Search results

The study investigates the profitability of manufacturing firms backshoring (BS) to Europe. In particular, the article analyses the relation between BS drivers and post-relocation profitability and tests whether this relation is moderated by innovation policies that firms adopt in conjunction with BS.

The empirical model links the post-relocation profitability to BS drivers, firms’ involvement in product innovation and/or adoption of new manufacturing technologies. Data concerning BS initiatives to Europe between 2012 and 2018 extracted from secondary sources have been matched to firms’ balance sheet data.

Results show that responsiveness-driven BS is associated with higher profitability when the relocation is coupled with product innovation. A second key finding is that the adoption of new manufacturing technologies has a positive impact on post-BS profitability.

The restriction of the dataset to firms for which information on post- and pre-BS financial performance was available has led to a small sample size. Availability of longer time series of profitability data will allow estimating long-term impact, especially for innovation.

The study provides first evidence on the impact of BS on financial performance and throws light on the relevance of innovation as a lever supporting manufacturing relocation to high-cost countries.

The study advances empirical research on BS by offering evidence of its impact on profitability and by linking it to previous research on BS drivers. Further, the study throws light on the role of different drivers as “success factors” of BS and on how they interact with innovation efforts. The study also offers insights to business leaders who are evaluating the potential benefits on company profitability of a return to a high cost-environment and provides useful indications on the conditions under which BS pays off.

This paper aims to investigate the role of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) within the Canadian public procurement, by seeking to identify barriers and supporting factors of MSMEs’ participation and success in public tenders.

The empirical analysis builds on a unique survey run by the Canadian federal government, which addressed firms either participating or not participating in public tenders. Model estimation on the survey data relies on sample selection methodologies, which allow separating determinants of MSMEs’ decision to participate from determinants of success.

Results provide evidence that costs stemming from asset specificity and uncertainty (e.g. costs of bidding, requirements for participation, bundling of contracts and award rules based on minimum price) affect participation in public procurement. Within MSMEs, micro-firms are the most discouraged from participating. However, after controlling for factors affecting participation, micro-firms emerge as having a higher success rate, possibly because of high specialization and joint participation with larger firms.

Because of the cross-sectional nature of the data used for hypotheses testing, endogeneity may arise if ex post variables affect ex ante decisions. This may apply if participation in procurement feeds on success in past tenders.

Findings may inform policies for the inclusion of smaller firms in the public marketplace.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempting to disentangle determinants of participation in public tenders from determinants of success. Separating the two aspects helps fine-tune SME-friendly public procurement policies, by identifying actions that effectively facilitate success of MSMEs in public tenders.

Smart Manufacturing (SM) lies at the core of Industry 4.0. Operations management research has investigated the determinants of SM advancement but there is still limited understanding of the linkages between SM and organizational factors and about whether both the technological and organizational subsystems for SM are guided by firms’ competitive priorities. To close these gaps, building on operations strategy theory, this paper aims to empirically test a model positing that competitive priorities drive SM advancement. The relation between competitive priorities and SM advancement is assumed to be mediated by organizational microfoundations.

Using data from a single respondent survey with 234 firms in the automotive component industry, structural equation modeling is adopted to test the model hypotheses. Relevant constructs are measured with reference to the lead plant for SM.

Findings highlight that SM advancement is driven by the need to simultaneously compete in terms of cost, quality and delivery, thus suggesting that manufacturers view SM as a mean to develop multiple manufacturing capabilities. Organizational microfoundations fully mediate the relation between competitive priorities and SM advancement.

Results have implications for SM research, as they provide an understanding of the strategic priorities of firms engaging in SM. Findings also bear relevance for manufacturing executives engaged in the SM transformation, as they provide quantitative evidence that shaping an adequate organizational environment is a prerequisite for SM advancement.

Smart Manufacturing (SM) lies at the core of Industry 4.0. Operations management research has identified several factors influencing firms’ ability to adopt SM. However, a clear understanding of capabilities needed to progress in SM is still missing. This paper aims to investigate how absorptive capacity (AC) allows firms to advance in SM and explore how managerial antecedents support the capacity to absorb SM-related knowledge at different stages of SM adoption.

This study adopts an exploratory approach through multiple case studies. Twelve firms, operating as part of the automotive supply chain and exhibiting different stages of SM adoption, constitute the sample.

The results suggest that advancement in SM requires firms to progressively reinforce their AC. Firms’ ability to acquire and assimilate SM knowledge is supported by managerial antecedents encompassing integrative capacities to bridge old and SM technologies, managerial cognition through the clear alignment of SM technologies with strategic goals and knowledge development capabilities through practices oriented to provide senior managers with SM competences.

The findings contribute to SM research by suggesting that AC is a crucial dynamic capability for SM adoption. The results also provide evidence-grounded recommendations to firms engaged in the digital transformation on the managerial capabilities needed to support AC and to progress from lower to higher stages of SM.

The internet of things (IoT) is one of the pillars of Industry 4.0. Prior OM research has conceptualized IoT, and analyzed potential applications and risks and challenges associated with its adoption. However, little empirical evidence exists on the main types of IoT projects undertaken by organizations and on their impacts. The purpose of this paper is to close this gap by searching for a taxonomy of IoT projects that may be associated to different IoT readiness levels. The dynamic capability lens is used as the theoretical background for the analysis.

A database of secondary IoT case studies is used to identify an IoT project taxonomy through two-step cluster analysis. The taxonomy obtained allows classifying projects into homogenous groups by technological novelty, IoT capabilities and functional areas of application. ANOVA is then used to test for the association between cluster membership and alternative operational impacts. Finally, the analysis of selected case studies from the database allows throwing light on the nature of the projects typical of each cluster.

Five clusters of projects have been identified and positioned along varying degrees of capabilities, novelty and scope. The taxonomy is consistent with a three layer IoT technological readiness model. In turn, the three IoT readiness levels correspond to three managerial capabilities: monitoring, control and optimization. Combining cluster results with detailed case analysis suggests that IoT technological readiness can be interpreted as a dynamic capability enabling knowledge creation that can support competitive advantage.

This is a first attempt to describe projects firms undertake when adopting IoT. Building on cluster analysis, the study suggests that different IoT readiness levels are needed to reach different impacts.

According to the Italian regulation firms must qualify to bid in auctions for public work contracts worth more than 150,000 euros. In this paper, we investigate the link between the efficiency of infrastructure provision, and the Italian regulation concerning the firm's entry and qualification system, employing a large dataset on Italian public works contracts for roads and highways. First, firm's efficiency in public contracts' execution is estimated using a smoothed data envelopment analysis (DEA) bootstrap procedure. Then, the effects of the qualification system on firm's efficiency is evaluated using a semi-parametric technique that produces a robust inference for an unknown serial correlation between efficiency scores. Our analysis shows that fully qualified firms perform better than partially qualified firms.

Purchasing management has been recently focused by public organisations aiming to maximise its contribution to operations. Such an aspect has been emphasised by the impacts of on going commercialisation process in the network public service sector. This paper provides evidence of changes in purchasing management behaviour in public firms in the water supply sector. In particular, in Italy the firms, after a first phase of increasing attention to purchasing management and suppliers selection, slowly has come back to a clerical approach, maintaining an “arms-length” relationship with suppliers. A model for describing the oscillation of purchasing management within the firms is presented and an explanation of such an oscillation is suggested in terms of flow of power between technical management and political managers.

The paper presents an investigation carried out in an Italian health organisation, aimed at studying the purchasing process of medical equipment at the hospital ward level, and at assessing its impact on hospital ward performance. A model of the decision process that leads to purchase is developed. The results show that the acquisition of technology has a positive impact on the ward's relative efficiency, and that efficiency is further linked to the specific goals pursued by the head of ward and by the constraints faced.

The purpose of this paper, in the context of hospital wards, is to test a model in which the ward manager's orientation towards a given organizational climate contributes to determine the climate perceived by medical and nursing staff, and this, in turn, has an impact on patient satisfaction.

The design of the study is cross‐sectional. The manager's climate orientation, employee perceptions of organizational climate, and patient satisfaction questionnaires were administered to ward managers, medical staff, and inpatients in 57 wards belonging to ten public hospitals in Italy. The hypothesised model was tested using two‐level structural equation modelling.

Different climates impact on patient satisfaction in a different way. Evidence was found that a human relation climate augments patient satisfaction. Ward managers' orientation on specific organizational models is matched by the actual climate perceived by medical and nursing staff. Comparison between alternative nested models shows that there is evidence in favour of the mediating effect of climate between the managers' climate orientation and patient satisfaction.

The main limitation of the paper is the cross‐sectional nature of the data set, which does not allow for definitive conclusions on the direction of causality links.

Understanding the link between climate and patient satisfaction may guide hospitals towards a more conscious selection of the appropriate organizational model.

The contribution of the present paper to the extant literature is twofold. First, it verifies whether the ward manager's climate orientation is matched by the organizational climate as perceived by subordinates. Second, it investigates the mediating role that organizational climate plays between ward managers' orientations and patient satisfaction.

To define and test an approach for the evaluation of the quality of e‐service provided in the LPS sector.

The study hypothesises a correlation among e‐service content quality, technological complexity of web sites, and the application of criteria for assessing efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency through organisational re‐engineering induced by e‐service. A model for describing the e‐service quality in the local public service sector is then defined.

Provides a methodology for measuring the quality of e‐service in terms of functional quality. It is based on the relationship between benefits for customers and web site technological complexity, assumed to be represented by the level of organisational changes adopted by firms.

It is necessary to analyse organisational changes actually applied. It would be important to discuss in detail the relevant dimensions of e‐service quality in the public sector.

The proposed approach should allow managers operating in public‐service organisations to develop useful operational frameworks for e‐service quality‐control systems – based on an analysis of the interactions and transactions made available to their stakeholders.

This paper addresses the increasing demand for transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness in e‐service provision in the local public service sector. It provides a framework for understanding how the e‐service is provided, how it can be evaluated, and how to assess e‐service quality in terms of the content of the developed web sites.