Effect of Supply Chain Coordination on Performance

Research on supply chain management (SCM) focuses on “what” factors of a supply chain enable firms to achieve high performance. It examines the effect of two strategically important pillars: supply chain relationships or capabilities. However their isolated investigation leads to a limited understanding of “how” they can be combined to increase firm performance. In this study we argue that beyond their direct effects the relational and the capability-based determinants of a supply chain have a network of indirect relationships that concurrently and differentially affect firm performance. Building on the relational and resource-based views we develop a serial-mediation model examining the mediating effects of trust in supply chain and collaborative advantage (i.e. relational determinants), and supply chain agility and coordinated supply chain (i.e. capability-based determinants) of SCM. Through the use of hierarchical linear regression analysis we show that trust, agility and collaboration act as serial mediators that carry the indirect effect of coordination to firm performance.

Digitization of Information Sharing to Minimize the Impact of COVID-19 in the Food Supply Chain

In this COVID-19 pandemic, the production, distribution, and demand fulfillment of perishable food products emerged as a foremost challenge for the supply chain due to the unavailability of timely and accurate information sharing. This study aims to test the relationships between the different types of information sharing, cost-saving performance, and supply chain relationships. In doing so, a survey study was carried out involving food supply chain practitioners, and proposed research claims were tested using a structural equation modeling approach. The results confirmed the positive impact of day-to-day information and periodic information on cost-saving performance and supply chain relationships. However, the impact of day-to-day information was significantly higher on cost-saving performance and supply chain relationships than the impact of periodic information. The study findings may support supply chain practitioners in understanding the different types of information that need to be shared in networks and their related impact on the overall profitability of the supply chain.

Champions of Social Procurement in the Australian Construction Industry: Evolving Roles and Motivations

There has been a recent proliferation of social procurement policies in Australia that target the construction industry. This is mirrored in many other countries, and the nascent research in this area shows that these policies are being implemented by an emerging group of largely undefined professionals who are often forced to create their own roles in institutional vacuums with little organisational legitimacy and support. By mobilising theories of how organisational champions diffuse innovations in other fields of practice, this paper contributes new insights into the evolving nature of these newly emerging roles and the motivations which drive these professionals to overcome the institutional inertia they invariably face. The results of semi-structured interviews, with fifteen social procurement champions working in the Australian construction industry, indicate that social procurement champions come from a wide range of professional backgrounds and bring diverse social capital to their roles. Linked by a shared sense of social consciousness, these champions challenge traditional institutional norms, practices, supply chain relationships, and traditional narratives about the concepts of value in construction. We conclude that, until normative standards develop around social procurement in the construction industry, its successful implementation will depend on external institutional pressures and the practical demonstration of what is possible in practice within the performative constraints of traditional project objectives.

Keeping key suppliers alive during the COVID-19 pandemic: artificial supply chain resilience and supplier crisis response strategies

PurposeThe study investigates supply chain leaders’ initiatives to support their partners in the early stages of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, identifying measures taken to increase supply chain resilience and their impact on the quality of supply chain relationships.Design/methodology/approachTwo complementary phases are employed. First, an exploratory approach is adopted, with the method of discourse analysis being employed in the identification of the supplier crisis response strategies by S&P500’s top 30 firms. Second, two scenario-based experiments with 983 participants evaluated the impact of such strategies in two dimensions of supply chain relationships’ quality (supplier satisfaction and supplier commitment).FindingsPhase one revealed five initiatives’ groups adopted: safety measures, innovative tools, information and knowledge sharing, supply chain finance and supply chain continuity. Phase two results indicate that supplier crisis response strategies have positive effects on both supplier satisfaction and commitment. Data also suggest that safety measures, innovative tools, and information and knowledge sharing strategies negatively impacted supplier satisfaction and commitment, when compared with strategies adopted by other buying firms competing for the same supplier. Supply chain continuity was negatively associated with both dimensions when other buying firms implemented innovative tools and information and knowledge sharing strategies with their suppliers, while supply chain finance yielded in no differences in comparison to strategies adopted by competing buying firms.Originality/valueThe authors offer a theoretical typology for supply chain resilience (i.e. natural and artificial), providing support for buying firms’ decisions regarding supplier crisis response strategies through the strengthening of artificial supply chain resilience to increase the likelihood of vulnerable key suppliers’ survival.

Security, sustainability and supply chain collaboration in the humanitarian space

PurposeTo extend humanitarian supply chain relationships beyond logistics concerns of delivery, quality and cost. As humanitarian actors continue to face increasing numbers of natural disasters, armed conflicts and attacks on aid workers, security (risk) and sustainability are issues of growing importance. Aiming to inspire discussion, the paper concludes with a research agenda.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper inspired by relevant statistics, news reports and academic literature.FindingsWorldwide natural disasters and armed conflicts are on the rise. So are deliberate attacks on aid workers. Thus, humanitarian supply chain design must include considerations of security and sustainability. Agencies have several options for integrating matters of security and sustainability with the delivery of aid, from being reactive to creating internal solutions to forming proactive relationships with security and sustainability experts.Research limitations/implicationsThere are numerous opportunities for research in the areas of security, sustainability and supply chain relationships.Practical implicationsThrough advocacy and supply chain relationships, humanitarian agencies can enhance security for aid workers and civilians affected by conflict and disasters. Looking to the future, they can also make a positive difference on issues of sustainability.Social implicationsThere is an opportunity to enlarge the “humanitarian space” – and increase security for aid workers and civilians, especially in areas of armed conflict. In the long term, aid agencies can also help eliminate social problems such as gender inequality.Originality/valueThis appears to be among the first papers to discuss matters of security and sustainability in the context of humanitarian supply chain collaboration.

A company’s relational strategy: Linkage between strategic choices, attributes, and outcomes

Nowadays, the idea of firms’ atomization is rejected and companies are perceived as entities embedded in inter-organizational relationships and their configurations, including dyads and networks. The relational view in strategic management thus prompts research on a firm’s relational strategy. This paper taps this gap considering links between strategic choices and attributes of a company’s inter-organizational relationships, as well as the outcomes achieved by collaboration with different groups of stakeholders. We test the model based on research carried out on a representative sample of 400 enterprises operating in Poland and on international markets. The results of structural equation modeling show that 1) the outcomes of collaboration reflect market benefits and are dependent on the durability of the inter-organizational relationships and the heterogeneity of the supply chain relationships, 2) durability as an attribute of the relational strategy depends on the choice of how to create and appropriate value, and 3) in turn, the attribute of heterogeneity of the relational strategy depends on what type of partners are selected. Thereby, we deliver managerial implications on how to create a relational strategy to achieve a relational rent and better a company’s market position.