Paradoxical Association Between Lean Manufacturing, Sustainability Practices and Triple Bottom Line Performance

This study examines the associations between lean manufacturing (LM), sustainability practices, and corporate performance in the form of the triple bottom line (TBL). In particular, we examine how LM is associated with environmental practices (EPs) and social practices (SPs) for TBL performance. While the positive association between LM and EPs is widely discussed in literature, it remains unclear whether this association persists when firms aim to implement SPs together with EPs to improve TBL performance further, particularly from the Asian perspective. Using two conflicting views of corporate sustainability as a theoretical lens, we seek to address these gaps by developing a set of hypotheses about the direct and interactive associations among them. The data were collected via a survey of 177 manufacturing firms in India, one being regarded as a next global manufacturing hub. Based on the data, we conducted ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis. The results suggest that LM is positively associated with EPs, SPs and TBL performance. Nevertheless, when LM interacts with EPs, SPs or both, we find that it is detrimental for TBL performance. These results are further validated by additional analyses using Johnson–Neyman and bootstrapping techniques. This paper contributes to the sustainable operations management and lean manufacturing literature by untangling complex and paradoxical association between LM, sustainability practices and TBL performance. Also, our paper initiates a crucial discussion on ways of managing paradoxical tensions between LM and sustainability practices

The relative emphasis on supply-chain/logistics topics by UK industry in hiring postgraduates and by UK universities in teaching and research

We examine how UK universities view different topics within supply-chain management as seen in their research output and their postgraduate curricula and whether this view matches the relative emphasis on these aspects by UK-based employers when hiring. Using content analysis, we analysed: (1) UK-based supply-chain/logistics job advertisements, (2) abstracts of research articles by UK academics in supply-chain/logistics journals, and (3) the description of the postgraduate-level supply-chain/logistics degrees in UK universities. Our findings show that the overall research output of UK universities is broadly in line with employers' needs with regards to the relative emphasis on different supply-chain topics. However, their relative emphasis on these topics in their teaching programmes is quite different. We suggest that universities need to look into their provision of academic programmes in relation to employers' needs and need to look into how to leverage their research output better for this purpose

Supply-chain partnership performance

We model the strategic as well as the operational dimension of performance of supplier-retailer partnerships in terms of five factors: (1) information exchange; (2) trust; (3) joint partnership management; (4) relationship-specific assets; and (5) partner asymmetry. Our paired data are from 74 supplier-retailer partnerships in the consumer-packaged goods industry. As a result we found that the factors that best model strategic performance are different from those that best model operational performance. All companies are in Korea and the retailers include international companies like Carrefour, Tesco, and Wal-Mart while suppliers include Coca-Cola, Kimberley-Clark, and Nestlé.Supplier-retailer partnerships Partnership performance Empirical research Regression analysis Retail industry Consumer-packaged goods Korea

Exploring the link between IT systems and the outsourcing of logistics activities: A transaction cost perspective

This study explores the relationship between the expansion of information technology (IT) systems and the outsourcing of logistics activities. Transaction cost theory was adopted to explain this relationship. The research model for this study consists of the degree of IT as an independent variable, the degree of outsourcing of logistics activities as a dependent variable and different types of transaction costs as mediators. The results show that companies that utilise more IT tend to outsource their logistics activities more than those who do not transact electronically, as IT utilisation facilitates outsourcing through reductions in transaction costs

Observed versus latent features for knowledge base and text inference

In this paper we show the surprising effectiveness of a simple observed fea-tures model in comparison to latent fea-ture models on two benchmark knowl-edge base completion datasets, FB15K and WN18. We also compare latent and observed feature models on a more chal-lenging dataset derived from FB15K, and additionally coupled with textual mentions from a web-scale corpus. We show that the observed features model is most effec-tive at capturing the information present for entity pairs with textual relations, and a combination of the two combines the strengths of both model types.

Catastrophic supply chain disruptions and supply network changes:A study of the 2011 Japanese earthquake

Purpose – Catastrophic supply chain disruptions can significantly damage the operational and financial performance of firms. While a growing body of literature on supply network structures has studied what influences supply networks’ vulnerability to supply chain disruptions and capability to recover from them, it remains unclear how supply network structures change after major supply chain disruptions. We aim to provide an understanding of how these changes occur. Design/methodology/approach – Using a natural experiment approach and supply network data from FactSet, this study investigates how firms’ supply network structures change after experiencing the catastrophic supply chain disruptions caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We capture post-earthquake supply network changes using the measures of degree centrality and ego network density. Findings – The results of the analysis suggest that compared to unaffected firms, the affected firms experience changes in their supply network structures tending toward lower complexity measured by in-degree centrality, out-degree centrality, and ego network density. Originality/value – This study contributes to social network theory and the complex adaptive supply network literature by providing empirical evidence of structural changes in supply networks after catastrophic supply chain disruptions. A managerial contribution is made by providing a reflection on why these changes might be occurring and alerts firms to the challenges of managing complexity in their supply networks

An approach for developing an MBA curriculum to meet the career objectives of MBA students with engineering/science background

As more students with engineering background take management responsibilities in corporations, there is a need to develop a special track within the MBA programmes to help them bridge the gap between their engineering background and their required management skills. In this paper, we present a two-step approach for developing a special track in an MBA programme to help students with engineering/science background achieve their career goals. Our approach essentially relies on a dual study of the job market for engineers with an MBA degree so as to design a curriculum (courses, workshops, extracurricular activities) that best matches the supply and the demand on that market. We illustrate the proposed approach with the development of a specific track for students with an engineering/science background within the MBA programme at UCLA Anderson School of Management.engineering, science, career paths, content analysis, survey analysis, MBA curriculum, MBA students, career objectives, management skills,

Bridging the innovation gap: why organizational climate matters for leveraging innovation from supply networks

Recent studies have provided empirical evidence that innovation performance is related to the way a firm is embedded in its supply network, specifically the centrality of its network position, but it remains unclear why some firms can use inputs from suppliers better than others, despite having comparable structural characteristics in their supply networks. Drawing on theories of social networks and organizational climate, this study examines the role of buying firms' organizational climate for innovation. It uses several structured and unstructured datasets for S&P 500 firms and applies count regression models to test hypotheses. Supply network data from FactSet were analyzed to determine the degree centrality of a buying firm. Computer-aided content analysis was used to capture the organizational climate of buying firms based on online employee reviews collected from Glassdoor. The results suggest a positive relationship between the degree centrality and the innovation performance of buying firms. Moreover, certain facets of the organizational climate related to learning, including rewards and career progress, as well as work pressure management, affect the link between the degree centrality of a buying firm and its innovation performance. In conclusion, this study enhances the understanding of the connection between supply networks and innovation. It highlights the crucial role of a firm-level factor, specifically the influential facets of organizational climate for learning, in determining innovation performance.</p

Bridging the innovation gap: Why organizational climate matters for leveraging innovation from supply networks

Recent studies have provided empirical evidence that innovation performance is related to the way a firm is embedded in its supply network, specifically the centrality of its network position, but it remains unclear why some firms can use inputs from suppliers better than others, despite having comparable structural characteristics in their supply networks. Drawing on theories of social networks and organizational climate, this study examines the role of buying firms’ organizational climate for innovation. It uses several structured and unstructured datasets for S&P 500 firms and applies count regression models to test hypotheses. Supply network data from FactSet were analyzed to determine the degree centrality of a buying firm. Computeraided content analysis was used to capture the organizational climate of buying firms based on online employee reviews collected from Glassdoor. The results suggest a positive relationship between the degree centrality and the innovation performance of buying firms. Moreover, certain facets of the organizational climate related to learning, including rewards and career progress, as well as work pressure management, affect the link between the degree centrality of a buying firm and its innovation performance. In conclusion, this study enhances the understanding of the connection between supply networks and innovation. It highlights the crucial role of a firm-level factor, specifically the influential facets of organizational climate for learning, in determining innovation performanc