Monitoring and mentoring strategies for diffusing sustainability in supply networks

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the impact of monitoring and mentoring strategies on sustainability diffusion within supply networks through focal companies and how suppliers engage in implementing these strategies. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reports on three in-depth case studies conducted with focal companies and their suppliers. An interaction approach was adopted to guide the analysis of focal companies’ strategies for implementing and diffusing sustainability in supply networks. Findings - The monitoring strategy impacts sustainability diffusion at the dyadic level, while the mentoring strategy is a prerequisite for the diffusion of sustainability at the supply network level. The findings suggest that coupling monitoring with mentoring can lead to diffusion beyond first-tier suppliers. Interaction intensity, supplier proactiveness and mindset change facilitate sustainability diffusion in supply networks. Research limitations/implications - The authors suggest more research be conducted on specific practices within monitoring and mentoring, as some of these imply very different levels of commitment and interaction. Practical implications - The paper suggests that in the future, companies will be increasingly called upon to adopt cooperative initiatives to enable the diffusion of sustainability in supply networks. Originality/value - The contribution of the paper lies in its identification of the impacts of monitoring and mentoring strategies on the diffusion of sustainability in networks, revealing different supplier engagement in these strategies, which may foster or hinder sustainability diffusion.©2020 Emerald Publishing Limited. This manuscript version is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY–NC 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Relationship and Network Approach to Innovation and Capabilities Building in Small and Medium-Sized UK Organic Food and Drink Suppliers: A Literature Review

Both business and consumer markets of food and drink are increasingly changing, concomitant with changing consumer habits and lifestyles. Particularly in industrialised countries, there has been a tremendous growth in consumer interest for organic food in the last fifteen years, largely driven by the need for healthy food. These market changes have implications for the way firms in the food and drink industry conduct their business. Nevertheless, unlike large firms, small suppliers tend to be constrained in terms of innovations and capabilities, for instance to enable them keep pace with market changes. Based on the literature review, this paper develops a framework that suggests that market-driven innovations may be developed and implemented through augmentation of small and medium-sized suppliers’ (SMEs) own capabilities with those of their larger customers. This consequently would enable SMEs to keep pace with market changes and hence sustain their survival

Coping With Outsourcing: An Interaction and Network Perspective

Available online: http://businessperspectives.org/journals_free/ppm/2006/PPM_EN_2006_02_Johnsen.pdfInternational audienceMany companies that have undertaken outsourcing projects have found themselves struggling to control the activity they once controlled in-house. This paper proposes that the root of the problem is often that companies fail to recognise the importance of managing the relationship between the outsourcing organisation and the service provider, or supplier, which performs the outsourcing activity. Adopting an interaction and network perspective on outsourcing, the authors argue that both parties involved need to take appropriate measures to manage the outsourcing Relationship and focus on developing trust and commitment as a key part of the outsourcing process. The authors draw on an illustrative case study of two companies involved in a complex outsourcing relationship that eventually failed. The case illustrates how trust and commitment supported by an atmosphere and culture conducive to developing close, strong relationships, is required to achieve long-term, mutually beneficial outsourcing relationships. The paper concludes with a discussion of key factors in the outsourcing process

International market development through networks

Within the Ayrshire knitwear industry in Scotland, a group of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) have formed a network with the purpose of developing group branded products for export markets. The initiative was instigated by the Ayrshire Textile Group (ATG), which was created in 1991 as a partnership between Enterprise Ayrshire, a government funded body, and the local textile industry. This paper briefly reviews the existing literature describing the internationalisation process of firms and discusses why SMEs may consider networks as a means to developing international markets. The case study of the ATG empirically illustrates how network relationships may facilitate foreign market development by SMEs, the role of enterprise companies in this process, and the problems that SMEs are likely to face in the process. The paper concludes with a discussion of future directions of the research

Internationalization and Organisational Learning Opportunities in Relationships between Smaller Suppliers and Larger Customers in the French Organic Food Sector: Conceptual Developments

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Managing the Competency Trap of Asymmetric Relationships

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The role of power and trust in spreading sustainability initiatives across supply networks: A case study in the bio-chemical industry

This paper investigates how sustainability spreads across supply networks. Adopting an Industrial Marketing & Purchasing (IMP) Interaction Approach (Håkansson, 1982), we seek to understand sustainability spread as a change process that affects different supply network actors and the impact of power and trust on the spreading process. The paper reports on an in-depth case study of the development of a sustainability initiative in the bio-chemical industry, based on data collection with multiple supply network actors across several tiers, providing unique and rich insights into understanding sustainability spread in a supply network and the perceptions of multiple supply network actors on the role of power and trust on the spreading process. Data collection comprised 20 semi-structured interviews spanning eight supply network actors, supported by secondary data such as archival records. The case study indicates that both coercive and non-coercive power as well as trust, significantly impact the actors' engagement in sustainability initiatives and its wider spread in supply networks. The paper contributes to the literature on sustainable supply chain management and IMP research on sustainability spread and, in particular, provides insights on the impact of power and trust on the process of sustainability spread across dyadic relationships into the wider supply network