What Drives the Choice of Third Party Logistics Provider?

It is generally believed that companies choose supply chain partners on the basis of their distinctive value propositions; a fact one would also expect holds true when companies choose a logistics service provider. However, faced with the complexities of varied customer demands, it can be difficult for logistics service companies to obtain an effective understanding of how customers differentially value the service components they offer. In this paper, we address this by identifying the factors that are important in a customer’s choice of a logistics service provider. Using stated choice methods we explore the relative importance of seven service attributes using a sample of 309 managers with a central role in purchasing logistics services across a range of industries and countries. The results reveal that three distinct decision models populate our data where the preferences for different logistics service attributes – such as price and delivery performance –vary greatly between customer groups represented by these models. Strategically, our findings provide the management of a third party logistics provider with a logical starting point from which to determine the goals that are set for their operations, particularly in choosing the customer segments to service

A responsibility to whom? : populism and its effects on corporate social responsibility

Although populism is an ideologically fluid political vehicle, it is not one that is intrinsically anti-business. Indeed, different varieties of populist parties may encourage business activity for utilitarian ends, but with their own ideas on what businesses should be doing. This reality implies that initiatives not related to national greatness or priorities as defined by the populist leadership may be viewed as redundant. Key among such initiatives would be corporate social responsibility (CSR). In a populist environment, it is possible that firms may divert resources away from broad-based CSR under pressure from populist governments. This article explores the relationship between populist governance and CSR with an econometric examination of over a thousand firms in 13 countries under both pro- and anti-business populist governments at varying times from 2012 to 2020. Using dynamic panel data methods, we find strong evidence that firms substitute away significantly from CSR under populism. This effect grows significantly larger under anti-business populists

Revisiting James March (1991): Whither Exploration and Exploitation

We revisit March’s seminal 1991 article, “Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning”, and analyze the impact it has had on scholarly thinking, providing a comprehensive and structured review of the extensive and diverse research inspired by this publication. We show that although this influence has changed significantly over the years, there are still unexplored opportunities left by this seminal work. Our approach enables us to identify promising directions for future research that reinforce the themes anchored in March’s article. In particular, we call for reconnecting current research to the behavioral roots of this article and uncovering the microfoundations of exploration and exploitation. Our analysis further identifies opportunities for integrating this framework with resource-based theories and considering how exploration and exploitation can be sourced and integrated within and across organizational boundaries. Finally, our analysis reveals prospects for extending the notions of exploration and exploitation to new domains, but we caution that such domains should be clearly delineated. We conclude with a call for further research on the antecedents of exploration and exploitation and for studying their underexplored dimensions

A four-year, systems-wide intervention promoting interprofessional collaboration

Background: A four-year action research study was conducted across the Australian Capital Territory health system to strengthen interprofessional collaboration (IPC) through multiple intervention activities. Methods: We developed 272 substantial IPC intervention activities involving 2,407 face-to-face encounters with health system personnel. Staff attitudes toward IPC were surveyed yearly using Heinemann et al’s Attitudes toward Health Care Teams and Parsell and Bligh’s Readiness for Interprofessional Learning scales (RIPLS). At study’s end staff assessed whether project goals were achieved. Results: Of the improvement projects, 76 exhibited progress, and 57 made considerable gains in IPC. Educational workshops and feedback sessions were well received and stimulated interprofessional activities. Over time staff scores on Heinemann’s Quality of Interprofessional Care subscale did not change significantly and scores on the Doctor Centrality subscale increased, contrary to predictions. Scores on the RIPLS subscales of Teamwork & Collaboration and Professional Identity did not alter. On average for the assessment items 33% of staff agreed that goals had been achieved, 10% disagreed, and 57% checked ‘neutral’. There was most agreement that the study had resulted in increased sharing of knowledge between professions and improved quality of patient care, and least agreement that between-professional rivalries had lessened and communication and trust between professions improved. Conclusions: Our longitudinal interventional study of IPC involving multiple activities supporting increased IPC achieved many project-specific goals, but improvements in attitudes over time were not demonstrated and neutral assessments predominated, highlighting the difficulties faced by studies targeting change at the systems level and over extended periods

Two sides of market orientation and the link to performance

The impact of a market-oriented strategy on business performance remains an open question. One of the reasons for this is that virtually all the work conducted in marketing has viewed market orientation as a reflective unidimensional structure. In this study we demonstrate that two measures of market orientation (i.e., reactive and proactive) are related, but essentially separate constructs. The results show that proactive market orientation has a significant and positive mediating effect betweenresources and performance while reactive market orientation appears to be losing its effectiveness

How well do patents measure new product activity?

The present research provides a preliminary examination of the relationship between patent intensity and new product development. Although patent intensity is related to commercial innovation at the industry level, patent intensity is not the best predictor of commercial innovation at the firm level. The major determinant of commercial innovation appears to be the patent intensity of the industry in which the firm is operating.</p

New Products and Financial Risk Changes

The historic focus of new products research has been on the ability of new products to enhance the profitability and competitive position of the innovating firm. In this article, Timothy Devinney shows that there exists an overlooked and potentially significant side effect associated with new product innovations: financial risk changes. He reports that significant financial risk changes occurred in approximately 50% of the new product announcements he examined. The magnitude of these financial risk changes translates into overestimates or underestimates of the firm's cost of capital by 17% to 18% and is strongly and positively related to the size of the firm and the firm's new product innovation activity.</p