Search

Emerging market governments are incented to attract global value chain (GVC) activities to fuel economic growth. At the same time, in light of real and perceived workplace-related injustices within emerging markets, GVC lead firms are under pressure to improve social standard compliance within their upstream supply chain. Among the most common approaches to achieve these outcomes is to impose standards of conduct that are vetted by on-site audits. Research has shown, however, that improvement in GVC performance using this approach has been slow and sometimes leads to negative consequences, leading us to our research question: under what conditions do interventions by GVC lead firms yield significant improvements in social standards among upstream supplier workplaces? We hypothesize that a country’s institutions not only have direct effects on social upgrading but also indirectly affect the ability of third parties to bring about social compliance. Our findings, based on two longitudinal datasets, suggest that GVC lead firms must account for the unique country-level institutional pressures that either propel or hamper improvement over time in private social standard compliance among upstream suppliers. In addition, governments must develop new policy responses to target the prevailing institutional pressures that dampen social upgrading if they are to attract and retain GVC investment.

The effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remind us of our arrogance of ignorance. Society has suffered. We are emerging scarred but enlightened. Can COVID-19 lessons help us avoid repeating the same mistakes with future climate shocks? We offer a supply-chain perspective and a set of pragmatic actions to increase resilience to climate shocks.

Formal, compliance-focused governance for supply chain sustainability initiatives has a mixed empirical track record. We build on classic research on bureaucracy to examine how “enabling” and “coercive” formalization at the buyer–supplier interface affect attitudes, an important precursor to behavioral engagement. We conduct a randomized field experiment with the supplier community of a South African insurance company to directly compare treatment effects of enabling and coercive interventions. We report and discuss the enabling intervention’s positive attitudinal effects and the moderation of these effects by supplier characteristics. Our findings also reveal some notable null effects, especially from the coercive intervention. We believe this work contributes to a more nuanced understanding of formal governance choices in supply chains and their impact on supplier engagement.

Lockdowns and social distancing from the COVID-19 crisis took many by surprise. Panic grew about the implications. Supply chains became center stage. We consider decision-making in large multinational companies and whether COVID-19 responses focused on crisis management or a strategic, rational decision-making approach. Chief procurement officers from 22 multinational companies responsible for supply, production, or distribution in front-line industrial sectors affected by COVID-19 informed this article. We propose a reconceptualization of supply chain management with a framework of crisis severity and progression. The framework helps decision-makers balance conservative status quo responses with innovative responses that may be game changers.

A growing interest in the circular economy concept has pushed the discourse in various management-related disciplines beyond established boundaries, with calls to better address how such a model may be developed in a world of global value chains. Still, the conventional linear economy model continues to dominate business, society, and research. While the concept of better connecting physical output and input flows at multiple production or consumption levels is becoming more accepted, it remains unclear how to make this happen while ensuring that sustainability targets are met or exceeded. Multiple scientific communities contribute different perspectives to this discourse, with promising opportunities for research. Circular economy and sustainability from business and economics perspectives are multifaceted. The existing body of knowledge needs to be advanced to assist private individuals, business managers, investors, or policymakers in making informed decisions. In this article for the inaugural issue, we provide a snapshot of the discourses among those who have studied the circular economy and its related topics. We outline conceptual inroads and potential research questions to encourage further circular economy and sustainability research and discourse from business or economics perspectives as well as from the broader transdisciplinary angle. We propose three research pathways: (1) connecting output with input needs in a global circular economy; (2) beyond today’s business logic for a global circular economy; and (3) inclusion of the Global South in North-dominated circular economies. For each, we propose concepts, theories, or methodological approaches and offer various perspectives from the micro, macro, and meso levels. A growing interest in the circular economy concept has pushed the discourse in various management-related disciplines beyond established boundaries, with calls to better address how such a model may be developed in a world of global value chains. Still, the conventional linear economy model continues to dominate business, society, and research. While the concept of better connecting physical output and input flows at multiple production or consumption levels is becoming more accepted, it remains unclear how to make this happen while ensuring that sustainability targets are met or exceeded. Multiple scientific communities contribute different perspectives to this discourse, with promising opportunities for research. Circular economy and sustainability from business and economics perspectives are multifaceted. The existing body of knowledge needs to be advanced to assist private individuals, business managers, investors, or policymakers in making informed decisions. In this article for the inaugural issue, we provide a snapshot of the discourses among those who have studied the circular economy and its related topics. We outline conceptual inroads and potential research questions to encourage further circular economy and sustainability research and discourse from business or economics perspectives as well as from the broader transdisciplinary angle. We propose three research pathways: (1) connecting output with input needs in a global circular economy; (2) beyond today’s business logic for a global circular economy; and (3) inclusion of the Global South in North-dominated circular economies. For each, we propose concepts, theories, or methodological approaches and offer various perspectives from the micro, macro, and meso levels.

In the digital age, companies compete on how well their service meets customer needs and solves customer problems, interacting with ever more actors to fulfill their promise. A well-suited mid-range theory to conduct research in this “new” world is service-dominant (S-D) logic. However, there are no guidelines or a commonly agreed framework for systematically conducting S-D logic research. To fill this gap, this chapter reviews and analyzes the use of S-D logic in research. It provides recommendations for conducting S-D logic in research and proposes an organizing framework for applied research settings and beyond.

Sub-supplier compliance with a focal firm's corporate sustainability standards (CSS) is increasingly recognized as an important dimension of sustainable supply chain management. This paper draws on recent sub-supplier management studies and their critical success factors (CSFs) to investigate the interrelationships between and strengths of CSFs. While previous research focused on the perspective and practices only of focal firms, this exploratory field study investigated a focal firm, one of its suppliers and one of its sub-suppliers in a multi-tier supply chain setting. Our findings suggest that sub-supplier assessment and collaboration are influenced by (1) the committed long-term relationship between the direct supplier and the sub-supplier, (2) the involvement of the direct supplier, and (3) the focal firm's buyer-power over the direct supplier. In return, sub-supplier assessment and collaboration influence those and further CSFs in a feedback loop, enabling virtuous or vicious cycle effects. The perspective of the sub-supplier revealed substantial differences to the supplier and the focal firm, in particular the lower feedback loop effect of collaboration on CSFs.

Companies’ upstream supply chain beyond direct suppliers is receiving increasing attention from investors and customers, tightening regulation from governments, and growing interest from civil society. Buying companies’ attention increases further upstream in their supply chain when critical material is being changed or limited without prior notice, quality becomes volatile, or prices fluctuate in unanticipated ways. In their attempts to extend their monitoring and control further upstream in their supply chain, many companies have come to realize the complexities and power issues that arise. That is, there are difficulties that arise when there is a lack of direct contractual relationships with suppliers of their suppliers. Also, companies are bound by their limited expertise in managing beyond direct suppliers. The challenges begin with ignorance about sectors, regions, or companies in which they lack familiarity, which frequently occurs when they seek to manage deeply into their upstream supply chain. This paper provides an overview of company challenges originating upstream in their supply chains beyond their first tier. It outlines current practices to influence organizations beyond direct suppliers, and gives recommendations on how to manage the supply chain upstream. This paper is meant to provide practitioners further insights into business practice for more effectively and actively monitoring and influencing subsuppliers.

Firms face the challenge for ensuring compliance with their corporate sustainability standards (CSS) in their supply chains, i.e. internally, by their suppliers, and also upstream by subsuppliers. Supplier management strategies to ensure compliance with CSS in the supply chain usually focus on suppliers. These strategies fall short when ensuring compliance of sub-suppliers. Firms' sustainable supplier management practices focusing on first-tier suppliers have been studied extensively, while little is known on how firms reach out to sub-suppliers. Firms' challenges include the identification of sub-suppliers, the evaluation of compliance levels, and the execution of corrective action. This study investigates the management of sub-suppliers to ensure sub-suppliers' compliance with CSS of two focal firms in the electronics and retail/food industries using case study research. It focuses on the activities of the focal firm and its perception of sub-suppliers' compliance with its CSS. The findings propose that firms can improve sub-suppliers' compliance with CSS by actively managing sub-suppliers through assessment and collaboration. It was found that (1) public attention on the mediating first-tier supplier, (2) perceived risks of sub-supplier's non-compliance with CSS, and (3) a firm's channel power are antecedents to sub-supplier management. Involving strategic business partners suggests amplifying the positive effect of managing sub-suppliers on sub-suppliers' compliance with CSS. This paper is one of the first studies addressing the management of sub-suppliers from a sustainability perspective. It proposes a framework for understanding sub-supplier management to achieve compliance with sustainability standards, which can also be used for further research and theory development.

The concept of the circular economy has gained significant traction among businesses, policymakers and researchers in recent years. The transformation of the current linear economic system to a circular one offers many opportunities to advance sustainable natural resource use, create closed-loop supply chains and implement sustainable recycling management. Circular economy strategies could help lower-income countries ‘leapfrog’ to a more sustainable development pathway that avoids locking in resource-intensive economic practices of the domi- nant linear consumption and production system. As lower-income countries’ economies are in many ways still more ‘circular’ in terms of resource management and production and consumption practices than their developed economy counterparts, the question is how to turn this into a development opportunity (Preston and Lehne, 2017). In this Perspective piece, we would like to highlight some concerns and make suggestions about current theoretical and practical ap- proaches to circular economy business models and global value chains (GVCs). We believe these need to be addressed to make the circular economy a success not only for large multinationals at the forefront of innovation, product design and circular business models, but also for small and medium sized suppliers, recycling businesses and other stakeholders in lower income countries. We use the case of digital technologies and issues around electronics value chains and waste management and recycling to illustrate our concerns and highlight tensions and trade-offs associated with GVCs and the circular economy.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address the implementation of proactive interorganizational sustainable supply chain strategies by empirically exploring the relationship between key (inter‐)organizational resources of the initiating company and the establishment of widely accepted voluntary sustainability initiatives.Design/methodology/approachThe study is built on comparative case studies as well as literature on institutional entrepreneurship and the resource‐based view.FindingsThe authors identify capabilities that enable the creation and establishment of company‐driven voluntary sustainability initiatives – namely external stakeholder integration, cross‐functional integration, the management of loosely coupled business units, supply chain implementation, process improvement and cultural framing.Originality/valueWith this study, the authors introduce institutional entrepreneurship theory to supply chain management literature and show that institutional entrepreneurship theory may contribute to the question of how organizations implement their interorganizational sustainable supply chain strategies. Specifically, the study derives propositions for key resources enabling the establishment of voluntary sustainability initiatives widely accepted by participants as well as initiative‐external stakeholders.

Based on the concept of service-dominant logic as the emerging organizing logic of marketing that would replace the traditional goods-dominant view, Vargo and Lusch (2004) originally proposed that among several other approaches to research and marketing practice that had emerged, relationship marketing would be subsumed by this broader view. More recently, however, Vargo (2009) suggested that because relationship marketing focuses on increasing the series of on-going transactions with a customer, coupled with the goal of enhancing their long-term patronage, that relationship marketing extends the goods-dominant perspective, rather than transcending into the service-dominant logic. This article counters that the relationship marketing view of the customer has already transcended the goods-dominant view to the to service-dominant view based on the way that customers are brought into the relationship as active participants in the service creation, and act as “co-producers” of value. To address the apparent goods-dominant approach in two widely used relationship marketing practices and measures, customer relationship management and customer lifetime value, this article proposes that these tools can be used from a goods-dominant view, but they can also serve as essential steps towards the practice of relationship marketing from the service-dominant logic.

Highly formalized, compliance-focused supply chain sustainability initiatives often yield disappointing results and risk damage to interorganizational relationships. Instead of categorically reject...

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to address the effects of retail out-of-stocks from a service-dominant (S-D) logic view.Design/methodology/approach– Conceptual, combining classic S-D logic research with recent research of S-D logic in supply chains, and applying this to out-of-stocks in a retail setting of fast-moving consumer goods.Findings– The paper unveils out-of-stocks as emergent operant resources that alter and attenuate value creation across manufacturers, retailers, shoppers, users and their networks. The paper develops a model of value co-creation where manufacturer supply and shopper/user demand meet in the retailer ' s realm. Differentiating between shopper and user in a sequential model of value creation, it identifies the shopper as an active entity whose response to out-of-stocks redistributes value within the retail service ecosystem. An additional model is developed that illustrates the novel costs of an out-of-stock as uncovered by the S-D logic perspective, allowing retailers and manufacturers to align their interests in improving on-shelf availability.Research limitations/implications– Moving distribution thought and management towards a goal of service provision, this article suggests three logistics research possibilities: retailer-manufacturer misalignment, spatio-temporal supply-demand mismatch, and shopper-user interaction.Practical implications– This article shows how the S-D perspective can bring previously misaligned incentives of supply chain actors into alignment. Previous goods-dominant research showed little common ground for manufacturers and retailers to jointly improve on-shelf availability. The S-D logic view demonstrates compelling rationale for both parties ' involvement.Originality/value– The paper extends S-D logic literature by considering value attenuation through failures in physical distribution and logistics management, adding that non-availability causes operand resources to become operant and attenuate/redistribute value. The paper extends the out-of-stock literature by providing a theoretical foundation, and by showing the ecosystem effects of out-of-stocks.

Ensuring continuity of supply while maximizing profitability are primary goals of corporate disciplines like procurement, logistics, production, or distribution. Each discipline for itself has established concepts to reduce or cope with inherent hazards that may hinder inbound or outbound product flows as well as shrinkage, all eventually harming continuity of supply.

External stakeholders have built up high expectations on “sustainability”, putting firms under constant watch by non-governmental organizations, media, etc. (Bellmann, 1999; Kudla & Stolzle, 2011). Stakeholders usually do not differentiate between a firm’s and its suppliers’ operations.

External stakeholders have built up sustainability consciousness and expectations, putting companies under regular surveillance by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and by the media (Doh & Guay, 2006). Stakeholders often do not differentiate between a company’s operations and its suppliers’ operations; they hold the company responsible for all practices involved in the making of the product, including any potential sustainability concerns (Rao, 2002). Thus, suppliers not complying with the company’s promised values are likely to damage corporate reputation or harm customer confidence. Levi’s, Nike, and Mattel are prominent examples that show how brands can suffer as a result of using noncompliant suppliers (Wagner, Lutz, & Weitz, 2009). A proactive supply chain sustainability strategy is therefore vital (Handfield, Scroufe, & Walton 2005; Rao & Holt, 2005). To implement such a strategy, companies provide specific sustainability standards for their supply chains (Bansal & Hunter, 2003; Luo & Bhattacharya, 2006). These standards, known as proactive supply chain sustainability standards (PSCSS) may provide statements to comply with legal requirements and may add elements that go beyond the law. Having introduced these PSCSS, companies still face the challenge of ensuring that their supply chain partners comply. Monitoring supplier processes and assessing the quality of procured products is challenging, because global supply chains have become more complex (Matten & Moon, 2008; Roth, Tsay, Pullman, & Gray, 2008). The large number of suppliers, as well as the organizational and geographical distance between the company and its direct and indirect suppliers, hinder a company from controlling its suppliers’ sustainability practices (Bremer & Udovich, 2001). Further problems may arise when suppliers are located in developing countries, as local legal standards may not conform to the main company’s requirements (Detomasi, 2007).

Die Automobilindustrie verfolgt das Ziel, im Markt angekundigte neue Fahrzeugbaureihen nach einer zeit- und kosteneffizienten Anlaufphase termin- und qualitatsgerecht auszuliefern. Dies bedingt eine enge Abstimmung der an der Leistungserstellung beteiligten internen wie externen Akteure. Hierzu dient die Formulierung und konsequente Einhaltung einer Anlaufstrategie auf Unternehmensebenewie auch deren Ausbreitung auf samtliche am Serienanlauf beteiligte Unternehmen.

Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM) is an emerging topic in both business practice and academia. It receives increasing attention as more companies implement SCEM-systems. However, despite its practical relevance, no general definition of SCEM exists in literature or within companies until today. Also, so far SCEM has not been operationalized for quantitative studies. Thus, the goal of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of SCEM by defining a measurement instrument to measure the level of SCEM-adoption in companies. This has been approached on the one hand by pursuing a literature review of both practitioners and academic literature and on the other hand by conducting case studies in companies using SCEM-systems. First, a common definition of SCEM is generated from a combination of findings from literature and expert interviews, and second, a measurement instrument for SCEM-adoption is developed. Implications include advice on how to test the SCEM-adoption measurement instrument statistically in order to asses its ability to measure SCEM-adoption with high validity.

Recent disclosures of excessive working hours, inadequate compensation and violations of health and safety issues have put emerging market producers – as suppliers to traders, brands and retailers ...

Overall, it can be experienced that the public discussion on retailer-supplier collaboration in product development and launch is in an infancy stage. Yet, within the companies of retailers and suppliers major work is under way. Retailers are building up customer intelligence, strategic category management and capabilities to quickly turn product opportunities into profits. Suppliers are getting prepared to integrate information they get from retailers into their product creation processes, and are adjusting product, production and logistics design to deliver to retailer requests. So, it is probably not a speculation to say that one of the next fields for major improvement in the consumer goods industry is the redesign of the industry’s product development and launch processes.

Um den scheinbaren Gegensatz zwischen der Konzentration auf Kernfahigkeiten und der notwendigen Flexibilitat fur unternehmerischen Wandel zu erlauben, bedarf es neuer Ansatze und Managementmethoden, die systematisch und kontinuierlich die Ressourcen, Prozesse, Leistungen und Fahigkeiten einer Unternehmung managen.

Our current understanding of MNC organization has traditionally focused on the hierarchical interdependence between headquarters and subsidiaries. Yet, the pressure caused by globalizing markets an...

This study extends research on institutional work. We focus on the case of Voluntary Sustainability Initiatives (VSIs) and develop measures for assessing both the comprehensiveness of a VSI as well as its success. The study holds important implications for theory development and practititioners as we investigate which capabilities facilitate a comprehensive design of a VSI and how this design relates to the success of the VSI. Our findings indicate that certain principles from the resource-based for assessing successful competitive strategies may also improve our understanding on which capabilities can support effective institutional work.

We develop a framework outlining key capabilities for an institutional entrepreneur that seeks successful implementation (institutionalization) of a new institution across its supply chain. We focus on the institution of corporate sustainability standards. To achieve this objective, we complete an exploratory research study based on six comparative case studies within the retail, paper, medical textile, and information technology industry. The research integrates institutional entrepreneurship and the resource-based view theories to help explain the phenomenon exhibited by the case studies. While the first theory explains how organizations can drive institutional change, the latter outlines criteria for organizational capabilities enabling the focal firm, i.e. the institutional entrepreneur, to achieve the targeted institutional change. Our analysis suggests five key capabilities enabling the focal firm to effectively implement the CSS in its supply chain that is reflected by both suppliers' and also sub-suppliers' compliance with the previously defined CSS: (1) inter-firm dialogue, (2) risk management, (3) external stakeholder collaboration, (4) cross-functional integration, and (5) continuous improvement. The organizational key capabilities identified help to extend the theory of institutional entrepreneurship with concepts that facilitate the institutional change in supply chains with respect to corporate sustainability. This exploratory work opens up significant avenues of additional research in general and supply chain theory development.

Focal firms face the challenge of ensuring compliance with their corporate sustainability standards (CSS) within their own organization, by their suppliers, and higher tiers of upstream sub-suppliers - all the way up to suppliers of basic raw materials. Supplier management strategies are key to increase suppliers' sustainability performance. While focal firm's sustainable supplier management practices towards their first-tier suppliers have been studied relatively extensively, little is known on how firms may approach suppliers beyond the first-tier level, the sub-suppliers. Focal firms' challenges range from the mere identification of sub-suppliers to little opportunities to enforce sub-suppliers' practices. This paper investigates the sub-supplier management practices of two focal firms in the electronic and retail industry by case study research. It proposes that by actively managing sub-suppliers through assessment and collaboration firms can improve sub-suppliers' compliance with their CSS, that (1) public attention, (2) risk management, and (3) channel power are antecedents to sub-supplier management, and that stakeholder involvement amplifies the effect of sub-supplier management on sub-suppliers' compliance with their CSS. This paper is novel in addressing the management of higher tiers of upstream sub-suppliers, proposing a framework for understanding sustainability compliance in sub-supplier management.

The food industry and its supply chains have significant sustainability implications. Effective supply chain management requires careful consideration of multiple tiers of partners, especially with respect to sustainability issues. Firms increasingly approach their sub-suppliers to drive compliance with social and environmental efforts. A number of complexities and unique challenges make sub-supplier management more difficult than direct supplier management, e.g. a lack of contractual relationships to sub-suppliers, few opportunities to put direct pressure on sub-suppliers, or lack of transparency concerning sub-suppliers' involvement in a focal firm's supply chains. The literature has not investigated, either from sustainability or other perspectives, the critical success factors (CSFs) for firms' sub-supplier management. Therefore, this study seeks to explore and increase understanding of critical factors that help to overcome the complexities and unique challenges of sub-supplier management, with a focus on the food industry. Using data and information from a year-long field study in two food supply chains, the research identified 14 CSFs that influence the success of sub-suppliers' compliance with corporate sustainability standards (CSS). The identified CSFs can be classified into (1) focal firm-related, (2) relationship-related, (3) supply chain partner-related, and (4) context-related CSFs. The present research expands on the theory of critical success factors by applying the theory to the sustainability and sub-supplier management context. In support of critical success theory, it was found that CSFs do exist and their management will be necessary for effective sub-supplier management success as highlighted and exemplified by field study insights from practitioners. Multiple research avenues are necessary for further evaluation of sub-supplier management in the food industry and other industries who may find similar issues that arose from the food industry.