Bruno Varella Miranda, Guilherme Fowler A. Monteiro, Gustavo Magalhães de Oliveira and Vinicius Picanço Rodrigues
This paper aims to investigate delegation decisions in supply chains, exploring the metaphor that consumers who make environmentally and socially responsible choices are…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate delegation decisions in supply chains, exploring the metaphor that consumers who make environmentally and socially responsible choices are equivalent to voters in an election.
Design/methodology/approach
This theoretical paper relies on the principles of agency theory to shed light on fundamental challenges that shape our ability to transform supply chains.
Findings
This paper unravels two puzzles linked to delegation decisions within sustainable supply chains. It shows that as firms adopt sustainable production systems, their ability to convey relevant information that convinces consumers to enter in a delegation relationship diminishes, ceteris paribus; and once a delegation relationship is established, complementarity within the dimensions of the contract is necessary to guarantee the delivery of sustainability attributes.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this paper offer insights that can inspire empirical research on sustainable supply chain management.
Practical implications
Policymakers and entrepreneurs willing to incentivize the transformation of supply chains must think about the nature of the relationship between firms and consumers. This paper provides a metaphor that can help practitioners to reinterpret their role as providers or consumers of products and services with sustainability attributes.
Social implications
This paper provides insights that may enhance the understanding of how individual consumption decisions may contribute to transforming supply chains.
Originality/value
This paper expands the repertoire of theoretical tools that can be applied to study the emergence and resilience of sustainable supply chains.
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Bruno Varella Miranda, Brent Ross, Jason Franken and Miguel Gómez
The purpose of this study is to disentangle the drivers of adoption of procurement strategies in situations where small agri-food firms deal with constrained organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to disentangle the drivers of adoption of procurement strategies in situations where small agri-food firms deal with constrained organizational choices. More specifically, the authors investigate the role of transaction costs, capabilities and networks in the definition of feasible “make-or-buy” choices in emerging wine regions.
Design/methodology/approach
This article analyzes a unique dataset of small wineries from five US states: Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York and Vermont. The reported results derive from both a hurdle model (i.e. a probit model and a truncated regression model) and a tobit model.
Findings
The results suggest the importance of trust as a replacement for formal governance structures whenever small firms deal with highly constrained sets of organizational choices. On the other hand, the level of dependence on a limited mix of winegrape varieties and the perception that these varieties are fundamental in building legitimacy help to explain higher rates of vertical integration.
Originality/value
This study is important because it sheds light on organizational constraints that affect millions of farmers across the globe. The study of “make-or-buy” decisions in agri-food supply chains has mostly relied on the implicit assumption that all organizational choices are available to every firm. Nevertheless, limited capabilities and the participation in low-density networks may constrain the ability of a firm to adopt a governance mechanism. Stated organizational preferences and actual organizational choices may thus differ.
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Guilherme Fowler A. Monteiro, Bruno Varella Miranda, Vinicius Picanço Rodrigues and Maria Sylvia Macchione Saes
Hildo Meirelles de Souza Filho and Bruno Varella Miranda
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationship between the existence of asset specificity and the architecture of the hybrid governance structures adopted by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationship between the existence of asset specificity and the architecture of the hybrid governance structures adopted by horticultural smallholders from the Brazilian region of Serra Fluminense.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a negative binomial regression model to analyze 567 transactions carried out by horticultural smallholders from the Brazilian region of Serra Fluminense. Starting from the insights of Oliver Williamson’s transaction cost economics, an indicator is constructed with the goal to capture the degree of intensity of coordination from the adoption of diverse bundles of coordination mechanisms in a governance structure.
Findings
The results show that higher levels of human and physical asset specificity affect the intensity of coordination of the transactions in the sample, leading to the adoption of hybrid forms with more complex bundles of coordination mechanisms.
Research limitations/implications
This paper adds to a growing literature that studies the architecture of complex governance structures. However, its empirical conclusions are exploratory.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, quantitative empirical studies that analyze the diversity of hybrid forms in the same industry are relatively rare. This contribution also presents a theoretical discussion that might inform scholars dealing with similar research challenges.
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Bruno Varella Miranda and Anna Grandori
The purpose of this paper is to provide a multidimensional framework for the identification, description and comparative analysis of alternative farm structures and their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a multidimensional framework for the identification, description and comparative analysis of alternative farm structures and their properties for economic development.
Design/methodology/approach
Integrating previous typologies and considering a large set of examples, the authors identify six attributes that are necessary to characterize and compare farm structures: size; strategy; organizational form; legal form; who the owners are; and degree of separation of ownership and control. They also discuss potential complementarities between those organizational attributes and specific features of the institutions of developing and emerging countries, such as contract enforcement and property rights protection regime, and developed capital markets and corporate law.
Findings
Conceptually and empirically, effective farm structures can deviate from the templates traditionally considered – “small family-owned farm” or “large factory-like corporate farm,” combining structural attributes in diverse ways. The dimensionalization of farm structures also helps in revealing complementary institutional traits at the regional or larger system level that may foster development processes.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is limited to theory building and case-based evidence. Nevertheless, it provides dimensions that can be measured on a larger scale and by quantitative studies.
Originality/value
This paper sheds light on organizational diversity in agriculture and on a wider set of feasible development paths.
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Vivian Lara Silva, Bruno S. Silvestre, Dominique Fernandez Bonet Fernandez and Ticiano Jordão
This paper aims to conduct an extensive review and advances a framework for the literature of high-growth firms (HGFs) and scale-ups.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to conduct an extensive review and advances a framework for the literature of high-growth firms (HGFs) and scale-ups.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes the form of a literature review.
Findings
The author makes three specific contributions. First, he presents a broad review of high growth in firms, shedding light on the different levels of analysis. Second, he advances a characterization of scale-up companies to enable a better basis for discussion. Finally, he identifies gaps in the existing literature and suggest paths for future research.
Originality/value
The interest in HGFs and those referred to as scale-ups has increased considerably in recent years. Despite this trend, existing studies still have conceptual divergences and a gap separating theoretical inputs from the actual experiences of entrepreneurs.