The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is one of the most important corporate social responsibility initiatives; its aim is to align companies’ strategies and operations with principles that ...involve human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption.
After approximately 15 years of research on the UNGC, we provide a systematic literature review on this topic. We start with a keyword search of 96 papers on the UNGC. We then code these papers based on a deductive–inductive approach and classify them by year of publication, publication outlet, research focus, methodology, and underpinning theory. We frame and summarize the debate on the five main topics of UNGC literature, namely motivations driving the companies toward UNGC adoption, weaknesses, impacts, contextual factors affecting adoption, and contextual factors affecting performance. For each of the five streams of research, we identify several factors or variables that enrich the knowledge of it. Building on these findings, we identify various research gaps and develop a set of hypotheses for future empirical validation that are grounded on prominent theoretical frameworks, such as the stakeholder theory (in combination with the Human Resource Management literature) and the signal theory.
•This study presents a systematic literature review on UNGC.•Ninety-six contributions have been collected, classified, and summarized.•Five streams of research have been identified and discussed in detail.•A set of knowledge gaps of the current literature has been identified.•A future research agenda grounded on mainstream theories is proposed.
Purpose - To empirically investigate the relationships among critical TQM factors and business results.Design methodology approach - Twenty-three hypotheses regarding the relationships among TQM ...factors and business results have been developed through literature review and tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study utilized survey data obtained from US manufacturing companies.Findings - Provides information about the results of each hypothesis, their implications, and how these findings compare to previous studies. Pays special attention to the relationships between TQM factors and business results and discusses findings in this area by offering insights from 22 previous studies that analyzed TQM-performance relationships.Research limitations implications - Researchers could use the results of this study to explore various related hypotheses in more detail and improve the accuracy of future empirical quality management studies. The study makes specific recommendations for such future studies. There were also some research limitations. For instance, the data were obtained through mail survey and relied on the perceptions of the respondents.Practical implications - The results of this study can be used by managers to prioritize the implementation of TQM practices. For instance, those practices that are found to have a positive impact on business results can be recommended to managers so that they can allocate resources to improve these practices to get the best results.Originality value - This study conducts a comprehensive review of the literature to develop factors of critical TQM practices and business results, and unlike most previous studies, it uses multiple, distinct indicators for each factor to test an elaborate SEM model of the relationships among these factors.
Purpose - To analyze the state of supply chain quality management in manufacturing companies by testing several hypotheses regarding the knowledge these companies have about their different supply ...chain partners, the attributes that characterize customer-supplier relationships and the factors that determine the development of quality specifications in a supply chain, and the effect of supply chain quality management activities of companies on product quality.Design methodology approach - Six hypotheses related to supply chain quality management have been developed through literature review and tested using survey data from US manufacturing companies.Findings - Provides information about the results of each hypothesis, their implications, and how these findings relate to the previous literature.Research limitations implications - The study offers insights into what the findings suggest and provides guidelines for future research to tackle issues raised by these findings. There were also some research limitations. For instance, the study relied on the perceptions of the respondents to operationalize the survey instrument, and the variables were mostly operationalized using single measures.Practical implications - The study recommends ways managers can use the study's findings to improve supply chain quality.Originality value - This paper fills a void in the literature by focusing on quality in supply chain management.
Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) was one of the first auditable social standards aimed at promoting labor rights for workers around the world. This certification is currently considered the most ...important in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR). After approximately 15 years of research on SA8000, we provide the first literature review on this topic. We analyze 56 scientific papers that address key issues concerning SA8000, including the advantages of the adoption of the ethical certification and the obstacles to adoption and management, and provide a comparison with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards and with other CSR standards and codes of conduct. Papers are coded following a deductive–inductive approach, and classified by year of publication, publication outlet, research focus, methodology, underpinning theory (if any), unit of analysis, sample size, industry, and country. Building on literature findings, we identify various research gaps, stemming from the scarcity of empirical research and the weakness of theoretical foundations. In particular, we highlight the lack of evidence on the impact of organizational-level factors on the adoption of the standard, on the extent of the trade-off (if any) between positive and negative outcomes of SA8000, and the failure to identify moderators of the relation between antecedents and SA8000 adoption and/or between adoption and outcomes. Finally, we propose a theory-based research agenda on SA8000 for OM scholars, based on Transaction Cost Economics, Agency, and Neo-Institutional theories and focused on three classes of relevant problems: governance structure under SA8000, risk sharing between buyers and suppliers, and effects on operational performance.
•This study presents the first comprehensive literature review on SA8000.•Fifty-six contributions have been collected, classified and summarized.•A set of literature gaps are identified.•A research agenda grounded on prominent theories is proposed.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a corporate ethical policy, such as a code of ethics, on the unethical behavior of internal and vendor employees in the supply chain in ...India. It also aims to find whether International Standards Organization (ISO) certification of vendors affects the result and any significant relationship between management commitment and unethical behavior can be supported by the findings as well.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical analyses were conducted on a survey consisting of 43 questions comprising 181 valid responses. Multiple regression analysis that includes four independent variables – code of ethics, management commitment, supply chain principles and personal values taking unethical behavior as dependent variable – was used to find the significance of the relationship.
Findings
The implementation of a code of ethics, management commitment, supply chain principles and personal values all have a negative association with unethical behavior. Personal values, measuring a firm’s financial aspects for non-compliance to ethical behavior, have a positive association with unethical behavior. The relationships of top management commitment, personal values with internal employees’ unethical behavior are significant. The significant relationship between management commitment and unethical behavior can be supported by the findings as well. It was also found that ISO certificates and firm size as the control variables did not have any effect on the relationship between the independent variables and unethical behavior. The analysis also shows that ISO 26000 certificate, the international standard for socially responsible operations, does not impact this relationship.
Research limitations/implications
Measuring substantial managerial effort for corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices by asking questions like, “how committed employees think top management is to social responsibility,” may not fully measure substantial managerial effort for CSR practices. To improve the results of the current study, future research can use the CSR index or disclosure as a measure to better reflect management commitment and practice for social responsibility. Second, the current study is limited to measuring how many occurrences of unethical behavior are witnessed by employees instead of what specific unethical behavior is more often witnessed. Considering India has the second largest population in the world, 181 responses may not represent the true practices in the business environment in India for generalization.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that management should put more of an emphasis on improving the commitment of upper-level managers to decrease the overall unethical practices of their employees. The study finds that employees’ personal values influence their ethical behavior. Therefore, communications and training of employees at all levels should emphasis on improving personal values.
Social implications
Businesses should influence academics to incorporate personal value building in course curricula. The Indian CSR law should incorporate the holistic view of CSR taking care of needs of all stakeholders under the provision of the regulation. In 2015, India became the first country in the world to legislate CSR practices in corporations but it misses the opportunity to sensitize the management and employees on ethical practices as it mainly identified philanthropic expenses as mandatory CSR spending and silent on ethical business practices.
Originality/value
The present study contributes to the literature by bringing supply chain context to the effect of different factors on unethical behaviors and interaction of internal and vendor firms in terms of ethical practices. There are several studies on business ethics in different countries including China, but in the case of India similar studies are not much. The present study fills the gap.
There has been a plethora of published research related to total quality management (TQM) in the last few decades. However, very few studies focused on cataloging critical factors of TQM. One of the ...objectives of this literature review was to investigate the state of TQM by examining and listing various TQM factors identified based on survey studies conducted in different countries and published in a variety of journals over the past decade. An examination of 76 survey studies that used an integrated approach to TQM showed that the TQM factors could be grouped under 25 categories. An analysis of the 347 survey based research articles published between 1989 and 2000 using these 25 factors as a framework revealed the most frequently covered TQM factors in the literature. Another goal of the paper was to analyse the objectives of these articles by year and type of journal they were published in to determine the trends in TQM survey based studies and recommend future direction for research. The analysis showed that the objectives of the 347 studies could be grouped under six categories.
This paper focuses on comparing the experiences of Large Enterprises (LEs) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the U.S. to determine whether codes of ethics have (a) created ethical ...environments that lead to good behaviors, (b) been shared with members of the supply chain, and (c) impacted behaviors of members of the supply chain. The research utilized survey methodology. We used ANOVA and Factor Analysis as the tools for analyzing the data in the study. Results showed that most LEs and SMEs have formal codes of ethics, communicate their codes to employees, and provide training on these codes. However, the beneficial impact of ethics codes is more pronounced when codes are formally communicated to others and when management and employees are perceived as committed to responsible behaviors. More LEs share codes with members of their supply chains than do SMEs. However, sharing one's code of ethics has limited impacts on the behaviors of either vendor or customer employees. The extant research on the effectiveness of ethics codes has concentrated on experiences of LEs and has not been conclusive. Research addressing the experiences of SMEs is severely limited and primarily relates to European firms. These are critical shortcomings because: (a) the majority of firms in the U.S. and Europe are SMEs, and (b) the characteristics, structures, and operations of SMEs are different from those of large firms, thus making extrapolation to SMEs inappropriate. Our research is original because it addresses these two issues specifically in the context of the supply chain function. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Dolphin Tale is a major motion picture released by Warner Brothers in 2011. The authors forecast the number of visitors to the film location, including the film-induced tourism effect originated by ...Dolphin Tale. They use intervention analysis to measure this effect, with the pre-film series forecasted trend as the comparison baseline instead of the usual linear trend. They address the proper modelling of the series seasonality in the presence of an abrupt increase in visitors immediately after the premiere and a lack of data on the subsequent months. They find that the film induced a 51% increase in the mean level of visitors to the location.
Garvin's Garvin, D.A. (1987) Competing on the eight dimensions of quality.
Harvard Business Review 65(6), 101–109 eight dimensions of quality have become a widely accepted taxonomy for discussions of ...product quality. These dimensions were used as the basis for evaluating the impacts of ISO 9000 certification on companies' product quality. Eleven ISO 9000 certified companies in Europe were studied to determine if and how ISO 9000 certification impacted the dimensions of quality relevant to their success. Results indicated that, for the companies studied, quality does improve as a result of ISO 9000 certification. Furthermore, results suggested that the reasons for seeking certification can influence the degree to which quality is improved.
A conceptual QFD planning model Han, S. Bruce; Chen, Shaw K; Ebrahimpour, Maling ...
The International journal of quality & reliability management,
11/2001, Letnik:
18, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Quality function deployment (QFD) is a structured approach to seek out customers, understand their needs, and ensure that their needs are met. QFD is probably the most important management tool ...developed to assure quality in new or improved products and services. As with any other tool, the quantum of benefits obtained from the use of QFD is proportional to the effectiveness of its use. To enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of QFD as a means to transfer the "voice of the customer" into design and production, a new comprehensive hierarchical framework for QFD planning process and a zero-one goal programming model for the selection of design requirements are proposed. The hierarchical framework contributes to the strategic guidance and provides clear direction for QFD teams during the construction of the house of quality. The decision model assists in determining a set of design requirements that most effectively meet customer needs subject to limited resources and other organizational restrictions. An illustrative example is also provided to demonstrate the practical usage of the design selection model.
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