Supply Chain Relationships Research Articles

One-sided Cusum Chart with V-mask for Weighted Weibull Distribution Parameter Shifts

In our research, we have developed a cumulative sum control chart to identify changes in the parameter of the weighted Weibull distribution. This chart incorporates the V-mask technique and a sequential ratio test. Our analysis of the V-mask revealed that even minor shifts in the weighted Weibull distribution's parameters led to significant variations in the mask's angle, lead distance, and average run length. A change in the V-mask parameters has the following importance: it can lead to an increase in false alarms, decreased detection of true signals, change in process capability, indicates the need for process adjustments, increased security from regulatory bodies, impact on supply chain and customer relationships, and the need for re-training or re-certification. Finally, we applied the cumulative sum chart to real data from the Kabsad Scientific Hospital to illustrate the sensitivity of the proposed cumulative sum control chart. The V-mask plot showed a shift in the process mean of the dataset.

Research on Decision-Making and Coordination of Closed-Loop Supply Chain Under Green and Low-Carbon Perspective

This study explores low-carbon tech investment decisions in a closed-loop supply chain and their impact on supply chain optimization and relationships, using non-cooperative and cooperative game theories. This study examines the behavior patterns and potential gains of suppliers and manufacturers in independent vs. cooperative circumstances using model simulations. This study reveals that the following: (1) Optimal pricing, technology investment, profit, and cost-sharing ratios for low-carbon technologies can be determined under certain conditions to maximize stakeholder profits. (2) Suppliers and manufacturers can mutually benefit in supplier-driven markets. (3) Manufacturers have greater investment opportunities in low-carbon technology when suppliers have market power. (4) Provider utility decreases as consumer preference for low-carbon products rises. (5) The dominant market structure for low-carbon products evolves with the market stage. These findings provide strategic guidance for green supply chain management. The research presented in this paper offers a theoretical foundation and strategic direction for low-carbon technology investment in CLSCs.

Who benefits more from supply chain alliances? Customers or suppliers

Existing research provides limited evidence on the impact of supply chain relationships on the financial performance of upstream and downstream firms. Taking the recent proliferation of supply chain alliances between Chinese listed companies as an opportunity, we study the impact of supply chain alliances on the performance of customers and suppliers as well as the underlying mechanisms at play. We focus on Chinese A-share listed companies from 2001 to 2021 and use announcements issued by the listed companies to identify whether they have established a supply chain alliance with another listed company. The announcements come from the information disclosure system of listed companies of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Finally, we obtained 148 pairs of supply chain alliances which formed by 231 listed companies and involved 296 announcements of supply chain alliances. By using the propensity score matching method and difference-in-differences regressions, we find that supply chain alliances can alleviate friction between customers and suppliers and significantly improve the efficiency of working capital used by both customers and suppliers. Supply chain alliances increase suppliers’ inventory turnover and accounts receivable turnover, and reduce cash holdings, while supply chain alliances improve customer raw material turnover, and reduce accounts payable turnover. Moreover, the economic impact of supply chain alliances on customers and suppliers is asymmetric. Suppliers benefit more from alliances relative to customers, as evidenced by significant improvements in their financial performance and significantly reduced performance volatility. The “inherent differences” in market power and market value between customers and suppliers can have considerable asymmetries on economic consequences. We divide firms in a pair of supply chain alliances by market power and market value. The magnitude of the financial performance accruing from an alliance is considerably higher for the lower-market-power firm than for the higher-market-power firm. The magnitude of the financial performance accruing from an alliance is considerably higher for the lower-market-value firm than for the higher-market-value firm. Additionally, vertical supply chain alliances can significantly improve firm performance and reduce performance volatility compared to horizontal supply chain alliances. This paper provides new empirical evidence for our insight into the economic consequences of supply chain alliances and their boundary conditions.

Can the “Little Giant” label enhance firms’ supply chain positions?

Strong supply chain relationships are crucial for stabilizing stock prices and enhancing profitability. However, existing research on the impact of national-level innovation policies on firms’ supply chain relationships remains limited. Based on data from Chinese listed firms between 2015 and 2022, the paper employs a staggered difference-in-differences approach to analyze how the ”Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative (SRDI) Little Giant” label affects firms’ influence within the supply chain. Our results indicate that, on average, small and medium-sized enterprises designated as SRDI Little Giant experience reductions in customer concentration and supplier concentration by 1.38% and 1.78%, respectively, compared to other firms. Furthermore, the label strengthens SMEs’ supply chain position by improving access to long-term financing.

Analysis of Inter-Island Rice Supply Chain at Rice Mill in Pinrang Regency

The supply chain of agricultural products is the entire production process from cultivation, processing, distribution, and marketing, to the products produced to the hands of consumers. The supply chain consists of various stakeholders who are involved either directly or indirectly. Thus, the supply chain is an integrated marketing unit that includes the integration of stakeholders and products to provide satisfaction to customers. Pinrang Regency is one of the largest rice-producing districts in South Sulawesi. The purpose of this study is to analyze the structure of the inter-island rice supply chain in rice mills in Pinrang Regency, analyze the relationship pattern in the inter-island rice supply chain in Pinrang Regency, analyze the influence of inter-island traders on the rice market in Pinrang Regency, the analysis used is descriptive analysis, panel data regression analysis. The results of this study indicate that the structure of the rice supply chain in the mill starts from farmers who supply grain to the mill, then the mill sells rice to inter-island traders, then the mill sells to wholesalers and retailers then finally the mill sells rice to direct consumers. The rice supply chain in each mill has 3 flows, namely product flow, financial flow and information flow. The pattern of relationships in the inter-island rice supply chain, namely the raw material supply channel (grain), the rice product distribution channel (milling), and the inter-island channel cooperate in completing a purchase transaction and the pattern of relationships in the supply chain uses a general trading partnership pattern. The results of the study using the Common Effect Model (CEM) show that the variable amount of production has a positive and significant effect on the volume of inter-island shipments. The destination price variable has a positive and significant effect on the volume of inter-island rice shipments. Then the variable Shipping cost has a positive and significant effect on the volume of inter-island rice shipments.

ГЛОБАЛНИТЕ ВЕРИГИ ЗА ДОСТАВКИ - ВЪЗМОЖНОСТИ И ЗАПЛАХИ ЗА ИЗПОЛЗВАНЕТО ИМ ОТ БЪЛГАРСКИТЕ ФИРМИ

This report examines the origin and development of the concept of supply chain management, emphasizing the international dimension of its implementation. It presents the essence of this concept, its structure, the processes that runs and the goals that the participants pursue. An attempt is made to determine the obstacles faced by Bulgarian companies in their integration into global supply chains. The opportunities for obtain the experience and good practices of international companies and the benefits for Bulgarian companies in building relationships in international supply chains are considered.

Intricate Supply Chain Demand Forecasting Based on Graph Convolution Network

Globalization has contributed to the increasing complexity of supply chain structures. In this regard, precise demand forecasting for the intricate supply chain holds paramount importance in effective supply chain management. Traditional statistical models and deep learning methods often face challenges in efficiently discerning correlations within a myriad of interconnected demands. To tackle this issue, this paper proposes an intricate supply chain demand forecasting method based on graph convolution networks adept at handling non-Euclidean data. First, the companies within the supply chain are treated as nodes in the graph structure, and the relationships between them are treated as edges, with demand data serving as the features of these edges. Then, a graph convolutional network is constructed to aggregate node and edge information. Through a multi-layer network, the relationships among nodes, edges, and historical demand are established to facilitate the prediction of supply chain demands. In this process, the graph convolutional network incorporates supply chain connectivity information into demand time series analysis. This integration of surface-level topological features and deeper latent correlation attributes across the supply chain’s nodes refines the demand forecasting precision across the entire supply chain. The validation experiment in this paper is grounded in sales data of a singular product from multiple sales nodes of an electronics company. The results demonstrate that the proposed method surpasses four other traditional demand forecasting algorithms significantly in terms of accuracy, providing substantial evidence for the superior performance of graph networks in the analysis of intricate supply chain relationships.

How Does Supply Network Structure Influence Firms’ Financial Performance During Disruption?

In a post pandemic world, supply chain mapping has become a key concern for almost any supply chain operation. A single focal supply chain network might have hundreds of suppliers including those that supply both goods and services. These increase exponentially as one traces the network downstream. Using a pair of networks from the auto industry (Ford and General Motors) as a basis for the analysis, we apply a data mining technique to filter for significant supply chain relationships in each of these networks over the period spanning 2018–2022. We then examine the structural metrics for each of these networks and compare these measures with applicable financial measures to elucidate how supply chain network structure affects financial performance. Our regression analyses reveal that supplier network structures significantly affect customers’ market value. Specifically, Tobin’s Q is negatively related to the number of suppliers they source from and the importance of the customer (e.g., Ford) to its suppliers, but it is positively associated with the tightness of supplier customer connection and the density of the network.

Green Technology Innovations and Corporate Customer Concentration—The Perspectives of Financing Constraints and Social Responsibility

Green technology innovations propel both economic development and environmental sustainability. Exploring the contributing factors to green technology innovations carries important policy implications, but research from the perspective of supply chain relationships has been rare. This paper examines the impact of corporate customer concentration on green technology innovations and explores its influencing mechanisms using the data of Chinese A-share listed companies. The results show that a high customer concentration inhibits the quantity and quality of green technology innovations, a finding that is robust when endogeneity is addressed and when alternative measures and an alternative estimation model are employed. Financing constraints and social responsibility play intermediary roles in the impact of customer concentration on green technology innovations. A high customer concentration tends to increase corporate financing constraints and reduce corporate social responsibility performance, which hinder green technology innovations. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the inhibitory effect of customer concentration on green technology innovations is less severe in digitally transformed enterprises, mature enterprises, or enterprises with a high level of market power. As this study provides a novel perspective on the contributing factors to corporate green innovations, it offers important policy recommendations.

Supply Chain Relationships, Resilience, and Export Product Quality: Analysis Based on Supply Chain Concentration

Supply Chain Relationships, Resilience, and Export Product Quality: Analysis Based on Supply Chain Concentration

Price transmission relationships in Taiwan seafood supply chain: Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and milkfish (Chanos chanos)

Tilapia and milkfish are aquaculture species associated with the highest production volume in Taiwan. With both fish species as the research focus, this study explored their price transmission relationships along the seafood supply chain. Our study results revealed that tilapia and milkfish prices had a long-run equilibrium relationship at different stages of the seafood supply chain and presented inconsistent price transmissions in the short run. There are domestic and foreign market channels for tilapia, enabling producers and wholesalers to transmit prices to retailers. By contrast, milkfish are mostly supplied to domestic markets, there is not perfect price transmission in the milkfish supply chain besides between farmers and wholesalers. An accurate price forecasting model can effectively indicate future price volatility and predict seafood prices, especially following government policy changes or in the face of external impacts. Such model can also serve as a crucial reference for future research of tilapia and milkfish industry, producers, and aquaculture farmers. Finally, seafood prices are a key determinant of fisheries and supply chain sustainability. Therefore, the stability of seafood prices, fish market wholesale pricing, and retail pricing are issues meriting continuous attention for a sustainable seafood supply chain.

Cattle supply chain fidelity in the Brazilian Amazon: key considerations for deforestation monitoring

Abstract Supply chain governance (SCG) is an increasingly important approach to man- age environmental protection and human rights in agricultural systems across the tropics. SCG helps relay the preferences of international consumers to producers and fills environmental policy gaps. Brazil’s Zero-Deforestation Cattle Agreements (CA) are one of the longest-standing examples of SCG but shortcomings in implementation have reduced their conservation impacts. Chief among the reasons for their limited effect is that slaughterhouses monitor only the suppliers they buy from directly. This does not account for the complex supply network upstream of the direct sale, whose dynamics are also poorly understood. We provide the first comprehensive characterization of the strength and duration of cattle supply chain relationships based on animal transaction records from across the Brazilian Amazon. Whereas direct supply relationships (from ranchers to slaughterhouses) are relatively few and long-lasting, upstream relationships between ranchers are numerous and short-lived. Expanding monitoring to include these upstream sup- pliers increases the number of monitored transactions by an order of magnitude. However, 1% of the largest direct suppliers sell nearly half of cattle to CA slaughterhouses. More comprehensive upstream monitoring of only these prolific suppliers could greatly increase coverage at a fraction of the cost. While it may be challenging to monitor the entire supply network, significant advancements are within reach.

Impact of relational norms on performance: interaction between solidarity, power and flexibility in buyer-supplier relationships

Buyer-supplier relationships are characterised by relational norms. These norms are bilateral expectations that can reduce opportunistic behaviour, improve value creation and develop cooperation among exchange parties. Drawing on relational exchange theory, this study explores how three relational norms, solidarity, power and flexibility are interrelated in supply chain relationships. We test a mediated model where solidarity and power directly impact relational performance and flexibility mediates these relationships. The mediated model was tested with matched pairs of data on 93 supply chain arrangements between buyer and supplier organisations. Results show that solidarity improves relational performance both directly and in the presence of flexibility. Power, on the other hand, does not impact relational performance, both directly and through flexibility. The results obtained, especially the importance of flexibility and solidarity for both buyers’ and suppliers’ managers in maintaining long-term benefits in supply chain exchanges, are discussed for theory, practice and research.

Supply Chain Coordination of New Energy Vehicles under a Novel Shareholding Strategy

As important methods of ecofriendly transportation, the supply chain coordination of new energy vehicles (NEVs) is an important issue in the field of sustainability. This study constructs a Stackelberg game composed of a power battery supplier and an NEV manufacturer. To better describe the coordination relationship in the NEV supply chain, we introduce the Nash bargaining framework into the fairness concern preference utility function. Through a comprehensive discussion of shareholding ratios and external environment factors, we discover that the traditional shareholding strategy fails to coordinate the NEV supply chain effectively, as enterprises seek to avoid losing management control, which occurs when excessive shares are held by others. In this context, this study proposes a novel industry–university–research (IUR) shareholding strategy, which can more easily achieve supply chain coordination and improve social welfare. In particular, this study reveals the superiority of the novel strategy in eliminating the double-marginal effect caused by high fairness concern preference among NEV enterprises. Based on these facts, we provide enterprises with optimal strategies under different conditions and offer a government-optimal subsidy to maximize the social welfare function.

Navigating diversity in supply chain relationships: building trustworthiness through complementary and supplementary fits

PurposeSupply chain (SC) professionals are increasingly working alongside business partners of diverse backgrounds, which has been argued to engender both innovation and creativity but also found as potentially detrimental to SC relationships and performance. To reconcile these views, this study explores two mechanisms – supplementary (similarity) and complementary fits – at the surface (observable traits) and deep (unobservable characteristics) levels and their impact on a focal firm representative’s perception of a SC partner’s trustworthiness.Design/methodology/approachModel was tested using survey data from 285 managers involved in interorganizational SC relationships.FindingsResults indicate that a focal firm representative’s perception of supplementary and complementary fits with a SC partner positively impacts their perception of the partner’s trustworthiness. However, the effects of similarity at both surface and deep levels and complementarity weaken each other.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the mechanisms of diversity in SC relationships is crucial for fostering trustworthiness and achieving organizational objectives. Firms should evaluate both supplementary and complementary fits when hiring or assigning roles. Embracing a complementary fit not only promotes diversity but also mitigates the negative impact of similarity bias, ultimately strengthening trustworthiness within the organization's SC ecosystem.Originality/valueBy simultaneously examining individual and combined effects of two unique mechanisms of supplementarity and complementarity at the surface and deep levels, this study sheds light on inconsistent findings of the effects of diversity in the SCM literature.

Calculative trust, benevolent trust and supplier opportunism: the double edged role of IT infrastructure capability

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how two dimensions of trust, calculative trust and benevolent trust, affect supplier opportunism, and further investigates how information technology (IT) infrastructure capability moderates the relationship between calculative trust, benevolent trust and local supplier opportunism.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses ordinary least square regression to test the hypotheses, using survey data from 164 buyer–supplier relationships.FindingsThe findings suggest that both rational and emotional dimensions of trust, calculative trust and benevolent trust, have negative effect on the opportunistic behavior of suppliers. Furthermore, IT infrastructure capability amplifies the inhibitory effect of calculative trust on supplier’s opportunism, while diminishing the effect of benevolent trust on suppressing supplier’s opportunism.Originality/valueThis study investigates the impacts of both rational and emotional dimensions of trust on opportunistic behavior, thereby enhancing the comprehension of the multifaceted nature of trust in interfirm relationships and contributing valuable insights into interorganizational relationship governance. Moreover, this study reveals the double-edged moderating roles of IT infrastructure capability in supply chain relationships, presenting innovative perspectives within the research on exploring the role of IT capability in business-to-business marketing relationships.

Outward Foreign Direct Investment and Supply Chain Concentration: Evidence from China

The potential risks arising from excessive supply chain concentration have received more and more attention. In practice, high supply chain concentration hinders firms’ sustainable development, especially for firms in emerging markets. However, how to reduce supply chain concentration remains an underexplored problem. Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has been an important strategy for firms to reallocate and optimize their supply chain relationships. Thus, we tried to explore whether OFDI can serve as an effective method to reduce supply chain concentration by analyzing their relationship. Using the data of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2008 to 2022, this paper empirically examines the impact of OFDI on supply chain concentration through a two-way fixed-effects model. We find that OFDI significantly reduces supply chain concentration, and this conclusion still holds after using alternative measures of the independent variable and dependent variable, endogeneity treatment, the Heckman two-stage model test, controlling for provincial factors, and excluding special samples. Channel analysis reveals that OFDI reduces supply chain concentration mainly through increasing market share, enhancing innovation capacity, and improving reputation. Cross-sectional analysis shows that the negative effect of OFDI on supply chain concentration is more pronounced in state-owned firms, firms under high industry competition, and high-tech firms. Our findings have important implications for firms to build sustainable supply chain relationships and strengthen supply chain resilience, and for policymakers to guide OFDI reasonably. Future research could further explore the effect of firms’ investment decisions on supply chain configuration.

Environmental regulations, supply chain relationships, and green technological innovation

This paper examines the spillover effect of environmental regulatory pressure on firms' green technological innovation, from the perspective of supply chain relationships. Analyzing data from Chinese listed companies, we find that the average environmental regulatory pressure faced by the customer firms of a supplier firm enhances the green patent applications filed by the supplier firm. When the industry of the supplier is more competitive or the proportion of the supplier's sales from its largest customer is higher, the supplier feels more pressured to pursue green innovation, resulting in more green patent filings. Thus, via their negotiation power, customer firms can prompt the supplier firm to innovate to meet their demand for green technologies. Finally, we show that this effect is particularly pronounced when the supplier firm has a strong financial position, is located in a highly marketized region, receives low R&D government subsidies, or enjoys a high ESG rating.

Enhancing supply chain relationships in the circular economy: Strategies for a green centralized supply chain with deteriorating products

This article introduces a green centralized supply chain in a two-stage stochastic programming model using deteriorating products. The model reduces the cost of purchasing, transporting, storing, product recovery and shortages. This cuts down on greenhouse emission related to transportation, product recovery, and recycling programs. On the basis of this, we explore the utilization of the circular economy to the damages that could occur from used products. Furthermore, revenue sharing and quantity discount contracts are examined in the business models between the members of the supply chain and the external manufacturer. Demand is assumed to be uncertain, and scenarios are created to account this. The model specifies the optimal order quantities, transportation modes and contract terms that minimize costs and environmental impacts. Numerical examples analyze the trade-offs between economic and environmental objectives under different supply chain parameters. The results provide insights for circular supply chains that reconcile economic incentives with environmental responsibility for deteriorating product.

Buyer-Supplier Relationships in Circular Supply Chains: A Power and Dependence Perspective

Buyer-Supplier Relationships in Circular Supply Chains: A Power and Dependence Perspective