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Supply chain risk management (SCRM) literature acknowledges that the choice of SCRM strategies should fit with contextual factors. Yet empirical support for this premise is scarce, mainly relies on just a single type of fit analysis, and lacks any consideration of organisational structures. Accordingly, this article combines two perspectives of fit analysis: 'fit as profile deviation' and 'fit as moderation'. The former supports the introduction of two concepts: risk management incoherence (RMI) and risk management efficacy (RME). Whereas RMI refers to the lack of fit between the perceived usefulness of different mitigation strategies and their degree of implementation; RME pertains to the fit between the perceived relevance of different SCRM objectives and the degree to which they are achieved. The latter allows us to posit a negative effect of RMI on RME and a negative moderation of the time assigned to a Risk Manager on that effect. A sample of 106 companies confirms the proposed model. Therefore, this study expands existing literature on contingent SCRM and on organisational structures for SCRM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the influence on manufacturing backshoring of improved key manufacturing resources in the home location of firms. Analysis of recent cases of backshoring in the European manufacturing industry shows that the production processes of firms that have backshored to their home location offer greater optimisation in terms of workforce, are more production assets intensive and have a higher technological level than when they offshored. The results highlight the relevance of internal factors in manufacturing backshoring analysis. This is of special interest from a production systems perspective because it is these internal factors that managers can control and therefore gain decision-making power regarding the location of manufacturing activities. This study also contributes to the debate on how innovations and improvements in manufacturing processes could increase industrial production and employment in advanced economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, based on the various approaches to location theory, analyses relocation processes in the Spanish automobile components industry in order to explain the importance of internal factors at both corporate and production plant levels. While acknowledging that location advantages play a relevant role, we show that changes in production geography can, to a great extent, be explained by corporate strategies, other decision-making mechanisms and firms’ characteristics. The results obtained from an empirical study during the period 2001–2008 show that the search for lower labour costs and corporate restructuring in order to achieve global production efficiency are the main factors determining relocation in the Spanish sector. These processes are facilitated by the operational flexibility of the multinational firms that dominate the sector. Lean supply and technological requirements are the main barriers to such processes of production plant mobility. From the point of view of practical relevance, the article shows that these logistic and technological determinants should be considered by managers in their relocation decisions not only in terms of cost efficiency but also in terms of the risks involved in relocation processes. Any relocation project must include measures to mitigate such risks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The economic and social importance of the automotive industry explains the need for researching improved ways of organising and managing the diverse processes involved in the production of motor vehicles. Furthermore, the management of supply chains and inter-organisational relations has acquired strategic significance in recent years and has become a key area of research. At the interface between these two fields, this paper adopts a bibliometric viewpoint to analyse the scholarly literature that has addressed the study of supply chains within the specific sphere of the automotive industry. To do so, it has examined the 404 papers on this topic indexed through to 2011 in the Business Source Complete database. This has allowed identifying trends and opportunities related to the what, how and where of research into this matter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The growing diffusion and acceptance in the business world of Total Quality Management (TQM) has attracted greater interest on the part of academia. Although fundamental questions focus on how the different dimensions of TQM can bring about better business performance, a more recent recurring issue pertains to the relationship between TQM and technological innovation and whether technological innovation might provide a source of competitive advantage. Unfortunately, from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, the relationship between TQM and technological innovation appears contradictory and complex. This paper argues that the relationship might be better understood from the contingent perspective of strategic management and thus proposes a multidimensional intervening variable in the relationship, called Business Innovation Capability (BIC). An empirical study of 105 Spanish industrial firms reveals that the effect of some business practices suggested by TQM on technological innovation can be better understood when BIC dimensions are taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the management practices that contribute to improving a firm's environmental performance are developed in the area of logistics management. The aim of this work is to contribute to identifying the factors determining the implementation of these practices by studying two variables: the environmental pressure of the stakeholders as perceived by the firm and the values and beliefs of its managers. The analysis of data provided by 186 industrial firms reveals that two dimensions of pressure can be distinguished, governmental and non-governmental, and that only the latter is able to explain the implementation of environmental practices in logistics. The empirical results also confirm the effect of management's values and reveal that part of this effect is channelled through the influence of these values in the perception of environmental pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]