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Purpose The sudden arrival of Covid-19 severely disrupted the supply chain of personal protective equipment (PPE) in Australia. This paper aims to examine the development of a geographical cluster, which, through the application of additive manufacturing (AM), responded to the PPE supply crisis. Design/methodology/approach This longitudinal case study focuses on an AM cluster, which was developed to supply PPE in a responsive and flexible manner from 2019/2020. The study gathered data over three stages of cluster evolution: pre, during and post-peak Covid-19. Findings The type and nature of exchanges between organizations involved in the cluster established important insights into success factors for cluster creation and development. Using an established complexity framework, this study identifies the characteristics of establishing a cluster. The importance of cluster alignment created initially by a common PPE supply goal led to an emerging commercial and relational imperative to address the longer-term configuration after the disruption. Practical implications Clusters can be a viable option for a technology-driven sector when there is a “buzz” that drives and rapidly diffuses knowledge to support cluster formation. This research identifies the structural, socio-political and emergent dimensions, which need to be considered by stakeholders when aiming at improving competitiveness using clusters. Originality/value Covid-19 has rapidly and unexpectedly disrupted the supply chain for many industries. Responding to challenges, businesses will investigate different pathways to improve the overall resilience including on-/near-shoring. The results provide insights into how clusters are formed, grow and develop and the differentiating factors that result in successful impacts of clusters on local economies.

Solar Decathlon is a showcase of cutting-edge residential buildings containing innovative solutions and technologies. This study reviewed, identified, and categorized technological innovations from past Solar Decathlon competitions. The review was based on publicly available data of the top five houses from each U.S. and international Solar Decathlon competition. The most prolific innovations identified were from building services systems and architectural design and construction. It was observed that most innovations within building services systems were in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning, and home automation, while architectural design and construction innovations focused on building adaptability, façade, structure, and building materials. It was found that although there is no fixed relationship between the numbers of innovations in the houses and their overall competition points, there is a high probability for an innovative house to be placed within the top five houses. This study also provides information about technological innovations within Solar Decathlon houses and offers an innovation classification scheme to guide Solar Decathletes to understand what innovations could be implemented in their future entries.

In spite of more than 30 years of academic publications in (supply chain) management, a significant gap between theory and practice remains. Due to the increasing concern that research is not relevant for practice, scholars have started addressing the issue of academic relevance. On the hand scholars argue that the issue can be identified as a ‘knowledge transfer’ problem, thus research findings are relevant for practice but are not produced in a form that can be easily applied by practitioners. On the other hand scholars argue that it is a ‘knowledge creation’ problem, in other words research findings are not meaningful for practice due to the closed and autoreferential nature of the system of Science and the system of Practice. This paper argues for a third approach, namely ‘knowledge adaptation’ problem, to tackle the issue of impact and relevance via a well proven supply chain diagnostic methodology. The robust mixed-methods approach known as Quick Scan Audit Methodology can yield two results: (1) enhancing scholars’ understanding of how supply chain theories are (or can be) applied in practice which leads to the adaption and extension of management theory; (2) translating theories, supporting them in implementing improvement programs within their organisations.