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The Blockchain technology, featured with its decentralized tamper-resistance based on a Peer-to-Peer network, has been widely applied in financial applications, and even further been extended to industrial applications. However, the weak scalability of traditional Blockchain technology severely affects the wide adoption due to the well-known trillema of decentralization-security-scalability in Blockchains. In regards to this issue, a number of solutions have been proposed, targeting to boost the scalability while preserving the decentralization and security. They range from modifying the on-chain data structure and consensus algorithms to adding the off-chain technologies. Therein, one of the most practical methods to achieve horizontal scalability along with the increasing network size is sharding, by partitioning network into multiple shards so that the overhead of duplicating communication, storage, and computation in each full node can be avoided. This paper presents a survey focusing on sharding in Blockchains in a systematic and comprehensive way. We provide detailed comparison and quantitative evaluation of major sharding mechanisms, along with our insights analyzing the features and restrictions of the existing solutions. We also provide theoretical upper-bound of the throughput for each considered sharding mechanism. The remaining challenges and future research directions are also reviewed.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether responsible purchasing (relational commitment and supplier evaluation) and responsible supply (supplier firm information sharing and supplier performance) affect the two factors of supply chain responsiveness including process efficiency and customer knowledge management capability, which, in turn, affect other three factors of supply chain responsiveness, such as dyadic quality performance, innovation capability and buyer‒supplier relationship improvement. Design/methodology/approach This study used questionnaire survey and statistical analytical methods. Employing path analysis, this study tested hypothesized relationships using data collected from manufacturers. Findings The findings of this study support the theorized links. Responsible purchasing and supply enhance supply chain responsiveness, which is reflected through process efficiency, customer knowledge management capability, dyadic quality performance, innovation capability and buyer‒supplier relationship improvement. Originality/value Grounded in the goal interdependence theory, this study investigates the effects of responsible purchasing and supply on supply chain responsiveness in the context of Chinese manufacturers. This study offers managerial implications and theoretical contribution.

PurposeThis study examines the operational and relational governances as antecedents of cooperation commitment in buyer–supplier exchanges. It also assesses the impact of cooperation commitment on operational performance.Design/methodology/approachPath analysis was performed on the data collected from manufacturers.FindingsThe results of this study show that both operational and relational governances exert impact on cooperation commitment, which, in turn, is associated with operational performance improvement.Originality/valueFirst, this is the first study employing the reciprocity theory to theorize the conceptual framework of the governance antecedents of cooperation commitment and operations excellence effect. Second, the study highlights how the research framework can enrich the reciprocity theory in exploring the mechanisms of the operational and relational governances of buyer–supplier exchanges and their impact on the commitment to the cooperation. Third, this study extends the reciprocity theory to examine in detail how cooperation commitment exerts impact on the operational performance.