PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify sensing, seizing and reconfiguring routines of dynamic capabilities that enable digital transformation in firms.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach is used. Representatives from a firm going through digital transformations are interviewed, and focus groups have been carried out with a consultancy firm experienced in giving advice to firms going through digital transformation.FindingsSix routines identified as relevant specifically for digital transformation are identified. These are cross-industrial digital sensing, inside-out digital infrastructure sensing, digital strategy development, determination of enterprise boundaries, decomposition of digital transformation into specified projects and creation of a unified digital infrastructure.Practical implicationsThe authors provide direction for managers on how to approach digital transformation. In relation to previous research, the authors provide more specific guidance regarding how to reconfigure the organization in digital transformation.Originality/valueThe paper uses a novel context for digital transformation and complements the very few studies available using dynamic capabilities to understand digital transformation.

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DYNAMIC AND STATIC PRICING IN OPEN-BOOK ACCOUNTINGPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand differences between open-book accounting using static prices and open-book accounting using dynamic prices. We identify how these differences influence various aspects of customer-supplier relationships.Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a case study involving a builders' merchant and a wood manufacturer in the UK. The builders' merchant under discussion has recently outsourced part of its production to the aforementioned wood manufacturer by using open-book accounting with dynamic prices. For this case study, we have conducted interviews with multiple people from both parties in the agreement.

The production of food can have large impacts on sustainable development in relation to various socio-ecological dimensions, like climate change, the environment, animal welfare, livestock epidemiology, and the economy. To achieve a sustainable food production system in Sweden, an integrated approach that considers all five of these dimensions, and all parts of the food production chain, is necessary. This paper systematically reviewed the literature related to food production in Sweden, especially in association with resource distribution and recycling logistics, and identified potential sustainability interventions and assessed their effects according to the five dimensions. Participation of stakeholders across the food production chain contributed with the focus of the literature search and subsequent synthesis. In general, there were synergies between the sustainability interventions and their effect on climate change and the environment, while there often were trade-offs between effects on the economy and the other dimensions. Few interventions considered effects on animal welfare or livestock epidemiology and few studies dealt with resource distribution and recycling logistics. This indicates that there is a need for future research that considers this in particular, as well as research that considers the whole food production chain and all dimensions at once, and investigates effects across multiple scales.

Structured abstractPurpose: The aim of this paper is to explore supplier integration in the assortment management of builders' merchants by identifying potential factors enabling supplier integration and potential factors mediating the success of supplier integration.Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative case study method was used, in which interviews and participative observations were conducted with a timber supplier and builders' merchants in the UK. Findings:The likelihood that a supplier and a retailer will implement supplier integration is positively affected by the retailer's format as a large chain with several product categories represented in its stores and the retailer's trust in the supplier. Effectiveness and efficiency of supplier integration is mediated by the number of different retail formats represented by the retailers, the ability of the supplier to determine cost drivers in its operations and a homogeneous market, meaning that local circumstances have limited effect on demand. Research limitations/implications:The findings are exploratory and further testing of the propositions, using a wider empirical sample, is required. The paper extends theories relating to resource complementarity and suggests that a resource complementarity framework can be applied in relationships other than alliances.Practical implications: This paper suggests when incorporation of supplier resources is possible to implement and when it is likely to succeed. Originality/value: This paper uses a contingency perspective to explore supplier integration and targets individual buyer-supplier relationships. It uses a dyadic perspective and considers how supplier integration affects the dyad, rather than only the buyer.

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Previous retailer-supplier research reports both positive and negative collaboration outcomes. Resource alignment, or how collaborating actors’ resources affect each other, is a concept that has been brought forward to explain when collaboration increases performance. As the category management of builders’ merchants involves actors with different sets of resources, the resource alignment framework can be used to better understand the outcomes of collaboration in category management. The aim of this paper is to explore resource alignment among actors involved in the category management of builders’ merchants. The paper is based on interviews with top managers in Swedish builders’ merchants. Complementary and supplementary resources held by the involved actors are identified for four  distinguished category management activities. Resources needed to further improve the business are also identified. Three propositions are formulated, explaining how supplementary and complementary resources are interrelated and how the situation influences the need for supplementary resources. The description of resource alignment supports retailers and their suppliers concerning how to assign roles and responsibilities in category management activities. While the retailers themselves are often well equipped to manage pricing and inventory management, the supplier can support assortment and marketing management

Start-ups are often in need of external help to grow but do not have the cash to pay for critical services. A solution to this problem is to hire technology or strategy consultants and use equity as payment. With equity payments, the service provider also becomes an investor and a partner in the start-up. By interviewing consultants, investors, and start-up entrepreneurs, this study explores the challenges associated with equity payments, and it identifies situations when equity payments can be a viable solution. We propose that consultancies require a risk-seeking mindset and a business model that supports long-term investments in clients. Further, we propose that consultancies' inclination to accept equity payments increases when the entrepreneur has industry specific experience. The start-up entrepreneur's inclination to accept equity payments increases when they lack experience of running a start-up, and when the start-up has not yet shown a proof of concept. Even though the long-term viability of equity payments for critical services remains to be determined, it is an option worth taking into account by start-ups in need of assistance.