SMEs’ financial risks in supply chain trade with large companies: The case of Italian automotive component industry

Becoming a supplier of large companies is traditionally considered to be positive for small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) competitiveness. Small businesses can take several advantages by joining supply chain trade with large companies such as scale efficiency and productivity as well as technological and managerial abilities, product and process innovation, market positioning, and reputation. However, not everything is convenient per se. The subcontracting by large companies might provide some financial criticalities that need to be faced and properly managed by SMEs to exploit supply chain benefits without affecting financial stability and losing competitiveness. In this direction, the literature on supply chain finance has recently focused on financial issues related to working capital optimization in terms of accounts payable, receivable, and inventories. Adopting this perspective, the study contributes to a better understanding of SMEs’ financial constraints in supply chains driven by large companies by investigating a sample of small Italian firms, which operate in the metal casting industry and by comparing firms joining and not joining the automotive supply chain.

Technology rewind: The emergence of the analog entrepreneurial ecosystem

Research has focused on the ecosystems of forces that influence how organizations pursue opportunities in new industries, nascent markets, and novel technologies. However, there is an emerging, but unstudied, ecosystem supporting entrepreneurial activities in legacy industries, mature markets, and based on (seemingly) obsolete technologies—the analog entrepreneurial ecosystem (AEE). To develop a framework to explain this phenomenon and guide entrepreneurs and managers operating in this ecosystem, a theory of the AEE is proposed. The theory explains the ecosystem’s main components and delineates the forces driving its emergence. The model contributes to research on ecosystems, technology reemergence, and management in mature markets and has implications for organizations pursuing opportunities outside the digital ecosystem and based on legacy products.

Supplier-dedicated resources and flexibility’s roles in a manufacturer’s superior performance

In today’s ever-changing environment, a manufacturing firm depends increasingly on suppliers to sustain its competitiveness. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that supply chain disruptions impair a firm’s ability to deliver customer value. The adverse effect is more significant when the supply chains in question are inflexible rather than flexible. This research argues that supplier-dedicated resources (SRs) and supplier flexibility (SF) determine a manufacturing firm’s competitive advantage (CA) and provide a comprehensive view of these supply chain-based factors in the same model. Based on data from 201 respondents in US manufacturing firms that vary in industry type and company size, the results confirm that SRs are critically extended resources for a manufacturing firm. The results also demonstrate that SF mediates the effect of SRs on a manufacturer’s sustainable CA fully. Further, the research develops and verifies SRs as a second-order construct reflecting the synergistic benefit of three subconstructs: dedicated technology, engineers and managers, and company climate.

The determinants of environmental performance and its effect on the financial performance of European-listed companies

This study seeks to identify the factors that can simultaneously improve the environmental and financial performance of a company and determine if an improvement in the environmental performance of a company is accompanied by an improvement in its financial performance. We estimate a system of structural equations using the partial least squares approach applied to data on 351 large European-registered companies extracted from the ASSET4-Environmental, Social, and Governance database for the 2007–2015 period. The results show that the engagement of a company in environmental protection is significantly affected by the system of governance of the company and the availability of financial resources at the 1 and 5% levels, respectively. The results also show that engaging in environmental protection increases the accounting and stock exchange performance of companies. These results thus suggest that the protection of the ecosystem by companies leads to a paradigm, which can form the basis of a model of responsible governance whose goal is to create value while respecting environmental factors.

HR factors for the successful implementation of Industry 4.0: A systematic literature review

As the world moves deeper into the fourth industrial revolution, organizations around the world are polarizing towards the transformation and adoption of the advanced technologies of Industry 4.0. However, recent studies suggest that organizations struggle and face several managerial challenges in their implementation. As a consequence, many studies examined the potential factors that can influence Industry 4.0 implementation. Based on a systematic literature review, this study has tried to explore, examine, and synthesize the potential human resource (HR) success factors and develop an efficient Industry 4.0 HR framework that can play a vital role in Industry 4.0 implementation. This study would also build a solid foundation for practitioners, academicians, and researchers to get a better understanding of the impact of Industry 4.0 on HR management.

Do employee perceptions of needs–supply fit impact job satisfaction and job search behavior?

In this study, a job characteristics profile is developed to calculate indirect measures of needs–supply (N-S) fit. Two surveys were conducted with employees in Taiwan, to test N-S fit, employee job satisfaction, intention to leave, and job search behavior. The findings show that employee perceptions of indirect N-S fit are significantly related to job satisfaction and negatively related to intention to leave and job search behavior. We find that an individual’s desires, needs, and subjective “fit” perceptions can impact considerably on how the individual thinks and feels about their job and their inclinations to leave. In addition to contributing empirical evidence of how employee perceptions of N-S fit can affect employee intentions to leave, we conclude that it is of practical importance for practitioners to assess the congruence between an employee’s perceptions of what he or she needs in a job and their subjective perceptions of what is supplied.

Executive dismissal or retention? A study of performance, power, and survival for college basketball coaches

This study applies upper echelons theory associated with executive dismissal and power to examine the relationships of performance and four types of executive power— structural, prestige, expert, and governance concentration—with dismissal. Using the context of National Collegiate Athletic Association college basketball, in which coaches are completely responsible for strategies and human capital acquisition and retention, a curvilinear relationship between performance and dismissal is found. Significant relationships for prestige and expert power with dismissal are also found, but the “honeymoon period” is longer than prior studies of executive and coach dismissal have shown. Surprisingly, concentrated governance is found to be negatively associated with the likelihood of dismissal.

Luxury consumption and the moderating role of attitude toward counterfeits: The case of an emerging market

The purpose of this research is to investigate the moderating role of positive attitude toward economic benefit of counterfeit products in the relationship between luxury value perception and purchase intention of luxury brands among Iranian consumers. Data were collected using questionnaires, which were completed by 386 customers at various shopping malls. Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct hypotheses in Amos v.18, and moderated regression analysis to test the moderating hypothesis in SPSS v.19. The results indicate that financial and social value are important drivers of luxury value perception in shaping the purchase intention of consumers, while functional value is not involved in this regard. Moreover, attitude toward counterfeits, as a moderator, reduces the positive effect of luxury value perception on purchase intention. This research provides important insights not only with regard to market entry decision-making but also to develop marketing strategies for positioning a luxury brand in an Asian emerging market. The findings could be potentially generalized to other developing countries in the Middle East with analogous socioeconomic and cultural circumstances. While several studies have been conducted regarding counterfeiting and luxury brand consumption, this is an initial investigation on the moderating role of positive attitude toward economic benefits of counterfeits in the relationship between luxury value perception and purchase intention in the context of an emerging market. This research facilitates further investigations in this regard.