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This study explores the phenomenon of company-specific plant role models. Following the establishment of distinct lead factories, recent studies imply that multinational companies are now using more detailed plant roles to manage manufacturing networks. While multiple plant role typologies can be found in literature, this is, to our knowledge, the first article to systematically analyze the content of such company-specific plant roles.

We rely on a multiple-case study design of 29 plant role models primarily belonging to multinational companies headquartered in German-speaking countries. Coding is performed to analyze the models for similarities and differences.

The content of company-specific plant role models seems highly dependent on a company’s context; hence, there is no one best way to build them. Companies appear to be pursuing different priorities with the application of plant roles, for example, the reorganization of manufacturing networks, the systematic allocation of products or the definition of decision-making autonomy. Compared to the primarily two-dimensional models from theory, companies rely on more dimensions to make their plant roles practical. Similar to models from literature, competence bandwidth, inter-plant knowledge/information flow and location advantage are the most relevant dimensions to differentiate plants from a headquarters’ perspective.

Plant role models are a powerful management tool that enables delayering the complexity and allows for proactive management of manufacturing networks. Managers fit the content of their plant role models to their company-specific context and the intended application for manufacturing networks. Managers aiming to build company-specific plant roles can use the conceptual framework based on the empirical findings as a benchmark.

This study complements prior research on plant roles by acknowledging that companies might develop their own version of plant role models rather than copying the ones from the literature. By doing so, we explore how plant roles look like in a real-world setting.

Although benefits are promising, many companies face problems leveraging synergies between Lean and Digitalization at the program management level. This paper aims to identify activities to manage the boundaries of Lean and Digitalization programs.

The research design follows a cross-industry multiple-case study approach. A total of 14 interviews were conducted with Lean and Digitalization experts from 10 companies. Interview quotes were mapped on a pre-defined list of descriptive codes and iteratively merged and excluded.

We identified 12 activities by which companies manage the boundaries of their Lean and Digitalization programs. Three distinct boundary management approaches could be identified: collaborative, configurational, and competitive. A collaborative approach fosters governance, the belief in synergies, and the development of combined artifacts. A configurational approach creates combined responsibilities, assesses areas of collaboration, and fosters interaction across the organization. A competitive approach creates unclear responsibilities and exchange, perceives no added value in integration and follows separated implementation of Lean and Digitalization programs.

This study sheds light on the boundaries of Lean and Digitalization programs and identifies activities to manage them. We derive propositions for the Lean and Digitalization program management. Moreover, this study positions itself at the forefront of research investigating how integration of Lean and Digitalization actually occurs or does not occur.

Digital servitization research has focused on how manufacturing firms use digital technologies to change business models and offer smart services; less attention has been devoted to the degree to which external actors in the existing ecosystem accept these smart services. Therefore, the authors pose the following research question: How does a manufacturing firm introduce and gain acceptance of new smart services within an established ecosystem?

Building on servitization, ecosystem and legitimacy theories, this paper addresses the research question through an in-depth case study of a world-leading original equipment manufacturer that is currently developing and introducing new smart services in its existing ecosystem.

The findings suggest that external actors emphasize different types of legitimacy in deciding whether to accept a new smart service. The findings also show that the type of legitimacy required to gain acceptance changes throughout the development of the smart service, from the definition of the value proposition to the design and delivery of the service.

This study can assist smart service providers in identifying which type of legitimacy is important for each ecosystem actor and strengthening these types of legitimacy to gain acceptance from the ecosystem.

This study develops a framework to help describe the thresholds for acceptance of a smart service through the development phases, as well as to indicate the types of legitimacy that smart service providers must relate to when seeking to gain acceptance for their new offering.

In today's risk society, foundations are essential for sustaining democracies. However, the proof of a value-creating function of foundations is rarely assessed. Therefore, this study uses sensemaking theory and the communication value framework to explore to what extent a foundation achieved its overall mission in tackling societal challenges as opportunities.

This study employs a case study approach of a Swiss foundation. Through 20 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, insights about the value-creating function of the foundation were gained, showing how strategic communication activities contributed to the foundation's overall mission in various spheres of action.

The stakeholders overall identified a value-creating function of the foundation. The feedback obtained from the interviews could be structured along the lines of the communication value framework, with minor adjustments, showing that the foundation brought about value through its strategic communication regarding tangible assets (e.g. publicity), intangible assets (e.g. unique reputation), room for maneuver (e.g. renowned network) and opportunities for development (e.g. new formats). However, on each level, value-limiting factors have also been identified (e.g. limited publicity).

This study is the first to employ sensemaking theory to assess a foundation's value-creating function in achieving its overall mission by interviewing direct stakeholders. It is also one of the few studies in the field that analyzes strategic communication of foundations. Thus, this study adds methodological, theoretical and practical knowledge to foundation communication, value-creation and strategic communication management.

The happy-productive worker hypothesis posits that employee well-being is an important factor in work performance. Educational institutions around the world are facing both internal and external pressures to integrate sustainability into their practices, with the goal of protecting the planet and ultimately boosting profits. This paper explores the potential wider benefits of sustainability, including its relationship with employee well-being and performance, by investigating the influence of organisational sustainability on the happy-productive worker hypothesis.

Educational institution employees from the UAE and USA (n = 199; 66.3% teachers) completed an online questionnaire measuring their well-being, perceptions of their organisations’ environmental sustainability and three self-reported job performance measures (task performance, contextual performance and counter-productive workplace behaviours). Regression and mediation analyses were conducted to test hypothesised relationships.

Both well-being and sustainability were positively associated with work performance. Furthermore, sustainability accounted for additional variance in performance beyond that accounted for by well-being. Sustainability partially mediated the relationship between well-being and performance, providing evidence of the importance of sustainability in the workplace.

This study contributes to an emerging field by investigating the relationship between an organisation’s sustainability and benefits of this for employees in terms of well-being as well as work performance. The findings provide further support for the happy-productive worker hypothesis and also the first evidence that educational institutions’ sustainability can mediate this relationship.

This study seeks to explore the intricate relationship among supply chain transparency, digitalization and idiosyncratic risk, with a specific focus on newly public firms. The objective is to determine whether supply chain transparency effectively mitigates idiosyncratic risk within this context and to understand the potential impact of digitalization on this dynamic interplay.

The study utilizes data from Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) on China’s Growth Enterprise Board (ChiNext) over the last five years, sourced from the CSMAR database and firms’ annual reports. The research covers the period from 2009 to 2021, observing each firm for five years post-IPO. The final sample comprises 2,645 observations from 529 firms. The analysis employs the Hausman test, considering the panel-data structure of the sample and favoring fixed effects over random effects. Additionally, it applies the high-dimensional fixed effects (HDFE) estimator to address unobserved heterogeneity.

The analysis initially uncovered an inverted U-shaped relationship between supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk, indicating a delicate equilibrium where detrimental effects diminish and beneficial effects accelerate with increased transparency. Moreover, this inverted U-shaped relationship was notably more pronounced in newly public firms with a heightened level of firm digitalization. This observation implies that firm digitalization amplifies the impact of transparency on a firm’s idiosyncratic risk.

This study distinguishes itself by providing distinctive insights into supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk. Initially, we introduce and substantiate an inverted U-shaped correlation between supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk, challenging the conventional linear perspective. Secondly, we pioneer the connection between supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk, especially for newly public firms, thereby enhancing comprehension of financial implications. Lastly, we pinpoint crucial digital conditions that influence the relationship between supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk management, offering a nuanced perspective on the role of technology in risk management.

This paper looks at how stakeholders co-create value at mega-events from a service ecosystem perspective. Despite the growing interest, little is known about how value is co-created through such initiatives for individual stakeholders and the community.

Drawing on institutional and stakeholder theory, the study focuses on Cortina 2021, the World Ski Championships held in Italy in February 2021. It investigates how multiple actors co-create value within a service ecosystem through qualitative interviews with key stakeholders combined with the analysis of official documents and reports.

The research established that key stakeholders were willing to get involved with Cortina 2021 if they recognised the value which could be co-created. Such an ecosystem requires a focal organisation with a clear regulative and normative framework and a common cultural basis. The latter helped resilience in the extraordinary circumstances of Cortina 2021 and safeguarded long-term impacts, even though the expected short-term ones were compromised.

From a managerial point of view, the evidence from Cortina 2021 shows how a clear strategy with well-defined stakeholder engagement mechanisms can facilitate value co-creation in service ecosystems. Moreover, when regulative and normative elements are blurred because of an extraordinary circumstance, resource integration and value creation processes need to be entrusted to those cultural elements that characterise an ecosystem.

The study takes an ecosystemic approach to mega-events to explore value creation for the whole community at the macro level, not only at the individual or organisational level, even during a crisis, which greatly impaired the preparation and running of the event.

This article aims to understand the challenges and key takeaways of implementing total quality management (TQM) in a virtual organisation.

An interventionist research (IVR) methodology combined with a qualitative critical event analysis was used to evaluate the challenges and concerns faced during the company’s adoption of TQM and understand the roles of the key players involved.

Standard process tools such as desktop procedures (DTP), focused teams, and service-level agreements (SLAs) were fundamental to implementing TQM in the company. These processes require the right leaders, but external agents may also be influential, acting as accelerators of change in adopting and using management practices in small companies. Indeed, the researcher acted as a problem solver, bringing innovative solutions to the firm using a hands-on iterative approach.

This research underscores the importance of critical success factors (CSF), such as employee engagement, training, and project management tools. These factors are not just important but crucial for the success of TQM in organisations seeking to adopt the industry’s best practices.

This study, conducted as a virtual IVR for TQM implementation, provides novel insights for practitioners and academics. It elucidates the pivotal role of some quality management tools in the journey towards TQM and the role of both internal and external critical players in the process, particularly in small virtual organisations based on innovative business models.

Despite the important role that suppliers have in enhancing the environmental performance of a buyer firm, previous research has not investigated the individual-level motivations of supplier employees (representatives) in supplier-to-supplier environmental knowledge sharing. Thus, we use insights from the coopetition literature to examine how buyer firms can encourage supplier-to-supplier environmental knowledge sharing with the aim of improving the buyer’s environmental performance.

We empirically test our model using an online vignette-based experiment administered to supply chain managers. We contextualized our results using insights from interviews with senior managers representing firms operating in a broad array of industries.

We find that a supplier representative’s personal environmental values influence their commitment to an environmental consortium with a rival firm, and they are subsequently willing to share proprietary environmental knowledge. In turn, these relationships are moderated by situational factors including competitive intensity and buyer power.

The study of coopetition is an emerging stream of research in operations management. Our findings improve the understanding on how a focal actor within a buyer–supplier coopetitive network can promote environmental knowledge sharing behavior.

Amid increasing frequency of disaster across the globe, humanitarian supply chain (HSC) has gained significant attention in recent times. This work aims to contribute towards improving the decision-making capabilities of relief organisations by offering more comprehensive understanding of the critical success factors (CSFs) concerning HSC. Hence, the current work attempts to classify CSFs as cause-and-effect factors and explore their relative importance in the stated significance.

Current work takes an explorative and deductive approach. It uses literature and experts' input to identify the CSFs for HSC and to develop a structural model for assessing these factors. Intuitionistic fuzzy DEMATEL (IF-D) is employed for modelling and analysing the cause-effect linkages among the CSFs. IF-D method is chosen as it is robust to vagueness of data and small samples.

The findings indicate that “motivated and committed employees” is the most influencing causal factor followed by “IT infrastructure”, and among effect factors, “physical network” carries the most significance followed by “anticipation capabilities.”

Relief organisations and stakeholders at various levels may put more emphasis on cause group factors with more influence on most critical effect factors to build more efficient and effective HSC to execute more impactful relief programs.

Current work explores the cause–effect relationships among the CSFs concerning HSC by implementing IF-D, which can be considered as the original contribution.