Journal of Supply Chain Management最新文献

This study examines how firms adjust their sourcing decisions due to variations in policy uncertainty. Some studies recommend diversification to manage uncertainty, whereas others argue it complicates supply chains and favors onshoring instead. The theoretical ambiguity surrounding appropriate responses to domestic and upstream policy uncertainty necessitates empirical investigation. Therefore, the study assesses how domestic and upstream policy uncertainty influences a focal firm's decisions to restructure its supply chain along two dimensions: (a) onshoring/offshoring and (b) geographical diversification/concentration. The study's empirical evidence suggests that managers decrease the ratio of onshore suppliers and diversify their supply base geographically in response to heightened upstream policy uncertainty affecting suppliers. Although domestic policy uncertainty does not significantly affect firms' decisions to adjust their supply base structure, a post hoc analysis reveals that firms are likely to bring suppliers onshore when domestic policy uncertainty is very low. The study also documents that firms are more sensitive to upstream policy uncertainty than to domestic policy uncertainty. Upstream policy uncertainty, rather than domestic uncertainty, is the primary driver of adjustments to supply chain structure.

The aim of this disciplined provocation is to challenge some of the fundamental assumptions in supply chain management research and practice—most notably the discipline’s current conceptualization of supply chain excellence that has proven to be destructive for social-ecological systems. It is argued that to drive the transition to sustainable supply chains, it requires emphasizing the social component of sustainable supply chain management and considering how to conduct supply chain management research that includes people and communities from the beginning. Based on this vision of foregrounding people in supply chain management research, a people-centric research agenda that outlines the changes that are needed in how research is conducted and the topics that should be studied is introduced. The authors outline the active role that supply chain management scholars can play in developing new models of supply chain excellence that are, at a minimum, sustainable and hopefully regenerative.

Although existing research emphasizes the importance of internal carbon management (CM) in influencing firm risk, the impact of external stakeholder CM on firm risk remains unclear. This study employs signaling theory to explore how supplier CM affects firm idiosyncratic risk (IR), alongside the moderating roles of the supply chain information environment and the criticality of firm–supplier relationships. The findings of this study demonstrate that supplier CM can reduce firm IR. The risk reduction effect is strong when the information environment between a firm and its suppliers is rich and when the dependency between the firm and its supplier is strong. Path analysis reveals that supplier CM primarily reduces firm IR by alleviating information asymmetry. Moreover, the risk reduction effect increases for firms with small sizes. This research extends the application of signaling theory to supply chain research and bridges the gap between the CM and firm IR literature within the context of supply chain management.

Although emerging transformative supply chain management research offers novel insights into tackling extreme conditions beyond the traditional static and engineering view of supply chain management literature, relatively less is known about the underlying mechanisms of such a supply chain transformation process. Through a qualitative study undertaken on Penlon's ESO2 Emergency Ventilator Project in the UK—a project to create a new ventilator supply chain to respond swiftly to the urgent demand that occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic—the analysis offers a process model of transformative supply chain management by leveraging the quasi–supply chain that features collaborations with an ecosystem of diverse partners beyond the existing suppliers in the medical device sector. This article enriches the backbones of the emerging transformative supply chain management research and offers new insights into supply chain management for extreme conditions with an ecosystem perspective. The findings also offer managerial and policy implications for cultivating the reciprocities between supply chains and the wider ecosystem to be better prepared for future disruptions.

Processes are fundamental to supply chains and their management. Yet, traditional research approaches to supply chain management (SCM) reflect only a limited understanding of process, offering accounts that overlook the constitutive role of dynamically interrelated processes and how their interplay over time shapes the trajectories of supply chains. This article argues that a process-philosophical perspective is better suited as a starting point for identifying, analyzing, and interpreting the fluid and interwoven processes of supply chains and their co-evolving environments. Drawing on examples from SCM research, the article offers insights into the nature of process-thinking and process-theoretical assumptions, including the analytical choices and challenges entailed in process research. Besides providing methodological guidance, the article highlights how process research methods equip SCM scholars with a powerful lens for studying transformational issues in this field, including sustainability, resilience, and the use of digitalization and technology.

Supply chain management is grounded on the assumption that endless economic growth is compatible with environmental and social sustainability. Yet scholars from ecological economics question this assumption due to ever increasing evidence showing how hard it is to decouple growth from negative environmental and social externalities. In response, pressure from social movements is mounting, and the agendas of several countries already consider alternatives to growth. Therefore, this article presents a critical thought experiment for the supply chain management discipline: What are the implications of moving from the current endless growth paradigm to a post-growth paradigm for businesses and their supply chains? Using the umbrella term “post-growth,” this article identifies three key post-growth principles—(i) socio-ecological wellbeing, (ii) selective downscaling, and (iii) systems thinking—and then examines their implications for supply chain management research and practice.

Although there is a growing interest in developing sustainable cities, a significant knowledge gap persists regarding the concrete logistics choices necessary to achieve such cities. Grounded in ethnographic research on city logistics, this study examines how logistics service providers (LSPs) navigate sustainability challenges within the urban ecosystem while also meeting the efficiency demands of their business ecosystem. By repositioning LSPs as a sub-ecosystem nested within the broader urban ecosystem, the article demonstrates how LSPs adeptly address the intricacies of the urban environment and respond to pressures from their business ecosystem. This investigation greatly enhances the understanding of the underlying issues affecting city logistics' sustainability. It deepens insight into the concept of city logistics as a sub-ecosystem within the urban ecosystem, highlighting how its sustainability is intertwined with the structure of the urban ecosystem. From a societal perspective, this research conceptualizes city logistics as a business activity and a vital social service that bolsters urban well-being. The findings suggest a need for further research into the role of city logistics actors as key contributors to urban sustainability.

Prior studies on traceability as an enabler of supply chain resilience (SCRes) have focused on large-scale disruptions and developed country contexts. Few studies have focused on developing countries where chronic, small-scale disruptions are common and resource scarcity means advanced digital technologies are rarely adopted. This research explores how traceability is achieved across upstream actors in two Ghanaian agri-food supply chains and how this affects global SCRes. Social characteristics are shown to influence the risks inherent in supply chains, while traceability is both a direct and indirect SCRes enabler. Informed by the relational view, the roles of relation-specific assets and governance mechanisms in maintaining traceability are explored. Supply chain-wide relation-specific assets are prioritized over dyadic relation-specific assets. This original finding is explained by the importance of maintaining social ties over short-term economic gains in a collectivist culture, leading to greater relational rents in the long term. A novel, informal third-party governance mechanism that reduces formal contracting costs and provides flexibility and continuity to interfirm relationships is also identified, further facilitating the attainment of relational rents. The findings are explained in light of sub-Saharan Africa's collectivist culture, encapsulated in the philosophy of ubuntu. Overall, the research theorizes on achieving supply chain traceability and thus enhancing global SCRes as a sociotechnical system incorporating technological and nontechnological systems that are socially embedded in the local context.

To address information asymmetry in supply chains, the literature suggests that manufacturers should shift from market governance to hierarchical governance or a combination of both. However, as many manufacturers must continue to rely on market governance, this research introduces a governance strategy, manufacturer–retailer bridge governance (MRBG), for these manufacturers. The research examines the governance effects of MRBG on distributor behavior and the contingent effects of manufacturer status and MRBG strategic orientation. Hypotheses are developed based on in-depth interviews with sales and purchasing managers and tested in two experiments with sales managers. The results show that MRBG has a double-edged effect on distributor behavior, and this effect is moderated by manufacturer status. Moreover, the alignment between manufacturer status (high versus low) and MRBG strategic orientation (collaboration versus arbitrage) influences the effectiveness of MRBG.

The authors reflect on the opportunities for diversity in supply chain research by examining the prevalent modes of theorizing in the field. This examination focuses on identifying common styles of theorizing in supply chain management research, which are defined as specific modes of reasoning to make inferences about supply chain phenomena. Armed with this definition, the authors elaborate how research in the field has for the most part hinged on a propositional style as a common base for theorizing and theoretical contributions. The analysis that is provided emphasizes the limits of this style, particularly when it is considered as the preferred form for all theoretical contributions. The authors, in turn, make the case for a pluralistic system of knowledge production that supports the use of multiple theorizing styles that, when used alongside one another in a coordinated or co-oriented manner, will lead to a better understanding of supply chain management phenomena.