Zhen Bi, Feng Yang and Jean-Noël Beka Be Nguema
Little is known about the effects of supply chain finance (SCF) adoption on organizational performance (OP). This study aims to address this relevant research gap, and hence draws…
Abstract
Purpose
Little is known about the effects of supply chain finance (SCF) adoption on organizational performance (OP). This study aims to address this relevant research gap, and hence draws on the dynamic capability view of the organization under the contingent effect of environmental dynamism (ED) and supply chain risk (SCR) to investigate the effects of SCF adoption on OP.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework is developed and then tested using survey with data collected from a cross section of 217 organizations in China.
Findings
The findings show that SCF significantly mitigates the SCR, which therefore has a strong positive effect on OP (e.g. cost performance and operational performance). Moreover, the findings indicate that when ED is high, then the relationship between SCF and SCR is stronger, whereas when ED is low, the relationship between SCF and SCR is weak. Further, SCR mediates the relationship between SCF and OP. Hypothesis regarding the moderating effect of ED on the paths joining SCF and SCR was also confirmed. SCR has a strong negative effect on OP. However, hypothesis regarding the effect of ED on SCR was rejected.
Research limitations/implications
This paper has the following limitations. First, the authors conducted the study with organizations in China, which may result in low generalizability. Moreover, the authors used survey method and cross-sectional data design in this paper, which may cause the potential issue of common method bias. However, this research provided some significant theoretical and managerial implications for organizations, practitioners and researchers, while exploring different factors such SCF, SCR and ED, and their effect on organizational output.
Practical implications
From the managerial perspective, this study provides some relevant new insights to the supply chain managers of organizations. First, the findings of present study guide the organization executives to mitigate their organizations’ risk through risk mitigation strategies such as SCF; optimize their liquidity and working capital while getting the credit at best cost from lenders; and mitigate vulnerability. Second, organizations should adopt vulnerability strategies for improving their capability to respond promptly and cost-effectively toward uncertainties. Third, the perfect identification of factors leading to the adoption of SCF and improving OP are of incredible attractiveness for executives to discover the relevant practice of SCF. Fourth, the results also offer an opportunity to organizations and practitioners, a decision-making approach, to manage which mitigation scheme to be adopted to aid the supply chain practices of mitigation. Moreover, SCF emphasizes that the organization managers’ expand their overall supply chain by getting easy credit and reducing the risk and produce higher organizational productivity. Further, this paper offers a completive advantage for both buyers and suppliers to strengthen their relationships while collaborating with each other. The supply chain executives may explore the level of relationship amongst SCF adoption and their effects on organizational productivity. Therefore, SCF provides equal competitive advantage to both main partners of the supply chain to mitigate the overall risks and improve their competiveness.
Originality/value
This research fulfilled the research gap in operations management, strategic management, marketing and supply chain management by exploring the effects of SCF adoption as risk mitigation strategy but also as an instrument which can aid organizational to carry out their performance.
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Feng Yang, Zhen Bi, Fangqing Wei and Zhimin Huang
In China, more than 80,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and more than 3,000 people have lost their lives. It seems that there will be more deaths since the epidemic…
Abstract
In China, more than 80,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and more than 3,000 people have lost their lives. It seems that there will be more deaths since the epidemic is not over. All the Chinese provinces have reported the COVID-19 cases. This chapter aims to explore the trend of COVID-19 treatment efficiency in Chinese provinces using the data released daily by China Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Since China Center for Disease Control and Prevention began to release data daily from January 24 to March 12, we have more than 40 groups of daily data for 31 provinces in China mainland. In the calculation, we take the daily data of each province as a sample and then we have more than 1,200 samples in this study.
We use additive two-stage data envelopment analysis as an efficiency evaluation tool to calculate the COVID-19 treatment efficiency. In our framework, the first stage is to understand the infection rate and the second stage is to evaluate the treatment efficiency. In the first stage for the tth day, we use total population (p) and number of people infected in the previous day (inft−1) as the inputs and cumulative number of people infected in the current day (inft) as the output. In the second stage for the tth day, we use cumulative number of people infected in the current day (inft) as the input and cumulative death in the current day (deatht) and cumulative recovery in the current day (recovt) as the outputs. Some techniques on how to deal with undesirable outputs such as inft and deatht are employed in this study.
After we have the infection rate and treatment efficiency for the samples more than 1,200, we analyze the COVID-19 treatment efficiency and its development trend from January 24 to March 12 in 34 regions of China from static and dynamic aspects. The results show that, on the whole, the overall efficiency and phased efficiency of COVID-19 treatment efficiency in all regions of China are relatively high, which reflects the key factor for the Chinese government to quickly control the epidemic in the short term. Relatively speaking, the average efficiency value in the infection stage (first stage) is lower than the average efficiency value in the healing stage (second stage), which shows that the focus of anti-epidemic in China should be early detection and prevention rather than treatment process. In terms of trend, the total efficiency of COVID-19 treatment in each region shows a trend of “increasing first and then decreasing.” Our analysis indicates that in the initial stage, the continuous increase of various resources leads to the rise of the total efficiency, while in the later stage, the rapid decline of the number of infected people leads to the decrease of the total efficiency. Based on the results of the efficiency analysis, this study provides corresponding management implications and policy suggestions, hoping to provide some enlightenment and suggestions for the anti-epidemic work of other countries in the severe environment where the epidemic is spreading rapidly.
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Ali Vafaei-Zadeh, Davoud Nikbin, Kheoh Seong Zhen and Haniruzila Hanifah
This study aims to explore the determinants of green electronics purchase intention in Malaysia by extending existing knowledge on green consumer behavior and contributing to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the determinants of green electronics purchase intention in Malaysia by extending existing knowledge on green consumer behavior and contributing to the field of sustainable consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research approach was adopted, with data collected from 250 Malaysian consumers. The proposed model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling to assess the relationships between various determinants and green purchase intention.
Findings
The results demonstrate that perceived consumer effectiveness, green advertising and monetary cost positively affect environmental attitudes, which subsequently influence green purchase intention. The study also identifies that brand image and information quality significantly enhance green brand trust (GBT), leading to stronger intentions to engage in green purchasing. Additionally, it finds that environmental knowledge and environmental concern shape perceived behavioral control, which further impacts green purchasing intention.
Research limitations/implications
The study focuses on Malaysian consumers, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other cultural contexts. Future research could expand the scope to include cross-cultural comparisons to validate the model in different settings.
Practical implications
By providing insights into the key factors driving consumers’ intention to purchase green electronics, the study offers valuable guidance for marketers and manufacturers to develop targeted strategies that promote sustainable consumption and capitalize on the growing demand for green products in Malaysia.
Originality/value
This study is unique in measuring the influence of green attitude, GBT and perceived behavioral control on green purchase intention specifically within the electronics sector, offering a novel contribution to the literature on sustainable consumer behavior.
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Kun Cai, Zhen Luo and Qing H. Qin
The purpose of this paper is to develop a heuristic method for topology optimization of a continuum with bi-modulus material which is frequently occurred in practical engineering…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a heuristic method for topology optimization of a continuum with bi-modulus material which is frequently occurred in practical engineering.
Design/methodology/approach
The essentials of this model are as follows: First, the original bi-modulus is replaced with two isotropic materials to simplify structural analysis. Second, the stress filed is adopted to calculate the effective strain energy densities (SED) of elements. Third, a floating reference interval of SED is defined and updated by active constraint. Fourth, the elastic modulus of an element is updated according to its principal stresses. Final, the design variables are updated by comparing the local effective SEDs and the current reference interval of SED.
Findings
Numerical examples show that the ratio between the tension modulus and the compression modulus of the bi-modulus material in a structure has a significant effect on the final topology design, which is different from that in the same structure with isotropic material. In the optimal structure, it can be found that the material points with the higher modulus are reserved as much as possible. When the ratio is far more than unity, the material can be considered as tension-only material. If the ratio is far less than unity, the material can be considered as compression-only material. As a result, the topology optimization of continuum structures with tension-only or compression-only materials can also be solved by the proposed method.
Originality/value
The value of this paper is twofold: the bi-modulus material layout optimization in a continuum can be solved by the method proposed in this paper, and the layout difference between the structure with bi-modulus material and the same structure but with isotropic material shows that traditional topology optimization result could not be suitable for a real bi-modulus layout design project.
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Montserrat-Ana Miranda, María Jesús Alvarez, Cyril Briand, Matías Urenda Moris and Victoria Rodríguez
This study aims to reduce carbon emissions and costs in an automobile production plant by improving the operational management efficiency of a serial assembly line assisted by a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to reduce carbon emissions and costs in an automobile production plant by improving the operational management efficiency of a serial assembly line assisted by a feeding electric tow vehicle (ETV).
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-objective function is formulated to minimize the energy consumption of the ETV from which emissions and costs are measured. First, a mixed-integer linear programming model is used to solve the feeding problem for different sizes of the assembly line. Second, a bi-objective optimization (HBOO) model is used to simultaneously minimize the most eco-efficient objectives: the number of completed runs (tours) by the ETV along the assembly line, and the number of visits (stops) made by the ETV to deliver kits of components to workstations.
Findings
The most eco-efficient strategy is always the bi-objective optimal solution regardless of the size of the assembly line, whereas, for single objectives, the optimization strategy differs depending on the size of the assembly line.
Research limitations/implications
Instances of the problem are randomly generated to reproduce real conditions of a particular automotive factory according to a previous case study. The optimization procedure allows managers to assess real scenarios improving the assembly line eco-efficiency. These results promote the implementation of automated control of feeding processes in green manufacturing.
Originality/value
The HBOO-model assesses the assembly line performance with a view to reducing the environmental impact effectively and contributes to reducing the existent gap in the literature. The optimization results define key strategies for manufacturing industries eager to integrate battery-operated motors or to address inefficient traffic of automated transport to curb the carbon footprint.
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Qiongwei Ye and Baojun Ma
Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insight and analysis into E-commerce in China and how it has revolutionized and continues to…
Abstract
Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insight and analysis into E-commerce in China and how it has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society. Split into four distinct sections, the book first lays out the theoretical foundations and fundamental concepts of E-Business before moving on to look at internet+ innovation models and their applications in different industries such as agriculture, finance and commerce. The book then provides a comprehensive analysis of E-business platforms and their applications in China before finishing with four comprehensive case studies of major E-business projects, providing readers with successful examples of implementing E-Business entrepreneurship projects.
Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insights and analysis into how E-commerce has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society in China.
Xueping Zhen, Shuangshuang Xu, Dan Shi and Fangjun Liu
This study aims to explore the government’s subsidy preference and pricing decisions of a manufacturer who produces traditional and green product simultaneously under different…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the government’s subsidy preference and pricing decisions of a manufacturer who produces traditional and green product simultaneously under different government subsidy policies.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors establish a model consisting of a government, a set of heterogeneous consumers and a manufacturer. Three government subsidy policies are investigated without government subsidy (NS), government subsidy to consumer (CS) and government subsidy to the manufacturer (MS).
Findings
The results show that the government subsidy can increase both the green product’s demand and the manufacturer’s profit. The subsidy level and government’s utility under the CS policy are equal to those under the MS policy. Furthermore, if the government’s subsidy level is exogenous, there exists a Pareto improvement region when social welfare for unit greenness level is high. That is, if the government’s subsidy level under the CS policy is higher than that under the MS policy, both government and manufacturer prefer the CS policy; otherwise, they prefer the MS policy.
Research limitations/implications
This paper considers the market where there is a monopoly green manufacturer and a government that only provides subsidy policy. In fact, competition from traditional manufacturers and carbon taxes are also worth exploring in future research.
Practical implications
This study provides some suggestions for government subsidy and provides guidance for the manufacturer’s pricing decisions under different government subsidy policies.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to compare government subsidy to consumer with a government subsidy to the manufacturer and investigate the pricing decisions of a manufacturer who produces traditional and green product simultaneously by considering an endogenous subsidy level of government.
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Saikat Banerjee and Bibek Ray Chaudhuri
The purpose of this study is to attempt to address the effect of country of origin (COO) from three different dimensions, namely, country image (CI) effect, COO image effect and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to attempt to address the effect of country of origin (COO) from three different dimensions, namely, country image (CI) effect, COO image effect and awareness level about the COO of the brand and its resultant effect on product evaluation (PrEva). Further, the brand awareness, level of involvement and the COO interaction effect on consumer PrEva has also been studied to indicate the intensity of COO impact. Due to rapid globalization and reduction in trade barriers, major emerging economics from Asia witnessed entry of cross-border brands into their markets. India, as an emerging economy, has also followed the trend. In this backdrop, the present study is proposed for a better understanding of the effect of COO on PrEva.
Design/methodology/approach
The study has been conducted in India, and the mobile phone market has been taken as the hub of the study because of the presence of maximum cross-border companies in India. The study is built on existing literature on influence of COO, brand image (BI), awareness about brands, CI and product image on consumer’s evaluation of mobile phones. Seven theoretical constructs have been used to test the relationship between the COO and consumer PrEva for the selected product with the help of structural equation modeling technique.
Findings
The study shows that brand awareness for the class of mobile phones selected does not affect PrEva whereas CI, which is a general perception about the country from where the product originates, significantly affects consumers’ PrEva. Results also show that COO does not act as a mediator between CI and PrEva even though COO has a significant negative direct effect on PrEva. Thus, from this study, the learning for marketers in this price segment for mobile phones in emerging markets is that consumers are more sensitive to features per price than any other influencers. So, BI and/or COO are not sufficient conditions for product success in emerging market like India.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are outcomes of an empirical study conducted in mobile handset industry of India based on the sample set of urban consumers in the city of Kolkata, India. It is quite possible that there may be other issues relevant to other parts of the country. This may influence the degree of association studied herein. Hence, the results may be treated with caution in terms of the generalizations of the same to other regions and countries. The study may, in future, be done by including questions related to price sensitivity and perception about features of the mobile phone hand-sets. This may give a clearer picture about the influences of these factors on PrEva of mobile phones in emerging markets. Finally, this study should be repeated in other major emerging markets to test the general applicability of the theoretical model and the empirical results introduced in this paper.
Practical implications
For the low-end mobile handset market, general country characteristics from where the product originates reduce the importance of specific product attributes in evaluating the product. We may further conclude from the present study that the country’s overall image can be an effective tool to influence the consumer PrEva process. To be competitive in an emerging country like India, multinational firms should promote the overall country’s image to cement relationship with target consumers.
Originality/value
Moreover, Ahmed and d’Astous (1996) viewed that several empirical research have independently focused on the impact of COO on the country, product or brand level, but there is lack of an integrated approach in this regard to capture different propensity of effects of COO at different levels. To our knowledge, it is one of the first attempts to analyze consumers’ PrEva of mobile phones in an emerging market.
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Yahao Wang, Yanghong Li, Zhen Li, HaiYang He, Sheng Chen and Erbao Dong
Aiming at the problem of insufficient adaptability of robot motion planners under the diversity of end-effector constraints, this paper proposes Transformation Cross-sampling…
Abstract
Purpose
Aiming at the problem of insufficient adaptability of robot motion planners under the diversity of end-effector constraints, this paper proposes Transformation Cross-sampling Framework (TC-Framework) that enables the planner to adapt to different end-effector constraints.
Design/methodology/approach
This work presents a standard constraint methodology for representing end-effector constraints as a collection of constraint primitives. The constraint primitives are merged sequentially into the planner, and a unified constraint input interface and constraint module are added to the standard sampling-based planner framework. This approach enables the realization of a generic planner framework that avoids the need to build separate planners for different end-effector constraints.
Findings
Simulation tests have demonstrated that the planner based on TC-framework can adapt to various end-effector constraints. Physical experiments have also confirmed that the framework can be used in real robotic systems to perform autonomous operational tasks. The framework’s strong compatibility with constraints allows for generalization to other tasks without modifying the scheduler, significantly reducing the difficulty of robot deployment in task-diverse scenarios.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a unified constraint method based on constraint primitives to enhance the sampling-based planner. The planner can now adapt to different end effector constraints by opening up the input interface for constraints. A series of simulation tests were conducted to evaluate the TC-Framework-based planner, which demonstrated its ability to adapt to various end-effector constraints. Tests on a physical experimental system show that the framework allows the robot to perform various operational tasks without requiring modifications to the planner. This enhances the value of robots for applications in fields with diverse tasks.