Social sustainability is a major concern in global supply chains for protecting workers from exploitation and for providing a safe working environment. Although there are stipulated standards to govern supply chain social sustainability, it is not uncommon to hear of businesses being reported for noncompliance issues. Even reputable firms such as Unilever have been criticized for production labor exploitation. Consumers now increasingly expect sellers to disclose information on social sustainability, but sellers are confronted with the challenge of traceability in their multi-tier global supply chains. Blockchain offers a promising future to achieve instant traceability in supply chain social sustainability. This study develops a system architecture that integrates the use of blockchain, internet-of-things (IoT) and big data analytics to allow sellers to monitor their supply chain social sustainability efficiently and effectively.System implementation cost and potential challenges are analyzed before the research is concluded.

Circular supply chain management is required for firms to transition from a linear make-use-dispose eco-nomic model to a more sustainable circular economy. However, it faces the critical challenge of tracing the reuse of materials over multiple life cycles involving a variety of stakeholders.Blockchain technology can help manage the complexities of circular supply chain management. This paper takes the first step in developing a system architecture of blockchain-enabled circular supply chain management in the fast-fashion industry. The system architecture was validated by two experts in blockchain technology and supply chain management. Managerial implications are discussed for implementing blockchain technology to advance the circular economy agenda.

Purpose -The purpose of the paper is to present an empirical study on the logistics innovation capability and its impacts on the supply chain risk in the Australian courier firms. Based on the resource-based review, logistics innovation capability provides valuable insight into mitigating supply chain risks in the Industry 4.0 era. Design/methodology/approach -The research model focuses on the relationships between logistics innovation capability and supply chain risk. Partial least squares approach for structural equation modelling is used to validate the research model by empirically analysing survey data.Findings -The empirical result shows negative relationships between logistics innovation capability and supply chain risks. These relationships may imply that firms can mitigate the negative impacts of supply chain risks by developing logistics innovation capabilities. The findings demonstrate the applicability of logistics innovation capability for mitigating supply chain risks in the Australian courier firms. Originality/value -There are very few empirical studies on the mitigating supply chain risk through logistics innovation capability. The empirical results provide an insight into innovation management and risk management in logistics and supply chain. This insight offers practical guidance for developing and deploying logistics innovation capability to support and enable supply chain risk management strategies in the Industry 4.0 era.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of interpersonal relationships (IPRs) in service supply chain integration (SSCI) in terms of strategic alliance, information integration, and process integration. Design/methodology/approach The research employs an exploratory/investigational approach to multiple case studies and empirically investigates effects of IPRs in SSCI. The data were mainly collected through semi-structured interviews with senior management staff from four service companies and their suppliers or customers in New Zealand. Archival data from the Internet and company documentations were also applied. Findings The authors find that three dimensions of IPRs influence SSCI in different ways. The effect of IPRs on SSCI is indirect: personal affection acts as an initiator, and personal credibility works as a “gate-keeper” and strengthens the confidence of interactive partners, while personal communication, a facilitator, plays a more important role in SSCI than personal affection and credibility. Practical implications The research provides managers in service supply chains the awareness of the importance of IPRs, as well as the characteristics of IPRs, in order to best utilize available resources. Managers should synergize all three dimensions of IPRs’ resources: make efforts to cultivate personal affection to avoid the instinctive isolation modern technology brings; attempt to accumulate positive personal credibility profiles; focus more on the role of personal communication and retain physical contact in SSCI processes. Originality/value This study contributes to SSCI literature by extending from the inter-organizational relationships (IORs) to interpersonal level relationships to explore the inner influence mechanism. Also, it explores the role of IPRs on all three dimensions of SSCI simultaneously rather than individual dimensions independently. Finally, it contributes to resource orchestration theory (ROT) by synthesizing three dimensions of IPRs resources, and IORs resources in order to achieve capabilities of SSCI. The study develops the individual-level research in supply chain integration (SCI) to a further depth.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the key drivers and challenges to supply chain collaboration in the humanitarian sector; to appraise the relationships between international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and local non-governmental organizations (LNGOs) during disaster relief; and to explore the humanitarian context in regard to supply chain collaboration. Design/methodology/approach Literature from both the commercial and humanitarian sectors is discussed in the context of vertical partnerships. A Jordanian study spanning a network of 26 international and LNGOs is explored via semi-structured interviews. Findings The research provides valuable insights on the challenges facing LNGOs and INGOs when developing partnerships. Contextual factors, including host governmental policies and the social-economic setting of a disaster directly affect the motivations for supply chain collaboration between LNGOs and INGOs. Research limitations/implications The research is built on interviewees with 30 humanitarian professionals working in one country during an extended crisis. The majority of the empirical data are only from one actor’s perspective, thus further research into dyadic and network relationships is required. Approaches to addressing the diverse cultural and decision-making perspectives of LNGOs and INGOs warrant further investigation. Practical implications Recognizing the motives and challenges to vertical partnerships between LNGOs and INGOs will assist the managers, both at the strategic and operational levels, to find solutions and evolve strategies to build effective partnerships. Compromise and consideration for partner’s drivers and cultural views are essential for effective joint humanitarian relief initiatives. Originality/value This paper extends supply chain collaboration to a humanitarian context. Overcoming the challenges facing collaborative efforts and complementary nature of the drivers provide a means to achieve effective partnerships. Despite the uniqueness of the humanitarian context, such as the secondary nature of cost and dynamic demand, the core principles of collaboration still hold.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between relationship commitment, cooperative behavior and alliance performance in agricultural supply chains. By investigating dyadic relationships between companies and their contract farmers (hereafter denoted by C+F), this study aims to investigate how relationship commitment influences cooperative behavior and how such behavior further influences alliance performance in C+F agricultural supply chains in China. Design/methodology/approach Based on data collected from 202 companies and 462 farmers in China, this study uses the structural equation modeling approach to test the conceptual model and related hypotheses. Findings For both companies and contract farmers, normative relationship commitment is a necessity for economically and socially cooperative behavior (i.e. specific investment and communication, respectively), while instrumental relationship commitment has no relationship with specific investment. Only socially cooperative behavior (communication) can improve alliance performance, while economically cooperative behavior (specific investment) has no relationship with alliance performance. For companies, instrumental relationship commitment reduces communication, but specific investment increases communication. For farmers, both instrumental relationship commitment and specific investment have no relationship with communication. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on supply chain management by adopting a bilateral perspective and examining relationships among relationship commitment, cooperative behavior and alliance performance in the C+F context. It provides agricultural companies and contract farmers with valuable guidance to use relationship commitment and cooperative behavior to improve alliance performance in agricultural supply chains in China.

Purpose: This study investigates impacts of product modularity and multi-skill employees on new product development (NPD) outcomes and explores the moderating effect of supply chain involvement.Design/methodology/approach: We used data collected from 317 manufacturers to empirically examine the conceptual model and conducted hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypotheses. Findings:The results reveal that product modularity significantly improves NPD outcomes.The relationship between product modularity/multi-skill employees and NPD outcomes is strengthened when the level of supplier involvement is high, while the relationship between multi-skill employees and NPD outcomes is weakened when the level of customer involvement is high. Research limitations:First, this study only focuses on product modularity and multi-skill employees as two types of modular designs. Second, the inter-relationship between modular designs and supply chain involvement might be contingent. Third, we use cross-sectional data that cannot reflect causal effects of modularity on NPD outcomes. Originality/value:The findings contribute to the understanding of the alignment between modular designs and supply chain involvement considering NPD outcomes. This study also contributes to the concept of modularity by identifying multi-skill employees as a type of modular design.