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1 – 7 of 7Canan Kocabasoglu-Hillmer, Evelyne Vanpoucke, Byung-Gak Son and Sinéad Roden
This study explores the potential of paradox theory as a novel theoretical lens to investigate persistent and interdependent tensions in supply chains. It is based on a critical…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the potential of paradox theory as a novel theoretical lens to investigate persistent and interdependent tensions in supply chains. It is based on a critical literature review focusing on paradoxes observed within complex supply chains in dynamic business environments, including the articles selected for this special issue, “Environmental Dynamism and Supply Chain Complexity: Managing the Paradoxes.”
Design/methodology/approach
This study introduces the key concepts and themes of the paradox theory literature and possible methodological approaches to studying paradoxes in supply chains. Through a literature review, this study also reflects on the current state of paradox research in the field of operations and supply chain management (OSCM) and proposes future research questions.
Findings
The application of paradox theory to OSCM research is in its early stages. This paper presents opportunities to explore persistent and interdependent tensions in supply chains using paradox theory.
Research limitations/implications
The paper suggests several new research questions that should be translated into more precise propositions. The main implication for research is a call to focus attention on how and why a paradox perspective can help supply chain researchers view complex supply chain problems with fresh eyes.
Originality/value
The study provides the first critical review of paradoxical tensions in OSCM research. While the papers in this special issue contribute significantly to a better understanding of these issues, there is still significant potential for understanding how to respond to paradoxes in supply chains.
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Evelyne Vanpoucke, Lieven Quintens and Merel Van Engelshoven
Not all companies deal with green supply chain management (GSCM) in the same way. The purpose of this paper is to understand a company’s GSCM motivation and how this motivation is…
Abstract
Purpose
Not all companies deal with green supply chain management (GSCM) in the same way. The purpose of this paper is to understand a company’s GSCM motivation and how this motivation is linked to stakeholder pressures, a company’s GSCM practices and performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors report the findings of a survey on GSCM motivations.
Findings
Clear differences are seen in why companies are motivated to pursue GSCM. Based on these different motivations, this paper explains differences in perceived stakeholder pressure and performance.
Research limitations/implications
GSCM motivation is a sensitive topic and as such might cause respondents to provide socially desired answers. However, the analyses show clear variances in the answers, indicating that the measures put forth by the authors are valid.
Social implications
This study shows that to achieve sustainable GSCM, companies can be motivated in various ways. Also, stakeholders can learn from this study: they need to focus their attention toward companies whom they have the highest impact on.
Originality/value
First, this study tests a framework for GSCM motivations and shows that motivation mediates the relationship between stakeholder pressures and performance. Second, this study shows that these differences in motivation impact performance outcomes.
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Evelyne Vanpoucke, Martin Wetzels, Frank Rozemeijer and Marion Pilzak-Blonska
Buyers and suppliers often perceive relationship governance mechanisms, such as trust and contractual fairness, in different ways. These differences in perception create an extra…
Abstract
Purpose
Buyers and suppliers often perceive relationship governance mechanisms, such as trust and contractual fairness, in different ways. These differences in perception create an extra layer of complexity that is often ignored in the extant literature. This study adds to the understanding of how perceived asymmetries in trust and contractual fairness, two key relationship governance mechanisms, impact relational rents. This study also analyzes how boundary spanners aid managers to deal with these perceived asymmetries.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on survey data of 103 buyer–supplier dyads from a single global manufacturer of industrial equipment, the authors test hypotheses of perceived asymmetries in trust and contractual fairness, as well as the moderating effect of boundary spanners, on relational rents.
Findings
This research challenges the belief that asymmetries negatively impact or lead to unstable buyer–supplier relationships. Furthermore, it explains how preferential treatment and length of the relationship could reduce the impact of asymmetric perceptions.
Practical implications
This study stresses that open communication, which considers different viewpoints, helps to overcome the negative differences in attitude and perception. In addition, the authors found that long-term relationships seem to be far more resilient in dealing with asymmetries and that preferential treatments are best applied in (approximately) symmetric relationships in terms of contractual fairness.
Originality/value
While studies on buyer–supplier relationships often assume symmetric perceptions of governance mechanisms, asymmetric perceptions are far more prominent in reality. This study aims to improve one’s understanding of the impact of these asymmetries as well as how boundary spanners can affect these perceptions.
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Evelyne Vanpoucke and Robert D. Klassen
Forced labour is one of the most exploitative practices in supply chains, generating serious human right abuses. The authors seek to understand how relationships for reducing…
Abstract
Purpose
Forced labour is one of the most exploitative practices in supply chains, generating serious human right abuses. The authors seek to understand how relationships for reducing forced labour are influenced by institutional logics. The emerging supply chain efforts of social enterprises offer particularly intriguing approaches, as their social mission can spur creative new approaches and reshape widely adopted management practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors study supplier relationships in the smartphone industry and compare the evolving practices of two cases: the first, a growing novel social enterprise; and the second, a high-profile commercial firm that has adopted a progressive role in combating forced labour.
Findings
The underlying institutional logic influenced each firm's willingness to act beyond its direct suppliers and to collaborate in flexible ways that create systematic change. Moreover, while both focal firms had clear, well-documented procedures related to forced labour, the integration, rather than decoupling, of forced labour and general supply chain policies provided a more effective way to reduce the risks of forced labour in social enterprises.
Research limitations/implications
As authors’ comparative case study approach may lack generalizability, future research is needed to broadly test their propositions.
Practical implications
The paper identifies preconditions in terms of institutional logics to successfully reduce the risk of forced labour in supply chains.
Originality/value
This paper discusses how social enterprises can provide a learning laboratory that enables commercial firms to identify options for supplier relationship improvement.
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Evelyne Vanpoucke, Ann Vereecke and Steve Muylle
Companies increasingly exchange information to work more closely with supply chain partners. Although information exchange is a critical element for up- and downstream…
Abstract
Purpose
Companies increasingly exchange information to work more closely with supply chain partners. Although information exchange is a critical element for up- and downstream partnerships, the purpose of this paper is to indicate that it is not a guarantee for improved performance and should be combined with other integration tactics to fully capture its benefits.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a global sample in the industrial sector, a moderated mediation framework for both upstream and downstream integration, which links integration tactics to operational performance, was empirically tested.
Findings
This research shows that operational integration is indispensable to capture the benefits of information exchange. In addition, it points out that the impact of the use of information technology (IT) is stronger for upstream integration.
Practical implications
While the data show that the use of IT significantly improves the delivery performance in the supply chain, it also signals to managers how and when to invest in supply chain integration tactics.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to a better understanding of the supply chain integration-performance link, by clarifying some of the inconsistencies in previous literature and by simultaneously analyzing upstream and downstream implications.
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Evelyne Vanpoucke and Scott C. Ellis
To build resilient supply chains, buyers should implement risk mitigation tactics. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the risky decision-making process that…
Abstract
Purpose
To build resilient supply chains, buyers should implement risk mitigation tactics. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the risky decision-making process that underlies buyers’ decisions to adopt supply risk mitigation tactics for creating supply-side resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ experimental scenarios to simulate supply disruptions of low and high likelihood. The authors then assess buyers’ decisions to adopt supply risk mitigation tactics in response to these scenarios.
Findings
The authors find that buyers’ perceptions of supply disruption likelihood are positively related to their adoption of buffer- and process-oriented risk mitigation tactics and preference for process-oriented risk mitigation tactics. Conversely, risk propensity negatively affects buyers’ adoption of buffer- and process-oriented mitigation tactics.
Originality/value
Beyond risk perceptions, the authors consider how risk propensity also affects the risky decision-making process. Moreover, whereas previous studies often focus on a single mitigation tactic, the authors study buyers’ adoption of multiple buffer- and process-oriented risk mitigation tactics to create supply-side resilience.
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Evelyne Vanpoucke, Kenneth K. Boyer and Ann Vereecke
The purpose of this paper is to identify different information flow strategies to enhance integration in strategic alliances and studies these strategies with respect to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify different information flow strategies to enhance integration in strategic alliances and studies these strategies with respect to contextual factors and the impact on performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines empirical data gathered from 56 manufacturing companies, describing 112 supply chain relationships. An empirical taxonomy is created based on cluster analysis.
Findings
Based on a parsimonious description of inter‐firm information flows in the literature and this paper's empirical findings, three types of alliances are identified: Silent; Communicative; and IT intensive. While Silent alliances have the poorest overall performance, substantial similarities are found between Communicative and IT intensive alliances. In particular, the analysis suggests that IT intensive alliances, albeit performing better on operational capabilities, are not performing better on relationship satisfaction compared to Communicative alliances. Additional analyses indicate that partners of an IT intensive alliance are substantially more interdependent and larger in size.
Research limitations/implications
This research presents a taxonomy of information flow strategies in a supply chain context. This research is not describing causality, since the data are not longitudinal in nature.
Practical implications
Managers need to selectively invest in IT according to an overall supply chain integration strategy, which also takes softer, less technological forms of integration into consideration.
Originality/value
This research provides insight into inter‐firm information flows from a contingency perspective, recognizing heterogeneity of firms and supply chain practices.
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