This study proposes a decision framework based on industry 4.0 initiatives within circular economy implementation to evaluate and select sustainable suppliers. In this context, sustainable supplier ...selection, industry 4.0, and circular economy have emerged as key topics of the contemporary operations management debate. The mix method approach of combining literature review and industrial expert's inputs was adopted to identify four main categories and twenty-one sub-categories relevant to the supplier selection decision. A multi-criteria decision-making support tool composed of the 'best-worst method' (BWM) and VIKOR (VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) was applied to aid in the evaluation and selection of a sustainable supplier in Pakistan's textile manufacturing company. The BWM approach was first applied to determine the relative importance weights, and then, VIKOR used to rank the suppliers. The findings of the study suggest that, the Pakistan's textile manufacturing company places much emphasis and importance on 'Technological and Infrastructure (TI)' with weight of 0.356 and 'a positive organizational culture towards implementation of industry 4.0 and circular economy initiatives' (OG3) with global weight of 0.139 when embarking on such decisions, and ranked supplier 2 as the top sustainable supplier. Managerial and post-selection benchmarking negotiations and future research directions are also introduced.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to synthesize findings from health care research with those in service research to identify key conceptualizations of the changing role of the health care ...customer, to identify gaps in theory, and to propose a compelling research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
This study combines a meta-narrative review of health care research, and a systematic review of service research, using thematic analysis to identify key practice approaches and the changing role of the health care customer.
Findings
The review reveals different conceptualizations of the customer role within the ten key practice approaches, and identifies an increased activation of the role of the health care customer over time. This change implies a re-orientation, that is, moving away from the health care professional setting the agenda, prescribing and delivering treatment where the customer merely complies with orders, to the customer actively contributing and co-creating value with service providers and other actors in the ecosystem to the extent the health care customer desires.
Originality/value
This study not only identifies key practice approaches by synthesizing findings from health care research with those in service research, it also identifies how the role of the health care customer is changing and highlights effects of the changing role across the practice approaches. A research agenda to guide future health care service research is also provided.
Based on the findings of a qualitative empirical study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Swiss MNCs and SMEs, we suggest that smaller firms are not necessarily less advanced in organizing ...CSR than large firms. Results according to theoretically derived assessment frameworks illustrate the actual implementation status of CSR in organizational practices. We propose that small firms possess several organizational characteristics that are favorable for promoting the internal implementation of CSR-related practices in core business functions, but constrain external communication and reporting about CSR. In contrast, large firms possess several characteristics that are favorable for promoting external communication and reporting about CSR, but at the same time constrain internal implementation. We sketch a theoretical explanation of these differences in organizing CSR in MNCs and SMEs based on the relationship between firm size and relative organizational costs.
Citation analysis combined with a network analysis of co-citation data from three major operations management (OM) journals is used to reveal the evolution of the intellectual structure of the OM ...field between 1980 and 2006. This spans the entire time since the beginning of research journals specific to the field. Employing a bibliometric citation/co-citation analysis to investigate the foundations of the discipline enables a robust, quantitative approach to uncovering the evolution of research in OM. The study finds that the intellectual structure of the field made statistically significant changes between the 1980s, the 1990s, and the 2000s and evolved from a pre-occupation with narrow, tactical topics toward more strategic, macrotopics, including new research methods and techniques. A factor analysis identifies the 12 top knowledge groups in the field and how they change over the decades. Illustrations of the structure of the co-citations representing the field are generated from a spring-embedded algorithm that is an improvement over the standard multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) approach to illustrating the knowledge groups.
The ongoing digital transformation on industry has so far mostly been studied from the perspective of cyber-physical systems solutions as drivers of change. In this paper, we turn the focus to the ...changes in data management resulting from the introduction of new digital technologies in industry. So far, data processing activities in operations management have usually been organised according to the existing business structures inside and in-between companies. With increasing importance of Big Data in the context of the digital transformation, the opposite will be the case: business structures will evolve based on the potential to develop value streams offered on the basis of new data processing solutions. Based on a review of the extant literature, we identify the general different fields of action for operations management related to data processing. In particular, we explore the impact of Big Data on industrial operations and its organisational implications.
PurposeThe aim of this study is to empirically test the link between servitization and trade credit in manufacturing firms as well as the boundary conditions of this ...link.Design/methodology/approachUsing a unique dataset of 4,974 observations covering 838 manufacturing firms publicly listed in the United States during 1990–2020, this study examines the impact of servitization on trade credit and the moderating impacts of financial slack and service relatedness based on fixed-effect regression models.FindingsThe authors find that servitization shows a U-shaped relationship with trade credit. Besides, financial slack negatively moderates this U-shaped relationship whereas service relatedness has no significant impact on this relationship.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to empirically verify the influence of servitization on trade credit in manufacturing firms based on longitudinal secondary data and signaling theory. The research findings can provide several important theoretical and managerial implications for scholars and practitioners in operations management.
Strategic consensus can be defined as agreement on strategy content and process across all levels of an organisation. Although strategic consensus is considered a major factor for the success of any ...manufacturing strategy, the topic has been widely neglected in the operations management literature. Moreover, the limited existing literature typically focusses on large firms in developed economies. In response, this study explores strategic consensus in 38 small companies in Brazil. Multiple company visits were combined with surveys and interviews. Responses from all operational managers (55 responses) and 117 operational-level employees (operators) were obtained. Using cluster analysis this study tests 10 research propositions regarding drivers of strategic consensus that where obtained through a systematic literature review. Results suggest that a high degree of formalisation in planning activities supports strategic consensus, that professional and decentralised decision making may be a better alternative for small firms and that the formalisation of communication channels may not be mandatory for strategic consensus, if there is, for example, a close relationship and collaboration between managers and employees.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to update the work of Carter and Easton (2011), by conducting a systematic review of the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) literature in the primary ...logistics and supply chain management journals, during the 2010–2018 timeframe.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology which follows the methodology employed by Carter and Easton (2011). An evaluation of this methodology, using the Modified AMSTAR criteria, demonstrates a high level of empirical validity.
Findings
The field of SSCM continues to evolve with changes in substantive focus, theoretical lenses, unit of analysis, methodology and type of analysis. However, there are still abundant future research opportunities, including investigating under-researched topics such as diversity and human rights/working conditions, employing the group as the unit of analysis and better addressing empirical validity and social desirability bias.
Research limitations/implications
The findings result in prescriptions and a broad agenda to guide future research in the SSCM arena. The final section of the paper provides additional avenues for future research surrounding theory development and decision making.
Originality/value
This SLR provides a rigorous, methodologically valid review of the continuing evolution of empirical SSCM research over a 28-year time period.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to facilitate green supply chain (GSC) managers and planners to model and access GSC risks and probable failures. This paper proposes to use the fuzzy failure ...mode and effects analysis (FMEA) approach for assessing the risks associated with GSC for benchmarking the performance in terms of effective GSC management adoption and sustainable production.
Design/methodology/approach
Initially, different failure modes are defined using FMEA analysis, and in order to decide the risk priority, the risk priority number (RPN) is determined. Such priority numbers are typically acquired from the judgment decisions of experts that could contain the element of vagueness and imperfection due to human biases, and it may lead to inaccuracy in the process of risk assessment in GSC. In this study, fuzzy logic is applied to conventional FMEA to overcome the issues in assigning RPNs. A plastic manufacturer GSC case exemplar of the proposed model is illustrated to present the authenticity of this method of risk assessment.
Findings
Results indicate that the failure modes, given as improper green operating procedure, i.e. process, operations, etc. (R6), and green issues while closing the loop of GSC (R14) hold the highest RPN and FRPN scores in classical as well as fuzzy FMEA analysis.
Originality/value
The present research work attempts to propose an evaluation framework for risk assessment in GSC. This paper explores both sustainable developments and risks related to efficient management of GSC initiatives in a plastic industry supply chain context. From a managerial perspective, suggestions are also provided with respect to each failure mode.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of complexity and its management from an OM perspective, building on and extending the systematic literature review published ...in this journal in 2011, and provide a foundation for exploring the interactions between complexities and responses.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes a subjective view of complexity, focusing on the “lived experience” of managers. It takes an updated systematic literature review, and demonstrates the comprehensiveness of a framework to classify complexities of projects. It reports the findings from 43 workshops with over 1,100 managers.
Findings
First, the complexity framework is effective in aiding understanding. Second, and somewhat unexpectedly, managers were able to identify strategies to reduce the majority of complexities that they faced. Third, the workshops identified a typology of responses to residual complexities.
Research limitations/implications
The framework has demonstrated its utility, and a gap in understanding emergent complexities is identified. The framework further presents the opportunity to explore the recursive nature of complexity and response.
Practical implications
This paper provides a framework that is both comprehensive and comprehensible. The authors demonstrate that complexities can be reduced and provide a means to assess responses to residual complexities, including potentially matching managers to projects.
Originality/value
This work extends the previous systematic review combined with extensive empirical data to generate findings that are having impact in practice, and have the potential to strengthen a relatively neglected area within OM. A research agenda is suggested to support this.
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