Search results
1 – 10 of 634Mulugeta D. Watabaji, Adrienn Molnar, Robert D. Weaver, Manoj K. Dora and Xavier Gellynck
The purpose of this paper is to describe the volume and quality of information and communication channel use at various stages of the malt barley value chain (MBVC) in Ethiopia…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the volume and quality of information and communication channel use at various stages of the malt barley value chain (MBVC) in Ethiopia and to investigate how metrics of these variables influence the extent of integration of the chain.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on survey data collected from 320 farmers and 100 traders and interview responses compiled from 76 respondents. Descriptive statistics and ordered logistic regression were used for data analysis.
Findings
The descriptive statistics show a lower volume and poor quality of information is being shared at farmer-trader interface and that value chain integration (VCI) is weak at all studied interfaces. Results of ordered logistic regression show that information volume and quality positively influence VCI, whereas a positive relationship between channel use and VCI was found only at farm level interfaces. Evidences found suggested that inconsistent information systems, lack of information sharing plans, low level of members’ awareness about the value of information, and lack of trust to share information were factors that inhibited information sharing in the MBVC.
Originality/value
The study offers pioneering evidence of the relative role of information volume and quality and channel use as factors that influence the extent of integration of the value chain.
Details
Keywords
Bianka Kühne, Xavier Gellynck and Robert D. Weaver
Relational aspects between actors in a chain have been found to influence innovation capacity. Yet, many studies focus rather on groups of chain members, without investigating…
Abstract
Purpose
Relational aspects between actors in a chain have been found to influence innovation capacity. Yet, many studies focus rather on groups of chain members, without investigating personalized links between the chain members. Other research involved case‐studies on a limited number of individual chains. The purpose of this paper is to examine quantitatively how the perceived relationship quality among three relational linked chain members affects the innovation capacity in traditional food chains beyond the dyad.
Design/methodology/approach
Evidence is drawn from a survey of 90 triplets of firms (three interlinked chain members), with each triplet belonging to a single individual traditional food chain. Research was conducted in three European countries and six traditional food product categories. Heterogeneity across these chains is examined based on cluster analysis. Binary logistic regression is used to examine the influence of relationship quality on the innovation capacity in the chains.
Findings
Three distinct clusters are identified and interpreted as reflecting three levels of innovation capacity: high, medium, and low. Relationship quality is defined through characteristics such as trust, social satisfaction, non‐coercive power, and reputation. Results suggest that the characteristics of the chain relationship quality may be important factors for the improvement of the innovation capacity in chains.
Research limitations/implications
As chain relationship quality fosters sharing of resources necessary for innovation as well as the distribution of incentives, these results further strengthen the emerging conclusion from the literature that innovation can be catalyzed by collaboration strategies and building strong relationships.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on widening the supply chain approach from dyads to triads, as it is argued that a dyad of firms is intensively influenced by the network they are imbedded in. In this case, the paper explores the influence of the relationship quality among the food manufacturer and its main supplier and customer (and vice versa) on the innovation capacity of the whole chain.
Details
Keywords
The past decade has witnessed a trend toward unbundling of enterprises that were once highly integrated in vertical forms or horizontally as conglomerates. The economic forces…
Abstract
Purpose
The past decade has witnessed a trend toward unbundling of enterprises that were once highly integrated in vertical forms or horizontally as conglomerates. The economic forces behind these changes simultaneously enabled collaborative relationships that replaced command‐control coordination. While such change has been widespread, the food industry serves as an example of an industry where such strategies have been incompletely pursued. This paper aims to provide a microeconomic explanation of three bases for the emergence of collaboration and network formation: transaction costs, interdependence in value creation processes, and shared resources.
Design/methodology/approach
Within a setting of the food industry, a microeconomic theory of firm level choice of transactions is presented and extended to consider market level equilibrium in where persistent relationships are defined to compose an integrated economic network.
Findings
The paper presents a framework for identification of the optimal pattern of relationships across firms to compose networks that could enhance the competitive advantage and the economic performance of the food sector.
Originality/value
While performance of the food system has been the target of extensive public policy, that policy has typically viewed food enterprises as autonomous units operating through competitive markets. This paper provides a framework that highlights an economic rationale for collaboration across food enterprises that offers enhanced performance while maintaining essential aspects of competition.
Details
Keywords
Christopher Hudson and David Gurr
The aim of this study was to present a systems model of successful school leadership from a rural school case study, demonstrating how it connects to the weaving circle for…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to present a systems model of successful school leadership from a rural school case study, demonstrating how it connects to the weaving circle for systemic impact model. Doing so builds an awareness of how both complement each other to prompt thinking about schools as complex and adaptive systems that achieve broader school and student outcomes alongside students’ academic results.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was a multiple-perspective mixed-method case study. Data were collected through interviews with the principal on three separate occasions, school leaders (n = 3), teachers (n = 4), students (n = 12), parents (n = 9), the school council president and a system leader. Interview data were supported by school observations, document analysis and a whole-staff teacher survey. The case study was part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP).
Findings
The authors found a symbiosis between the research of the ISSPP and the ecosystems for learning and flourishing approach, specifically through the weaving circle for systemic impact model. This suggests that future ISSPP research protocols could be modified to consider the weaving circle model and also provides a way for thinking about how the weaving circle model could be extended to better capture the complex world of leading schools successfully.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the existing literature on successful school leadership by engaging with understandings of leading schools as complex and adaptive systems.
Details
Keywords
Claretha Hughes, Lionel Robert, Kristin Frady and Adam Arroyos
G. T. Lumpkin and Robert J. Pidduck
Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has emerged as a core concept in the field of entrepreneurship. Yet, there continue to be questions about the nature of EO and how best to…
Abstract
Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has emerged as a core concept in the field of entrepreneurship. Yet, there continue to be questions about the nature of EO and how best to conceptualize and measure it. This chapter makes the case that EO has grown beyond its roots as a firm-level unidimensional strategy construct and that a new multidimensional version of EO is needed to capture the diverse manifestations and venues for entrepreneurial activity that are now evident around the world – global entrepreneurial orientation (GEO). Building on the five-dimension multidimensional view of EO set forth when Lumpkin and Dess (1996) extended the work of Miller (1983) and Covin and Slevin (1989, 1991), the chapter offers an updated definition of EO and a fresh interpretation of why EO matters theoretically. Despite earnest efforts to reconcile the different approaches to EO, in order to move the study of EO and the theoretical conversation about it forward, we maintain that as a group of scholars and a field, we need to acknowledge that two different versions of EO have emerged. Given that, we consider original approaches to measuring EO, evaluate formative measurement models, consider multiple levels of analysis, call for renewed attention to EO configurations, and discuss whether there is a theory of EO.
Details
Keywords
Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured…
Abstract
Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.
The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.
The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.
Details
Keywords
Philipp Kruse, Eleanor Meda Chipeta and Robert Venter
The creation of positive social change (PSC) is considered the primary success criterion when evaluating social enterprise performance. However, despite a proliferation of…
Abstract
Purpose
The creation of positive social change (PSC) is considered the primary success criterion when evaluating social enterprise performance. However, despite a proliferation of PSC-measurements, their empirical validity and applicability in emerging economies remain largely unclear. The quantitative study examines the validity of the PSC-measurement approaches proposed by Bloom and Smith (2010; Bloom and Smith approach [BSA]) and Weaver (2020b; Weaver approach [WA]) in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
Investigating a representative sample of 347 social entrepreneurs from Gauteng and Limpopo provinces, the authors use questionnaire data to explore the factorial, convergent and discriminant validity of both PSC-measurement approaches. Statistically, this is done by applying factorial and correlation analyses.
Findings
The results yield acknowledgeable differences. BSA has a high factorial and convergent validity, while its discriminant validity remains doubtful. For WA, problems concerning factorial validity occur.
Research limitations/implications
Despite limited generalizability, the authors provide a first guideline for scholars regarding the empirical validity of BSA and WA outside the context of developed economies.
Originality/value
The current study sheds light on the validity of two PSC-measurement approaches in an emerging economy context. This way, the authors contribute to the field by addressing the scarcity of empirical research and the restricted scope of developed economies regarding PSC-measurement.
Details
Keywords
WHEN ROBERT HERRICK, that weaver of lovely words, wrote that, it was Youth that Man was accused of squandering. Never before have we been so guilty of that crime than as we are…