Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how inter-organizational learning (including supply chain learning and imitation prevention) mediates the relationships between supply chain integration (SCI) and two dimensions of focal firm performance (i.e. customer service performance and innovation performance). Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional approach was adopted with primary data collected through a survey in China. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with partial least-squares estimations. Findings The findings verify that inter-organizational learning mediates the relationship between SCI and focal firm performance. The results of sub-group model analysis illustrate that both powerful and weak focal firms benefit from inter-organizational learning, but in different ways. Research limitations/implications The responses were all from young executives who had four years’ work experience on average. Top-level executives may provide more comprehensive and accurate input for similar future research. Practical implications The results suggest that successfully integrating the supply chain to create customer value requires both supply chain learning and imitation prevention. Originality/value This paper responds to calls for an inter-disciplinary research between supply chain management and inter-organizational learning by taking into account supply chain learning and imitation prevention as links between SCI and both customer service performance for current success and innovation performance for future prosperity.

It is a challenging task to manage a perishable food supply chain (PFSC), due to the product’s short lifetime and to demand uncertainty. Even worse is the fact that, because of the multitude of participating stakeholders in production, distribution, and retailing, the PFSC becomes complex and thus particularly vulnerable to crises. Product shortages that result from an outbreak like COVID-19 often cause customers to seek alternative sources of supply, possibly with a larger purchasing amount (i.e., hoarding), leading to even severer demand uncertainty after the shortage period. To manage a sustainable and resilient PFSC after an outbreak, supply chain partners need to share and use the right information to facilitate decision making. A system dynamics simulation was thus applied to study a cheese supply chain with three tiers. Three scenarios that cause product shortages were simulated. Seven balanced feedback loops and two reinforced feedback loops were identified from the simulation model. Through the feedback loop dominance analysis, we identified four dominant loops that facilitate the generation of endogenous demand. In order to alleviate the negative influence of endogenous demand, it is suggested that the information sharing that causes endogenous demand be stopped and a loosely coupled strategy to support decision making utilized.

Purpose Supply chain risks specifically refer to risks that transmit among supply chain members, thus they should be understood and managed as a whole for an end-to-end supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to review literature of integrated supply chain risk management (ISCRM) that connects supply chain integration (SCI) with supply chain risk management. Design/methodology/approach The systematic literature review methodology was used to select and categorize articles between 1998 and 2015 in peer-reviewed journals. A contingency analysis was further applied to detect association patterns and links between category items. Findings Through a systematic literature review, the research has clearly analyzed risk sources, scopes and dimensions of SCI, and scopes and dimensions of performance in the field of ISCRM. Furthermore, by applying the contingency analysis, the paper has proposed future research directions that are based on the extant literature findings. Originality/value The identified insights, gaps, and future research directions will encourage researchers as well as managers to drive the development of ISCRM.

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Purpose Rare but high impact (R-HI) disruptions, which are caused by legal changes, socio-technical accidents, or natural disasters, are becoming more frequent and have strong short-term and long-term impacts on performance. Meanwhile, the short-term perspective of managers leads to adoption of mitigation strategies with lower investments and immediate performance improvement. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on supply chain collaboration (SCC) to establish so-called twin-objective strategy to help both risk mitigation (through moderation effects) and performance improvement (through a direct positive impact). Moreover, power position will be considered as the control variable. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional approach was adopted with primary data collected through a survey in China. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with partial least squares estimations. A sub-group model analysis was applied to test the effect of the control variable. Findings The findings verify that SCC has both a direct positive impact on performance and moderation effects on the relationships between sources of R-HI disruptions and performance. The results of sub-group model analysis illustrate that both powerful and weak focal firms benefit from SCC, but in different ways. Originality/value The study shows that the allocation of gains from collaborative advantage should be added to the theory-building of relational view. Meanwhile, the research extends the focal firm’s context to its supply chain’s context so that classic contingency theory can be extended to adequately explain supply chain management phenomena.