1,901 research outputs found
Socially Responsible Practices: An Exploratory Study on Scale Development using Stakeholder Theory
Socially responsible practices of firms have evolved into an important area of research in operations management; however, it remains challenging to identify specific scales that capture multiple dimensions of such social practices. In this exploratory study, we use stakeholder theory to develop new multiāitem measurement scales linked to multiple groups (i.e., internal, supplier, customer, and community stakeholders). Furthermore, we empirically test a higher order multidimensional construct that collectively assesses the socially responsible practices of a firm. Using these stakeholderāderived constructs as taxons in a cluster analysis, we identify important patterns in the way that multiple groups of stakeholders are engaged. Finally, we demonstrate that the set of social practices are complementary and concentrating on one group can yield spillover effects to other specific stakeholder groups.Canadian Purchasing Research Foundation (CPRF)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC
Exploring the implications of supply risk on sustainability performance
Purpose
Firms are increasingly being pressured by the public, regulators and customers to ensure that their suppliers behave in a socially and ecologically sound manner. Yet, the complexity and risks embedded in many supply chains makes this challenging, with monitoring practices offering one means to attenuate supply sustainability risk. Drawing on agency theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between sustainability and operations risk, supplier sustainability monitoring practices, supply improvement initiatives and firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses data from a survey and archival sources from a sample of large US firms to empirically examine the relationship between sustainability and operations risk, supplier sustainability monitoring practices, supply improvement initiatives and firm performance.
Findings
Findings indicate that higher levels of perceived sustainability risk is related to greater monitoring of supplier sustainability practices by focal firms. Perceptions of higher operations risk are indirectly related to greater social monitoring through investment in supply improvement initiatives. Monitoring of supplier sustainability practices is also found to have a positive effect on focal firm performance.
Practical implications
Findings suggest that managers process operations risks and sustainability risks independently. Greater sustainability risk leads to increased sustainability monitoring, while greater operations risk leads to increased investment in supply improvement initiatives, which in turn leads to increased social monitoring. The research also indicates that behavior-oriented approaches, such as monitoring of supplier environmental and social practices, are an effective approach to improving firm sustainability performance. However, due to resource constraints, a challenge for supply chain managers is where and when to invest in behavior-oriented approaches for suppliers.
Originality/value
This research advances supply risk literature by exploring the effects of supply sustainability risk on the use of monitoring practices to manage supplier environmental and social behavior. Using a combination of survey and archival data to independently assess the implications of sustainability monitoring practices on firm sustainability performance, this study provides a methodology for evaluating the impact of sustainability monitoring practices on the triple bottom line in supply chain management
Selection of planned supply initiatives: the role of senior management expertise
Purpose
ā The purpose of this paper is to assess the selection of planned supply initiatives and the role of senior management expertise. The drivers that influence the selection of particular supply initiatives by firms are of major interest to both practitioners and academics, as choices indicate priorities for resources, potential performance gaps and needs for future research. Moreover, theory indicates that senior management expertise and firmālevel resources might influence the likelihood of selecting particular initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
ā A synthesis of the literature supported the development of a fiveādimensional framework of major supply initiatives. Logistic regression was conducted with data from a survey of chief purchasing officers at large North American firms. The impact of firmālevel resources and senior management expertise, including background and experience, was assessed for the selection of supply initiatives.
Findings
ā After controlling for general industryālevel factors, both firm resources and senior management expertise were found to systematically affect the likelihood of a firm planning to pursue particular initiatives. First, hiring senior management from outside the firm decreased the likelihood that networkābased initiatives were planned, while senior management who last worked in supply were found to be negatively related to planned supply strategy initiatives. Second, firms with greater use of eābusiness technologies favored additional investment in supply networks.
Research limitations/implications
ā This research focused on large firms in developed countries, and additional research is needed to explore the generalizability to small and mediumāsized enterprises and lessādeveloped countries. Moreover, additional work is needed to explore tradeāoffs between planned and emergent initiatives, as only the former were empirically assessed.
Originality/value
ā Senior management expertise has received relatively little attention in prior research, yet was found to be a significant factor influencing strategic, process and networkārelated supply initiatives. Moreover, the framework of supply initiatives provides a basis for assessing and benchmarking firmālevel supply chain strategy and investment patterns. Finally, empirical evidence emerged that both firm and individualālevel factors influenced the probability of selecting particular initiatives
Utilizing e-business technologies in supply chains: The impact of firm characteristics and teams
This paper presents findings from an exploratory study that analyzes the drivers and outcomes of e-business technology use in the supply chain. Using a combination of case studies and survey data from a diverse sample of industries, the research examines how industry context, firm characteristics and firm-level strategic resources, such as purchasing teams, influence the exploitation of e-business technologies and the relationship between e-business technology use and firm performance. Based on a synthesis of related literatures from transaction cost economics and the relational view of the supply chain, a two-dimensional framework for e-business technology is proposed with transactional and relational dimensions. However, empirical analysis indicated that transactional technologies can be further subdivided into two factors: dyadic cooperation and price determination. Significant differences were found between the two dimensions in terms of their overall levels of adoption, with dyadic coordination being the most widely adopted. In addition, the development of strategic resources expanded, in particular internal and customer teams, the use of e-business technologies expanded. Purchasing organizational structure and firm size also were positively related to the adoption of transactional e-business technologies. Finally, of particular importance to practitioners, e-business technologies targeted at reducing dyadic coordination costs lead to improved financial performance
Eccentric Ellipsoidal Red Giant Binaries in the LMC: Complete Orbital Solutions and Comments on Interaction at Periastron
Modelling ellipsoidal variables with known distances can lead to exact
determination of the masses of both components, even in the absence of
eclipses. We present such modelling using light and radial velocity curves of
ellipsoidal red giant binaries in the LMC, where they are also known as
sequence E stars. Stars were selected as likely eccentric systems on the basis
of light curve shape alone. We have confirmed their eccentric nature and
obtained system parameters using the Wilson-Devinney code. Most stars in our
sample exhibit unequal light maxima as well as minima, a phenomenon not
observed in sequence E variables with circular orbits. We find evidence that
the shape of the red giant changes throughout the orbit due to the high
eccentricity and the varying influence of the companion. Brief intervals of
pulsation are apparent in two of the red giants. We determine pulsation modes
and comment on their placement in the period-luminosity plane. Defining the
parameters of these systems paves the way for modelling to determine by what
mechanism eccentricity is maintained in evolved binaries.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures. Accepted to MNRAS 2012 January
Observed variability of the North Atlantic current in the Rockall Trough from four years of mooring measurements
The Rockall Trough is one of the main conduits for warm Atlantic Water to the Nordic Seas. Ocean heat anomalies, originating from the eastern subpolar gyre, are known to influence Arctic sea ice extent, marine ecosystems, and continental climate. Knowledge of the transport through this basin has previously been limited to estimates from hydrographic sections which cannot characterise the intraāannual and multiāannual variability. As part of the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Programme (OSNAP), a mooring array was deployed in the Rockall Trough in order to obtain the first continuous measurements of transport. Here, we define the methodology and the errors associated with estimating these transports. Results show a 4āyear mean northward transport of 6.6 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3/s) by the North Atlantic Current (NAC) in the east and interior of the Rockall Trough (2014ā2018). A mean transport of ā2.0 Sv (southward) is observed in the west of the basin, which could be part of a recirculation around the Rockall Plateau. The 90āday lowāpass filtered transport shows large subāannual and interāannual variability (ā1.6 Sv to 9.1 Sv), mostly resulting from changes in the midābasin geostrophic transport. Satellite altimetry reveals the periods of low and high transport are associated with significant changes in the Rockall Trough circulation. There is a detectable seasonal signal, with the greatest transport in spring and autumn
Learning environment associated with use of mixed mode delivery model among secondary business studies students in Singapore
At many teacher education institutes around the world, preservice teachers are empowered to use pedagogical tools and strategies that engage their students. We used a modified version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) to evaluate the effectiveness of a pedagogical model known as the Mixed Mode Delivery (MMD) model in terms of the CLESās five scales of personal relevance, uncertainty, critical voice, shared control and negotiation. Comparisons were made between 2,216 secondary school students taught by the preservice teachers in an MMD group and 991 students in a control group in terms of the relative magnitudes of the gap between the actual and preferred learning environment in studentsā school classrooms. The findings supported the positive impact of using MMD in terms of studentsā perceptions of their classroom environments for all CLES scales
Life in a warm deep sea: routine activity and burst swimming performance of the shrimp Acanthephyra eximia in the abyssal Mediterranean
Measurements of routine swimming speed, "tail-flip'' escape responses, and oxygen consumptions were made of the deep-sea shrimp Acanthephyra eximia using autonomous landers in the Rhodos Basin at depths of up to 4,400 m and temperatures of 13 - 14.5 degrees C. Routine swimming speeds at 4,200 m averaged 0.18 m s(-1) or 3.09 body lengths s(-1), approximately double those of functionally similar oceanic scavengers. During escape responses peak accelerations of 23 m s(-2) or 630.6 body lengths s(-2) were recorded, with animals reaching speeds of 1.61 m s(-1) or 34.8 body lengths s(-2). When compared to shallow-water decapods at similar temperatures these values are low for a lightly calcified shrimp such as A. eximia despite a maximum muscle mass specific power output of 90.0 W kg(-1). A preliminary oxygen consumption measurement indicated similar rates to those of oceanic crustacean scavengers and shallower-living Mediterranean crustaceans once size and temperature had been taken into account. These animals appear to have high routine swimming speeds but low burst muscle performances. This suite of traits can be accounted for by high competition for limited resources in the eastern Mediterranean, but low selective pressure for burst swimming due to reductions in predator pressure
Gas phase characterization of the noncovalent quaternary structure of Cholera toxin and the Cholera toxin B subunit pentamer
Cholera toxin (CTx) is an AB5 cytotonic protein that has medical relevance in cholera and as a novel mucosal adjuvant. Here, we report an analysis of the noncovalent homopentameric complex of CTx B chain (CTx B5) using electrospray ionization triple quadrupole mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry and the analysis of the noncovalent hexameric holotoxin usingelectrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry over a range of pH values that correlate with those encountered by this toxin after cellular uptake. We show that noncovalent interactions within the toxin assemblies were maintained under both acidic and neutral conditions in the gas phase. However, unlike the related Escherichia coli Shiga-like toxin B5 pentamer (SLTx B), the CTx B5 pentamer was stable at low pH, indicating that additional interactions must be present within the latter. Structural comparison of the CTx B monomer interface reveals an additional Ī±-helix that is absent in the SLTx B monomer. In silico energy calculations support interactions between this helix and the adjacent monomer. These data provide insight into the apparent stabilization of CTx B relative to SLTx B
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