCP. The differences in perception suggest the existence of power asymmetry amongst supply chain members. This work contributes to the ongoing debate concerning the use of triad as a unit of analysis as opposed to a firm or a dyad. Research limitations/implications This study only focused on one commodity chain in one country, which can limit the broad application of the findings. Originality/value The novelty of this work lies in fact that the authors assess perception of power amongst supply chain members in a triadic context, a perspective that has not been adequately tested in agribusiness supply chain management studies before.

Performance perceptions among food supply chain members

Purpose – A good supply chain relationship quality (RQ) is a crucial precursor for any stable exchange relationship which ensures relationship continuity. Although empirical research suggests that strengthening RQ improves supply chain performance (SCP), most studies have focused on dyadic business relationships. To fully understand the relational behaviour of a firm embedded in a supply chain, we need to look beyond the dyad into triads. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how SCP is influenced by RQ in a triadic agribusiness supply chain. Design/methodology/approach – Evidence is drawn from a quantitative survey of 150 agribusiness firms in the maize supply chain in Uganda. Data were collected in triadic context from 50 direct supply chains each composing of a supplier, focal firm and customer. Multi-group structural equations modelling (SEM) was used to assess the differences in perception on the influence of RQ on SCP amongst the supply chain members. Findings – Results provides empirical support for the positive influence of RQ on SCP. SEM reveals differences in perception between the upstream and downstream and amongst the supply chains members. While focal firms considered conflict, coercive power, commitment and trust to be important; suppliers considered trust, dependency and non-coercive power; and customers considered trust, dependency and coercive power to be important RQ factors affecting SCP. Practical implications – For agribusiness managers to enhance business performance there is need to cultivate strong and mutual relationship with supply chain members. It is also important to know how to handle conflicts and use of power so as to realise the benefits of supply chain relationships. Originality/value – The paper is novel in that it assesses SCP in a triadic context in an agribusiness sector from a developing country context. The authors used novel approaches including analysis of a triad, and multiple groups SEM to assess perceptions of each supply chain member’s.

Towards Collaborative Multidimensional Query Recommendation with Triadic Association Rules

This paper describes a new personalization process for decisional queries through a new approach based on triadic association rules mining. This process exploits the decision query log files of end users and follows these five steps: (1) generation of a triadic context from the multidimensional query logs of OLAP1 query analysis server; (2) mapping the triadic context into the dyadic one; (3) computation of (conventional) dyadic association rules; (4) generation of triadic association rules through a factorization process of dyadic ones and convey a richer semantics. The aim of the personalization approach which is based on triadic rules is to recommend new decision queries to OLAP end users sharing some common properties. This paper aims at helping this class of users by recommending them personalized OLAP queries that they might use in their future OLAP sessions. To validate the approach, the authors developed a software prototype called P-TRIAR (Personalization based on TRIadic Association Rules) which extracts two types of triadic association rules from decision query log files. The first type of triadic rules will serve to the recommending queries by taking the collaborative aspect of OLAP users into account. The second type of triadic rules will enrich user queries. Preliminary experiments were conducted on both real and synthetic datasets to assess the quality of the recommendations in term of precision and recall measures, as well as the performance of their on-line computation.