Firms In Supply Chain Research Articles

The Impact and Challenges of Digital Transformation on Supply Chain Resilience in Physical Enterprises

Abstract: In the digital era, supply chain resilience (SCR) has become a key pillar of the real economy. Enterprises face various challenges, including cybersecurity threats, market volatility, technological change and changing global conditions. A strong SCR not only ensures continued business operations but also maintains market stability and consumer well-being. Digital transformation helps businesses anticipate market changes, optimize inventory management, improve operational efficiency, and assist in management decisions when necessary by providing unprecedented data transparency and real-time insights. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of digital transformation in the supply chains of physical firms globally through a literature review, to identify the factors influencing the resilience of digital transformation in the supply chains of physical firms, and to discover the barriers to digital transformation in the supply chains of physical firms. The study finds that the digital transformation of physical firms' supply chains is still in its infancy, and there are barriers at both managerial and physical levels. Solutions to address these barriers include enhancing employee training, correctly introducing appropriate digital technologies, and improving information security.

EU–China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment: The impact of firm supply chains on firm value

This research adopts an event study approach to investigate the impact of the European Union (EU)–China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) negotiations on firm value. We emphasise two typical events during the process, i.e. the preliminary agreement and the suspension of the CAI, which result in completely distinct patterns of policy uncertainty for the EU and China. Using data from Chinese listed firms, we find that the Chinese stock market reacts positively to the preliminary agreement of the CAI but negatively to its suspension. A firm with global supply chains has better stock returns when exposed to the first event but no significant heterogeneity under the second event. We also find that these effects vary depending on the overseas experience of the CEO, firm ownership type, and whether the firm is in a high-tech industry.

Pricing of medical services and channel selection strategies for pharmaceutical supply chain under the zero‐markup drug policy

AbstractThis paper studies the channel strategies of drug suppliers in the drug supply chain under the zero‐plus drug pricing policy. With the popularity of e‐commerce and online shopping, supply chain firms have begun considering expanding their business to online channels. In this paper, we construct a game model to explore the impact of the pharmaceutical supply chain's development of online channels on supply chain members. We conclude that under the zero profits policy, increasing the public hospital's public welfare level will increase the price of drugs, decrease the price of medical services, and reduce the overall cost of patients. In addition, the greater the sensitivity of medical services, the lower the likelihood that a drug supplier will open an online pharmacy, and the lower the level of public good, the greater the likelihood that a drug supplier will open an online pharmacy. In addition, under certain conditions, patients can receive a higher level of medical service and spend less on healthcare under a dual‐channel strategy. Finally, under a dual‐channel strategy, an appropriate profit‐sharing mechanism can eliminate instability in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Supplier Relationship Management and the Effectiveness of Firm's Supply Chain of Selected Manufacturing Firms in Port Harcourt

Supplier Relationship Management and the Effectiveness of Firm's Supply Chain of Selected Manufacturing Firms in Port Harcourt

Beneath the surface: discovering the fascinating factors shaping blue economy investment behaviour and paving the way for sustainable performance: an empirical study of the marine shipping firms in Egypt

ABSTRACT The blue economy investment behaviour has become highly important in the past decades as it relies on making positive investment decisions which lead to the development and growth of sustainability of every country. This paper contributes to the literature through the investigation of the drivers affecting blue economy investments, and the overall impact on the sustainability of the supply chain performance of marine shipping firms in Egypt. Egypt has a strategic geographic location with long coastlines along the Red, Mediterranean and Gulf of Aqaba seas, in addition to around 50 marine ports to which logistics firms have access to. Relying on the Technology, Organization, and Environment (TOE) theory and Appiah et al. (2023) model, this paper finds positive impacts of five factors – technological, organisational, environmental, cost spending and supply chain management on blue economy investment decisions in Egypt; however, it finds an insignificant impact of the regulatory factors on stimulating substantial investment. In addition, this paper finds an overall positive impact of blue economy investments on the sustainability of the supply chains of the Egyptian marine shipping firms. This paper suggests actions to be implemented by the Egyptian government to entirely switch to a blue economy to support the sustainability of its blue waters.

Taking advantage of the fire: Does firm performance feedback have a supply chain contagion effect?

The increased interconnection among supply chain participants brought about by globalization has made supply chain management more crucial than ever for gaining a competitive advantage. We examine how supply chain participants respond to feedback on firm performance, with a focus on the effect of contagion on bargaining power. When a company's performance is below expectations, suppliers and customers tend to increase their bargaining power and potentially take actions to safeguard their interests. This is attributed to the decline in the focal company's product market power, resulting from negative performance feedback. Contrarily, positive performance feedback does not cause significant changes in the bargaining power of supply chain firms. Moreover, we explore the role of other stakeholders, such as creditors and investors, in influencing supply chain negotiations. The distrust of other stakeholders leads to the further improvement of the bargaining power of supply chain companies. We analyze the motivation of supply chain stakeholders to improve their bargaining power under performance feedback and develop a complete causal chain and solution on how to enhance future performance prediction to lessen the increase in bargaining power of the supply chain. This paper is both a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge on the financial impacts of business stakeholder decision-making and a cautionary tale for companies that urgently need to cluster their supply chain activities.

Information security outsourcing strategies in the supply chain considering security externality

Information assets that complement each other capture the information security characteristics of supply chain firms. Supply chain firms usually outsource security services to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) to protect their information. Considering the security externality and information leakage risk in security outsourcing, this article investigates four security management scenarios faced by two supply chain firms. We try to answer whether both firms should outsource security to the same or different MSSPs. We find that no matter under which scenario, as the complementation degree increases, both firms and MSSPs decrease the security quality, and MSSPs offer a contract with lower compensation. We show that information leakage risk and security externality have different effects on the MSSP’s optimal strategy selections. Besides, the MSSP tends to serve both firms when the security externality is positive but prefers serving only one firm when the security externality is negative. Moreover, we find that the strategy that one firm outsources to an MSSP and its partner manages it in-house can be the optimal selection for the social planner but not the MSSP’s optimal strategy. We also extend the model and find that the results are robust to the situations of uncertain loss and asymmetric loss.

Strategies of Green Industrial Policy: How States Position Firms in Global Supply Chains

The resurgence of industrial policymaking—particularly for emerging low-carbon industries—challenges social science theories that expect such interventions from centralized states or suggest that different kinds of states specialize in various forms of innovation policy. Interventionist forms of industrial policy have made a comeback among liberal economies. Coordinated economies now make use of market-driven strategies. This paper argues that the new generation of industrial strategies is shaped by the industrial development challenges that policymakers face at the sectoral level. It proposes a new theoretical framework that distinguishes between the policy orientation (targeted or open-ended) and the central agents driving financial and technological decision-making (governments or firms). We show that the choice of strategy is shaped by the level of uncertainty and the position of the domestic industry in global supply chains, that is, whether global supply chains are emerging or mature and whether the domestic industry is an entrant or incumbent.

How Can Vietnamese Companies Benefit from Management Accounting Systems and Supply Chain Integration Under Business Environment Uncertainty?

We develop and test a moderated mediation model to explain how management accounting systems impact supply chain integration and firm performance, and how perceived environmental uncertainty influences these relationships. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the survey data from 158 supply chain firms in Vietnam. Results indicate that the use of management accounting systems increases the extent of supply chain integration, which in turn enhances firm performance. Furthermore, perceived environmental uncertainty moderates the positive associations between the use of management accounting systems, supply chain integration, and firm performance. This study makes several contributions to existing literature. First, it elucidates the role of supply chain integration in promoting partner integration in the Vietnamese context. Second, it reveals the performance implications of the interaction between management accounting systems and supply chain integration. Our findings have important implications for supply chain management because they emphasize the need to develop effective management accounting systems and supply chain integration strategies in the context of environmental uncertainty.

Research on operation mechanisms of shareholding supply chains considering retailers’ marketing efforts

PurposeMarketing is a hot topic, and the purpose of this study is to investigate how shareholding strategies can be applied to achieve strategic synergy between firms in vertical supply chains to improve retailers’ marketing efforts from a long-term perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis study constructs Stackelberg models to analyze the operating mechanisms of shareholding supply chains under forward, backward and cross-shareholding strategies. The authors analyze the effects of shareholding on prices, marketing efforts and profits, and explore the strategic preferences and outcomes of different supply chain members.FindingsForward/backward shareholding plays the same role as cross/nonshareholding in supply chains because the effect of the retailer’s shareholding is offset by the power status of the manufacturer, and the retailer can still profit when wholesale prices are higher than selling prices in certain cases. A manufacturer’s shareholding in a retailer can benefit consumers and improve marketing efforts by reducing retailers’ marketing costs, while a retailer’s shareholding in a manufacturer has no such effect. None of all shareholding strategies can coordinate the interests of all members; however, an effective rebate policy can resolve this problem.Originality/valueThe results reveal the operational mechanism of shareholding supply chains and provide reference values for managers who want to improve marketing efforts and economic performance using a shareholding strategy.

Impact of sustainable development goal orientation on supply chain collaboration and sustained competitive advantage: Evidence from the tea and coffee industry

According the Resource Based View (RBV) theory and the sustainable development goals (SDG) framework, this study investigates the structural relationships between sustainable development goals, supply chain collaboration, and sustained competitive advantage. Data were collected from a survey of 359 firms in Thailand's coffee and tea supply chains and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings show that partnership is the most influential aspect of the SDG, whereas resource sharing is the most influential aspect of supply chain collaboration. Findings also show that supply chain collaboration has more influence than capability to enhance sustained competitive advantage. This research sheds light on the linkage between sustainable development goals and supply chain collaboration and capability, which affects the firm's sustained competitive advantage.

Building digital technology and innovative lean management capabilities for enhancing operational performance: an empirical study

The study examines the direct effect of digital technology capability on innovative lean management capability and the indirect effect on operational performance. We considered continuous learning as a moderator, such that continuous learning could influence the relationships (i.e. digital technology capability and innovative lean management capability). We considered the overall satisfaction of employees as a moderator and empirically tested the relationships. The theoretical model was conceptualised by keeping the dynamic capability view in mind. The samples for the online survey were selected from food supply chain (FSC) firms. Hypothesis testing was performed and findings indicate that lower-order capabilities, such as adaptability, agility, and alignment capabilities, play a critical role in developing dynamic capability, that is, digital technology capability, which helps in achieving superior operational performance. However, innovative lean management capability plays a partial mediation role between digital technology capability and operational performance. A moderating role for continuous learning and overall satisfaction of employees was also supported. FSC firms should consider these factors to enhance operational performance in a dynamic business environment.

Information infrastructure construction and firm export performance in China

This paper examines the causal relationship between information infrastructure construction and firms’ export performance. Adopting the "Broadband China" strategy as a quasi-natural experiment, we conduct a difference-in-differences estimation to demonstrate that the implementation of information infrastructure construction is a significant contributor to firms' export performance, an effect that withstands extensive robustness tests. We identify three main channels through which information infrastructure construction promotes firms' export performance: facilitating digital transformation, expanding firm production scale, and enhancing firm supply chain management capabilities. Particularly, the export response to information infrastructure construction is stronger for manufacturing firms, high-tech firms, and those firms with abundant human capital. Given significant ongoing information infrastructure investment in many emerging countries, this result provides important new information on the impacts of information infrastructure construction on exports.

Blockchain applications and supply chain performance: evidence from Chinese firms

ABSTRACT As blockchain technology becomes increasingly prevalent in firms, it is worth exploring its impact on firms’ supply chain performance (SCP). Based on 13,230 research samples from 1,761 A-share listed firms collected from CNRDS between 2012 and 2019, this paper conducts an empirical study on how blockchain technology would affect the performance of supply chains. We divide our sample into two groups based on whether firms apply blockchain and conduct an empirical study using the difference-in-difference (DID) model. This study contributes to the literature by utilising quantitative methods and integrating blockchain with SCP. The results indicate that the application of blockchain technology can increase the performance of the supply chain represented by the cash-to-cash cycle. A series of robustness tests and the placebo test also support this conclusion. The improving effect of blockchain on the performance of firm supply chains is only significant in non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs), smaller firms, and non-manufacturing firms. Our study contributes to the continual development of theories about SCP, guiding firms to implement measures that unlock the full potential of blockchain to improve their SCP.

Green design strategies for sustainable supply chain considering channel leadership

We have observed from practice that to create new economic and environmental values, both the upstream and downstream firms in sustainable supply chain are motivated to invest in green design. Channel leadership as an important factor affecting the channel profit distribution will reshape the investment motivation of enterprises. In this paper, we construct six kinds of pricing and green design decision models to explore the optimal green design strategies for sustainable supply chain consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer under different channel leadership, and investigate the interaction between channel leadership and green design strategy, and their impacts on sustainable supply chain performance, environment and consumer surplus. We find that regardless of the channel leadership, the wholesale and retail prices of products under different green design strategies are always affected by the cost effect of green design. In terms of boosting the green design level and market demand, increasing the consumer surplus and enterprises profits, only when the manufacturer is the channel leader and the green design cost effect is small, the retailer can implement green design better. Moreover, when the manufacturer implements green design, the better channel structure between the retailer-led and Nash equilibrium game depends on the green design cost effect, but both are better than the manufacturer-led. However, when the retailer implements green design, the channel structure of Nash equilibrium game is always better. We finally illustrate that under different channel leadership, which green design strategy is more conducive to reducing the total environment impact of products depends on the joint effect of green design cost effect and green design environment effect.

Blockchain technology adoption for collaborative emission reduction considering carbon information asymmetry in supply chains

PurposeCollaborative emission reduction among supply chain members has emerged as a new trend to achieve climate neutrality goals and meet consumers’ low-carbon preferences. However, carbon information asymmetry and consumer mistrust represent significant obstacles. This paper investigates the value of blockchain technology (BCT) in solving the above issues.Design/methodology/approachA low-carbon supply chain consisting of one supplier and one manufacturer is examined. This study discusses three scenarios: non-adoption BCT, adoption BCT without sharing the supplier’s carbon emission reduction (CER) information and adoption BCT with sharing the supplier’s CER information. We analyze the optimal decisions of the supplier and the manufacturer through the Stackelberg game, identify the conditions in which the supplier and manufacturer adopt BCT and share information from the perspectives of economic and environmental performance.FindingsThe results show that adopting BCT benefits supply chain members, even if they do not share CER information through BCT. Furthermore, when the supplier’s CER efficiency is low, the manufacturer prefers that the supplier share this information. Counterintuitively, the supplier will only share CER information through BCT when the CER efficiencies of both the supplier and manufacturer are comparable. This diverges from the findings of existing studies, as the CER investments of the supplier and the manufacturer in this study are interdependent. In addition, despite the high energy consumption associated with BCT, the supplier and manufacturer embrace its adoption and share CER information for the sake of environmental benefits.Practical implicationsThe firms in low-carbon supply chains can adopt BCT to improve consumers’ trust. Furthermore, if the CER efficiencies of the firms are low, they should share CER information through BCT. Nonetheless, a lower unit usage cost of BCT is the precondition.Originality/valueThis paper makes the first move to discuss BCT adoption and BCT-supported information sharing for collaborative emission reduction in supply chains while considering the transparency and high consumption of BCT.

Distribution Partnerships and Supply Chain Performance Of Agrochemicals Production Firms In Kenya

Characteristically, the supply-chain managers attempt to optimize profitable operations in the manufacturing and distribution in the supply chain. Integrated supply chain optimization is the large-scale streamlining of the links in the supply chain in such a way as to ensure the optimal operation of the links and actors in the supply chain. However, integrated supply chain optimization especially distribution partnerships has not been extensively studied for its effect on the performance of distribution companies as opposed to manufacturing companies. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the influence of distribution partnerships on supply chain performance of agrochemical production firms in Kenya. The theory of partnerships guided the study which was also grounded on a positivist philosophy. This study employed the descriptive survey design targeting 32 agrochemical production firms with the unit of observation consisting of 96 persons being one management, one procurement and one supply chain staff per firm. The study adopted the census method and used primary data collected using researcher designed questionnaire and interview schedule that were both pretested using the test-retest method for reliability and content and construct validity. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with descriptive statistics comprising frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations while inferential statistics comprised Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multiple regressions. However, distribution partnerships did not have any significant impact on Supply Chain Performance of Agrochemicals production firms in Kenya.The study also recommended that there is need for the firms in the agrochemical supply chain in Kenya to strengthen their distribution partnerships.

Does Packaging in Green Pay off? Role of Green Packaging on Firm Performance: Evidence from a Developing Economy

Purpose: Greening supply chains has become important more than ever among business firms carving out competitive niches. With the ever increasing complexity in business operations characterised by demand for higher value, supply chain firms are increasingly turning to green practices to not only achieve better results but also be socially responsible. While this is so, Euro monitor International report, 2020 discloses that globally, the manufacturing sector experienced 4.6% drop in market share by 2021, partly orchestrated by environmental upheavals due to business practices. The study sought to examine whether adopting green packaging pays off by establishing effect of green packaging on firm performance in a developing economy, Kenya.
 Methodology: The study achieved this through a mixed methods design on a population of 460 managers and 92 CEOs, interacted through a structured questionnaire and interview schedule. Standard linear regression in SPSS version 24 and thematic analysis were adopted. Results show that green packaging has significant positive effect on performance (R2=.394, β=.628, p<.05), practically denoting that unit increase of packaging in green results to 0.628 units improvement in performance.
 Findings: The results provide sufficient evidence that indeed, packaging in green pays off. Further, the paper ground theoretical puts by Hart (1995) that green packaging is a pivotal resource.
 Unique contributor to theory, policy and practice: We provide interesting conclusions that green packaging pays off, advising managers and industry stakeholders to adopt policies of leveraging it. A research agenda is offered to further scholarly subsequent discussions.

Beyond Compliance-Based Governance: The Role of Social Intermediaries in Mitigating Forced Labour in Global Supply Chains

Forced labour poses a significant challenge within global supply chains, yet traditional compliance-based governance based on auditing has proven to be ineffective in addressing this issue. Non-government organizations and worker rights organizations can serve as crucial allies in supporting and safeguarding workers by assuming the role of a 'social intermediary' (SI) between supply chain firms and workers. However, these external organizations often hold limited power within these supply chains. In our paper, we examine the sources of power that SIs can cultivate and utilize to lead successful interventions against forced labour in supply chains. Through a comparative case study involving three SIs and their collaborative efforts with a global seafood brand, we explore various forms of non-mediated power and their underlying origins. By establishing these connections, we shed light on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of interventions against forced labour. Our research makes three contributions. First, we contribute to ongoing research on forced labour in supply chains by emphasizing the constructive role that SIs can play to protect vulnerable workers. Second, we address a critical gap in the existing literature concerning power of SIs in supply chain relations. More specifically, we specify sources and types of non-mediated power that SI can leverage to design effective interventions against forced labour. Third, by comparing unique data on two worker groups vulnerable to forced labour – vessel workers and workers in seafood processing – we provide much-needed insights into how working conditions in non-factory settings can still be regulated.

Energy in the backseat? Investigating decarbonization dialogue in supply chain tweets during and after COVID-19

AbstractWhile we move into the seventh year of the signing of Paris agreement, research scholars and supply chain firms have paid a lot of emphasis on environmental sustainability with the aim of achieving net zero targets by 2050. However, the global pandemic has somewhat disturbed the focus from environment to resilience due to severe economic implications of COVID-19. In this paper, we contribute to the very scant discussion on Twitter Analytics by analysing supply chain tweets with COVID-19 at the backdrop. Our approach involves analysing how decarbonization related discussions have evolved by capturing the tweets across three timelines: pre pandemic, pandemic and post pandemic. By integrating descriptive analytics, content analytics and machine learning algorithm in topic modelling, we extract textual intelligence related to emissions and pollution from leading firms involving supply chain management. We find that although decarbonization related discussions are at bare minimum in terms of the proportion of discussions within the supply chain context, the overall emotion of tweets indicate fear across all three timelines. Moreover, it was surprising to note that although pollution levels came down due to low economic activity during pandemic, we found more discussions during COVID in comparison to pre-COVID times. Pollution and waste caused by plastics, fuel consumption, reduction in greenhouse gas emission are some of the key topics that emerged during pandemic times. Our paper makes a modest contribution on the role of social media analytics within supply chain context around COVID-19.