Supplier Relationships Research Articles

The role of top management meetings in enhancing product innovation and performance

Top management meetings enable the positive flow of knowledge and building of key relationships within the company and its suppliers. This study draws on open innovation and upper echelons theories to analyze the effects of top management meetings on open innovation instruments, product innovation and sales performance. We use partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis to perform the path analysis of the hypothesized effects of top management meetings using data of 1,523 firms across 11 European countries. The results support the hypotheses that declare that top management meetings with suppliers positively influence product innovation while the effects of top management team meetings on product innovation remain negative. Surprisingly, the hypothesis that top management meetings with suppliers positively affect firm sales performance was not confirmed. Additionally, our efforts support the critical role of buyer–supplier relationships for innovation activities, primarily for services rather than manufacturing industries.

The Hydraulic Connection Analysis of Dongying Geothermal Fluid Using Hydrochemical Information and Isotope Data in Tianjin Coastal Regions

Dongying’s Paleogene geothermal resources are an important part of the geothermal resources of the Tianjin coastal region. The extent of the geothermal fluid resources and the supply relationship have become increasingly important, and will determine whether demand targets can be met. Dongying’s Paleogene formation in the Tianjin coastal regions is widely distributed to the east of the Cangdong fracture, but it is absent west of the Cangdong fracture. On the basis of introducing the geological characteristics and depositional characteristics of the Dongying formation, we analyzed the hydraulic conductivity of the Cangdong fracture to the Dongying formation geothermal reservoir from the aspects of geological condition, dynamic of groundwater level and hydrologic geochemistry. Based on the hydrochemical information and the isotope data gained during the water quality evaluation and isotope data analysis process, we discovered the main chemical composition, hydrogen and oxygen isotope data and geothermal fluid age are significantly different between the Dongying formation geothermal reservoir and the overlying and underlying geothermal reservoirs. It is inferred that the hydraulic conductivity of the Cangdong fracture to the Dongying formation geothermal reservoir in this area is weak, and along the Haihe fracture, where the Haihe fracture intersects with the Cangdong fracture, there is a certain hydraulic conductivity. In addition, there is no obvious hydraulic connection between the Dongying formation and the upper and lower geothermal reservoirs.

Rational Choice Theory and Taste of Japanese Popular Culture in Motivation of PMI to Enter Japan's Global Labor Market

<em>Developed countries as the axis of world industrialization attract developing countries with young demographic conditions to participate in the global labor market. According to the ILO's World Employment and Social Outlook-Trends 2019, the participation of the youth workforce has decreased. Besides being faced with an aging population, Japan also has a shortage of workers in the middle and low-skilled sectors. Meanwhile, Indonesia has the potential to experience a demographic bonus. The TITP / Kenshusei scheme is a realization of the labor demand and supply relationship. Rational Choice Theory by Coleman focuses on the rational actions of individuals in making decisions to achieve goals, with the calculation of benefits. According to Sonja Haug, indicators of capital and cultural capital influence the decision-making of migrant workers to migrate. In Futaba, workers from developing countries in Japan describe a relationship of mutual need. The state rationally forms a labor mobility policy in the era of the global labor market. Futaba then found that most participants drive-by economic needs and limited employment opportunities in their home countries. Based on the three indicators, career orientation and financial adequacy are the main factors besides the popularity of Japanese culture. Institutionally, the role of the family is the motivation for migration to meet financial needs at the beginning of a career. There is a process of adopting a lifestyle to the way of interaction and cultural habits of Japanese society. Herewith Japanese popular culture such as; the film, anime, manga, and game industries have contributed to the motivation of migrant workers to Japan.</em>

Great Chinese famine, corporate social responsibility and firm value

We conceptualize that CEOs who endure traumatic experiences stemming from man-made disasters practice less corporate social responsibility. We exploit a natural experiment—the Great Chinese Famine—to empirically test this hypothesis. We find that (i) firms with CEOs who experienced the Great Chinese Famine score lower in corporate social responsibility ratings than a comparison group; (ii) this relationship is mainly driven by prosocial practices tied to employee relations, environmental protection, supplier relations, and community contributions; and (iii) this negative relationship is more pronounced in firms whose CEOs were younger when they experienced the famine, (iv) the positive relationship between CSR scores and firm value is more pronounced in firms with CEO without famine experiences. These results are robust in the face of several sources of endogeneity. Our study contributes to ongoing research regarding how top executives' early experiences affect their managerial decisions. It also enriches work surrounding corporate social responsibility and the plausibly exogenous determinants of prosocial preferences.

Analysis of the Factors Affecting the Price Fluctuation of Bitcoin

According to the monetary theory, this paper believes that the demand for Bitcoin mainly includes two aspects: transaction demand and investment demand. This paper further discusses the impact of different demands on the price of Bitcoin based on two aspects of demand. Transaction demand and investment demand together affect the supply and demand relationship of the Bitcoin market. The empirical results show that the volatility of Bitcoin price is higher than that of international currencies and stocks as investment tools. This article emphasizes that the price of Bitcoin is primarily affected by supply and demand.

Understanding the Impact of Digitalization on Buyer Supplier Relationship: A Qualitative Approach

Understanding the Impact of Digitalization on Buyer Supplier Relationship: A Qualitative Approach

Hard dimensions evaluation in sustainable supply chain management for environmentally adaptive and mitigated adverse eco‐effect environmental policies

AbstractIn the oil and gas industry, adopting policies that can reduce the negative environmental effect is vital. Environmentally Sustainable Supply Chain Management (ESSCM) is an approach to carrying out Supply Chain Management (SCM) in an eco‐friendly manner and according to environmental requirements. There are different environmental policies that companies can apply based on their resource availability. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the impact of hard dimensions on Environmentally Adaptive (EA) and Mitigated Adverse Eco‐Effect (MAE) policies in the oil and gas industry. To rank the data, Bayesian Best‐Worst Method (BWM) and Ordinal Priority Approach (OPA) have been applied. Cause‐and‐effect relationships are then calculated by employing the Decision‐Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) technique. The results indicate that the ranking of the hard dimensions varies based on the companies' business policies and their new product/technology development projects. In other words, the findings of this research demonstrate that ‘innovation’ is the crucial dimension in companies that are focussed on developing eco‐friendly products while ‘technologies for cleaner production’ is the most important dimension in the companies attempting to reduce destructive consequences on the environment. In both types of the company policies, ‘lean manufacturing’, ‘total quality management’, and ‘institutional pressures’ are the key dimensions for a successful implementation of ESSCM while the least important dimensions include ‘supplier relationship management’, ‘green purchasing’, and ‘green logistics’. The findings of this research can assist the decision‐makers in the oil and gas sector in prioritising and identifying the interrelationship of the dimensions that significantly impact the ESSCM.

Pricing Multi-Asset Bermudan Commodity Options with Stochastic Volatility Using Neural Networks

It has been recognized that volatility in commodity markets fluctuates significantly depending on the demand–supply relationship and geopolitical risk, and that risk and financial management using multivariate derivatives are becoming more important. This study illustrates an application of multi-layered neural networks for multi-dimensional Bermudan option pricing problems assuming a multi-asset stochastic volatility model in commodity markets. In addition, we aim to identify continuation value functions for these option pricing problems by implementing smooth activation functions in the neural networks and evaluating their accuracy compared with other activation functions or regression techniques. First, we express the underlying asset dynamics using the multi-asset stochastic volatility model with mean reversion properties in the commodity market and formulate the multivariate Bermudan commodity option pricing problem. Subsequently, we apply multi-layer perceptrons in the neural network to represent the continuation value functions of Bermudan commodity options, wherein the entire neural network is trained using the least-squares Monte Carlo simulation method. Finally, we perform numerical experiments and demonstrate that applications of neural networks for Bermudan options in a multi-dimensional commodity market achieve sufficient accuracy with regard to various aspects, including changing the exercise dates, the number of layers/neurons, and the dimension of the problem.

How to not lose oneself: the case for relational identity in collaborative supply relationships

PurposeFor a long time, researchers have stressed the importance of identity for collaborative supply relationships. Accordingly, it has been proposed that supply relationships may be efficiently managed by establishing a shared collective identity among partners. However, this strategy may challenge the partners' individual distinctiveness and thus lead to adversarial relationship outcomes. In this article, it is argued how and when establishing an intergroup relational identity may be a better choice than building a collective identity.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual research is based on an analysis of previous literature. Relational identity theorizing and the theory of intergroup leadership are applied to build on and extend previous views on identity in interorganizational contexts.FindingsIt is proposed that when supply chain actors are subject to identity threats in collaborative supply relationships, such threats are driven by the imbalance of power between or among the parties. Therefore, establishing an intergroup relational identity should be preferred over a collective identity in situations characterized by a high identity threat.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies could support this article's theoretical suggestions with empirical evidence.Practical implicationsIntergroup relational identity preserves the distinctiveness of all parties involved in a collaborative relationship and is based on their individual contributions. Managers could support a collaborative environment and promote a shared vision between or among organizations through appropriate rhetoric.Originality/valueThis study contributes to an understanding of the relational aspects of interorganizational behavior by adapting social psychological theories to this area of research.

Tissue-growth-based synthetic tree generation and perfusion simulation

Biological tissues receive oxygen and nutrients from blood vessels by developing an indispensable supply and demand relationship with the blood vessels. We implemented a synthetic tree generation algorithm by considering the interactions between the tissues and blood vessels. We first segment major arteries using medical image data and synthetic trees are generated originating from these segmented arteries. They grow into extensive networks of small vessels to fill the supplied tissues and satisfy the metabolic demand of them. Further, the algorithm is optimized to be executed in parallel without affecting the generated tree volumes. The generated vascular trees are used to simulate blood perfusion in the tissues by performing multiscale blood flow simulations. One-dimensional blood flow equations were used to solve for blood flow and pressure in the generated vascular trees and Darcy flow equations were solved for blood perfusion in the tissues using a porous model assumption. Both equations are coupled at terminal segments explicitly. The proposed methods were applied to idealized models with different tree resolutions and metabolic demands for validation. The methods demonstrated that realistic synthetic trees were generated with significantly less computational expense compared to that of a constrained constructive optimization method. The methods were then applied to cerebrovascular arteries supplying a human brain and coronary arteries supplying the left and right ventricles to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed methods. The proposed methods can be utilized to quantify tissue perfusion and predict areas prone to ischemia in patient-specific geometries.

Supplier transaction, TMT characteristics, and the persistence of earnings: do their relationship contribute towards sustainable performance of Chinese listed manufacturing sector firms?

The construction of supplier transaction is one of the strategic choices of many firms. However, the impact of business strategies on the persistence of earnings remains to be further investigated. The innovation of this paper lies in interpreting the impact of supplier transaction on earnings persistence from the perspective of characteristics of the top management team (TMT). We consider Chinese listed manufacturing firms from 2012 to 2019 to examine the relationship between the supplier transaction and the persistence of earnings. Statistical results show that supplier transaction characteristics of the TMT have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between the supplier transaction and the persistence of earnings. This implies that the behavior of TMT can be vital to the firm in maintaining sustainable performance. The higher age level or longer average tenure of TMT can significantly improve the positive effect of the supplier transaction tenure heterogeneity of TMT that will significantly improve the negative effect. This paper expands the literature on supplier relationship, and corporate earnings from a new perspective that improves the empirical evidence of the upper echelons theory, and also provides evidence support for the construction of supplier relationship and TMT.

Can Global Sourcing Strategy Predict Stock Returns?

Problem definition: Whereas firms are increasingly relying on sourcing globally as a key constituent of their supply chain strategy, there is no empirical evidence on whether investors of these firms adequately reflect firms’ global sourcing strategy (GSS) in their stock-valuation process. In this paper, we empirically test whether stock market participants are efficient in doing so. Methodology/results: Using the empirical asset-pricing framework, we find that information concerning firms’ GSS strongly predicts their future stock returns. We compile a transaction-level imports database for U.S.-listed firms and construct measures for five widely studied GSS aspects in the operations management literature: the extent of global sourcing, supplier relationship strength, supplier concentration, sourcing lead time, and sourcing countries’ logistical efficiency. For each measure, we examine returns of a zero-cost investment strategy of buying from the highest and selling from the lowest quintile of that measure. Collectively, these investment strategies yield an average annual four-factor alpha of 6%–9.6% (6%–13.9%) with value (equal)-weighted portfolios. Their return predictability is incremental over other operations- and cost arbitrage–motivated predictors, such as inventory turnover, cash conversion cycle, and gross profitability; is persistent across different supply chain positions; and is robust to alternate risk models, subsamples, and empirical specifications. Together, our results indicate that the GSS measures embody independent information about firms’ future profitability, and this information is mispriced by market participants, leading to predictable returns. In accordance with this mechanism, we find that the GSS measures strongly predict both firms’ future earnings and the surprise in market reactions around the earnings announcement days. Managerial implications: The robust return predictability of our GSS measures suggests that investors are not fully incorporating GSS-related information in their stock valuation frameworks. Therefore, our results call for greater investor education on global sourcing and better dissemination of global-sourcing information so as to mitigate valuation inefficiency. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2023.1189 .

US power sector carbon capture and storage under the Inflation Reduction Act could be costly with limited or negative abatement potential

The United States’ (US) largest-ever investment in expected climate mitigation, through 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), relies heavily on subsidies. One major subsidy, the 45Q tax credit for carbon oxide sequestration, incentivizes emitters to maximize production and sequestration of carbon oxides, not abatement. Under IRA’s 45Q changes, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is expected to be profitable for coal- and natural gas-based electricity generator owners, particularly regulated utilities that earn a guaranteed rate of return on capital expenditures, despite being costlier than zero-carbon resources like wind or solar. This analysis explores investment decisions driven by profitability rather than system cost minimization, particularly where investments enhance existing assets with an incumbent workforce, existing supplier relationships, and internal knowledge-base. This analysis introduces a model and investigates six scenarios for lifespan extension and capacity factor changes to show that US CCS fossil power sector retrofits could demand $0.4–$3.6 trillion in 45Q tax credits to alter greenhouse gas emissions by −24% ($0.4 trillion) to +82% ($3.6 trillion) versus business-as-usual for affected generators. Particularly given long lead times, limited experience, and the potential for CCS projects to crowd or defer more effective alternatives, regulators should be extremely cautious about power sector CCS proposals.

The Role of Retail Information Link in MNF's Coordination of Profit and Social Welfare via Procurement Outsourcing

“Retail Link” initially developed by Walmart enables the tier-1 supply chain partners to access the sales big data, and hence achieve demand information sharing. Doing so helps improve supplier relationships, but the supplier can make better wholesale price decisions based on accurate demand information, which might hurt the profit of the multinational firm (MNF) such as Walmart. Therefore, it is observed that some MNFs outsource both procurement and logistics functions to a logistics service provider (LSP) for the benefits of “one-stop-shopping,” and meanwhile, cut the information link with the supplier. This significantly changes their decision interactions and the resulted social welfare. In this article, we build a co-opetition model and study an MNF's two typical outsourcing strategies, where the MNF either outsources the logistics or the bundled functions of procurement and logistics to an LSP. We find that, when the market demand uncertainty is low, the MNF prefers bundled outsourcing given its significant brand image advantage. When the market demand uncertainty is high, the MNF prefers bundled outsourcing regardless of its brand image advantage. Interestingly, when market demand uncertainty is moderate, the MNF prefers bundled outsourcing when its brand image advantage is either not significant or very significant. We further compare the social welfare levels under two outsourcing strategies and find that win–win situations in the senses of the MNF's profit and social welfare can be identified.

The Significance of Integration for Business Operations in Logistics and Supply Chain Management

This conceptual paper connects the logistical functions as they relate to important business processes to highlight thesignificance of integration in supply chain management (SCM). Business processes are frequently developed at the strategiclevel but are never precisely identified in SCM or logistics. Logistics and SCM are not directly related to demand management,customer relationship management (CRM), supplier relationship management (SRM), and customer service management(CSM). This essay identifies the literature that has discussed the value of integration and how business processes can beuseful when carrying out important logistics tasks in the context of supply chains.

Network Embeddedness and Leadership Style: Determinants of Crisis Response Behaviour

A nine month four wave mixed methods panel study of hotels in Hungary reveals that when facing a crisis situation like the pandemic, managers show on the one hand isomorphism in sharing the same topics, themes and underlying dimensions in their search for solutions to invoke resilience. However, more detailed policies show significant differences; leadership style and specific local network embeddedness explain this idiosyncratic behaviour. Anchoring control through adaptability in employment, operations, marketing and supplier relations secures financial and mental health. Flexibility and rapid decision making are essential; decentralised decision authority proves an advantage. Smaller hotels prove more flexibility; hotel chains offer financial security, but may also lead to closure. Applying Grounded theory, in total 47 interview results were analysed using Atlas. ti

Supplier Relationship Management and Performance of Fast Moving Consumer Goods Manufacturing Firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Supplier Relationship Management and Performance of Fast Moving Consumer Goods Manufacturing Firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Customizing governance mechanisms to reduce opportunism in buyer–supplier relationships in the digital economy

Digitalization benefits supply chains but also creates new challenges for buyer–supplier relationship governance. An imbalance of digitalization between exchange partners increases dependence, information asymmetry, and data leakage, which can result in a high risk of opportunism for the less digitalized firm. However, few studies have examined how to handle this opportunism in today's digital economy. Adopting a transaction cost economics perspective, we examined the customization of combinations of traditional governance instruments, including contracts, monitoring, communication, and relational norms, to efficiently combat opportunism. Applying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to data collected from 137 manufacturing firms, we identified five customized combinations of various governance mechanisms that effectively reduce opportunism between supply chain partners. However, transactional mechanisms alone offer the best empirical explanation for lowering perceived opportunism than a combination of relational and transactional mechanisms. This study contributes to the literature on supply chain relationship management in the digital economy and provides practical guidance to help firms establish an appropriate governance structure to mitigate opportunism.

Assessing the supply and demand linkage of cultural ecosystem services in a typical county-level city with protected areas in China

The construction of protected areas (PAs) is not only the most effective way to preserve biodiversity resources and the natural heritage, but also provides important cultural ecosystem services (CESs) for satisfying human psychological and spiritual needs and improving human well-being. Knowledge of CESs at the county level is vital for the bottom-up promotion of the overall work of China’s PAs. The assessment and mapping of the spatial pattern of CESs, and their supply and demand relationship in PAs and their surrounding areas, are of great significance for high-quality development planning at the county scale. In our study, we developed an integrated approach to mapping the supply and demand of CESs, and then integrated the SolVES model with social media comments to explore the matching relationship between CESs’ (aesthetic inspiration, education humanities, and recreation and ecotourism) supply and demand using Wuyishan City, China, with its abundant PAs, as a case study. The results showed that the supply of three types of CESs accounting for approximately 70% of the study area was greater than the demand, and thus these CESs have significant future development prospects. The distribution of the three high-supply CESs and tourist destinations showed roughly the same spatial patterns, in which the high-demand hot spots were identified in the south of Wuyishan City. And the total supply and demand levels inside the PAs were much greater than those outside. Therefore, clarifying the matching relationship between supply and demand of CESs at the county level is not only conducive to promoting the sustainable development of natural resources, but also provides a reference for the planning of county-level protection of PAs under each county’s jurisdiction.

Opportunism still remained alive: conditional limits of trust and contract in software projects

PurposeBased on a survey study of 138 software buyers in Turkey, this study examines conditional indirect effects of requirements uncertainty on supplier opportunism where buyer dependence, a proxy for relation-specific investments, undertakes a mediator role. The authors consider a two-level moderation effect of trust and contract in buyer–supplier relationships throughout the software project lifecycle.Design/methodology/approachA survey-based empirical study was conducted, and conditional process analyses were run using PROCESS macro in SPSS. The present study tests a two-stage moderated mediation model in which competence-based trust with a detailed contract setting moderates the mediational path from requirements uncertainty to buyer dependence.FindingsThe data obtained from the buyer side in the Turkish software industry showed that a relationship in which the buyer is structurally dependent begins at a high level of trust. On the other hand, the authors found that contractual rigidity fosters supplier opportunism ex-post in evolving process of the relationship.Originality/valueThis study contributes to project management literature by testing a two-level moderation effect of governance and the mediator role of buyer dependence in the relationship between requirements uncertainty and supplier opportunism. Moving differently from the previous studies, this study integrates contributions of both economic perspectives, such as resource dependence theory and transaction cost analysis, and relational perspectives into the information processing view.