Enhancing supply chain performance through supply chain practices

Abstract: The recognised relationship between company performance and supply chain performance has prompted managers, practitioners and researchers alike to seek a better understanding of the performance of supply chains. To this end, many firms have adopted and implemented various supply chain practices and enhanced collaboration and more recently e-collaboration within supply chains. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate how firms can enhance their supply chain performance through supply chain practices and supply chain e-collaboration. Method: A quantitative design was adopted in which a survey questionnaire was administered to a sample of 500 senior managers representing some 350 firms. A non-probability sampling employing convenience and purposive methods was used. A confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling technique were undertaken to assess the psychometric properties of the measurement scale and to test hypotheses using the path modelling technique..

Leveraging Open-standard Interorganizational Information Systems for Process Adaptability and Alignment: An Empirical Analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the value creation mechanisms of open-standard inter-organizational information system (OSIOS), which is a key technology to achieve Industry 4.0. Specifically, this study investigates how the internal assimilation and external diffusion of OSIOS help manufactures facilitate process adaptability and alignment in supply chain network.Design/methodology/approachA survey instrument was designed and administrated to collect data for this research. Using three-stage least squares estimation, the authors empirically tested a number of hypothesized relationships based on a sample of 308 manufacturing firms in China.FindingsThe results of the study show that OSIOS can perform as value creation mechanisms to enable process adaptability and alignment. In addition, the impact of OSIOS internal assimilation is inversely U-shaped where the positive effect on process adaptability will become negative after an extremum point is reached.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature by providing insights on how OSIOS can improve supply chain integration and thus promote the achievement of industry 4.0. By revealing a U-shaped relationship between OSIOS assimilation and process adaptability, this study fills previous research gap by advancing the understanding on the value creation mechanisms of information systems deployment

When and how managerial ties and institutional distance matters for export venture performance in a digital age : an emerging market perspective : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Despite the recent research on export performance, research is still unclear about what and how drives export performance in the digital age, especially for firms from emerging markets. Given the unprecedented and rapid environmental changes globally, exporting firms from emerging markets have encountered serious strategic issues. To overcome the challenges caused by cross-market institutional environment distance, social networking theory suggests that emerging market export firms need to rely on different managerial ties (host market business and political ties, home market ties and intrafirm ties) when conducting business in foreign host markets. Drawing on resource integration and innovation, social networking theory, digital technology, social media, institutional theory and export venture performance literature, in this thesis I have developed a series of conceptual models that have addressed the key research gaps in the extant literature. This thesis consists of three papers. Paper 1 is a conceptual study that outlines the contingent role of managerial ties in the resource integration-export venture innovation framework concerning emerging market export ventures. Paper 1 provides a platform for further empirical exploration, in relation to resource integration, managerial ties and export venture innovation. In Paper 2, I explore and examine the contingent effect of managerial ties in the digital market technology-export venture performance framework. In Paper 3, I further uncover the contingent effect of the institutional environment in the social media platform-export venture performance framework. The studies in Papers 2 and 3 are conducted based on the empirical evidence of 251 Chinese manufacturing firms’ export ventures. The results suggest that digital marketing technology has a direct impact on export venture economic and channel performance. In Paper 2, it is found that host market managerial ties (business and political) can positively impact the effect of digital marketing technology on export venture performance, whereas home market managerial ties either have no impact or have a negative contingent effect on digital marketing technology-export venture performance conceptualisation. In Paper 3, my research findings confirm that a firm’s social media platform has a direct and significant effect on export venture economic and channel performance. The institutional environment has both dark and bright side effects in the social media platform-export venture performance framework. Collectively my empirical research offers substantial new and novel insights into social networking theory, institutional theory, digital marketing technology, social media platform, and export venture literature. The outcomes of my research also provide insightful managerial implications for export ventures, especially for those from the emerging markets operating in foreign host markets

Strategies to Integrate Innovation Into Business Practices in the Nigerian Private Sector

Business leaders not integrating innovation into their business practices exhibit lower financial performance. Business leaders integrating innovation into their business practices increase operational and financial performance. Grounded in the diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies business leaders in the Nigerian private sector use to effectively integrate innovation into their business practices to increase financial performance. Study participants were three business leaders who developed successful strategies to effectively integrate innovation into their business practices to increase financial performance. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, organizational documents, and artifacts. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Four themes emerged: support from top management was critical for successful innovations, absorptive capacity of employees provided the knowledge for building capabilities, implementation of multiple innovations allowed business leaders to reconfigure resources into capabilities, and the deficient national innovation ecosystem inhibited innovations. A key recommendation is that firms adapt business models to avoid and optimize systemic risks to transform resources into capabilities. The implications for positive social change include the potential for business leaders to integrate innovation into their business practices to address social entrepreneurship by responding to the social needs of local communities

Toward a multilevel perspective on digital servitization

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical lens on digital servitization (DS) for future research purposes. By developing a multilevel framework that helps structure and untangle its complexity, the authors aim to increase understanding into the persistent challenge of DS. Design/methodology/approach – Building on a problematization approach, critical incident technique was applied to a comparative, longitudinal, multiple-case study in which DS journeys from one Italian and one Belgian manufacturing firm were analyzed. Findings – Analysis revealed that different levels and elements of the multilevel framework were simultaneously involved in the identified critical incidents. This huge interconnectedness severely challenged the DS journeys. Managerial (un)responsiveness played a central role in the organizational outcome for both firms. Originality/value – The authors answer the call for a more holistic approach toward DS. A multilevel framework is provided to be employed by future researchers and practitioners alike. A mid-range theory for DS and propositions for future research are developed

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Companies’ Open Innovation Efforts for Firm Performance: A Comprehensive Network Perspective

This thesis is devoted to a phenomenon that is currently reshaping the global business architecture: Open innovation (OI) networks. Managers are interested to know how to construct and manage their networks such that they are beneficial for their OI efforts. The goal of the thesis is to determine how network characteristics influence the effectiveness of different types of OI activities and how firms can achieve a beneficial network position by engaging in OI efforts. This thesis is based on three empirical studies that draw on social network theory as an overreaching theoretical framework. Furthermore, this thesis aligns social network theory with the relational view and the literature on distant knowledge. To provide a comprehensive understanding of OI networks, the studies in this thesis also employ different methodological approaches: Crosssectional and longitudinal analysis based on multisource and multiindustry datasets. The key results show that in order to profit from OI firms need well-elaborated risk and network management practices that are applied to the main decisions that managers have to make regarding firms’ entire OI efforts. In specific, network characteristics can help firms to increase the potentials of the upsides of OI and at the same time they can reduce the risks of the downsides of OI. Moreover, certain types of OI activities are more or less suitable for achieving a beneficial position in an OI network and fostering firm performance. Altogether, this thesis provides important implications for managerial practice and closes relevant gaps in the scientific research regarding OI networks

WHY SUPPLIER INTEGRATION FAILS: A SALESPERSON’S PERSPECTIVE

In a traditional relationship, a salesperson is the sole gatekeeper in the supplier’s relationship with a buying firm. Supplier integration (SI) suggests that each domain expert (e.g., engineering) of a buying firm should directly communicate with the supplying firm personnel, without passing through the traditional boundary spanner—a salesperson. Existing literature argues that such a multichannel relationship generates significant degrees of benefit (e.g., better product design, product innovation). However, SI may fail unless the salesperson accepts the disintermediated communication. The multichannel communication structure of SI may limit his/her role of the sole gatekeeper thereby causing his/her behavioral constraints. This dissertation aims to extend the existing SI literature by understanding a multichannel relationship from a salesperson’s perspective. This study understands how the work routine of a salesperson changes under a multichannel relationship, especially when an engineer of his/her company can also directly communicate with the buying firm. With the aid of some in-depth interviews with eight salespersons in a display industry, and with an inductive research approach, we have developed several propositions. These explain how SI changes a salesperson’s work characteristics and in what way such changes might affect his/her behavior. Based on these propositions, a set of testable hypotheses is established for an empirical study. These hypotheses are tested using (1) the survey data from the salespersons, and (2) the performance evaluation data from a manufacturer. The empirical study tests how SI affects an engineer’s and a salesperson’s behaviors (i.e., an engineer’s opportunism, his/her inadvertent benevolence, and a salesperson’s barricading behavior). Our results explain that SI triggers an engineer’s inadvertent benevolence—an engineer’s willingness to accommodate a buyer’s request without proper consideration for the consequences of the accommodation—which in turn causes a salesperson’s barricading behaviors to block SI. The barricading behaviors damage the supplier’s performance. For the implications, this dissertation addresses the root cause of SI failure, which might occur due to traditional boundary spanners (salespersons). Also, this research explains that benevolence—which is essential for external collaboration—could cause internal behavioral constraints that damage the external collaboration. This means that SI causes internal behavioral constraints, which paradoxically, damage SI

The embedding of transnational entrepreneurs in diaspora networks:Leveraging the assets of foreignness

In this paper we examine how foreign actors capitalize on their ethnic identity to gain skills and capabilities that enable them to operate in a new and strange environment. We explore the mechanisms by which Bulgarian entrepreneurs in London use their ethnic identity to develop competitive advantage and business contacts. We find that the entrepreneurs studied gain access to a diaspora network, which enables them to develop essential business capabilities and integrate knowledge from both home and host country environments. The diaspora community possesses a collective asset (transactive memory) that allows its members to remove competition from the interfirm level to the network level (i.e., diaspora networks vs. networks of native businesspeople). Additionally, the cultural identity and networks to which community members have access provide bridging capabilities that allow diaspora businesspeople to make links to host country business partners and thus embed themselves in the host country environment. Thus, this paper adds to the growing body of work showing how foreignness can serve as an asset in addition to its better-known role as a liability