Doing Good across Organizational Boundaries: Sustainable Supply Chain Practices and Firms’ Financial Risk

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to theoretically hypothesise and empirically test the impact of sustainable supply chain practices (SSCPs) on firms’ financial risk. Design/methodology/approach – This research adopts signalling theory to explain the signalling role of SSCPs and the moderating role of the signalling environment in terms of supply chain characteristics. It collects and combines longitudinal secondary data from multiple sources to test the direct impact of SSCPs on firms’ financial risk and the moderating role of supply chain complexity and efficiency. It conducts various additional tests to check the robustness of the findings and to account for alternative explanations. Findings – This research shows that SSCPs help firms reduce financial risk but do not affect their returns. Moreover, the risk reduction of SSCPs is greater for firms with more complex and efficient supply chains. The findings are robust to alternative variable measurements and analysing strategies. Research limitations/implications – This research reveals the role of SSCPs in reducing financial risk, urging researchers to pay more attention to the financial risk implications of supply chain practices in general and SSCPs in particular. Practical implications – This research encourages firms to engage in SSCPs to reduce financial risk and enables them to assess the urgency of their SSCPs investments in view of the complexity and efficiency of their supply chains. Originality/value – This is the first research examining the impact of SSCPs on financial risk, based on longitudinal secondary data and signalling theory. The empirical evidence documented and the theoretical perspective adopted offer important implications for future practice and research on SSCPs

The Impact of 3D Printing Implementation on Stock Returns: A Contingent Dynamic Capabilities Perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to theoretically hypothesize and empirically test the impact of 3D printing (3DP) implementation on stock returns. It further explores how the stock returns due to 3DP implementation vary across different industry environments. Design/methodology/approach – This paper integrates the dynamic capabilities view with contingency theory to provide a contingent dynamic capabilities (CDC) perspective on 3DP implementation. It argues that implementing 3DP enables firms to enhance their manufacturing capabilities and gain a competitive advantage, but the extent to which the competitive advantage can be realized is contingent on the fit between 3DP-enhanced manufacturing capabilities and firms’ operating environments. Those arguments are tested based on an event study of 232 announcements of 3DP implementation made by U.S. publicly listed firms between 2010 and 2017. Findings – The event study results show that firms implementing 3DP gain higher stock returns compared with their non-implementation industry peers over two years after the implementation. Such stock returns due to 3DP implementation are more pronounced for firms operating in more munificent, more dynamic, and less competitive industry environments. Those findings are consistent with our CDC perspective. Originality/value – This is the first research empirically examining the impact of 3DP implementation on stock returns. It provides important implications for managers to implement 3DP to enhance firms’ manufacturing capabilities and for researchers to study 3DP implementation from the CDC perspective