Adrian E. Coronado Mondragon, Chandra Lalwani and Christian E. Coronado Mondragon
In a growing number of competitive sectors with closed‐loop supply chains, the reverse component has become an inherent part of the business, not to mention a core competence;…
Abstract
Purpose
In a growing number of competitive sectors with closed‐loop supply chains, the reverse component has become an inherent part of the business, not to mention a core competence; hence the need to have performance measures that can be used to provide an accurate diagnosis of the state of the supply chain by addressing both its forward and its reverse components. It is also important to identify the level of existing integration between parties, as this has been associated with supply chain performance. This paper seeks to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Elements gathered from the literature reviewed are used to present a set of measures that can be applied for auditing purposes in: the forward supply chain; product returns and reverse logistics; flows of materials and information and integration between supply chain tiers. To illustrate the use of the proposed set of measures for auditing purposes a case study involving a major European mobile phone network operator was analysed using the operator's own brand of handsets characterised for having a closed‐loop supply chain.
Findings
The proposed set of measures for auditing purposes provide an overall picture of the performance of a closed‐loop supply chain by revealing high levels of stock for the products analysed, consequence of the difficulty to generate accurate forecasts and the accumulation of high quantities of product prior to launch. Also the methodology presented in this paper identifies links between product returns (faulty and non‐faulty) to operations in the forward component of the supply chain (design, sourcing, manufacturing and forecasting) and also indicates how performance is affected because of integration.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed set of measures for auditing purposes is relevant to closed‐loop supply chains which are related to products with short life cycles and during their lifetime can experience faulty and non‐faulty returns. The scope of the study presented may look limited; however, the application of the performance measures presented in this research can become a fundamental component of larger audit exercises. Further research should be carried out with supply chains on products with lifetime cycles that span long periods of time.
Practical implications
For industry sectors with closed‐loop supply chains, the availability of a set of measures that address the forward and reverse components plus integration can provide a detailed picture of the performance of value streams over traditional approaches to measurement that focus on only one component of the supply chain. The set of measures has the potential to be used to achieve better customer service and reduction in costs involving shipping, warehousing, labour and call centres.
Originality/value
The contribution of this research on closed‐loop supply chains is a methodology that defines performance measures for auditing purposes of the forward and reverse components of supply chains and assists in assessing the importance of integration between different tiers of supply chains.
Details
Keywords
Edi Suandi, Herri Herri, Yulihasri Yulihasri and Syafrizal Syafrizal
This paper aims to investigate the influence of Islamic marketing ethics and convergence marketing on competitive advantage and bank performance.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the influence of Islamic marketing ethics and convergence marketing on competitive advantage and bank performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a survey of 204 Indonesian branch managers from the Islamic banking industry. Results were produced with the partial least square approach.
Findings
Results revealed that Islamic marketing ethics and convergence marketing have sufficient confidence to have significant influences on competitive advantage, producing a positive association with a competitive advantage. However, Islamic marketing ethics and convergence marketing did not influence bank performance directly. Competitive advantage positively mediated the relationship. Furthermore, organizational digital literacy did not moderate the relationship between convergence marketing and bank performance.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the conceptualization of convergence marketing and the identification of its effects on competitive advantage and bank performance. The identification of convergence marketing in this dissertation contains dimensions of mobile, security, foreign currency, holistic and interactivity as different aspects from the steps of Islamic banks to digitize their services to the internet in a single application. The results also indicate that convergence marketing does not have a direct effect on bank performance but has an indirect effect through competitive advantage. Convergence marketing must first create a bank advantage over its competitors to have a good effect on bank performance.
Practical implications
This study offers many opportunities for Islamic bank marketers to improve performance. Many Islamic banks currently do not implement Islamic marketing ethics consistently and thoroughly. The results of this study encourage Islamic banks by showing that the more intensive and consistent they are in implementing Islamic marketing ethics, the better their competitive advantage and the higher the performance. This effort can be done in various ways, such as offering tariffs/ratios of services transparently to customers, not exaggerating the benefits of the products offered to distort customer expectations, building brands that can strengthen customer confidence in Islamic banks and only offering products and services with high-quality standards.
Limitation and future research
This study uses a sample of Islamic banking so that it is still limited to certain types of banks. Future research needs to conduct model testing in different contexts such as conventional banking. In addition, further research needs to use the capabilities or capabilities of bank IT as a moderator in the effect of convergence marketing on bank performance. Future research also needs to control for more variables and use a scale that is more complex than the binary scale (for example, the percentage of share ownership or territory in the scope of the province or district/city).
Originality/value
This research views the Islamic bank competitiveness through the lenses of Islamic ethical theory and convergence marketing theory.
Details
Keywords
Pavan Kumar Potdar, Srikanta Routroy and Astajyoti Behera
Agile manufacturing (AM) has evolved as a revolutionary way of manufacturing the products while managing the uncertainties, product introduction time, responsiveness, innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
Agile manufacturing (AM) has evolved as a revolutionary way of manufacturing the products while managing the uncertainties, product introduction time, responsiveness, innovation, superior quality, etc. along the supply chain to satisfy the ever increasing customer demand and to maximize the profit. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the literature related to various dimensions of AM and to report the findings.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the reviews of 300 scholarly articles from 1993 to 2016 by various researchers and practitioners on AM collected from different sources, i.e. Google Scholar and ResearchGate. The information related to AM is also captured during industrial visits to different Indian manufacturing plants.
Findings
AM definitions are reported along divergent scopes and objectives in the literature. The researchers have given importance on performance measurement and process analysis through empirical and descriptive analysis whereas its implementation issues are neglected. It is also observed that the effort made on AM is significant for manufacturing industries which is overlooked in service industries.
Practical implications
This literature review has identified many research gaps in AM which were not paid attention before. Researchers can address these research gaps for strengthening the AM implementation.
Originality/value
In total, 300 research papers are reviewed and analyzed to capture the various aspects of AM and its related issues but not restricted to research methodologies, author profiles, types of industries, tools/techniques/methodology used, etc.