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This study builds on the panarchy theory by viewing the supply chain as a socio-ecological system and further expands it by considering the within-level linkages internal to the supply chain level. Three types of linkages are considered: the two cross-level linkages with the planetary and the political-economic levels and the supply chain within-level linkages. The research questions are addressed using the data gathered by the Carbon Disclosure Project within its Supply Chain Programme.

This work aims to study, applying the lens of panarchy theory, how the planetary and the political-economic levels affect the supply chain within-level linkages for sustainability. Furthermore, the difference in how these cross-level linkages influence focal firms and first-tier suppliers is explored.

The results show that considering the planetary-supply chain linkage, climate change risk exposure is likelier to foster within-level linkages with buyers than with suppliers. Further, climate change mitigation investments have different roles in the different tiers: focal firms are pushed to strengthen the linkages with their suppliers when they lose efficacy in improving their carbon performance, whereas first-tier suppliers exploit investments to gain legitimacy. Discussing the political-economic level effect, perceptions from first-tier suppliers could be two-fold: they could perceive a mandating power mechanism or exploit policymakers’ knowledge to advance their capabilities.

The results contribute to the sustainable supply chain management literature by providing empirical evidence of the cross-level linkages theorised by the panarchy theory. Moreover, the concept of within-level linkages is proposed to apply the theory in this field.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the role of the plant in a manufacturing network (MN) affects the configurations of the flows of goods among plants, suppliers and customers and how these configurations, in turn, affect the extent of adoption and effectiveness of supply chain (SC) integration.

Three research questions are developed at the plant level and then tested using an international survey (IMSS 6) featuring 364 plants which are part of an intra-company MN from 18 countries.

Five configurations of flows of goods emerge from the analysis. These configurations appear to be related to the role of the plant in the network and to the effectiveness of SC integration practices, but not to their extent of adoption.

Research limitations include the focus on specific industries (assembly industries) and limited size of the clusters which did not allow for a deep investigation of each single cluster.

The paper creates a bridge between two literature streams (MNs and SC management) by means of an innovative flow-based perspective that can help researchers and practitioners to disentangle the two interwoven perspectives.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and define the concept of purchasing ambidexterity in terms of two dimensions: balance dimension and combined dimension. The study proceeds to empirically examine the multiple performance effects generated for the buying firm and its key suppliers.

Ambidexterity theory informs the authors’ conceptual model. To test the hypotheses, the authors collected survey data from 95 purchasing functions of medium and large European firms and applied various estimation techniques.

This research indicates that ambidexterity substantially varies across purchasing functions. Further, it discovers that a purchasing function’s ability to advance the combined magnitude of exploratory and exploitative activities represents an essential determinant of supplier efficiency, supplier product innovation, and buyer financial performance. Notably, this research also discovers that balancing the magnitudes of exploratory and exploitative activities on a relative basis produces negative effects on the innovativeness of the supply network.

Although ambidexterity theory has been applied to supply chain management, limited attention has been dedicated to purchasing ambidexterity. This gap led us to study how purchasing impacts the competitiveness of the buying firm and of its supply network by balancing and combining exploratory and exploitative activities. This research is the first to advance the notion of purchasing ambidexterity, unpack its underlying dimensions, and examine its multiple performance implications. Such a conceptual and empirical development presents new perspectives on how purchasing can help the buying firm and its supply network to strengthen their competitiveness.

This article aims to investigate the organisational implications of adopting Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies, giving specific attention to operations. The paper addresses these implications in two directions: organisational prerequisites for, and consequences of, I4.0 technologies.

The research is based on a multiple case study of Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing. Ten case studies have been developed through interviews, company visits and secondary data collection.

The multiple case study results show that: (1) a lean organisational structure supports effective adoption of I4.0 technologies; (2) introducing such technologies is linked to developing a new kind of job profile (i.e. the “Autonomous Operative Job Profile”); and (3) higher levels of technology adoption create a higher need for non-technical competences.

A limitation of this research relates to the highly heterogeneous maturity levels of the sampled companies, due to the relative newness of the I4.0 paradigm. Future research could, therefore, longitudinally analyse the technology integration process within organisations.

This research provides preliminary evidence about how organisations and technologies co-evolve, thus suggesting that managers should co-design these areas. It also demonstrates the extreme importance of designing a structured process and a clear set of human resource management tools to favour SME organisational development.

The study is built upon a conceptual framework derived from the sociotechnical perspective that analyses the interconnections between technology implementation and organisational change. From the results, three research propositions are derived to be tested on a larger scale.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of congruence for the management of supply risk that is easy to apply, but also accurate. The authors also aim at providing empirical evidence about the relationship between misfit – i.e. the incongruence between a firm’s preparedness in (supply) risk management and the potential riskiness characterising the context – and competitive advantage.

In line with the purpose, literature and field interviews were used to develop a model of congruence in the context of supply risk management (SRM) and operationalise it within a questionnaire. Then, the authors collected survey data to validate the model.

Results show that competitive advantage decreases when the firm’s preparedness in SRM does not match to the pattern of risk conditions (i.e. environmental vulnerabilities).

The model of congruence here developed is simple to apply but offer effective decisions support. This study, thus, stimulates future research on the assessment and management of supply chain risk. This study, also, fosters the attention to the non-linear relationship between risk management and business performance.

This study develops a model that can be used by practitioners to configure an optimal adoption of SRM practices. Also, the analysis allows to draw some specific recommendations for supply chain managers aiming at improving their preparedness in SRM.

By relying on SRM literature, the balanced-resilience logic and the theoretical framework of contingency theory, this study develops and test a model of congruence that shows how companies can gain competitive advantage through the management of supply risk.

In many industrial contexts, firms are encountering increasingly uncertain demand. Numerous factors are driving this phenomenon; however, a major change that is spreading among different sectors is the ever‐growing attention to customers. Companies have identified that customers are critical not only because they directly influence the success of specific products or firms, but also because they play a fundamental role in many internal processes. Although the role of customers in business processes has been deeply analysed, the issue of demand forecasting and the role of customers has not been fully explored. The present study aims to examine the impact of heterogeneity of customer requests on demand forecasting approaches, based on three action research cases. Based on the analysis of customer behaviour, an appropriate methodology for each case is designed based on clustering customers according to their demand patterns.

Objectives are achieved by means of three action research case studies, developed in cooperation with three different companies. The paper structures a general methodology based on these three experiences to help managers in better dealing with uncertain demand.

By means of proper analysis of customers' heterogeneity and by using simple statistical techniques such as cluster analysis, forecasting performance can significantly improve. In these terms, this work claims that focusing on customers' heterogeneity is a relevant topic both for practitioners and researchers.

The paper proposes some specific guidelines to forecast demand where customers' differences impact significantly on demand variability. In these terms, results are relevant for practitioners. Moreover, the paper claims that this issue should be better analysed in future researches and proposes some guidelines for future works.

The aim of this paper is to explore the impact that sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has on company’s sustainability performance (both environmental and social), the direct and the indirect impacts that traditional supply management (SM) has on such performance and the effect that global sourcing exerts on the relationships involving SM, SSCM and firm sustainability performance.

Empirical data were obtained from the fifth edition of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey. The sample consists of 336 assembly manufacturing companies from 21 countries. Data were collected in 2009. The authors apply a moderated mediation analysis to analyse the role of SM and SSCM, and also perform a multi-group analysis to verify the moderation effect played by global sourcing.

First, SSCM improves sustainability performance (both environmental and social) of the company that implements it. Then, SM plays a complex role, as it fosters the adoption of SSCM and makes SSCM more effective. Interestingly, these results are valid for both Locals (i.e. companies sourcing mainly within their continent) and Globals (i.e. companies that have relevant international supply relationships). However, for Locals only, SM also produces a direct effect on sustainability performance of the company.

Findings provide empirical evidence that supports previous theoretical works. Furthermore, this paper expands the literature by shedding light on the multifaceted role of SM and on the moderating role of global sourcing. Results are useful to practitioners and researchers interested in developing their understanding of how sustainability at the company level is related to supply chain management.

In 2003 the authors investigated the level of adoption of e‐business by manufacturing firms in Europe. Four company strategies were identified based on different extents of adoption of internet‐based tools for interaction with customers and/or suppliers. The purpose of this paper is to replicate, those analyses using the new release of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) IV. These new results are compared with previous ones in order to determine whether modeling previously described in the literature remains valid.

Data collected in Europe through IMSS III and IV are used. In particular, companies are clustered according to e‐business practices adopted in supply chain management (SCM) and the degree of adoption of e‐business between the two editions of the research is compared. A longitudinal analysis is also conducted using data from companies participating in both editions of the survey.

It is shown that the fundamental aspects of the modeling approach earlier proposed in the literature remain valid, with a higher average level of adoption of e‐business tools in the more recent edition of the study. However, the four‐cluster model is shown to be no longer valid. In the more recent dataset, three clusters emerge. They are characterized by different levels of adoption of e‐business, balanced between e‐commerce and e‐procurement. The longitudinal analysis shows that the firms participating in both editions of the research have changed their strategy, coherently to what the overall sample does.

This paper is focused on the assembly industry and only part of the sample is strictly longitudinal. Further research is needed to relate e‐business strategy with performance and to distinguish among the various tools available.

This paper also shows that the adoption of e‐business is increasing among small and medium firms, even if the practices adopted by any individual company remain limited. Results show that a cautious adoption is preferable to more radical implementation, since some firms have actually reduced their initial efforts to adopt e‐business.

The literature currently lacks extensive, longitudinal studies on e‐business strategies in SCM. The paper shows how the concept has rapidly evolved recently, and it modifies models that are proposed only a few years ago in the face of new data.