David Gligor, Nichole Gligor, Mary Holcomb and Siddik Bozkurt
The purpose of this paper is to add clarity to the multidimensional concepts of agility and resilience. In addition, this paper seeks to clarify the differences and similarities…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to add clarity to the multidimensional concepts of agility and resilience. In addition, this paper seeks to clarify the differences and similarities between the two concepts by integrating the distinct bodies of knowledge on agility and resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
A multidisciplinary systematic literature review is conducted. The concept of agility is explored through a review of the sports science, manufacturing, organizational, information systems and information systems development and supply chain literature bases. The concept of resilience is investigated through a review of the psychological and psychopathological, ecological, economic, organizational and supply chain literature bases.
Findings
Examining the complex relationship between the two constructs led to the emergence of six major dimensions to capture the concept of agility (i.e. ability to quickly change direction, speed/accelerate operations, scan the environment/anticipate, empower the customer/customize, adjust tactics and operations (flexibility), and integrate processes within and across firms). Similarly, six dimensions were uncovered for resilience (i.e. ability to resist/survive disruptions, avoid the shock altogether, recover/return to original form following disruption, speed/accelerate operations, adjust tactics and operations (flexibility) and scan the environment/anticipate). Agility and resilience were found to share three common dimensions (i.e. ability to adjust tactics and operations (flexibility), speed/accelerate operations and scan the environment/anticipate).
Practical implications
The identification of the common characteristics of agility and resilience carries important managerial implications from a resource allocation perspective. Allocating resources to the development of the common characteristics of agility and resilience can help firms maximize the impact of such investments. That is, by investing in the common characteristics of both they can improve supply chain agility and supply chain resilience. If firms approach the development or improvement of supply chain agility or resilience independent from one another, without an awareness of the common characteristics, they could be duplicating their investments resulting in supply chain redundancies and inefficiencies.
Originality/value
Not having a clear and comprehensive understanding of the similarities and differences between agility and resilience is problematic from a theoretical perspective. A clear understanding of what each construct represents provides a platform for building generalizable theory by helping researchers operationalize these constructs in a consistent manner. Further, providing a generalizable, comprehensive and multidisciplinary perspective on agility and resilience within supply chain management literature can help increase the visibility of the field of supply chain management across other disciplines as scholars outside the field of supply chain management can utilize the results of this research effort.
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Matthew Jenkins and Mary Holcomb
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the activities that nascent firms undertake to improve customer attractiveness and gain collaborative commitment from…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the activities that nascent firms undertake to improve customer attractiveness and gain collaborative commitment from strategic suppliers.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a grounded theory study consisting of 26 participants from 15 firms and a review of extant literature were used to develop a theoretical model that explains how a nascent firm increases its customer attractiveness to elicit commitment and collaboration from strategic suppliers.
Findings
The authors find that social capital, born of close social ties and social history, enhances the effectiveness of a nascent firm's relationship-building practices. This counteracts a supplier's collaborative risk and consequently increases the nascent firm's customer attractiveness, thus enabling it to obtain strategic supplier collaborative commitment.
Practical implications
This research helps managers by providing direction on what practices nascent firms pursue to gain strategic supplier resources and collaboration. Given the reality of resource constraints in nascent firms, it is suggested that this insight is essential to obtaining crucial external resources needed to survive and grow.
Originality/value
Extant research on buyer–supplier collaboration is mostly confined to the context of mature firms and does not account for the unique inter-organizational relational challenges faced by nascent firms. This research uncovers the idiosyncrasies of supplier management in nascent firms, and elucidates on the actions that nascent firm managers take to gain supplier collaborative commitment.
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David M. Gligor and Mary Holcomb
The concept of supply chain agility (SCA) has been identified as one of the most important issues in supply chain management literature. However, despite the popularity of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The concept of supply chain agility (SCA) has been identified as one of the most important issues in supply chain management literature. However, despite the popularity of the concept, many attributes of SCA are largely unexplored. One area that is deficient in research is the antecedents of SCA. This paper aims to seek further theory development by addressing these gaps in the SCA literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this study were obtained from a field survey. A mail questionnaire was constructed that contained items measuring the constructs of interest. The theoretical model was evaluated using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings indicate that logistics capabilities positively impact SCA. The results provide empirical evidence for logistics’ unique and critical role in helping firms respond in a timely and effective manner to market volatility and other uncertainties.
Research limitations/implications
As is the case with most supply chain survey research, the constructs of interest were evaluated based on the perception of a single party involved in a specific relationship. Future research using multiple dyads or triads within various supply chains could address this limitation.
Practical implications
If limited resources are available for investment (as is often the case), a more balanced distribution of resources toward the development of multiple logistics capabilities (e.g. demand-management interface, information-management interface) is preferred to pooling all the resources toward the development of a single capability (e.g. information-management interface).
Originality/value
Considering logistics’ boundary-spanning nature, prior research suggest that logistics capabilities perform a key role in achieving SCA. However, the relationship between firm-specific logistics capabilities and SCA has not been empirically tested. This paper address that gap in the research.
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David M. Gligor and Mary C. Holcomb
The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of logistics capabilities in achieving supply chain agility through a multi‐disciplinary review of the relevant research. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of logistics capabilities in achieving supply chain agility through a multi‐disciplinary review of the relevant research. The systematic literature review aims to provide the basis for formulating a conceptual framework of the relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic, comprehensive review of the literature on manufacturing, organizational and supply chain agility from 1991 through 2010 was conducted. The literature on logistics capabilities was also examined to identify the various elements that contribute to supply chain agility.
Findings
Supply chain agility has primarily been explored in the literature through a focus on manufacturing flexibility, supply chain speed, or lean manufacturing. The role of logistics capabilities in achieving supply chain agility has not been addressed from a holistic conceptual perspective. This research addresses that gap using a multi‐disciplinary approach. As such, it is the first phase in theory building on the concept of supply chain agility. Further research is needed to empirically test the conceptualized relationships.
Research limitations/implications
This research is a systematic, integrative review of the existing literature on the concept of agility and logistics capabilities. As such, the next phase of research needed for theory building will be the operationalization of constructs and testing of the hypothesized relationships proposed by the conceptual framework.
Practical implications
The level of agility in a supply chain can determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the collective efforts. It is important that firms become more knowledgeable about the role of logistics capabilities in achieving agility.
Originality/value
Through a systematic, comprehensive review of the literature in four distinct areas, the paper explores the relationship between logistics capabilities and supply chain agility.
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David M. Gligor and Mary Holcomb
– The purpose of this paper is to understand how personal relationships influence behavior within a supply-chain context.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how personal relationships influence behavior within a supply-chain context.
Design/methodology/approach
This research employs a qualitative methodology that allows for a rich assessment of how buyers and suppliers of logistics services interact within the context of personal relationships (e.g. friendships), that are themselves embedded within interfirm relationships. Based on a grounded theory approach, a model is developed describing how and why personal relationships are important for supply-chain managers to consider when cultivating interfirm connections.
Findings
The findings reveal how managers act/interact within the context of personal relationships, as well as the outcomes/benefits associated with the development of personal relationships.
Research limitations/implications
This study uses qualitative interviews to generate theory. The generalizability of the findings will have to be empirically examined in future research.
Practical implications
Managers can use the findings to understand explicitly what types of benefits personal relationships can yield. Further, this study presents to managers the specific actions that buyers and suppliers of logistics services engage in, when developing a personal relationship, in order to facilitate the generation of positive business outcomes.
Originality/value
A notable weakness in the supply-chain relationship literature is the unfulfilled need for research examining interfirm relationships at a micro/individual level, rather than the traditionally adopted firm-to-firm view, in order to account for the social/relational elements of firm-level relationships. This paper addresses that gap by exploring personal relationships within supply chains.
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Serhiy Y. Ponomarov and Mary C. Holcomb
In the emerging disciplines of risk management and supply chain management, resilience is a relatively undefined concept. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated…
Abstract
Purpose
In the emerging disciplines of risk management and supply chain management, resilience is a relatively undefined concept. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated perspective on resilience through an extensive review of the literature in a number of disciplines including developmental psychology and ecosystems. In addition, the paper identifies and addresses some of the current theoretical gaps in the existing research.
Design/methodology/approach
Supply chain resilience has been defined by a number of disciplines. An integrative literature review is conducted in an attempt to integrate existing perspectives. This review also serves as the basis for the development of a conceptual model.
Findings
The key elements of supply chain resilience and the relationships among them, the links between risks and implications for supply chain management, and the methodologies for managing these key issues are poorly understood. Implications for future research advocate testing the proposed model empirically.
Practical implications
Supply chain disruptions have adverse effect on both revenue and costs. Resilient supply chains incorporate event readiness, are capable of providing an efficient response, and often are capable of recovering to their original state or even better post the disruptive event.
Originality/value
Supply chain resilience has yet to be researched from the logistics perspective. Even in well‐developed disciplines the unified theory of resilience is still under development. This research leverages existing knowledge and advances an interdisciplinary understanding of the concept.
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Karl B. Manrodt and Frank W. Davis
Traces the evolutionary process leading from traditional supplychain logistics. This is accomplished by tracing three foundationalconcepts – the total cost concept; the systems…
Abstract
Traces the evolutionary process leading from traditional supply chain logistics. This is accomplished by tracing three foundational concepts – the total cost concept; the systems approach; and the customer service concept – to assess their influence on service response logistics. Anticipates continued interest in this area as organizations seek to structure themselves to be responsive to the changing needs of their individual customers.
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This study examines liberal second-wave feminists’ writings about cooking. Most scholarship of liberal feminism has focused on the attempts to integrate women into previously…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines liberal second-wave feminists’ writings about cooking. Most scholarship of liberal feminism has focused on the attempts to integrate women into previously male-dominated public spaces such as higher education, the professions, and political office. Less attention has been paid to how these feminists politicized feminized spaces such as the home. A longstanding tension between the housewife role and feminist identities has led many to theorize that feminists avoid or resent domestic tasks. However, I argue that some liberal feminists in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s suggested engaging with cooking in subversive ways that challenged patriarchal institutions and supported their political goals.
Methodology/approach
I analyze 148 articles about cooking in Ms. magazine between 1972 and 1985. I also analyze the copy and recipes within four community cookbooks published by liberal feminist organizations.
Findings
I find that liberal feminists suggested utilizing time- and labor-saving cooking methods, encouraged men to cook, and proposed that women make money from cooking. These three techniques challenged the traditional division of domestic labor, supported women’s involvement in the paid workplace, and increased women’s control of economic resources.
Originality/value
This study turns the opposition between feminism and feminized tasks on its head, showing that rather than avoiding cooking, some liberal feminists proposed ways of cooking that challenged patriarchal institutions. I show how subordinate populations can develop ways of subversively engaging with tasks that are typically seen as oppressive, using them in an attempt to advance their social position.
Mary J. Meixell, George N. Kenyon and Peter Westfall
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance implications associated with production outsourcing. Specifically, the paper analyzes the cost of goods sold for firms…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance implications associated with production outsourcing. Specifically, the paper analyzes the cost of goods sold for firms who outsource core manufacturing processes, using empirical data from a variety of industries. The paper seeks to better understand the influence of outsourcing on factory cost by looking at these in the context of related strategies, such as supplier integration, information technology (IT) implementation, and manufacturing process decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on transaction cost economics, manufacturing strategy, and supply chain management literature to aid in predicting the performance to be expected when outsourcing production activities. Furthermore, the paper investigates the moderating effects of manufacturing strategies, supplier integration, and IT expenditures on outsourcing. The primary model is a two-way panel model for the cross-sectional and longitudinal data drawn from the MPI Census of Manufacturers Survey of US manufacturing plants.
Findings
The analysis indicates that production outsourcing tends to shift costs among cost of goods sold (COGS) categories, but does not consistently reduce them as measured by overall COGS. The effects of production outsourcing on both the cost of labor and the cost of materials are strong, tending to decrease labor, and increase materials. Additionally, this study shows that a high level of supplier integration has a notable moderating influence on overall COGS, but that process strategies do not. Finally, this analysis indicates that IT expenditures were not influential as a moderator variable when outsourcing, but did have a marked influence on overall COGS, as well as on labor and materials costs.
Originality/value
This research investigates the effects of outsourcing on the components of COGS, a level of analysis that is typically not looked at relative to outsourcing. This research also provides methodological contributions with the development of a nested random effects structural model for use with a secondary data source.