Journal of Business Logistics最新文献

Technological evolution has driven the widespread adoption of industrial robots while increasing the resilience requirements of increasingly complex supply chains. However, the relationship between robot adoption and supply chain resilience remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by empirically examining the impact of robot adoption on supply chain resilience, using a panel dataset of listed manufacturing firms in China from 2013 to 2022. The findings reveal that robot adoption not only significantly enhances a firm's own supply chain resilience but also exerts a positive spillover effect on the resilience of its upstream and downstream partners. Moreover, the study uncovers the moderating roles of enterprise innovation and digital strategies, which amplify the positive effects of robot adoption on supply chain resilience. By integrating technological, strategic, and network perspectives, this research offers novel empirical evidence on the interplay between automation and resilience in supply chains. The study's conclusions have important implications for both managerial practice and policymaking: while state-owned and high-tech enterprises should be encouraged to take the lead in robot adoption, firms more broadly can further enhance supply chain resilience by investing in innovation and digital transformation strategies.

New institutional theory (NIT) suggests that coercive policy mandates will yield relatively homogenous compliance behaviors, stemming from the assumption of a single powerful regulatory body. Furthermore, research examining temporal dynamics within NIT assumes firms will quickly comply in these environments. However, a nascent stream of research suggests these assumptions insufficiently account for regulatory environments that are subject to policy enforcement uncertainty. We contribute to programmatic theory concerning NIT by examining firms' responses to coercive yet heterogeneous regulatory environments by studying small- and medium-sized trucking firms' compliance behaviors during a unique natural experiment where some US states postponed enforcement of the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate in the US trucking sector. We find that while firms located in states that postponed enforcement deadlines experienced lower compliance efforts regarding the ELD mandate prior to the initial enforcement date, the impact of being in a postponed enforcement environment became less pronounced once other states began enforcement efforts. Results also reinforce the dominant role of firm size in shaping compliance behaviors, with larger-sized firms being less responsive to environmental heterogeneity. Results suggest a new boundary conditions for NIT and help inform the supply chain management literature on how firms respond to policy mandates.

As stakeholder expectations evolve, firms face growing pressure to adopt socially responsible supply chain (SRSC) initiatives. Grounded in stakeholder theory, this study examines the distinct roles of primary and secondary stakeholder pressures in shaping SRSC, and the varying conditions under which secondary stakeholder pressure (SSP) interacts with primary stakeholder pressure (PSP)–SRSC relationship. Using survey data from 285 manufacturing firms in Ghana, we find that PSP directly drives SRSC initiatives, while SSP does not. However, supply chain ambidexterity, which balances alignment and adaptability, partially mediates the PSP–SRSC link and fully mediates the SSP–SRSC relationship. The moderation effect of SSP on the path between PSP and SRSC was not supported. This study makes key contributions. First, it highlights manufacturing firms' role in socio-economic development by enhancing productivity while ensuring the welfare of supply chain actors. Second, the distinct effects of stakeholder pressures provide contextual insights and opportunities for theoretical extension. Finally, firms and policymakers must foster an environment where secondary stakeholders, such as the media, can meaningfully influence SRSC agendas.

With the rapid development of digital technology, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and big data, digital technology adoption has become a strategic choice for firms to maintain competitiveness in a dynamic market. As an important technology investment input, firms should have a holistic consideration of their level of digital technology adoption, focusing on the entire supply chain. Using empirical evidence from the data of listed companies in China from 2007 to 2022, we find that a higher discrepancy in the level of digital technology adoption between the focal firm and its suppliers and customers negatively affects the focal firm's financial performance. Additionally, the focal firm's own capabilities, including bargaining and innovation capabilities, play a negative moderating role in the impact of digital technology adoption discrepancy, which can mitigate the negative impact of the gap in digital technology adoption between itself and its suppliers and customers on the firm's financial performance. Our findings thus provide implications for firms to implement a “go-together” approach to match their digital technology adoption level with their partners' to synchronize the adoption level of digital technology along the entire supply chain and enhance their negotiation and innovation capabilities to improve their resilience and sustainable development.

Supply chain resilience has become a critical objective for managers navigating an increasingly uncertain environment. This study examines how supply chain digitalization contributes to resilience through the lens of the dynamic capabilities framework. Specifically, we investigate the mediating role of triple-A capabilities—agility, adaptability, and alignment—in this relationship. We use survey data from 408 Portuguese manufacturing firms and employ a mixed-method approach encompassing structural equation modeling (SEM), fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), and necessary condition analysis (NCA) to test our hypotheses. The results from SEM underscore the positive effect of supply chain digitalization on enhancing triple-A capabilities, with alignment and adaptability serving as significant mediators, while agility does not. The fsQCA identifies three alternative configurations of digitalization and triple-A capabilities that firms use to achieve resilience, providing evidence for joint effects. Additionally, NCA identifies supply chain alignment as a necessary condition for resilience. Our findings contribute to supply chain management research by characterizing how the interplay between digitalization and triple-A capabilities fosters resilience, offering practical insights for managers seeking to prioritize investments in digitally enabled capabilities.