Demand management approaches in services sector and influence on company performance

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of supply chain risks (SCRs) and demand management strategies (DMSs) on the company performance in order to study the use of DMSs in delivering improved results even in the presence of SCRs. The SCRs considered under the study are as follows: demand variability, constrained capacity and quality of services delivery, and competitive performance, customer satisfaction and financial performance are the measures considered for company performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on a survey of 439 businesses in India representing 10 groups of services industries (information technology/IT enabled services, business process outsourcing, IT infrastructure, logistics/transportation, healthcare, hospitality, personal services, consulting, education and training, consumer products and retail), using structural equation modeling (SEM) methods.

Findings

The findings reveal that presence of demand variability risk has significant influence upon the use of demand planning and forecasting, controlling customer arrival during peaks and shifting demand to future. Mismatch of capacity against demand (unused capacity) leads to the use of techniques to influence business during lean periods, thereby resulting in enhanced supply chain (SC) and financial performance. Controlling customer arrival during peaks to shift the demand to lean periods leads to enhanced financial performance. Presence of delivery quality risk does not significantly influence the use of DMS. Also, short-term use of customer and business handling techniques does not exert significant influence on company performance.

Research limitations/implications

The study has limitations as follows: (1) respondents are primarily from India while representing global organizations, (2) process/service redesign to relieve capacity as a DMS is not considered and (3) discussion on capacity management strategies (CMSs) is also excluded.

Practical implications

SC managers can be resourceful in shifting the peak demand to future with the application of techniques to control customer arrival during peaks. The managers can also help enhance business by influencing business through offers, incentives and promotions during lean periods to use available capacity and improve company performance.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first empirical works to explore how presence of SCRs influences the use of DMS and impacts the three types of company performance. The study expands current research on demand management options (DMOs) by linking three dimensions of company performance based on the data collected from ten different groups of service industry.

Prioritization of Environmental Uncertainty and Manufacturing Flexibility for Labor-Intensive Industry: A Case Study on Ready-Made Garment Industries in Bangladesh

Manufacturing flexibility is a widely accepted manufacturing strategy for mitigating the negative impacts of environmental uncertainty on firm performance and is also a required strategic attribute to acclimatize mass customization and agile manufacturing. Manufacturing flexibility has been adequately studied for technology-intensive industries but remains inadequately addressed for labor-intensive industries. In this study, a framework is proposed for sorting the relevant manufacturing flexibility types for the relevant environmental uncertainty types as an initial step towards implementing manufacturing flexibility in labor-intensive industries. This study considered the RMG (ready-made garment) industries in Bangladesh, which are mostly labor-intensive, as a case. Different types of manufacturing flexibility and environmental uncertainty were identified through a deductive approach from the existing literature and theory. Then, final sorting was conducted through a focus group discussion using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) techniques. This study revealed that demand, competitor, supplier, and technology uncertainty were ranked sequentially from first to fourth. This study also revealed that demand and competitor uncertainty would be the first-line focus, and supplier uncertainty the second-line focus, of decision makers. Similarly, new product, volume, workforce, and modification flexibility were ranked sequentially from first to fourth, and these would be considered first-line focuses by decision makers. This study also showed that all types of environmental uncertainties had an internal effect (one type affects another type within the types of environmental uncertainty). Internal effects among the different types of manufacturing flexibility were also identified. This study contributes to the theory of manufacturing flexibility for labor-intensive industries and will help decision makers gradually implement manufacturing flexibility based on their capacity and goal.

The conceptual framework on integrated flexibility: an evolution to data-driven supply chain management

Purpose

This paper aims to establish a relationship between supply chain integration (SCI) and supply chain flexibility (SCF) to develop a two-dimensional approach, i.e. integrated flexibility.

Design/methodology/approach

Building on a relational view and dynamic capability theory, this paper argues that integrated flexibility is the strategy that enables organisations to achieve different positions and states to create distinctive capability. The article has proposed the conceptual framework that connects different supply chain strategies and practices to improve supply chain performance (SCP) considering the cross-disciplinary approach.

Findings

The conceptual framework around the new perspective, i.e. integrated flexibility, is built to deal with issues related to operations management. The paper suggests examining the mediating effect of SCF between SCI and SCP and the moderating role of knowledge management (KM), data analytics (DA) and quality management (QM) practices on their relationship. Moreover, research direction in terms of propositions and implications are developed to showcase how underlying practices streamline the supply chain and lead to superior SCP.

Practical implications

The proposed framework discusses the degree of integration and flexibility levels to guide practitioners in designing a supply chain strategy with their partners and answering how much resources need to be extended to achieve flexible operations and realise SCP.

Originality/value

Authors have developed an entirely new integrated flexibility concept that provides a base to sustain in the competitive market. The foundation of integrated flexibility is built on relational view and dynamic capability theory and supported by DA, QM and KM.

Trust and commitment in supply chain management: a systematic review of literature

Purpose

Trust and commitment (T&C) among the supply chain partners in the context of supply chain management (SCM) are of interest for both researchers and practitioners. This paper analyses literature on T&C and identifies gaps for further research.

Design/methodology/approach

The current literature review paper provides a comprehensive perspective on the topic using bibliometric analysis followed by a systematic review of literature. In all, 207 relevant articles were extracted from the Scopus database using the relevant key word searches. For the purpose of the systematic review, another 48 relevant papers were identified through an iterative process. Hence, 255 papers published between the years 1990–2019 were analysed for the sake of this study.

Findings

A total of 15 definitions of trust, nine definitions of commitment, 13 classifications of trust, 40 antecedents of trust, six classifications of commitments, 39 consequences of trust, 11 antecedents of commitment and 15 consequences of commitment were identified and analysed. Future research directions were presented.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited to identifying the antecedents and consequences of T&C. A detailed framework could be developed in future research. The antecedent and consequences for T&C could be discussed in greater detail.

Practical implications

Important implications for managers emerge from this study for building and implementing T&C, as SCM requires a thorough understanding of relationship-building skills. The discussion on the definitions of T&C, types of trust and the antecedents and consequences provides important insights for practitioners for strategy formulation. Results provide important insights and bring about greater clarity for researchers and practitioners on T&C in SCM.

Originality/value

Through rigorous analysis of the prevailing research, this paper extensively reviews literature on T&C in SCM till 2019. It summarises the current status and proposes future research directions.

An integrative framework of supply chain flexibility

Purpose

It is crucial to recognize that supply chain flexibility is important to build sustainable competitive edge in coping with uncertainty. This study puts forth an empirically supported integrative framework to understand supply chain flexibility from market-oriented and network-oriented perspectives, interrelationships among its dimensions and the effect of supply chain complexity as a contingent factor.

Design/methodology/approach

The online survey data were collected from 201 manufacturing companies and checked for common method variance, validity and reliability. Structural equation modeling was then used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results of this study demonstrate that there are interrelationships among market-oriented and network-oriented supply chain flexibility dimensions. It is the flexibility embedded in the supply chain network configuration that plays critical roles in superior performance in flexibility capabilities to create customer values. The interrelated effect among flexibility dimensions is contingent on the magnitude of the supply chain complexity corresponding to the number of supply chain tiers.

Originality/value

This study takes a step to advance understanding of supply chain flexibility from an integrative point of view consisting of market-oriented and network-oriented perspectives. This study is expected to provide practitioners the foundation to implement supply chain flexibility considering the interrelationships among flexibility dimensions. Our results suggest that to carry out a supply chain flexibility strategy, the vertical complexity of the supply chain structure needs to be taken into consideration.

Automotive recall risk: impact of buyer‒supplier relationship on supply chain social sustainability

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the automotive product recall risk in terms of social sustainability performance and to evaluate the role of buyer‒supplier relationships in improving social sustainability during product recall crises.

Design/methodology/approach

A multi-methodology approach is used to empirically analyse the interrelationship between the proposed constructs and enablers of the buyer‒supplier relationship. Structural equation modelling and interpretive structural modelling are followed to analyse the data gathered thorough a questionnaire survey of 204 executives and interviews with 15 managers from the automotive industry.

Findings

The results of the study provide evidence regarding the impact of the responsible buyer‒supplier relationship on customer recall concerns and the social sustainability performance of supply chains (SCs). This study also leads to the development of a conceptual model, providing a relationship between the three key concepts used in this study.

Research limitations/implications

Following social sustainability principles, this study addresses the importance of developing strong, responsible relational ties with suppliers to reduce vehicle recalls or successfully recover from a product recall crisis.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature by providing theoretical and empirical insights for developing socially responsible SCs and confirming the role of the buyer‒supplier governance mechanism during product recalls in the context of the automotive industry.

The Healthcare Sustainable Supply Chain 4.0: The Circular Economy Transition Conceptual Framework with the Corporate Social Responsibility Mirror

Concern regarding the circular economy and Industry 4.0 is starting to increase in the emerging countries. This research study aims to analyze the healthcare sustainable supply chain 4.0 by proposing the circular economy transition conceptual framework with the corporate social responsibility mirror. The authors developed an observation guideline to collect empirical data from a private healthcare institution located in Rio de Janeiro, which has been promoting investment in new technologies within its operations. The research observation is between January and April 2017. The results show the glass structure can be a channel that provides the lightning resources, the solar energy with the photovoltaic panels, and the water management. The corporate social responsibility links the social role in healthcare institutions with sustainable practices and it improves smart technologies. The applicability of the internet of things and the internet of services adds value to sustainable practices. The circular economy transition conceptual framework integrates the result analyses. The research concludes that the union among the triple bottom line, Industry 4.0, and the corporate social responsibility allows the transition from the linear model to the circular model and can improve the sustainable healthcare supply chain 4.0.

Supply chain flexibility

Purpose

The conceptualization of flexibility in organizations historically emerged from three views which relate to economic, to organizational and to manufacturing perspectives. Despite the growing number of publications about supply chain flexibility in the area of supply chain management, there is a lack of consensus on how to define and to conceptualize supply chain flexibility from a management point of view. The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive overview of the literature on the supply chain flexibility perspective and contributes to our understanding of the current state of research and its future development.

Design/methodology/approach

The research methodology used is the systematic literature review. In total 92 articles were selected from databases of well-known journal publishers in the field of economics, business studies and management sciences as well as grey literature to cover the topic of supply chain flexibility.

Findings

A limited number of studies in the field of supply chain flexibility apply theories and define the term supply chain flexibility. Instead they focus on a particular part or dimension of the supply chain. Based on the analysis, a distinction is made between flexibility in the supply chain and supply chain flexibility. Based on the function and characteristics of the supply chain, the authors selected 30 flexibility dimensions that cover supply chain flexibility by concentrating on the different business areas involved.

Research limitations/implications

The results support researchers and practitioners by identifying relevant trends and gaps in the field of supply chain flexibility.

Originality/value

The authors review the dimensions and aspects of supply chain flexibility that are currently taken into account in the literature. In this way, the authors provide an overarching perspective on the flexibility literature relating to supply chains.

The value of strategy and flexibility in new product development

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between strategy and flexibility in new product development, and the operational and financial performance in the supply chain context. The motives for conducting this research are to introduce the supply chain strategies and new product development flexibility (NPDF) as constructs that could have the potential to contribute to the success of supply chain performance. Based on the relational view of the firm, the authors propose that supply chain strategy is an antecedent of NPDF and can create value for the buying firm in terms of better financial and non-financial performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– The structural equation modeling approach was used to evaluate the proposed model and analyze hypothesized relationships. The analysis, based on data collected from 175 small- and medium-sized (SME) Canadian manufacturing companies.

Findings

– The analysis shows that there are direct positive effects from strategy on NPDF. The findings indicate also a direct positive association between NPDF and performance and showed that the total effect (direct and indirect) positively influenced performance.

Originality/value

– The literature did not reveal any study which attempted to examine strategy, NPDF, and performance in the supply chain context of SMEs. The current study fills this important gap in the literature.

Logistics flexibility: a systematic review

Purpose

– There is a lack of consensus in conceptualizing and defining logistics flexibility as a distinct construct among supply chain scholars. The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze the existing literature on logistics flexibility.

Design/methodology/approach

– By taking a systematic approach to literature review, a total of 100 academic articles were content analyzed. As a general framework, the classification broadly provided by Zhang et al. (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006) was applied in order to increase the consistency and validity of the review.

Findings

– The results show that logistics flexibility has gained an increasing academic attention in the past two decades in terms of the number of published articles. First, the various terminologies often used in relation to logistics flexibility are explored. Second, the definitions of logistics flexibility at various levels of analysis are presented along with methodological considerations of the current literature. It is shown that most of the existing articles claim to study the matter at the chain level. The main methodological tools used in studying logistics flexibility are revealed as well as the fact that the majority of the empirical studies correspond to the manufacturing industry. Moreover, a synthesis of the principal measures used to gauge logistics flexibility is provided. Finally, current and emerging themes in logistics flexibility research are highlighted. The study also underlines the main measures used in studying logistics flexibility.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper only focusses on academic articles published in journals and does not include other contributions such as books, etc. The systematic literature review facilitates further conceptual and empirical studies; however, more narrative literature reviews could complement the results of this study.

Originality/value

– This paper is unique in the sense that it specifically reviews the literature on logistics flexibility in a systematic fashion. The content analysis has been carried out using NVivo 10 enabling the systematic nature of the review as well as increasing the pedagogical value of the method.