Operational Performance Outcomes Research Articles

“All roads lead to Rome?” Performance evaluation across different types of community land trusts based on a large-scale survey

ABSTRACT Community land trusts (CLTs) seek to keep homes and other urban spaces permanently affordable and community controlled. As their number across the United States has increased, different iterations of the CLT model seem to have proliferated in practice, stoking scholarly debate as to their varying outcomes and benefits. There has, however, been little attempt to empirically measure the relationship between this institutional diversity and outcomes. Applying institutional theory to a national CLT dataset, we identify five main organizational sub-types of CLT: traditional CLTs, start-up CLTs, government-housed CLTs, nonprofits with a CLT/shared equity (SE) program, and adapted CLTs. Statistical tests confirm a high degree of similarity in operational scope, organizational capacity, and performance outcomes across the most prominent sub-types. The limited statistical differences which can be identified are consistent with known CLT and urban institutional development processes. Further studies might seek to determine how consequential such limited differences may be.

INTEGRATING ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT (ERM): STRATEGIES, CHALLENGES, AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS

Implementing Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is pivotal for organizations striving to navigate and excel within increasingly complex and volatile business environments. This paper explores the core principles of ERM and underscores its crucial role in achieving organizational objectives by enhancing decision-making, risk awareness, and resilience. It highlights the benefits and challenges of ERM implementation, with a strong emphasis on the empowering role of leadership in this process. It also emphasizes the necessity for strategic resource allocation, and effective integration into organizational processes. Additionally, the paper examines key factors that contribute to the success of an ERM program, such as adaptability and continuous improvement. Through real-world case studies, the paper illustrates how successful ERM implementation can significantly benefit organizations, demonstrating quantifiable improvements in operational performance and strategic outcomes. These discussions aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the importance of ERM in modern business practices, advocating for its widespread adoption and continuous evolution to meet emerging business challenges.

A Proof-of-Concept Model for Implementing a "Smart-NICU" to Improve Infant Mortality.

Low- and middle-income countries face limited critical care capacity due to constraints in staffing, resources, and technology. "Smart ICUs" that integrate telehealth to augment care delivery, communication, and data integration have the potential to bridge these gaps and reduce preventable morbidity and mortality. While their efficacy has been well validated in adult populations, applications of Smart-ICU services in the neonatal population have not been studied. Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in India using a common Smart-NICU platform, developed by CloudPhysician, utilize a hub-and-spokes framework along with locally designed technology to facilitate remote patient care in collaboration with local health systems. In this article, we investigate the operational characteristics and performance outcomes for Smart-NICU deployment from the 18 NICUs and 214 beds deployed to date. These findings highlight the potential impact of Smart-NICUs and establish generalizable principles for implementation in low-resource settings.

Assessing Operational Performance Outcomes in Rural Entrepreneurship

Despite the popularity of businesses in rural environments, research on rural entrepreneurship is still sparse. Little is known about the operational performance of new rural ventures, which is a fundamental aspect for the competitiveness of any business. This research evaluates operational performance outcomes in rural entrepreneurship - Delivery, Flexibility, Production Cost, Product Quality. The results show that the ventures have a high performance in delivery and product quality, and medium performance in flexibility and cost of production. These findings can be useful to rural entrepreneurs and policy makers to improve operational performance and competitiveness. This article sheds light on the understanding of operational performance in rural entrepreneurship and provides valuable findings that can direct future research.

Equipment cost efficiency: A comprehensive metric for evaluating operational and financial performance in manufacturing

This paper introduces the concept of Equipment Cost Efficiency (ECE) as a comprehensive metric for evaluating the operational and financial performance of manufacturing equipment. In contrast to the traditional approach of assessing equipment using Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), the ECE considers the costs associated with non-productive added activities, providing a robust benchmark for comparison and facilitating targeted improvement initiatives. A practical case study illustrates the real-world application of the ECE in assessing equipment criticality and strategically planning improvement actions, highlighting its effectiveness in optimizing both operational performance and financial outcomes. By adopting the ECE, practitioners can significantly enhance operational efficiency and realize tangible financial benefits, thereby making it a valuable metric for identifying areas in need of improvement and maximizing the return on investment for manufacturing equipment.

Symbiotic association of resources and market-facing capabilities in supply chains as determinants of performance: a resource orchestration perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of resource orchestration in inter-firm partnerships that appropriately configure and align strategic cross-firm supply chain resources and capabilities generating synergies to deliver superior performance.Design/methodology/approachApplying the resource orchestration logic, supported by the relational view of competitive advantage, the study draws from an empirical analysis of survey data from 152 top-level executives of US manufacturing firms to investigate the effect of leveraging and coherently combining cross-firm supply chain resources with capabilities on operational performance.FindingsThe study underscores the view that appropriately orchestrated combinations of key partnership resources and capabilities as mechanisms for marketing strategy implementation, enhance performance. Specifically, research results suggest that complementary inter-firm resources and lean align, and similarly idiosyncratic resources and agility align synergistically to deliver superior operational performance outcomes. The results also accent partnership responses to intense competition, enabling enhanced operational performance. The findings thus enrich the understanding of the resource orchestration logic and strategy, making important theoretical contributions.Research limitations/implicationsAs is typical in marketing and strategy research, the study research design has a cross-sectional framework, thus limiting insights on the resource orchestration dynamics that can otherwise be generated using a longitudinal design. Also, the resource orchestration stream is still nascent. Further research is needed to delineate the orchestration mechanisms that deliver on performance outcomes, especially in supply chains.Practical implicationsA key insight for supply chain and marketing managers is that close-knit inter-firm partnerships are critical for accessing idiosyncratic and complementary resources that can be configured and symbiotically aligned with market-facing agility and lean capabilities, respectively, to deliver market value. Proactive partnerships, especially in highly competitive and disruptive environments, enable mobilizing cross-firm resources and building appropriate matching combinations with capabilities to deliver on operational performance.Originality/valueThe study, guided by theory, advances the understanding of how key cross-firm resources and capabilities deliver performance gains. The key to competitive advantage and enhanced performance outcomes may lie in acquiring, leveraging and deploying appropriately matched resource-capability combinations. The present study investigates this proposition within the context of supply chain partnerships, focusing on cross-firm resources and capabilities.

Assessing to what extent smart manufacturing builds on lean principles

This study explores to what extent the adoption and performance of smart manufacturing technologies builds on the adoption of lean principles. Primary explorative survey data on the level of adoption of smart manufacturing technologies and lean principles and various operational performance outcomes were collected from a set of Dutch manufacturers and analysed using Cluster Analysis, ANOVA, and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA). The Cluster Analysis shows that while lean is also applied without smart (“lean-only” companies), smart technologies are mostly applied in conjunction with lean (“lean and smart” companies), suggesting that the presence of lean principles is necessary for smart implementation. A third group of companies shows a low use of lean and smart (“non-adopters”). The NCAs further specify the extent of this necessity by showing that all individual smart manufacturing technologies used in our construct require presence of lean principles, with MES systems having the strongest dependency. Performance wise, lean-only and lean and smart companies have comparable superior performance compared to non-adopters when considering an aggregate operational performance measure using the dimensions of quality, delivery, flexibility and cost. When analysed separately, the aggregate level results remain true for quality and delivery performance. However, for flexibility, the superiority of lean-only companies is more apparent, while for cost, lean and smart companies are superior. This shows that implementing smart requires lean, but lean may suffice depending on the specific performance objectives strived for.

Industrija 4.0 - ograničenje ili korist za uspeh?

The fourth industrial revolution is a significant driving force framing companies' digital, social, and economic needs. This concept considerably influences the outcomes of businesses by increasing cost-effectiveness, quality, and effectiveness. However, studies on performance outcomes of Industry 4.0 in Serbia are still scarce. The available literature mainly deals with papers that observe Industry 4.0 from only one point of view, most often positive or negative effects on business success. A literature gap was observed that would fulfil the observed Industry 4.0 from two opposite aspects, positive or negative. To overcome the literature gap, this paper aims to observe if Industry 4.0 is perceived as facilitating or limiting for business success. The study provides a more objective approach to observing and decision-making in Industry 4.0 acceptance. To support this contribution, the paper provide a deeper analysis of the factors that impact the financial, operational, and strategic performance outcomes associated with Industry 4.0. Considered factors are attitude toward digitalization, limitations of digitalization, and expected benefits of digitalization. The results gathered through 134 valid questionnaires are evaluated using Structural Equation Model. These results show that all relationships and impacts are confirmed except the influence of internal limitations on performance outcomes. These findings are encouraging for companies wanting to transfer to Industry 4.0.

Operational Changes and Performance Outcomes: Analysis on Hotels of Five Asia–Pacific Countries

COVID-19 pandemic has affected many businesses from all around the globe and one of them is the hospitality segment. Because of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions on travel, many hotels from all around the globe have suffered huge losses. After the COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed, hotels started opening the door for tourists with various precautionary measures. As the hospitality segment tries to recover from the setback due to COVID-19, this study explores the steps or strategies taken by hotels from five countries (China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and Thailand) in the Asia–Pacific region to attract tourists and improve their operations in the post-COVID era. For this study, the strategies undertaken and the customer reviews pertaining to 100 hotels from each of these five countries were considered. A mixed-method approach is used to analyze the effectiveness of the operations undertaken by the hotels. The study concludes with implications and future directions.

Digital Transformation of Industrial Organizations: Toward an Integrated Framework

ABSTRACT Industrial organizations are responding to new risks and opportunities originating from exponentially growing and disruptive digital technologies, by taking company-wide digital transformation initiatives. However, the key enablers of such digital transformation initiatives that facilitate operational performance outcomes in industrial organizations demand further investigation. Therefore, drawing on the sociotechnical system theory (STS), the objective of this study is to explore the digital transformation enablers and their impact on performance outcomes. Research data was collected from four leading industrial organizations that engaged in digital transformation programmes. Our results indicate that leadership, structures, and culture are the key enablers of digital transformation that help industrial organizations to achieve performance outcomes (i.e. collaboration, customer-centricity, and agility). By providing an empirically grounded integrated framework with future research propositions, this study contributes to the existing literature on digital transformation and sociotechnical system theory. MAD statement This article aims to make a difference by exploring industrial digital transformation in order to identify the key enablers and performance outcomes. We highlight the need for alignment and joint optimization of social and technical systems to effectively capitalize on the digital transformation initiatives. Moreover, we call for urgent attention to the development of leaders, as well as the further identification of supportive digital transformation leadership competencies. Competent leaders assume a central role in correcting outdated and invalid assumptions, conceptualizing new ideas, and reinforcing cultural values. Furthermore, we elaborate the necessity of cultural transformation in industrial organizations for impactful digital transformation. Lastly, our findings confirm the significance of organizational structure in digital transformation and simultaneously warn that too little is happening.

Performance effects of entrepreneurial orientation, strategic intent and absorptive capacity within coopetitive relationships

PurposeWhile the significance of organizational resources and capabilities is widely discussed, little is known about their interrelationships as well as benefits for firms that are involved in coopetitive relationships. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance effects of entrepreneurial orientation, strategic intent and potential absorptive capacity as well as their complementarity effects on operational and innovation performance for firms involved in horizontal coopetitive relationships.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon the resource-based-view, dynamic capabilities and the relational view theories, this study forwards numerous hypotheses between the constructs of interest. The proposed hypotheses are tested utilizing survey data collected from 313 horizontal coopetitive relationships.FindingsThe results clearly suggest that entrepreneurial orientation, strategic intent and potential absorptive capacity could positively impact innovation and operational performance outcomes independently. In addition, the authors also find strategic intent and potential absorptive capacity to have differential moderating effects on the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation and the performance outcomes.Originality/valueThe findings suggest that although strategic intent and potential absorptive capacity could lead to performance benefits independently, when it comes to coopetitive relationships, the use of both these capabilities may not substantially increase the positive impact of entrepreneurial orientation on performance outcomes. Specifically, given that these capabilities could intensify competitiveness as well as hostility between partners, they seem to affect the firm's performance differently.

Exploring the effect of buyer engagement on green product innovation: Empirical evidence from manufacturers

AbstractIn this study, we are interested in how export firms organize knowledge management and increase product innovation performance. Prior studies have concluded that knowledge transfer from external actors leads to operational performance outcomes; others have questioned the positive influence of buyer‐driven knowledge transfer activities on innovation performance. Drawing on absorptive capacity, we aim to offer a better understanding, how export firms as recipients of knowledge resources, organize their internal capabilities in order to realize firm‐level product innovation. This empirical study examines the interplay of buyer‐driven knowledge activities, resource acquisition and combining, and product innovation outcomes in the context of Pakistani export firms. Drawing on survey data from 239 export‐manufacturing firms, we test hypotheses using structural equation modeling. Our findings show that buyer‐driven knowledge transfer activities play a crucial role in enhancing export firms in absorbing and combining resources that lead to product innovation. The pragmatic suggestion of the research suggests that managers look closely at developing a culture of involvement with their buyers that promotes the development of knowledge resources. The results of this study have research, policy, and managerial implications.

More than Just the Market: How Changes in Pay Policy Affect Organizations’ Performance Outcomes

In this study, we propose a new theoretical framework integrating economic perspectives with psychological theories and the human capital emergence model to investigate the unique nature and dynamic function of pay level change over time above and beyond the static effect of pay level on organizations’ operational and financial performance outcomes. Analyzing the longitudinal sample of nurses from 227 hospitals over 13 years, we show that the extent to which pay level changes entail unique effects on organizations’ performance outcomes after controlling for the absolute pay level. In so doing, we extend the existing theory from static view of economic perspectives to the dynamic view of pay level changes over time at the firm level. Moreover, we use the latent change score models as a new analytical approach in compensation research to systematically examine the dynamic effects of pay level changes above and beyond the absolute pay level on both operational and financial outcomes. The results of our research provide important managerial implications for the effective design and implementation of a firm’s pay policy over time while offering directions for future research to examine the dynamic effects of changes in other components of compensation systems.

Innovation in Performing Arts Organizations: An Empirical Study

This study aims to expand the Operations Management field’s discourse to recognize the idiosyncrasies of not-for-profit performing arts organizations (PAOs) and how they can survive and achieve their ultimate goal, i.e. providing products/services to improve and benefit a community and the broad public interests. In doing so, we consider innovation as a strategic weapon in addressing PAOs' increasing need for improvement in their operating structures and performance outcomes. Particularly, we determine the drivers of innovation in today’s PAOs and explore how innovation in both products and services can affect their financial, artistic, and social performance. Drawing on the theory of dynamic capabilities and based on a systematic literature review, four major internal capabilities are identified that can enhance PAOs' level of product and service innovations: Environmental Intelligence, Internal Integration, Core Operational Capability, and External Partnerships and Collaborations. A survey targeting top managers from a random sample of North American orchestras is conducted to empirically validate our conceptualization of the PAO Innovation and examine the proposed conceptual model. The results indicated that every capability significantly enhanced at least two innovation dimensions. Moreover, product and delivery innovations were positively influential on artistic performance and ultimately, financial performance.

Disentangling resilience, agility and leanness

PurposeRegarding today’s volatile and turbulent markets accompanied by natural disasters and political upheavals, being resilient has become crucially important for many firms. It is widely accepted that the firm’s operations need to be cost efficient as well as customer responsive. Lean and agile have been proven to be pertinent strategies toward efficiency and responsiveness. But the operations also need to be resilient against disruptions to quickly return to their original state or even a better one. While the question of how leanness and agility impact operational performance outcomes has been researched, the question of how resilience can boost operational performance outcomes is yet to be investigated. The purpose of this paper is to show how resilience is distinguished from leanness and agility. It then examines the impact of resilience, along with leanness and agility, on operational performance outcomes.Design/methodology/approachA structural model is drawn up based on the literature to relate lean, agile and resilient practices to performance outcomes. Leanness, agility and resilience are measured through bundles of practices and operational performance outcomes are measured in terms of cost, quality, delivery, flexibility and time to recovery. The model is tested using SPSS 19 and AMOS 19 based on the data collected via survey from a sample of 151 automotive parts suppliers.FindingsThe results show that a higher level of resilience will lead to a better performance in terms of delivery, cost and time to recovery, while it does not have a significant impact on flexibility performance. Regarding leanness, the results confirm that lean operations positively affect cost, delivery and flexibility performances. The results also reject the hypothesis stating that higher level of leanness will lead to worse recovery performance, inferring that higher level of leanness leads to better time to recovery performance (i.e. helps time to recovery reduction).Originality/valueThe present research emphasizes the importance of operations resilience and demonstrates its contribution, alongside leanness and agility, to operational performance. The developed structural model contributes to the nascent theories around resilience, and the use of empirical data makes the results valuable practically. This may inform operations strategy decisions in terms of the results expected from resilience, leanness and agility.

Advancing human resource management scholarship through multilevel modeling

HRM systems are an organization-level construct that affect outcomes at the firm, unit, and individual levels of analysis. The multilevel nature of the field creates a need for both theoretical and empirical modeling that cuts across levels to effectively understand the linkages between HRM systems and various operational and financial performance outcomes. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression which is designed to analyze the same level of data is not suited for analyzing such hierarchal data. Multilevel modeling accounts for variance among variables at different levels; dealing with sources of errors more rigorously than OLS. Multilevel structural equation modeling separately estimates between and within effects, takes into account measurement errors and allows for criterion variables that are situated at higher levels. Thus, multilevel modeling significantly advances HRM research by more accurately predicting HRM effects and estimating complex HRM models. The articles included in this collection demonstrate the value and application of multilevel modeling, both theoretically and empirically, to HRM research.

The performance of contingencies of supply chain information integration: The roles of product and market complexity

Although information integration is generally considered beneficial for supply chain management, the performance of supply chain information integration is found with mixed results in both practices and the extant literature. Based on the organizational information processing theory, this study aims to show how the contextual factors pertaining to product and market complexity moderate the relationship of supply chain information integration with financial and operational performance outcomes. Using survey data collected from 188 wholesale trading firms, we found that the extent to which supply chain information integration has a positive impact on business performance is contingent on the level of product and market complexity. Specifically, supply chain information integration facilitates greater performance improvements when it serves less complex products or is operated under a highly complex market environment. The study findings provide insights to managers and advance theoretical development by providing empirical evidence that supply chain information integration is helpful for mitigating uncertainties in supply chain management and the performance contingencies of such integration on the two contextual factors.

A nuanced view on supply chain integration: a coordinative and collaborative approach to operational and sustainability performance improvement

Purpose – This paper aims to report the results of an empirical study examining the operational, environmental and social sustainability performance impact of supply chain integration (SCI) width and depth in the form of coordinative and collaborative SCI. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was sent to operations managers located in India. The data collection effort was part of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey. Following the approaches by Frohlich and Westbrook (2001) and Schoenherr and Swink (2012), cluster analysis and analysis of covariance methods were conducted. Findings – This study supports previous studies proposing that wider SCI including customers and suppliers positively impact on performance. The authors also shed light on previous contradictory results, illustrating that different level of SCI depth (i.e. coordinative and collaborative practices) lead to different operational and sustainability performance outcomes. Thus, challenging the view of the general SCI-performance improvement hypothesis. Originality/value – Although research on SCI has advanced over the past years, there is still controversy about the SCI–performance relationship. Through considering SCI depth in terms of coordinative and collaborative practices, the authors provide a more nuanced view on its potential performance benefits. Therefore, this paper will be beneficial for supply chain managers considering SCI and future supply chain management research.

Strategic orientation and dual innovative operation strategies

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to address a key but neglected area of research in operation and strategy that is the association between strategic orientation of the firm and its innovation emphasis on the current and future operation initiatives. Second, to explore and examine respective performance implications of these two kinds of operation strategies.Design/methodology/approach– Data from a carefully designed and conducted survey of Malaysia manufacturing SMEs were analysed using a structural equation modelling approach.Findings– Findings suggest that strategic innovation is strongly associated with both types of innovative operation strategies and they bring about different operational and market performance outcomes for the firm. This sheds light on a new framework for understanding the strategic architecture of innovation in operation strategies.Research limitations/implications– This study was limited to the small manufacturing firms in Malaysia. As a result, to assess its generalizability it can be replicated in other sectors and also other countries.Practical implications– Several managerial implications emanate from this research. Most notably is the notion that strategic orientation is a key antecedent of innovation in operation strategies and in particular, it affects both current and future related innovative initiatives. This indicates that executives of manufacturing firms must align their innovative moves with their strategic mind-set to achieve their desired outcomes both operationally and financially.Originality/value– To the best of knowledge of the author and based on a comprehensive review of past research, this study is original in two ways: first it is the first research that links strategic orientation with dual innovative operation strategies and second it is the first attempt to investigate respective operational and financial outcomes of these associations separately. This framework adds new insights and original value to several bodies of knowledge.

Did reverse logistics practices hit the triple bottom line of Chinese manufacturers?

Reverse logistics (RL) practices represent an important and emerging trend in China's manufacturing practices. An increasing number of Chinese manufacturers have integrated RL practices in their operations to develop sustainable competitive advantage. There are six broad aspects of practicing RL which include waste management, recycling, reuse, reprocessing, materials recovery, and design for RL. The literature remains unclear, in particular Chinese manufacturing context, as to how these RL practices are related to organizational bottom line with respect to operational, financial, and social performance outcomes. Using survey data collected from Chinese export-oriented manufacturers, we applied seemingly unrelated regressions to determine if these six RL practices contribute to these three performance parameters simultaneously. The theory of production frontier is used to characterize the RL practices adoption and the performance implications. Our results indicate that the adoption of RL practices by Chinese manufacturers generates substantial environmental and financial gains, but not social benefits. This study extends the frontier of managerial knowledge for Chinese manufacturers by highlighting the emerging trends in RL practices and providing evidence on the business value of adopting RL practices.