Key issues on partial least squares (PLS) in operations management research: A guide to submissions

Purpose: This work aims to systematise the use of PLS as an analysis tool via a usage guide or recommendation for researchers to help them eliminate errors when using this tool. Design/methodology/approach: A recent literature review about PLS and discussion with experts in the methodology. Findings: This article considers the current situation of PLS after intense academic debate in recent years, and summarises recommendations to properly conduct and report a research work that uses this methodology in its analyses. We particularly focus on how to: choose the construct type; choose the estimation technique (PLS or CB-SEM); evaluate and report the measurement model; evaluate and report the structural model; analyse statistical power. Research limitations: It was impossible to cover some relevant aspects in considerable detail herein: presenting a guided example that respects all the report recommendations presented herein to act as a practical guide for authors; does the specification or evaluation of the measurement model differ when it deals with first-order or second-order constructs?; how are the outcomes of the constructs interpreted with the indicators being measured with nominal measurement levels?; is the Confirmatory Composite Analysis approach compatible with recent proposals about the Confirmatory Tetrad Analysis (CTA)? These themes will the object of later publications. Originality/value: We provide a check list of the information elements that must contain any article using PLS. Our intention is for the article to act as a guide for the researchers and possible authors who send works to the JIEM (Journal of Industrial and Engineering Management). This guide could be used by both editors and reviewers of JIEM, or other journals in this area, to evaluate and reduce the risk of bias (Losilla, Oliveras, Marin-Garcia & Vives, 2018) in works using PLS as an analysis procedure

Validation of suply chain integration scales and the effect that size, level of vertical integration, industry and country have on their value

Academic literature would appear to indicate that supply chain integration is a major factor in explaining the performance of companies. The results are nevertheless inconclusive. Certain authors put forward the idea that the vast range of results obtained are due, amongst other things, to the fact that there is no exactness to the group of scales used, no-one has yet published an analysis of the measurement models nor clear benchmarks. In this paper, we present the theoretical definition of four supply chain integration scales (clients, suppliers, external and internal) and the convergent and discriminant validity of a measurement instrument based on a list of items taken from earlier papers. We also propose a benchmark to interpret the scales by percentiles, using a diverse international sampling broken down into sub-samples based on sector, type of company, size of company and degree of vertical integration.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación DPI2010-18243Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia DPI2006-0553

Protocol: How to deal with Partial Least Squares (PLS) research in Operations Management. A guide for sending papers to academic journals

This work protocol form part of a three-phase publication (Marin-Garcia, 2019). Its objective is to establish a work procedure to answer these questions: 1) in which journals have articles about Operations Management with Partial Least Squares (PLS) been published?; 2) Do the results of previous reviews on this topic still prevail based on the very limited set of journals that it have been conducted (and before substantial modifications were made to report methods of PLS-based studies)?; 3) Do recent articles fulfil report recommendations; 4) What kind of measurement model has been considered for the constructs most frequently used in the selected articles?; 5) What are the usual R2 values in the cross-sectional studies represented in the selected articles?; 6) Within what statistical power range do the relations analysed with PLS fall? The article summarises current recommendations to select the analysis procedures and to report the research works that have used structural equations with PLS. We believe that this is an excellent contribution for researchers because it helps to improve the analyses and reports that derive from using PLS to, thus, increase the probabilities of them being accepted in relevant journals. Another contribution made by the present work, apart from establishing the aforementioned protocol, is to provide a list of the recent articles about operations management that have used PLS and the coding procedure to conduct our systematic review (to be subsequently published).Este protocolo de trabajo se enmarca en el contexto de la publicación en tres fases (MarinGarcia, 2019). Tiene como objetivo establecer el procedimiento de trabajo para responder a las siguientes preguntas: 1) ¿en qué revistas han publicado entre 2014 y 2018 artículos de Dirección de Operaciones analizados con Partial Least Squares (PLS)?; 2) ¿Siguen vigentes los resultados de las revisiones anteriores sobre el tema, basadas en un conjunto muy limitado de revistas y realizadas antes de las modificaciones sustanciales en los métodos de reporte de estudios basados en PLS?; 3) ¿Cumplen los artículos recientes con las recomendaciones de reporte?; 4) ¿Qué tipo de modelo de medida se ha considerado para los constructos más frecuentes en los artículos seleccionados?; 5) ¿Qué valores de R2 son habituales en los estudios de campo transversales representados en los artículos seleccionados?; 6) ¿En qué rango de potencia estadística (statistical power) se han situado las relaciones analizadas con PLS? El artículo resume las recomendaciones actuales para seleccionar los procedimientos de análisis y hacer el reporte de las investigaciones que utilizan ecuaciones estructurales con PLS. Consideramos que ello supone una gran contribución para los investigadores, pues ayuda a mejorar los análisis y reportes derivados del empleo de PLS y, con ello, aumentar las probabilidades de aceptación en revistas relevantes. Otra contribución del presente trabajo, además de establecer el protocolo mencionado, es presentar una lista de los artículos recientes de Dirección de Operaciones que han usado PLS y el procedimiento de codificación para realizar nuestra revisión sistemática (que se publicará más adelante)

Risk management in megaprojects.

Despite its high relevance to the success of megaprojects, risk management remains one of the least developed research issues. Risk management is a process composed of several phases. This paper is focused on the first of these phases: risk identification. Our purpose is to establish the state of the art in risk management in megaprojects, systematize the risks studied in the literature, as well as to identify potential areas of further research. To this end, a systematic review is carried out. Academic journals and conference papers published from 2000 onwards in main databases (WoK, Scopus and ABI) have been examined. A qualitative analysis has been performed by using ATLAS.ti together with a checklist. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous systematic revision of papers on risk management in megaprojects has ever been carried out, although certain authors have emphasized its importance. The contribution of this research includes: a bibliometric analysis of the papers that focus on risk management in megaprojects; a systematization and classification of the risks; tw†o matrices comprised of the proposed risk categorization, first in relation to the sector studied, and second related with the different stakeholders; and an identification of gaps in the research in risk management in megaprojects. The systematization of the risks helps managers towards their identification within the megaproject, and to follow the subsequent steps in the risk management process. Moreover, the matrix developed on the transfer of risks can enable managers to analyse who would be the best partner to support each risk. Furthermore, from an academic point of view, potential areas for future lines of research are presented

A study of supply chain integration in the aeronautics sector

Competitive pressure, high development costs, long lead times, rapidly changing technologies and the risks inherent in projects combined with the delays seen in the latest aircraft models (with the rise in costs that these have entailed) highlight the need to reorganise the supply chain in the aeronautics sector paying special attention to an improvement in inter- and intra-organisational integration. The aim of the present study is to analyse the situation of supply chain integration (SCI) in the aeronautics sector using three dimensions (information integration, coordination and resource sharing and organisational relationship linkage), considering both internal integration and external integration with customers and suppliers. A group of first tier supplier experts analyse the dimensions and assess the degree to which the factors that define SCI have been achieved. The results enable strengths and weaknesses to be determined and indicate possible improvements to the situation that is detected with clear managerial implications.Ministerio de Educación JC2010-010

Mediation Effect of Lean: A Bidirectional Synergetic Relationship with SCM for Higher Operational Performance

Competitive plants focus their efforts on reducing manufacturing costs and waste along their production chains. Hence, manufacturing programs with important practices and methodologies such as lean, JIT, TPM, and Kaizen have been embraced. However, an empirical investigation of simultaneous use of several manufacturing programs representing multiple facets of lean is lacking in the literature. Various studies have found that some supply chain management practices are bi-directionally related to lean, but its holistic measurement in relation to supply chain management is still lacking. Thus, this paper provides an evidence of mediation effect of lean from high performance manufacturing (HPM) project perspective in relation to supply chain management

La dirección de producción/operaciones en las diplomaturas en Ciencias Empresariales: un estudio para la mejora ante los nuevos retos formativos

La Dirección de Producción/Operaciones (DPO) ha tenido tradicionalmente una imagen poco atractiva para los alumnos de Administración de Empresas, los cuales suelen mostrarse más orien¬tados profesionalmente hacia áreas como Finanzas o Marketing. Las asignaturas de DPO no parecían captar la atención de los estudiantes, ni tan siquiera una vez cursadas. En consecuencia nos planteamos ¿qué imagen de POM estamos proyectando? ¿cómo percibe el alumno esta disciplina? La respuesta a estas cuestiones nos puede permitir tomar las medidas correctoras oportunas para acercar de una manera eficiente el Subsistema de Operaciones al estudiante, formarlo y orientarlo en esta materia y fomentar (o crear, según el caso) el interés por un área en la que podría desarrollar su labor profesional. Para ello, hemos desarrollado un estudio empírico en el que se encuestaron a 921 alumnos de asignaturas obligatorias y optativas de DPO de la Diplomatura en Ciencias Empresariales al inicio y al final de curso. Los resultados se muestran reveladores para trabajar en la búsqueda de una mejora de la formación y el interés sobre esta disciplina, como mostraremos en el desarrollo del presente trabajo.Traditionally, POM has not had a very appealing image for students of Business Administration who usually lean more towards professional areas such as Finance and Marketing. POM subjects do not seem to have caught students’ attention, not even after they have taken the courses in question. We therefore pose the questions: What kind of image of POM are we giving out? What do students perceive the function of POM to be? The answers to questions such as these would not only allow us to take the necessary measures to correct the situation and efficiently move the operations sub-system closer to the student, but also to train and guide him/her in the subject and stimulate (or induce, should that be the case) interest in an area in which he/she could forge a professional career. To this end we have devised an empirical study based on interviews of 921 Business Administration students taking required and elective POM courses (at the beginning and the end of the course). The results are revealing for working towards improved training and interest in the field, as will be seen throughout the body of the study

Financial Management of Large Projects: A Research Gap

This paper analyses the research published in high-impact journals on Financial Management in large projects. Our purpose is to answer the following research questions: (a) Which financial aspects are analysed? (b) How are the financial theories applied to large project management? (c) What are the potential areas for further research? The methodology applied is a bibliographic review of articles related with research questions published from 2000 to February 2013 as stored in the main databases. Our findings show that performance is the most intensely studied aspect although no agreement in performance measurement has yet been reached

¿Cómo valora la formación en Dirección de Producción/Operaciones el discente de la licenciatura en Adminstración y Dirección de Empresas?

Definir una adecuada estrategia de enseñanza-aprendizaje es un proceso complejo que lleva implícitos numerosos aspectos a considerar. Entre ellos debemos tener presente el contexto en el que se enmarca la asignatura y, dentro del mismo, las propias inquietudes e intereses del estudiante por esta materia. Ello condiciona, en buena medida, el propio proceso de enseñanza que se dirige hacia la búsqueda de un aprendizaje efectivo. Desde esta perspectiva, este trabajo pretende determinar, mediante un estudio empírico, cómo percibe el alumno de la Licenciatura en Administración y Dirección de Empresas la formación en una de las áreas empresariales, como es la Dirección de Producción/Operaciones (DPO). Con los resultados obtenidos de esta investigación pretendemos establecer acciones destinadas a la mejora de la docencia en esta disciplina teniendo como referente el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior.The definition of an appropriate teaching-learning strategy is a complex process that involves taking into consideration a wide range of aspects. One of those that must be considered is the context which forms the framework for the subject and, within that, the concerns and interest of the student for the subject matter. This all has a certain bearing on the process of learning itself, which is aimed at achieving effective learning. This paper aims to determine, from this perspective, and by means of an empirical study, how the student of an undergraduate degree in Business Administration perceives the training s/he receives in one business area, Production and Operations Management (POM). It is intended to establish actions on the basis of the results of the study that can improve the teaching of the discipline taking the European Higher Education Area as a point of reference

Partial least squares (PLS) in Operations Management research: Insights from a systematic literature review

[EN] Purpose: The present paper aims to analyze the Operations Management (OM) research between 2014 and 2018 that has made use of Partial Least Squares (PLS) to determine whether the trends shown in previous literature reviews focused on this topic are maintained and whether the analyzed papers comply with the recommendations for reporting Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review has been carried out of OM articles that use PLS as an analysis tool. A total of 102 references from 45 journals from 2014 to 2018, published in WOS and Scopus, has been analyzed. Bibliometric analysis and a review of the PLS reporting standards applied in the context of OM have been developed. Findings: PLS is gaining importance and is widely adopted in OM as a statistical analysis method of choice. In general, certain aspects of PLS are correctly applied and adequately reported in the publications. However, some shortcomings continue to be observed in terms of their application and the reporting of results. A detailed comparison has been developed between the current research and previous OM research (as well as previous research on other disciplines) on this topic. Research limitations/implications: OM researchers making use of PLS should be aware of the importance of correctly reasoning and justifying their choice and fully reporting the main parameters in order to provide other researchers with useful information and enable them to reproduce the performed analysis. Originality/value: This article builds a study with results based on a greater number of articles and journals than the two previous literature reviews focused on this topic. Therefore, it provides a richer and more up-to-date evaluation of trends in the use and reporting of PLS. Additionally, the present paper assesses whether the studies follow the indications suggested in recent years triggered by significant changes in the standards of reporting results obtained through the use of PLS.This study has been conducted within the frameworks of the following funded competitive projects: PID2019-105001GB-I00 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spain); 1381039 (Programa Operativo Feder Andalucia 2014/2020, Junta de Andalucia) and PY20_01209 (PAIDI 2020, Junta de Andalucia).Bayonne, E.; Marin-Garcia, JA.; Alfalla-Luque, R. (2020). Partial least squares (PLS) in Operations Management research: Insights from a systematic literature review. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management. 13(3):565-597. https://doi.org/10.3926/jiem.3416S56559713