Investigating the role of knowledge transfer in supply chain collaboration

Mitigating interorganizational conflicts in humanitarian logistics collaboration: the roles of contractual agreements, trust and post-disaster environmental uncertainty phases

Purpose

Governance is the key to establishing effective collaboration among humanitarian logistics partners addressing an ongoing relief work. With a focus on humanitarian interorganizational collaboration, this research draws on governance theories to investigate how conflicts can be mitigated in this challenging setting.

Design/methodology/approach

The focus on governance extends attention to the frontiers of contractual agreement, trust and environmental uncertainty to be applied in the humanitarian setting. To develop perspectives, an online survey of 289 field executives working in humanitarian organizations across the globe is conducted. The findings are based on hierarchical regressions.

Findings

Environmental uncertainty, in humanitarian logistics, is not straightforward, but wields distinctive challenges in the response phase (immediate to the disaster) as well as the recovery phase (beginning of build back) – to loom prospects of conflict between partners. Findings outline that contractual agreement can increase conflict during the response phase (high environmental uncertainty), but mitigate it during the recovery phase (low environmental uncertainty). Furthermore, contractual agreement interactively strengthens the ability of trust to reduce conflict. Yet, trust acting alone shows best outcome to mitigate conflict.

Research limitations/implications

Contrary to the established understanding in traditional logistics suggesting the vitality of contracts to easily mitigate challenges posed by environmental uncertainty, the humanitarian setting extends a unique outset for interorganizational governance based on the temporality of response and recovery phases.

Originality/value

This research pioneers to quantitatively examine the setting of humanitarian logistics based on survey. Given the difficulty of data acquisition, the extant research has largely relied on qualitative investigations when considering the agenda of governance.

The impact of information sharing on supply chain adaptability and operational performance

Purpose

This study looks beyond firm boundaries to depict supply chain (SC) adaptability and classifies it into internal, customer and supplier dimensions to investigate their performance implications, respectively. This study also examines the enablers of SC adaptability based on information processing theory.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applies the structural equation modeling method to investigate relationships among SC information sharing, SC adaptability and operational performance using data collected from 216 manufacturers in China.

Findings

Internal information sharing has a positive impact on three dimensions of SC adaptability, whereas supplier and customer information sharing only have a positive impact on supplier adaptability. Customer and supplier information sharing interact to positively influence the three dimensions of SC adaptability, while internal and customer information sharing interact to negatively affect customer adaptability. We also find that all the three dimensions of SC adaptability can enhance operational performance.

Originality/value

This study contributes to providing a holistic definition of SC adaptability and classifies it into three dimensions. It also investigates antecedents and performance outcomes of SC adaptability.

Social capital in agribusiness: an exploratory investigation from a supply chain perspective during the COVID-19 crisis

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has badly affected the global economy. The use of social capital as a resource to diversify agribusiness to get more customers and improve the agricultural supply chain is a considerable issue to explore. This study aims to develop a comprehensive measurement of social capital and examine its effect on the intention to diversify agribusiness. From a supply chain perspective, it uses theory of planned behavior (TPB) and resource-based view (RBV).

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a mixed-methods approach. In-depth interviews, focus group discussions and surveys are used. Structural equation modeling on a sample of 465 respondents in Vietnam was employed to examine the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

An integrative measurement scale of social capital from an agricultural supply chain perspective is suggested. The study also shows significant causal relationships amongst social capital, motives, TPB's determinants and the intention to diversify agribusinesses in light of supply chain perspectives.

Originality/value

The study offers a significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge in the literature on social capital, motives, TPB, RBV and supply chain perspectives. The study was executed in Vietnam, where most farmers are smallholders, family business owners or micro-scale entrepreneurs in agriculture.

Incorporating the risk of knowledge loss in supply chain risk management

Purpose

The literature on supply chain risk management (SCRM) has investigated a multitude of supply chain risks. This paper aims to make a case for the importance of managing the risk of knowledge loss in the supply chain management (SCM) function and incorporating knowledge loss as a critical risk within the SCRM process.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a knowledge-based view of the SCRM process and attempts to bring to light insights based on a synthesis of the relevant literature. The authors conducted a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed articles published between 1998 and 2019. Further, a case study was conducted to illustrate the significance of the risk of knowledge loss in the SCM function in terms of how it operates and why it has such a significant impact on performance.

Findings

Knowledge loss is a relatively neglected type of supply chain risk that can be added to the existing typologies. This paper argues that knowledge loss in the SCM function has the propensity to significantly impact the performance of the focal firm, exacerbate other types of supply chain risk and impede risk mitigation efforts. We put forth several strategies that supply chain managers can adopt to mitigate the risk of knowledge loss in their function.

Research limitations/implications

This paper generates an exploratory opening that could pave the way for a systematic theory of knowledge loss as a supply chain risk and future empirical research. The study culminates in a number of important insights and initiatives for supply chain managers to recognize and manage the risk of knowledge loss.

Originality/value

This paper argues for the importance of incorporating the risk of knowledge loss in SCRM research and practice. It also provides an examination of some promising angles for future research in SCRM from a knowledge-based perspective.

Knowledge Management Practices for Sustainable Supply Chain Management: A Challenge for Business Education

In the last decades, business competition has been increasingly among supply chains (SCs) rather than individual firms. Today, considering the challenges of environmental, social, and economic sustainability, it is becoming even more vital to coordinate and co-manage company resources, activities, and innovative efforts at the SC level. Consequently, knowledge, which is a critical resource for companies, needs to be managed properly not only in single firms but also across SCs. For the education of business managers, this implies a double challenge: first, to make students and future executives become aware of the knowledge management (KM) practices that can be adopted; second, to facilitate the assimilation of these practices for the effective management of SCs, to ensure higher economic and environmentally sustainable performances. Standard definitions and classifications can be of great help, but the current studies are very fragmented. This study contributes by exploring the literature and examining the KM practices that are proposed and defined by the different authors. A systematic review and a descriptive analysis of selected papers showed the trend and focus of papers in the KM and SC fields. In addition, based on the definitions and classifications drawn from the literature, this paper discusses a possible systematization of the key KM practices in SCs. The major contribution of this paper is the effort of re-definition and re-classification of KM practices and their potential importance for effective and sustainable SC management. This analysis can be especially useful for organizing KM courses targeted to current and future business managers.

The impact of buyer–supplier interaction on ambidextrous innovation and business performance: the moderating role of competitive environment

Purpose

This study is based on knowledge-based view to examine the relationships among buyer–supplier interaction, ambidextrous innovation and business performance. It includes competitive intensity and dysfunctional competition to clarify boundary conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

The ordinary least squares regression was conducted to test hypotheses. The survey data were collected from 182 Hong Kong manufacturing firms.

Findings

Buyer–supplier interaction facilitates ambidextrous innovation, namely exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation. In turn, exploitative innovation enhances business performance, whereas exploratory innovation has no influence on business performance. Competitive intensity strengthens while dysfunctional competition weakens the impact of buyer–supplier interaction on ambidextrous innovation.

Research limitations/implications

This study is based on the knowing processes of knowledge-based view. It contends that business performance is derived from ambidextrous innovation, which depends on the utilization of acquired supplier knowledge and the influence of external competitive environment. The test of relationships is constrained by the single-source and cross-sectional data.

Practical implications

Firms should engage in buyer–supplier interaction to acquire and utilize supplier knowledge. Meanwhile, they should monitor competitive environment to seize opportunities and avoid threats.

Originality/value

This study builds a holistic framework for buyer–supplier interaction, which reconciles the mixed arguments by distinguishing its effects on ambidextrous innovation, and by clarifying boundary conditions in terms of competitive intensity and dysfunctional competition.

Collaborative process competence as an enabler of supply chain collaboration in competitive environments and the impact on customer account management

Purpose

The purpose of the current research seeks to understand what role supply chain (SC) collaboration plays in effectively managing customers of a firm. The research also investigates what role industry competitive intensity plays on SC collaboration formation.

Design/methodology/approach

The current research utilizes empirical survey data from professionals whose companies collaborate within a SC. Structural equations modeling is employed to assess the relationship of collaborative process competence on SC collaboration as well as the moderating impact of industry competitive intensity. A further boundary condition is examined with the partner interdependence SC collaboration relationship. Additionally the SC collaboration account management relationship is also investigated.

Findings

The paper provides empirical insights on how SC collaboration contributes to focal firm customer account management. Additionally, results suggest that collaborative process competence and its relationship with SC collaboration works differently in the presence of partner interdependence and the moderator of industry competitive intensity.

Research limitations/implications

While the findings help to promote the generalizability of the new research, future research could seek to understand how firms could develop specific account management value propositions through SC collaboration in specific contexts.

Originality/value

The main contributions of the work include empirical analysis of a proposed theoretical model, a better understanding of the role collaborative process competence plays on SC collaboration formation and the discussion of customer account management as an outcome of SC collaboration.

A systematic review of responsiveness to develop future research agenda: a TCCM and bibliometric analysis

Purpose

This paper aims to epistemologically extend and explore the present theories from prior research conducted in the area of responsiveness. Furthermore, it determines to benchmark the prominent theories, characteristics, context and methodologies (TCCM) used in the domain since its inception to advance the science and practice of marketing and logistics discipline.

Design/methodology/approach

A seven-step methodology (SSM) has been introduced to create a comprehensive dataset. Based upon the selection criteria of high-ranked journals and language, the research studies have been retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, Business Source Complete and journal homepage to avoid the error of exclusion. Moreover, the dataset has been compiled using manual and electronic searches without any limitation of time.

Findings

The search for a suitable dataset retrieved 642 documents by identifying “1969” as the beginning year of research in the subject domain. The analysis found that responsiveness has been prominently studied in the manufacturing industry. The results also advocate responsiveness as the vital antecedent to performance and satisfaction. Frameworks have been proposed with significant propositions for future empirical testing and theory inventiveness by researchers.

Originality/value

The study pioneers its utility for retailers to recognize the firms' inherent abilities and strengths, which can be promoted to create responsiveness more than ever. The analysis results can act as the compelling force to understand the driving power of various factors influencing responsiveness.