In recent years, both researchers and practitioners have devoted attention to environmental sustainability issues in the fashion industry, but, despite the topic's relevance, a structured analysis of ...the problem is missing.
This paper presents the results of exploratory case-based research aimed at identifying three factors: the drivers that push companies to adopt “green” practices, the different practices that can be used to improve environmental sustainability, and the environmental KPIs measured by fashion companies. Results include a comparison of two approaches pursued by established international companies with green-positioned brands with the efforts of small firms that have adopted alternative supply chain models.
► We analysed five fashion companies from a supply chain perspective. ► Small and big companies behaviours towards sustainability have been compared. ► Different supply chain practices have been implemented in small and big companies. ► Small companies have a radical behaviour with a supply chain perspective. ► Different sustainability performance is measured in small and big companies.
Fashion companies are extremely sensitive to the new challenge emerging from recent sustainability scandals. Existing literature has debated sustainability extensively by considering practices of ...sustainability that companies should apply. However, little research has focused on the design of a proper sustainability roadmap from a supply chain (SC) perspective to address the steps involved in implementing sustainability practices. The objective of this study is to design a sustainability roadmap for fashion companies. Based on case studies of three tiers of three fashion SCs as an empirical basis, social and environmental sustainability practices were grouped into a five-step roadmap. The main result of the paper is a five-step roadmap, characterised in terms of practices and main goal. The roadmap is then discussed in terms of possible paths of developing, in terms of evolution within a step and among different steps.
The Covid-19 pandemic created a financial disruption within supply chains, which is destabilizing especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and could be devastating for the global economy. ...Supply chain finance (SCF) was an answer to the 2008 financial crisis and could help facing the new challenge, but new paradigms are necessary, to become an effective mitigation strategy. Through the support of empirical data collected through a focus group with industry experts, this note presents new research directions in the SCF domain, based on Contingency Theory and Resource Orchestration Theory, including new solutions, actors, collaborations, technologies, regulations, and performance.
•In post covid era, SCF will be pushed by regulation and use of new technologies.•In post covid era, SCF will require new actors and new collaborations.•SCF is requiring new solutions, to adopt with a platform approach.•SCF requires new methods for the credit risk assessment.•SCF will be more strongly connected with social and environmental performance.
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.
The critical role of blockchain technology in ensuring a proper level of traceability and visibility along supply chains is increasingly being explored in the literature. This critical examination ...must focus on the factors that either encourage or hinder (i.e. the drivers or barriers) the implementation of this technology in extended supply chains. On the assumption that the blockchain will need to be adopted at the supply chain level, the enabling factors and the contingent variables of different supply chains must be identified and analysed. The appropriate identification of supply chain partners is becoming a critical factor of success since the globalization of supply chains makes their management and control increasingly difficult. This is particularly true of the fashion industry. Five blockchain providers and seven focal companies working in the fashion industry were interviewed to compare their different viewpoints on this topic. The results highlight which drivers, barriers, and supply chain variables impact the implementation of the blockchain and specific research propositions are formulated.
Chronic cough and irritable larynx Bucca, Caterina B., MD, FCCP; Bugiani, Massimiliano, MD; Culla, Beatrice, MD ...
Journal of allergy and clinical immunology,
02/2011, Letnik:
127, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Background Perennial rhinitis (PR), chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), or both, asthma, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are the most frequent triggers of chronic cough (CC). Extrathoracic ...airway receptors might be involved in all 3 conditions because asthma is often associated with PR/CRS and gastroesophageal refluxate might reach the upper airway. We previously found that most patients with rhinosinusitis, postnasal drip, and pharyngolaryngitis show laryngeal hyperresponsiveness (LHR; ie, vocal cord adduction on histamine challenge) that is consistent with an irritable larynx. Objective We sought to evaluate the role of LHR in patients with CC. Methods LHR and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) to histamine were assessed in 372 patients with CC and in 52 asthmatic control subjects without cough (asthma/CC−). In 172 patients the challenge was repeated after treatment for the underlying cause of cough. Results The primary trigger of CC was PR/CRS in 208 (56%) patients, asthma in 41 (11%) patients (asthma/CC+), GERD in 62 (17%) patients, and unexplained chronic cough (UNEX) in 61 (16%) patients. LHR prevalence was 76% in patients with PR/CRS, 77% in patients with GERD, 66% in patients with UNEX, 93% in asthma/CC+ patients, and 11% in asthma/CC− patients. Upper airway disease was found in most (95%) asthma/CC+ patients and in 6% of asthma/CC− patients. BHR discriminated asthmatic patients and atopy discriminated patients with PR/CRS from patients with GERD and UNEX. Absence of LHR discriminated asthmatic patients without cough. After treatment, LHR resolved in 63% of the patients and improved in 11%, and BHR resolved in 57% and improved in 18%. Conclusions An irritable larynx is common in patients with CC and indicates upper airway involvement, whether from rhinitis/sinusitis, gastric reflux, or idiopathic sensory neuropathy.
Traditional credit rating models, adopted by financial institutions to assess the credit risk of a company, adopt a purely financial perspective, and often fail to properly assess small and medium ...enterprises. On the other hand, buyers usually assess suppliers by means of comprehensive vendor ratings, considering a broad range of operational performance. This paper investigates whether financial and vendor ratings can be integrated into a supply chain credit rating model that jointly considers financial indicators of the supplier and its operational evaluation provided by buyers; the paper also investigates the benefits and the challenges of such a model for all the stakeholders involved (buyers, suppliers, financial institutions, and technology providers), adopting the lenses of the stakeholder theory. We adopted both multiple case studies and an iterative focus group, involving representatives from suppliers, buyers, financial institutions, and technology providers. The results confirm the potential value of such an integrated rating, mainly for strategic suppliers, showing the expected benefits for all stakeholders and highlighting the potential challenges to face.
•Financial ratings might have a low predictability capability for Small and Medium Companies.•Vendor rating data are potentially timelier to predict company performance.•Financial rating needs a supply chain perspective to improve accuracy of probability of default.•Integration between vendor rating and financial data is worth it for strategic supply chain ties.•Buyers, suppliers, and financial institutions might all achieve value by an integrated rating.
Supply chain finance (SCF) can play a role in improving supply chain (SC) sustainability. That is why academics have started investigating the connection between SCF and sustainable SC management, ...and practitioners have begun developing new SCF solutions with a sustainable orientation. Although SCF solutions have been suggested as supporting tools for the diffusion of sustainability within SCs, academic contributions have only partially investigated sustainable SCF (SSCF). There is the need to understand in greater detail first, how different SC sustainability practices (e.g., supplier assessment, supplier development, incentives to suppliers, and third-party involvement) can be integrated into SCF solutions; second, how different brokerage roles can facilitate this integration to contribute to the successful implementation of an SSCF solution. This paper investigates those aspects through multiple international exploratory case studies. The results confirm that SCF solutions become sustainable by integrating different SC sustainability practices, either embedded in the SSCF solutions or reinforced by the implementation of the solutions. Moreover, involving new actors, including third-party information providers, NGOs, and certification bodies, who assume different brokerage roles, positively influences the development of SSCF solutions.
•The paper explores Sustainable Supply Chain Finance (SSCF) through multiple exploratory case studies.•The paper explores the integration of Supply Chain (SC) sustainability practices in Supply Chain Finance (SCF), generating SSCF solutions.•The paper explores SSCF as a supporting or an enabling tool for SC sustainability practices.•The paper explores the brokerage roles facilitating SC sustainability practices and SCF integration.
PurposeThis paper investigates how the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) impacts upstream supply chain (SC) design and considers the influence of drivers and barriers towards the ...adoption.Design/methodology/approachTen case studies investigating AM adoption by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in five industries were conducted. This research is driven by a literature-based framework, and the results are discussed according to the theory of transaction cost economics (TCE).FindingsThe case studies reveal four patterns of AM adoption that affect upstream SC design (due to changes in supply base or types of buyer–supplier relationships): make, buy, make and buy and vertical integration. A make or buy decision is based on the level of experience with the technology, on the AM application (rapid manufacturing, prototyping or tooling) and on the need of control over production. Other barriers playing a role in the decision are the high initial investments and the lack of skills and knowledge.Originality/valueThis paper shows how different decisions regarding AM adoption result in different SC designs, with a specific focus on the upstream SC and changes in the supply base. This research is among the first to provide empirical evidence on the impact of AM adoption on upstream SCs and to identify drivers of the make or buy decision when adopting AM through the theoretical lens of TCE.
Purpose
Since 2008’s financial crisis, attention toward supply chain finance (SCF) has increased. However, most research investigates SCF considering single supply chain (SC) stages or buyer–supplier ...dyads and focuses on a single SCF solution. It is important to see how different solutions are adopted at different SC stages, by actors with different financing needs. This study aims to analyze SCF at different SC stages, to understand why different solutions are implemented at different SC stages and the contingency factors (regulation, SC stage, product category and size) influencing their adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on multiple exploratory case studies in the Italian agri-food industry, considering firms distributed at different SC stages and adopting multiple SCF solutions. The paper exploits a contingent approach (Sousa and Voss, 2008) to analyze how contingent factors influence SCF adoption at different SC stages.
Findings
Findings explain how and why different SC stages (producer, cooperative, processor and retailer) implement different SCF solutions (reverse factoring, dynamic discounting, inventory finance and Minibond), describing contingency variables’ impact on their adoption.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the research is original in its description of SCF at different SC stages, considering different SC actors’ drivers and barriers, and questioning the importance of a coordinated approach in SCF adoption along an entire SC. Moreover, the paper adopts a contingent approach, contributing to SCF research, seldomly based on theoretical lenses.
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