Contingent resource-based view of food netchain organization and firm performance: a comprehensive quantitative framework

Abstract

Purpose Much has been written on the effect of fast-moving business environments on organizational and supply chain (SC) management. Yet, empirical findings on the effect of changing external and internal contingencies on today’s globalized agrifood SC networks and performance are still fragmented into different organizational instruments, with some conflicting results remaining unexplained. This study aims to address these deficiencies by providing a comprehensive research framework to investigate how SC external and internal contingencies jointly influence organizational SC network structures and agrifood performance across mutually dependent tiers. Design/methodology/approach Using partial least squares structural equation modeling, the so-called “contingency–netchain–performance” framework, based on contingent resource-based theory and the netchain approach, was empirically tested on data obtained from a standardized survey of 405 artisanal producers and 238 processors in the Nigerian shrimp sector. Findings The results provide statistical evidence that supports the path dependency of firm performance from the interplay of vertical, horizontal and lateral relationships and, primordially, from both external and internal contingencies. The findings show that the contingency paradigm of fit among small-scale food producers and processors cuts across tiers and uncover a tendency to adopt relational governance and tighter network structures that result in an organic organization as the best-fitting structure. Originality/value The paper presents a new research framework that offers comprehensive empirical explanations for the joint influence of SC external and internal contingencies on organizational SC network structures and performance across mutually dependent agrifood tiers. This study’s conceptual, practical and policy implications for SC management provide a nascent and flexible basis on which to identify the best-fitting organizational strategies that maximize firm performance across agrifood SC tiers characterized by changing business environments.

Complementary and contingent value of SMEs' data capability and supply chain capability in the competitive environment

“…Firms today operate in increasingly turbulent environments, affecting their actions and how they conduct their business; it is therefore necessary to examine the contextual conditions under which the complementary effect of firm capabilities manifests (Lucianetti et al ., 2018). The RBV is argued to be rather static (Ling-yee, 2007), and the theoretical framework offers limited opportunities to address contextual and conditional factors that explain why the value of some resources or capabilities change (Adetoyinbo et al ., 2023; Jeble et al ., 2018). The contingency RBV combines the complementarity ideas from the RBV and the ideas on contextual conditions from another well-known theory—contingency theory—which states that there are environmental and organizational factors, which have an influence on firms (Shepard and Hougland, 1978) and that some strategies fit specific conditions or situations certain conditions (e.g.…”