Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that human resource management (HRM) has an impact on supply chain management (SCM), which in turn has a significant impact on customer satisfaction (CS) and organisational performance (OP), playing a mediating role in the relationship between HRM and SCM outcomes (SCMO). Design/methodology/approach – The model is first validated and the hypotheses formulated are tested using the partial least squares structural equation model (SEM), based on five constructs: HRM, SCM implementation (SCMI), SCMO, customer satisfaction and organisational performance, taken from an existing model tested previously in a different geographical context. To do this, a survey was conducted and 231 valid responses were obtained. Findings – The empirical results reveal that HRM had significant direct and indirect impacts on SCMO, and SCMI, which in turn played a mediating role in the relationships between HRM and SCMO. CS also played a mediating role in the relationships between SCMO and OP. This finding suggests that the successful implementation of SCM not only directly improves SCMO, but it also indirectly increases CS and OP. Research limitations/implications – A firm’s human resource practices need to be aligned with its SCM to foster the involvement of the members of the supply chain (SC), promote the integration of the SC and, consequently, ensure better business outcomes. Originality/value – The study provides an original analysis not only in terms of the measurement of the relationship between HRM and SCM, but also with regard to its examination of the mediating effects, thus shedding light on the mechanisms by which these relationships are produced, and how this impacts CS and OP. This has allowed us to obtain more insightful results than those reported in the literature to date.

Advances in the implementation of the European Higher Education Area have had a great impact on university environment and the process of design, evaluation, and implementation of new curricula. Identifying competence levels among students can help course organizers to improve both academic content and teaching/learning processes. The present study addresses this issue by examining the implementation of an Internet‐based competency assessment tool. We analyze the status and evolution of soft skills among students on the Official Masters program Creating and Managing Innovative Technology‐Based Companies at the University of Barcelona, using a tool known as Tricuspoid, specifically designed for evaluating entrepreneurial competences. The results show that the tool, first, enables students to identify their strong and weak points and to develop personal strategies for improvement; second, provides teachers with additional information about the effects of their input on student competences; and third, supplies useful information for quality management of the Master's programs, because it can detect trends in the training needs of new students and help to enhance content accordingly, and therefore match the design of the academic program to the requirements of labor market. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Recently, the emergent concept of green supply chain has received increasing attention. Although popular among scholars, many literature reviews have only examined GSC from a general point of view or focused on a specific issue related to GSC. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the influence and productivity of research on GSC from 1995 to 2017 by reporting trends among authors, countries and institutions based on a bibliometric approach. To this end, the study analyses around 1900 papers on GSC. This study uses the Web of Science Core Collection database to analyze the bibliometric data and the visualization of similarities (VOS) viewer method to graphically map that data. The graphical analysis uses bibliographic coupling, co-citation, co-authorship and co-occurrence of keywords.

Purpose -Companies consider logistics outsourcing for strategic reasons, and build close-knit relationships with third-party logistics (3PLs) providers. The purpose of this paper is to analyse logistics outsourcing in Spain from the viewpoint of 3PLs. Design/methodology/approach -The paper suggests three propositions and conducts a case study of four 3PLs in Spain, chosen because of their market coverage and their range of services. Findings -The results identify the main reasons why companies choose to outsource logistics, what kind of relationship they build with providers, and how much involvement in the management of their supply chain they seek from providers. Practical implications -Most companies in Spain continue to outsource mainly on the basis of costs, and do so tactically. However, the option of developing an alliance with a 3PL provider is not always more economical, as cost reduction is due more to optimisation of the supply chain than to outsourcing itself. Based on the experiences of the four 3PLs providers under analysis, the paper makes a set of recommendations for senior management in the sector. Originality/value -The research helps to fill an existing gap in the study of logistics outsourcing in Spain because it analyses logistics outsourcing from the perspective of the 3PLs provider and not from the viewpoint of the outsourcing organisation, as the vast majority of the studies conducted in Spain have done to date.