Interplay between network configurations and network governance mechanisms in supply networks a systematic literature review

Purpose: This work systematically reviews the extant academic management literature on supply networks. It specifically examines how network configurations and network governance mechanisms influence each other in supply networks. Design: 125 analytical and empirical studies were identified using an evidence-based approach to review the literature mainly published between 1985 and 2012. Synthesis: Drawing on a multi-disciplinary theoretical foundation, this work develops an integrative framework to identify three distinct yet interdependent themes that characterize the study of supply networks: a) Network Configurations (structures and relationships); b) Network Governance Mechanisms (formal and informal); and c) The Interplay between Network Configurations and Network Governance Mechanisms. Findings: Network configurations and network governance mechanisms mutually influence each other and cannot be considered in isolation. Formal and informal governance mechanisms provide better control when used as complements rather than as substitutes. The choice of governance mechanism depends on the nature of exchange; role of management; desired level of control; level of flexibility in formal contracts; and complementary role of formal and informal governance mechanism. Research implications: This nascent field has thematic and methodological research opportunities for academics. Comparative network analysis using longitudinal case studies offers a rich area for further study. Practical Implications: The complexity surrounding the conflicting roles of managers at the organisation and network levels poses a significant challenge during the development and implementation stage of strategic network policies. Originality/value: This review reveals that formal and informal governance mechanisms provide better control when used as complements rather than as substitutes

Planning and Leveraging Event Portfolios: Towards a Holistic Theory

This conceptual paper seeks to advance the discourse on the leveraging and legacies of events by examining the planning, management, and leveraging of event portfolios. This examination shifts the common focus from analyzing single events towards multiple events and purposes that can enable cross-leveraging among different events in pursuit of attainment and magnification of specific ends. The following frameworks are proposed: (1) event portfolio planning and leveraging, and (2) analyzing events networks and inter-organizational linkages. These frameworks are intended to provide, at this infancy stage of event portfolios research, a solid ground for building theory on the management of different types and scales of events within the context of a portfolio aimed to obtain, optimize and sustain tourism, as well as broader community benefits

Exploring emergence in corporate sustainability

As the impacts of climate change intensify, businesses are increasingly committing to ambitious sustainable development goals, yet an enduring disconnect remains between corporate sustainability activities and declining global environment and society. This study adopts a complexity view that reductionism associated with Newtonian thinking has played a key role in creating many of the sustainability issues now faced by humanity. This dissertation departs from the premise that sustainability needs to be integrated into an organisation and uses a complexity view to argue that corporate sustainability is a co-evolutionary process of emergence. Whilst many studies have examined how sustainability can be integrated into a business, less is known about corporate sustainability as an emergent process. To address the knowledge gap, this research answered three questions: (1) How does sustainability emerge in financial institutions? (2) What is the role of coherence in the emergence of sustainability? and (3) What conditions enable the emergence of sustainability? A mixed method sequential design was used. In the initial quantitative strand of the research, a holistic business assessment survey based on integral theory was implemented in two financial services organisations in Southern Africa. The results were analysed using self-organising maps and explored in narrative interviews in the subsequent qualitative strand of the research. The study makes three contributions to our understanding of emergence in corporate sustainability. First, by proposing four modes by which corporate sustainability is enacted; these elucidate how integral domains are enacted in corporate sustainability. Second, by clarifying the process of emergence by articulating how zones of coherence emerge between embodied and embedded dimensions. Third, by explaining how the shift to corporate sustainability occurs by means of four conditions. These contributions serve to advance our understanding of corporate sustainability as a fundamental shift in the functioning of an organisation towards coevolutionary self-organisation. It is recommended that corporate sustainability is holistically cultivated to support emergence and self-organisation, rather than being integrated through a linear process of change

In search of the origins of novelty : exploring novel combinations in allopatric speciation

Innovation theory tends to focus on the carrying of invention into innovation rather than the emergence of an invention itself. In evolutionary terms, innovation theory focuses on selection and retention rather than on the creation of new variety. This paper aims to develop an understanding of the mechanisms that generate variety. To do so, we will make use of the insights provided by the evolutionary concept of ‘allopatric speciation’ in order to inform us on how and under which conditions novelty comes about. We interpret this notion in the context of interfirm innovation networks and discuss the emergence of two new industries in the Netherlands, the multimedia industry and the pharmaceutical biotechnology industry. The empirical analysis indicates that novelty indeed originates in allopatric speciation, although how this occurs differs between the two industries

New governance for innovation : the need for horizontal and systemic policy co-ordination ; report on a workshop

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Elements of a Cognitive Theory of the Firm

This paper presents elements of a cognitive theory of the firm, from the perspective of embodied cognition.It entails the notion of 'cognitive distance' between people that have developed their cognition in different environments. This yields the notion of the firm as a 'focusing device', to reduce cognitive distance for the sake of efficient collaboration and for the resolution of conflict.This focus yields organisational myopia, which needs to be compensated by outside relations, between firms, at some cognitive distance.Next, on the basis of principles derived from cognitive science, this paper tries to resolve the problem of combining structural stability and change, which in economics is known as the problem of combining exploitation and exploration.This provides the basis for a theory of learning and innovation in organisations and economies.The theory is elaborated on the basis of the notion of 'scripts', also derived from cognitive science.

Models for schools of public health: A scoping review and synthesis of existing evidence

The final report on 'Models for schools of public health: A scoping review and synthesis of existing evidence' produced by Steven, Lombardo and Goodall and commissioned by Public Health Gateshead is now available. To date, existing evidence regarding models (organisational, structural, managerial, administrational) for Schools of Public Health (SsPH) has not been systematically collected or synthesised. This study aims to begin to fill that gap by using a combination of rapid review and scoping review techniques to retrieve and assess existing literature to identify potential and existing models, themes and issues and where possible highlight strengths and weaknesses