Recent top cited papers
The following articles published between January 2018 and December 2019 in JSCM received some of the highest citations in that period.
These articles generated immediate impact on research and practice. Well done to everyone.
Building the Case for A Single Key Informant in Supply Chain Management Survey Research
“Survey research is appropriate and necessary to address certain types of research questions. In this paper, we acknowledge the ongoing debate about survey research and focus specifically on examining the conditions under which a study might validly utilize data provided by a single respondent. To this end, we summarize the main challenges that survey research in supply chain management faces when dealing with single respondents and later argue that having multiple respondents does not necessarily represent a cure‐all solution. Next, we discuss the concept of alignment in survey research and explore the characteristics of research questions that can be addressed through single key informants. We conclude the paper by suggesting that researchers should carefully consider the appropriateness of single key informants in light of the type of research question and also clearly support such choice when describing the method adopted.”
Full Article can be found here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jscm.12159
EMERGING DISCOURSE INCUBATOR: Cross-Sector Relations in Global Supply Chains: A Social Capital Perspective
The above article has appeared in our Spotlight series: We talked to Professor Jonathan L. Johnson, Professor Kevin J. Dooley, Dr. David G. Hyatt and Dr. Andrew M. Hutson about their paper on cross-sector relations in global supply chains.
Cross‐Sector Relations in Global Supply Chains: A Social Capital Perspective
"Virtually unheard of 30 years ago, collaborations involving environmental NGOs and businesses are now common, and are increasingly being used to address sustainability issues in supply chains. We argue that a supply chain perspective is instrumental for collaborative NGOs in helping them to understand environmental impacts, interorganizational dynamics, and optimal collaborative partners and tactics. We apply a framework that integrates three predominant social capital theories to cross-sector partnerships to explain how three dimensions of social capital, individually and in interaction, may create strategic value for NGOs who seek to improve the environmental performance of companies through collaboration. Finally, we survey the nature of the progress that has (and has not) been made through cross-sector partnerships, and offer suggestions for how social capital may be deployed to accelerate change. "
Full Article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jscm.12166
https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12166
Supply Chain Tsunamis: Research on Low-Probability, High-Impact Disruption
This Article has featured in our Spotlight series, we talked with Prof. Henk A. Akkermans about Supply Chain Tsunamis and the research paper Prof. Akkermans co-authored with Prof. Luk Van Wassenhove.
Supply Chain Tsunamis: Research on Low-Probability, High-Impact Disruptions
This study introduces supply chain tsunamis as a major strategic supply chain phenomenon. Like their ecological counterparts, supply chain tsunamis occur at relatively long intervals and are therefore easily mistaken for unique events, rather than recurring phenomena. In contrast to ocean tsunamis, they can in principle be prevented through timely and adequate managerial action. However, their immediate impact is just as sudden and disruptive, and their ability to reshape supply chains of companies and even industries equally long lasting. They are fundamentally different from phenomena like the bullwhip effect and black swan events. This study further explores a preliminary typology of supply chain tsunamis by Akkermans and Van Wassenhove (2013). Each type of tsunami focuses on a very different part of the supply chain periphery where the first signals of a developing tsunami can be observed. In this study, we use a detailed example from the high-tech electronics industry to describe how a supply chain tsunami unfolds over time. This is done both from an external and an internal perspective. The external perspective shows the sequence of events visible to the outside observer. The internal perspective focuses on the managerial decision-making processes that cause and (sometimes) resolve supply chain tsunamis. We link the notion of supply chain tsunamis to the broader need to revive strategic operations and supply chain management research. Supply chain tsunamis affect corporate strategy and have a profound impact on business and management. Therefore, we argue that business tsunamis deserve deeper research and suggest avenues for future research.
The full article can be accessed here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jscm.12162/full
DOI: 10.1111/jscm.12162
Inside the Buying Firm: Exploring Responses to Paradoxical Tensions in Sustainable Supply Chain Management
The above article has appeared in our Spotlight series, we sat down with Dr. Chengyong Xiao, Lecturer in the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen. Dr. Xiao's paper which he authored with Professor Dirk Pieter van Donk, Associate Professor Miriam Wilhelm and Professor Taco van der Vaart
"An instrumental perspective still dominates research on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). As an alternative, this paper presents a paradox perspective and argues that sustainability and other business aims are not always compatible, particularly in an emerging market context. Often, paradoxical tensions originate in conflicts between the socio‐economic environment of emerging‐market suppliers and their Western customers’ demands for both cost competitiveness and sustainability. We argue that Western buying firms can play a key role in moderating such tensions, as experienced by emerging‐market suppliers. Specifically we explore how purchasing and sustainability managers within buying firms make sense of and respond to paradoxical tensions in SSCM. We conduct an in‐depth case study of a Western multinational company that sources substantially from Chinese suppliers. While we found strong evidence for a persisting instrumental perspective in the sensemaking and practices of purchasing and sustainability managers, we also observed an alternative response, primarily by sustainability managers, that we labelled as “contextualizing”. Contextualizing can alleviate the tensions otherwise present in SSCM by making sustainability standards more workable in an emerging‐market context, and it can help individual managers to move toward paradoxical sensemaking. We outline the value of paradoxical sensemaking in bringing about changes toward “true sustainability” in SSCM."
The full article can be found here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jscm.12170
https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12170