As global supply chains compete in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing business environment, supply chain responsiveness has become a highly prized capability. To increase responsiveness, supply chain managers often seek information that provides greater visibility into factors affecting both demand and supply. Managers often claim, however, that they are awash in data yet lacking in valuable information. Taken together, these conditions suggest that supply chain visibility is a necessary, but insufficient capability for enabling supply chain responsiveness. Based on organizational information processing theory, we posit that a supply chain organization's internal integration competence provides complementary information processing capabilities required to yield expected responsiveness from greater supply chain visibility. An analysis of data from 206 firms strongly supports this hypothesis. For supply chain managers, these findings indicate that a strategy for achieving supply chain responsiveness requires a dual‐pronged approach that aligns increased visibility with extensive information processing capabilities from internal integration. For researchers, this study provides an initial examination of visibility as a construct, and extends a growing literature addressing integration as an information processing capability.

As the global competitive landscape intensifies, firms have looked to their supply chain organizations to improve cost, visibility, and cycle time performance across functions, products, and markets. As a result, the scope of supply chain related operations have increasingly cut across organizational boundaries. To understand and capture such cross‐organizational activities, researchers have broadened the focus of their studies and included multiple stakeholders in their analysis (e.g., integration, sustainability, and buyer‐supplier relationships). However, multi‐stakeholder research has also increased the complexity and effort required to conduct studies across organizational boundaries. Unfortunately, many studies that use multi‐stakeholder constructs fail to fully address their multi‐sided nature during both construct conceptualization and data collection. Several studies suggest that neglecting the multi‐sided nature of certain constructs can affect the research validity and reliability and may invalidate research inferences and results, although such concerns have not been empirically demonstrated. The current study addresses this gap by performing a series of tests using data from 105 matched pairs of buyers and their suppliers to illustrate key methodological considerations for conducting multi‐stakeholder research. This study also offers practical guidance regarding assumptions routinely made in single rater research and proposes when single rater data may be appropriate for multi‐stakeholder research.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose using agency theory for assessing the likelihood of quality fade in buyer‐supplier relationships and prescribing contractual mechanisms for reducing quality fade. In this paper, quality fade, an element of supply chain vulnerability, is defined as the unforeseen deterioration of agreed to or expected quality levels with respect to product and/or service requirements. The use of outcome‐based, behavior‐based, or mix contracts can be used to reduce the likelihood of quality fade and illustrate preferred scenarios for buyer and suppliers.Design/methodology/approachThis paper proposes a conceptual model for using agency theory to explain and address a type of supply chain vulnerability called quality fade. A 2×2 matrix is proposed that contrasts outcome measurability with outcome uncertainty to illustrate buyer and supplier vulnerability and to suggest contractual mechanisms that can be used to mitigate vulnerability for both parties.FindingsA typology of governance mechanisms is presented and described with the use of a manufacturer third‐party logistics provider example to illustrate the theoretical framework. Four different scenarios are discussed and described. Contractual mechanisms are provided to mitigate vulnerabilities and reduce quality fade.Originality/valueQuality fade is a term that has not been described extensively in academic literature but is a term that is relevant in the broader discussion of supply chain vulnerability. Given that quality fade is a behavioral, as opposed to process oriented, approach, it requires a theoretical framework rooted in behavioral considerations. Agency theory is an appropriate framework for studying governance options.

This study investigates the recent emergence of Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs). Drawing on contingency theory, we analyze firm‐level antecedents and consequences associated with CSCOs being appointed to top management teams (TMTs). We conceptually develop the role of CSCOs and hypothesize that CSCOs are most likely to be appointed to TMTs at firms where supply chain‐related integration and differentiation pressures are high. The results from a matched sample of S&P 1500 firms over a 21‐year period reveal that financial leverage, internationalization, and diversification all predict CSCO appointment to the TMT. Our results also suggest that these same contingencies positively moderate the effect of CSCO presence on firm performance, with CSCOs proving beneficial when leverage, internationalization, and diversification levels are high, but detrimental when leverage, internationalization, and diversification are low. In addition, we find post‐hoc evidence that suggests institutional forces may also be a factor in CSCO appointments. Our results reveal that most of the contingency performance effects manifest only for early adopters of the CSCO role, suggesting that late‐mover elevation of the supply chain function to the TMT is a form of mimetic isomorphism. This study extends research on CSCOs and their emergence in TMTs, as well as the role of operations management in corporate strategy.

In response to globalization, diversification, and other organizational drivers, managers continue to seek organizational designs that promote integration. We study this phenomenon by focusing on requirements and mechanisms for internal supply chain integration (SCI). Using qualitative interview data, we examine how managers in manufacturing firms integrate internal supply chain activities. We elaborate and extend the information processing view by studying why organizations integrate (integration requirements) and how integration mechanisms are associated with different integration requirements. Four patterns of integration requirement–mechanism linkages emerged from our study, depicting integration mechanisms that are associated with a particular integration requirement, and those that are not. We provide a detailed examination of the multidimensional nature of integration requirements, as well as an increased understanding of how integration mechanisms are used to manage different integration requirements. These findings offer deeper insights into organizational integration, enhancing the understanding of integration in the context of internal supply chains, while also contributing to the literature on organizational design. For supply chain managers, these findings describe ways in which organizational design decisions can support internal SCI efforts with varying aims.

PurposeThe lean and global character of supply networks today opens supply chains to potential disruptions, especially in volatile environments. Most disruptions are of relatively low potential impact; however, firms also occasionally face high-impact disruptions that may even threaten survival. This study applies and extends absorptive capacity concepts to organize resilience capabilities identified in the literature and to examine whether capabilities that provide low-impact resilience are different from those that provide high-impact resilience. A second and related objective is to evaluate whether low-impact resilience supports high-impact resilience through “learning by experience.”Design/methodology/approachSurvey and industry data are used to understand capabilities involved with achieving both low-impact resilience and high-impact resilience.FindingsThe results of our analysis of survey and industry data uncover significant complex interactions in the effects of capabilities and volatility on resilience; suggesting that different absorptive capacity capabilities are related to low-impact resilience and high-impact resilience, respectively, and these effects depend on industry context. Moderating influences of exploitation capability and environmental volatility are consistent with a “learning by experience” explanation of the association of low-impact resilience to high-impact resilience.Originality/valueThis study thus provides a unifying framework with which to consider resiliency capabilities. Further, it answers a question raised in prior research, and it extends our understanding of important relationships between capabilities for different levels of resilience.

Purpose Managing internal supply chains is becoming increasingly complex, requiring managers to balance diverse needs. As a result, managers continuously face the need to change how they organize their internal supply chains. The purpose of this paper is to examine this phenomenon by addressing why multinational supply chain management organizations (SCMOs) change their designs, as well as how managers respond to pertinent change phenomena using complementary theoretical perspectives. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data, collected from 50 executives within 24 multinational manufacturers, is used to develop an understanding of the organizational design change phenomena. A theory elaboration approach is taken to illustrate how various theoretical perspectives explain organizational design change. Findings This study identifies and elaborates organizational design change phenomena in the context of multinational SCMOs, including internal and external drivers of design change. Managers also discussed key supply chain management capabilities that were developed in order to meet perceived changes in business needs. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to academic understanding of organizational design issues affecting SCMOs. Four theoretical perspectives are elaborated upon to illustrate their applicability for examining SCMO organizational design issues. Practical implications This study provides managerial application of several organizational design change theories by elaborating principles for framing, interpreting, and implementing design change initiatives in internal SCMOs. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to investigate organizational design change in multinational SCMOs. This research highlights the complexity and evolving nature of SCMO organizational design decisions by describing the adaption, integration, and reconfiguration of firm resources and competencies in changing environments.

Who constitutes the top management team (TMT)? What are the boundary conditions that distinguish the TMT from other managers? Despite nearly four decades of TMT research, the concept of the TMT remains poorly defined and often goes undefined in empirical TMT research. We conducted a review of the TMT literature to better understand how the TMT construct is conceptualized and operationalized, to identify gaps in alignment and consistency, and to develop a roadmap for scholars to improve both aspects of the literature. We review all TMT-related papers published in Financial Times 50 (FT50) journals between 1984 and 2019. Our analysis reveals (1) a wide discrepancy in conceptual definitions of the TMT among the minority of studies actually providing a conceptual definition, (2) operationalizations seemingly based more on data availability rather than alignment with a conceptual definition, and as a result, (3) an overall lack of coherence in understanding of the TMT phenomenon. We explore these challenges, develop a definition of the TMT that integrates insight from the academic and practitioner communities, and build a roadmap for future TMT and upper echelons research.