157 research outputs found
An attention-based view of supply disruption risk management: balancing biased attentional processing for improved resilience in the COVID-19 context
PurposeIn the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates a variety of approaches to supply disruption risk management for achieving effective responses for resilience at the supply management subunit level (e.g. category of items). Drawing on the attention-based view of the firm, the authors model the attentional antecedents of supply resilience as (1) attentional perspectives and (2) attentional selection. Attentional perspectives focus on either supply risk sources or supply network recoverability, and both are hypothesised to have a direct positive association with supply resilience. Attentional selection is top down or bottom up when it comes to disruption detection, and these are hypothesised to moderate the association between disruption risk management perspectives and resilience.Design/methodology/approachConducted at the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study employs a hierarchical regression analysis on a multicountry survey of 190 procurement professionals, each responding from the perspective of their own subunit area of supply responsibility.FindingsBoth attentional disruption risk management perspectives are needed to achieve supply resilience, and neither is superior in terms of achieving supply resilience. Both the efficiency of the top down and exposure to the unexpected with the bottom up are needed – to a balanced degree – for improved supply resilience.Practical implicationsThe results encourage firms to purposefully develop their supply risk management practices, first, to include both perspectives and, second, to avoid biases in attentional selection for disruption detection. Ensuring a more balanced approach may allow firms to improve their supply resilience.Originality/valueThe results contribute to the understanding of the microfoundations that underpin firms' operational capabilities for supply risk and disruption management and possible attentional biases.</jats:sec
An attention-based view of supply disruption risk management: balancing biased attentional processing for improved resilience in the COVID-19 context
PurposeIn the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates a variety of approaches to supply disruption risk management for achieving effective responses for resilience at the supply management subunit level (e.g. category of items). Drawing on the attention-based view of the firm, the authors model the attentional antecedents of supply resilience as (1) attentional perspectives and (2) attentional selection. Attentional perspectives focus on either supply risk sources or supply network recoverability, and both are hypothesised to have a direct positive association with supply resilience. Attentional selection is top down or bottom up when it comes to disruption detection, and these are hypothesised to moderate the association between disruption risk management perspectives and resilience.Design/methodology/approachConducted at the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study employs a hierarchical regression analysis on a multicountry survey of 190 procurement professionals, each responding from the perspective of their own subunit area of supply responsibility.FindingsBoth attentional disruption risk management perspectives are needed to achieve supply resilience, and neither is superior in terms of achieving supply resilience. Both the efficiency of the top down and exposure to the unexpected with the bottom up are needed – to a balanced degree – for improved supply resilience.Practical implicationsThe results encourage firms to purposefully develop their supply risk management practices, first, to include both perspectives and, second, to avoid biases in attentional selection for disruption detection. Ensuring a more balanced approach may allow firms to improve their supply resilience.Originality/valueThe results contribute to the understanding of the microfoundations that underpin firms' operational capabilities for supply risk and disruption management and possible attentional biases.</p
Driving sustainable supply chain management in the public sector:The importance of public procurement in the EU
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of connections between sustainability policy goals included in public procurement tenders and offers and their achievement through contract award. Design/methodology/approach – Two hypotheses based on extant literature and the inducement–contribution theory were tested by means of a survey of 281 procurement files from 2007 to 2009 relating to eight product categories and four European Union (EU) member states. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings – Findings indicate that public procurement was more effective in influencing socially responsible goals than environmental goals. In terms of supplier readiness, vendors achieved greater progress in delivering green than socially responsible operations. Research limitations/implications – The collection and analysis of data are based on procurement files, which is a new but also a complex procedure. In comparison to survey data, the data from procurement file analysis are less biased. Practical implications – Public procurement practitioners and sustainability policymakers should consider the use of public procurement as a lever to attain environmental and socially responsible goals. Social implications – Evidence has been provided to demonstrate the strategic use of public procurement impacts on environmental and socially responsible goals, thereby benefiting society. Originality/value – This study contributes in three main ways: first, by adding to existing, limited research on the use of public procurement as a lever of policy goals attainment; second, by examining environmental and socially responsible policy in one study; and third, through providing evidence across EU member states
Performance-based contracting in business markets
The aim of this Special Issue is to advance our understanding of performance-based contracting (PBC) in business markets. PBC has the potential for aligning incentives among buyers and sellers and fostering innovation. This paper critically reflects on extant research in order to develop a systematic knowledge map of PBC research. On that basis four major research gaps are identified and addressed, drawing out specific avenues for further PBC research. The knowledge map is also used to illustrate the focus and main arguments of the articles featuring in this Special Issue
SENSEI: First Direct-Detection Constraints on sub-GeV Dark Matter from a Surface Run
The Sub-Electron-Noise Skipper CCD Experimental Instrument (SENSEI) uses the
recently developed Skipper-CCD technology to search for electron recoils from
the interaction of sub-GeV dark matter particles with electrons in silicon. We
report first results from a prototype SENSEI detector, which collected 0.019
gram-days of commissioning data above ground at Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory. These commissioning data are sufficient to set new direct-detection
constraints for dark matter particles with masses between ~500 keV and 4 MeV.
Moreover, since these data were taken on the surface, they disfavor previously
allowed strongly interacting dark matter particles with masses between ~500 keV
and a few hundred MeV. We discuss the implications of these data for several
dark matter candidates, including one model proposed to explain the anomalously
large 21-cm signal observed by the EDGES Collaboration. SENSEI is the first
experiment dedicated to the search for electron recoils from dark matter, and
these results demonstrate the power of the Skipper-CCD technology for dark
matter searches.Comment: 5 pages + references, 4 figures, 1 table. V2 has additional
references and minor clarifications. Published in PR
Precision Probes of a Leptophobic Z' Boson
Extensions of the Standard Model that contain leptophobic Z' gauge bosons are
theoretically interesting but difficult to probe directly in high-energy hadron
colliders. However, precision measurements of Standard Model neutral current
processes can provide powerful indirect tests. We demonstrate that
parity-violating deep inelastic scattering of polarized electrons off of
deuterium offer a unique probe leptophobic Z' bosons with axial quark couplings
and masses above 100 GeV. In addition to covering a wide range of previously
uncharted parameter space, planned measurements of the deep inelastic
parity-violating eD asymmetry would be capable of testing leptophobic Z'
scenarios proposed to explain the CDF W plus di-jet anomaly.Comment: 5 page, 1 figur
Hitting sbottom in natural SUSY
We compare the experimental prospects of direct stop and sbottom pair
production searches at the LHC. Such searches for stops are of great interest
as they directly probe for states that are motivated by the SUSY solution to
the hierarchy problem of the Higgs mass parameter - leading to a "Natural" SUSY
spectrum. Noting that sbottom searches are less experimentally challenging and
scale up in reach directly with the improvement on b-tagging algorithms, we
discuss the interplay of small TeV scale custodial symmetry violation with
sbottom direct pair production searches as a path to obtaining strong sub-TeV
constraints on stops in a natural SUSY scenario. We argue that if a weak scale
natural SUSY spectrum does not exist within the reach of LHC, then hopes for
such a spectrum for large regions of parameter space should sbottom out.
Conversely, the same arguments make clear that a discovery of such a spectrum
is likely to proceed in a sbottom up manner.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures,v2 refs added, JHEP versio
Physics Opportunities with the 12 GeV Upgrade at Jefferson Lab
This white paper summarizes the scientific opportunities for utilization of
the upgraded 12 GeV Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) and
associated experimental equipment at Jefferson Lab. It is based on the 52
proposals recommended for approval by the Jefferson Lab Program Advisory
Committee.The upgraded facility will enable a new experimental program with
substantial discovery potential to address important topics in nuclear,
hadronic, and electroweak physics.Comment: 64 page
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