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The purpose of this paper is to deal with the transfer of lean practices between different units in multi-plant organizations with different levels of adoption of lean practices. It investigates how certain influential contextual variables – i.e. lean standards development, lean transfer team composition, source characteristics, recipient national environment and corporate lean programme deployment – can influence stickiness in the different phases of lean transfer process.

This paper opted for the multiple-case study method and examines six lean transfer projects at a dyadic level, that is, between a source and a recipient unit. The authors focussed on companies with headquarters in Europe with an attested experience in lean and which had recently and successfully transferred lean to subsidiaries in the USA and China.

The paper provides empirical insights about how stickiness in lean transfer projects changes during the initiation, implementation/ramp-up and integration phases. It identifies three lean transfer approaches (local, global, global and shared) and provides a set of propositions that explains how sociocultural traits of recipient environment (China vs USA) and lean transfer approach affect stickiness in each phase.

Literature on stickiness in lean transfer is at an early stage and very fragmented. Unlike previous contributions in the field, this paper provides an interpretation of the dynamics of stickiness in lean transfer at a micro-level (i.e. for each single phase of the lean transfer process). In addition, it develops a fuller understanding of the influence of context on lean transfer by adopting a configurational view, i.e. studying the joint effect of contextual variables on stickiness, which is a novelty in the lean transfer literature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how just-in-time (JIT)-related job demands, problem-solving job demands and soft lean practices (SLPs) jointly influence employee well-being in terms of work engagement and exhaustion.

Based on the job demands-resources model, lean-related job characteristics were classified as resources or demands, and a set of hypotheses was developed to test their effect on work engagement and exhaustion, including the potential interaction between job resources and demands. The hypotheses were tested using moderated hierarchical regression and structural equation modelling, based on data from 138 workers.

SLPs act as job resources in a lean company, increasing work engagement and reducing exhaustion. Conversely, JIT-related job demands act as a hindrance, reducing work engagement and increasing exhaustion. However, SLPs can reduce the effect of JIT-related job demands on exhaustion, and JIT-related job demands may enhance the positive effects of SLPs on work engagement.

The study provides no conclusive evidence on the hypothesized role of problem-solving as a challenge job demand.

The results can guide practitioners’ understanding of how to implement lean without harm to employee well-being.

By employing a well-grounded psychological model to test the link between lean and well-being, the study finds quantitative support for: the buffering effect of SLPs on exhaustion caused by JIT-related job demands, and for the role of JIT as a hindrance. These novel findings have no precedent in previous survey-based research. In addition, it reveals the importance of studying SLPs at an individual level, as what matters is the extent to which workers perceive SLPs as useful and supportive.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the most influential determinants of healthcare employees’ problem-solving capabilities and attitudes towards kaizen initiatives, and clarify how these determinants are related to social outcomes.

Drawing on the input-process-outcome framework, applied to kaizen initiatives, the determinants of the input and process factors are embodied in hypotheses concerning the direct effects of input and process factors on social outcomes and the indirect effects of input factors on social outcomes resulting from process factors. The hypotheses are tested through multiple regressions using data from 105 kaizen initiatives drawn from two hospitals.

Of the 14 determinants investigated, goal clarity, team autonomy, management support, goal difficulty and affective commitment to change (ACC) are the most influential determinants of kaizen capabilities and/or employees’ attitude. Goal clarity, goal difficulty, team autonomy and management support are also found to influence social outcomes directly and/or indirectly through ACC, internal processes and/or an action orientation.

The results support healthcare practitioners to understand how to establish “focused kaizen” actions to leverage specific determinants that positively influence social outcomes.

This study provides an original contribution to the literature concerning effective kaizen initiatives in healthcare operations by empirically testing a comprehensive model of the relationship between kaizen initiative determinants and social outcomes. Unlike previous studies, which are mostly anecdotal or focused on one or few determinants, this research adopts a holistic view, and investigates a pluralist set of determinants on social outcomes through a systematic and quantitative approach.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate on blockchain (BC) adoption for preventing counterfeiting by investigating BC systems where different options for BC feeding and reading complement the use of BC technology. By grounding on the situational crime prevention, this study analyses how BC systems can be designed to effectively prevent counterfeiting.

This is a multiple-case study of five Italian wine companies using BC to prevent counterfeiting.

This study finds that the desired level of upstream/downstream counterfeiting protection that a brand owner intends to guarantee to customers through BC is the key driver to consider in the design of BC systems. The study identifies which variables are relevant to the design of feeding and reading processes and explains how such variables can be modulated in accordance with the desired level of counterfeiting protection.

The cases investigated are Italian companies within the wine sector, and the BC projects analysed are in the pilot phase.

The study provides practical suggestions to address the design of BC systems by identifying a set of key variables and explaining how to properly modulate them to face upstream/downstream counterfeiting.

This research applies a new perspective based on the situational crime prevention approach in studying how companies can design BC systems to effectively prevent counterfeiting. It explains how feeding and reading process options can be configured in BC systems to assure different degrees of counterfeiting protection.

The purpose of this paper is to study whether just in time (JIT) supply practices interact with JIT production practices by positively moderating the relationship between JIT production and efficiency/delivery performance.

In total, six hypotheses are developed on the relationships between JIT production, JIT supply, efficiency and delivery performance. The hypotheses are tested through a hierarchical regression analysis using data from a sample of 207 manufacturing plants.

JIT production practices positively affect both efficiency and delivery. JIT supply practices positively moderate the relationship between JIT production and delivery, while there is no significant moderating effect when considering the impact on efficiency. The role of JIT supply as moderator is twofold. On the one hand, it strengthens the positive impact of JIT production on delivery through a complementary effect. On the other hand, low levels of adoption of JIT supply practices can hinder and – for extremely low levels – cancel the impact of JIT production practices on delivery.

When efficiency is the priority, companies should direct their efforts on JIT production. However, when their aim is to maximize delivery, they should invest on both JIT production and JIT supply. Results found advise managers to implement some JIT supply practices during the early stages of JIT production programs, because the total absence of any JIT linkages with suppliers can limit JIT production benefits on delivery performance.

This study elaborates on the mutual influence between JIT production and JIT supply practices and demonstrates that they have a different weight and contribute to different aspects of performance improvement. This can help managers involved in JIT implementation to better allocate scarce resources.

The purpose of this paper is to study whether a fast supply network structure interacts with customer integration (CI) by positively moderating the relationship between CI and efficiency performance.

The authors developed two hypotheses, incorporating dimensions of CI, fast supply network structure and efficiency performance. The hypotheses are tested through a hierarchical regression analysis using data from a sample of 200 manufacturing plants.

CI alone is not enough to guarantee cost reductions because a fast supply network structure acts as a moderator of the CI‐efficiency relationship. The role of this moderator is twofold. On the one hand, it interacts with CI, strengthening the positive impact of CI on efficiency through a positive complementary effect. On the other hand, if the supply network structure is not intended to support fast lead times, the impact of CI on efficiency can be hindered and, in extreme cases, CI can even make efficiency worse.

Efficiency maximization requires levering simultaneously on CI and the supply network structure, rather than investing and acting on CI only. Managers should carefully weigh up the supply network structural context before embracing a CI program, because adopting CI in a wrong context could amplify a series of problems (e.g. nervousness of plans) and offset CI benefits in terms of efficiency.

This study provides an original contribution to the literature on the relationship between CI and efficiency by adopting a contingency perspective, namely assuming that the relationship between supply chain practices and performance is contingent upon how supply networks have been designed. Accordingly, this research questions the assumption that CI always improves efficiency, by analysing the complementary effect between CI and a fast supply network structure. This provides a number of original implications for the interpretation of the relationship between CI, supply network structure and efficiency.

The aim of the current study is to develop an understanding of the decisional process that leads a company, at a given point in time, to choose the subsequent supply chain management (SCM) initiative to be implemented.

This research adopts the descriptive case study research design, as defined by Yin and McCutcheon and Meredith. Four supply networks, whose central firms are leading pharmaceutical companies, have been investigated.

At a given time when deciding the SCM initiative(s) to be implemented, external fit and the state of supply network configuration and integration are both important, but for different reasons. In particular, lack of external fit triggers the implementation of SCM initiatives. Sequences of SCM initiatives are the result of a series of successive decisional situations, where the external fit and state of supply network configuration and integration vary each time a new SCM initiative is implemented.

The research is descriptive. Further research is required to develop a theory on the sequences of SCM improvement initiatives.

Managers contemplating the implementation of SCM interventions should consider the current performance conditions for competitiveness and compare them with the measured supply network performances, decide what SCM initiatives should be implemented after considering the current state of the supply network configuration and integration and performance dimensions to be improved, and measure the impact (positive and negative) of the implemented initiatives on supply network performance to evaluate whether or not to implement further initiatives. Moreover, if managers are able to forecast the potential performance trade‐off associated with the implementation of the selected SCM interventions, long‐term improvement programmes encompassing further SCM initiatives over time can be planned to counteract the trade‐off penalty.

This study refines current literature on the sequences of improvement in supply networks, by demonstrating that the state of supply network configuration and integration is not enough to explain the decisional process that leads a company to follow a well‐defined sequence. The paper also explores how the external fit affects the adoption of the following SCM initiatives, thus proving that SCM sequences cannot be considered context‐free.

This paper explores what suppliers and customers do in order to integrate their operations across the supply chain. It also identifies on what contextual factors these specific CSI practices are contingent.

The paper uses the multiple case study methodology as a basis for theory formulation. Insights from nine cases of OEM‐supplier relationships in the Italian high precision air conditioning industry are used to address the research questions and formulate theoretical propositions.

The paper develops four theoretical propositions derived from a framework that identifies four CSI forms contingent on two contextual variables – the value impact of goods purchased from each supplier and the degree of purchasing goods customization.

This paper provides a framework that advances the understanding of effective supplier relations management in two ways. Firstly, it gets over the traditional dichotomy between arm's length relationships and strategic partnerships by identifying a more articulated typology of CSI forms. Secondly, it characterizes each of the four CSI forms in terms of the practices buyers and suppliers apply to manage four key business processes.

The paper provides a template to configure integration in customer‐supplier relations and suggests the different mix of integrative practices business partners should use in diverse supply chain environments.

The proposed framework improves existing theory that either considers one single aspect of customer‐supplier relations (i.e. pricing, logistics, or new product development) or interprets interfirm collaboration as a single dimension phenomenon.

Research on business-to-business (B2B) pricing has been mainly focussed on the supplier’s pricing process, thus adopting traditionally an internal perspective and perceiving pricing as a profit distribution parameter rather than an opportunity for collaboration with customers. Recently, the opportunity to develop win-win, collaborative relationships in the B2B pricing process by embracing a supply chain perspective has started to attract the attention of scholars across several research streams, who have highlighted the emergence of this topic using different definitions, perspectives and methodologies. The purpose of this paper is to address the need for integrating the fragmented body of knowledge on B2B pricing toward supply chain collaboration.

This critical literature review adopts an interdisciplinary approach, focussing on industrial marketing and operations and supply chain management areas.

The authors provide a critical synthesis and discussion structured in four streams clustered around two dimensions, i.e. the “extension” of the collaboration in the pricing process along the supply chain and the “direction” of collaboration.

Drawing on the literature gaps, the paper concludes by proposing an agenda for future research for a relevant topic both for academics and practitioners.

This paper offers a novel comprehensive view of the supply chain collaboration in the B2B pricing process and provides opportunities for intensifying dialogue across different research areas.