Attitudes toward supplier integration: the USA vs China

Enhancing sustainable supply chain management performance through alliance portfolio diversity: the mediating effect of sustainability collaboration

Purpose

While strategic alliances is a concept increasingly discussed in the field of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), an emerging and more crucial concept regarding alliances—namely, the alliance portfolio—is mostly ignored in the SSCM context. Mainly drawing on the categorisation–elaboration model (CEM), this research develops a three-layer model to explore the effects of three alliance portfolio diversity facets on the three triple-bottom-line SSCM performances through the mediation of sustainability collaboration.

Design/methodology/approach

The field data are collected from 321 Vietnamese manufacturers. Scale accuracy is assessed through the confirmatory factor analysis method. Hierarchical linear regressions are applied to test the proposed model and hypotheses.

Findings

Partner, governance, and functional alliance portfolio diversities have a U-shaped, inverted U-shaped, and positive linear effect, respectively, on sustainability collaboration. Sustainability collaboration is in turn found to enhance the SSCM performances in terms of economic, environmental, and social.

Originality/value

This research introduced a new theoretical lens, CEM, to the SSCM field. It also provided findings that can help firms to manage their alliance portfolios more dynamically in terms of the nature and diversity level of the portfolio and in a way that adds to the triple bottom line through the mediating effect of sustainability collaboration.

Impact of Enhanced Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) on Firm Performance through Green Supply Chain Management

This study investigates the impact of enhanced enterprise resource planning (ERP) on firm performance through green supply chain management, supplier integration, and internal integration. The population is the manufacturer domiciled in East Java, Indonesia, which has implemented ERP and been certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the environmental management system. Data collection used a questionnaire designed with the five-point Likert scale. Of 243 manufacturers, 150 questionnaires were distributed, and 135 questionnaires are considered valid for analysis. Data analysis used smart PLS software. The result indicated that all eight predetermined hypotheses were supported. Enhanced ERP affects supplier integration, internal integration, and green supply chain management. Internal integration affects green supply chain management and firm performance. Supplier integration affects green supply chain management and firm performance. Green supply chain management affects firm performance. An interesting finding is that green supply chain management, internal integration, and supplier integration mediate the effect of enhanced ERP on firm performance. This study’s novelty lies in the research model that analyzes the relationship between the four constructs simultaneously with the green supply chain management, internal integration, and supplier integration as a mediating variable. The research provides an insight for the manager on how to improve the firm performance in supply chain management. This study could also contribute to the current research in supply chain management.

Exploring the dual nature of supplier relationship commitment on buyer behaviors

Purpose

The authors argue that the supplier’s perspective in managing buyers using relationship commitment is incomplete. The primary reasons for incompleteness are that: the effects of the two types of relationship commitment (i.e. affective and continuance) on buyer behaviors (i.e. individualized consideration and opportunism) are largely ignored from a supplier’s perspective; there is quandary regarding the effects of the two relationship commitment types in a relationship, whether they are favorable or not; and there is also ambiguity regarding the conditions under which relationship commitment types might serve as effective relational governance mechanisms. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employ survey data obtained from 207 suppliers to test the hypotheses using structural equations modeling.

Findings

The authors extend contemporary knowledge on supplier relationship commitment by revealing that at high-levels of buyer-leverage, supplier affective commitment can induce buyer opportunism and supplier continuance commitment can induce buyer individualized consideration. Furthermore, buyer-leverage positively moderates the interaction effect of supplier commitment types to promote buyer opportunism.

Research limitations/implications

The authors do not examine a buyer’s perspective, but from a supplier’s perspective, suppliers can maximize their benefits from their relationship commitment by embracing affective commitment while ensuring that buyers do not have excessive leverage.

Originality/value

The study presents a significant contribution to the extant literature on relationship commitment by probing the dual nature of supplier relationship commitment; albeit for specific configurations of commitment types and buyer-leverage.

Leveraging customer benevolence for resilience: a supplier perspective

Purpose

With more than half of customer-experienced disruptions attributed to first-tier suppliers, supplier resilience (SRES) is fundamental to the resilience of the supply chain. However, little is known about the relational aspects that engender SRES, from the purview of the supplier. The purpose of this paper is to examine the explanatory role of suppliers’ relationship commitment dimensions (i.e. affective and continuance), which may foster SRES through customer benevolence. Moreover, the impact of customer benevolence on SRES is examined considering varying levels of industry dynamism.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data from 207 manufacturing firms are utilized to test the hypotheses taking potential endogeneity issues into consideration.

Findings

Affective and continuance commitment induce customer benevolence, which furthers SRES. Specifically, affective commitment is the most potent approach to induce customer benevolence, while the dampening effect of industry dynamism is more palpable at the higher levels of industry dynamism.

Research limitations/implications

This study did not account for specific disruption types and the contingent effects of power asymmetry.

Practical implications

This study empirically demonstrates that suppliers can leverage customer benevolence via relationship commitment to achieve SRES. However, the efficacy of customer benevolence to engender SRES is limited to environments not characterized by high levels of industry dynamism.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the role of relational mechanisms in achieving resilience from the purview of a supplier using survey data.