Tobias Alexander Krause and Martyna Daria Swiatczak
This study examines the interplay of formal types of control (input, behavior and outcome) exercised on municipally owned corporations (MOCs). It further investigates whether…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the interplay of formal types of control (input, behavior and outcome) exercised on municipally owned corporations (MOCs). It further investigates whether particular informal contingencies (trust and interdependence) predict affiliation to the derived municipal control configurations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper applies an exploratory cluster analysis based on survey data from 243 top-level managers of German MOCs. It then investigates the clustered municipal control configurations using binomial logistic regression.
Findings
The exploratory analysis reveals four municipal control configurations: (1) input-dominated control, (2) outcome-dominated control, (3) mixed input/outcome control and (4) “neglect of formal control”. As expected, both of the informal contingencies demonstrate strong predictive power. More precisely, trust increases the likelihood of belonging to the dominant outcome control cluster and interdependence increases the likelihood of belonging to the mixed input/outcome control cluster. Surprisingly, the neglect of formal control cluster is characterized by low trust and low interdependence.
Originality/value
The study sheds light on the widely assumed but understudied interplay of different formal controls in hybrid governance settings. Furthermore, the analysis stresses the importance of trust and interdependence when explaining hybrid control configurations.
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Keywords
Sunil Babbar, Xenophon Koufteros, Ravi S. Behara and Christina W.Y. Wong
This study aims to examine publications of supply chain management (SCM) researchers from across the world and maps the leadership role of authors and institutions based on how…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine publications of supply chain management (SCM) researchers from across the world and maps the leadership role of authors and institutions based on how prolific they are in publishing and on network measures of centrality while accounting for the quality of the outlets that they publish in. It aims to inform stakeholders on who the leading SCM scholars are, their primary areas of SCM research, their publication profiles and the nature of their networks. It also identifies and informs on the leading SCM research institutions of the world and where leadership in specific areas of SCM research is emerging from.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on SCM papers appearing in a set of seven leading journals over the 15-year period of 2001-2015, publication scores and social network analysis measures of total degree centrality and Bonacich power centrality are used to identify the highest ranked agents in SCM research overall, as well as in some specific areas of SCM research. Social network analysis is also used to examine the nature and scope of the networks of the ranked agents and where leadership in SCM research is emerging from.
Findings
Authors and institutions from the USA and UK are found to dominate much of the rankings in SCM research both by publication score and social network analysis measures of centrality. In examining the networks of the very top authors and institutions of the world, their networks are found to be more inward-looking (country-centric) than outward-looking (globally dispersed). Further, researchers in Europe and Asia alike are found to exhibit significant continental inclinations in their network formations with researchers in Europe displaying greater propensity to collaborate with their European-based counterparts and researchers in Asia with their Asian-based counterparts. Also, from among the journals, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal is found to exhibit a far more expansive global reach than any of the other journals.
Research limitations/implications
The journal set used in this study, though representative of high-quality SCM research outlets, is not exhaustive of all potential outlets that publish SCM research. Further, the measure of quality that this study assigns to the various publications is based solely on a publication score that accounts for the quality of the journals, as rated by Association of Business Schools that the papers appear in and nothing else.
Practical implications
By informing the community of stakeholders of SCM research about the top-ranked SCM authors, institutions and countries of the world, the nature of their networks, as well as what the primary areas of SCM research of the leading authors in the world are, this research provides stakeholders, including managers, researchers and students, information that is helpful to them not only because of the insights it provides but also for the gauging of potential for embedding themselves in specific networks, engaging in collaborative research with the leading agents or pursuing educational opportunities with them.
Originality/value
This research is the first of its kind to identify and rank the top SCM authors and institutions from across the world using a representative set of seven leading SCM and primary OM journals based on publication scores and social network measures of centrality. The research is also the first of its kind to identify and rank the top authors and institutions within specific areas of SCM research and to identify future research opportunities relating to aspects of collaboration and networking in research endeavors.
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Sara Hajmohammad and Anton Shevchenko
Many modern firms strive to become sustainable. To this end, they are required to improve not only their own environmental and social performance but also the performance of their…
Abstract
Purpose
Many modern firms strive to become sustainable. To this end, they are required to improve not only their own environmental and social performance but also the performance of their suppliers. Building on population ecology theory, we explore how buyers' exposure to supplier sustainability risk and their subsequent risk management strategies at the buyer–supplier dyad level can lead to adherence to sustainability by the supplier populations.
Design/methodology/approach
We rely on a bottom-up research design, in which the actions of buyers within buyer–supplier dyads lead to population-wide changes on the supplier side. Specifically, we use experimental data on managing sustainability risk to build an agent-based simulation model and assess the effect of evolutionary processes on the presence of sustainable/unsustainable business practices in the supplier population.
Findings
Our findings suggest that buyers' cumulative actions in managing sustainability risk do not necessarily result in effective population-wide improvements (i.e. at a high rate and to a high degree). For example, in high risk impact conditions, the buyer population is usually able to decrease the population level risk in a long run, but they would need both power and resources for quickly achieving such improved outcomes. Importantly, this positive change, in most cases, is due to the fact that the buyer population selects out the suppliers with high probability of misconduct (i.e. decreased supplier population density).
Originality/value
Drawing on the organizational population ecology theory, we explore when, to what degree and how quickly the buyers' cumulative efforts can lead to population-wide changes in the level of supplier sustainability risk, as well as the composition and density of supplier population. Methodologically, this paper is one of the first studies which use a combination of experimental data and agent-based modeling to offer more valuable insights on supply networks.