Knowledge that Transforms

AbstractQuality management (QM) has received a high degree of attention in extant literature. Several research papers attribute superior firm performance to adoption of QM practices. The availability of a large number of research papers that investigate the impact of QM practices on performance provide an ideal setting for theory extension and refinement using meta‐analysis techniques. In this paper a meta‐analytic study is presented that fulfills two objectives. First, the paper formalizes performance implications of adopting QM practices and present hypothesized relationship between QM practices and performance. Second, a meta‐analysis of correlation (Hunter and Schmidt, 1990) approach is used to examine the empirical research in QM to determine which QM practices are positively related to improved performance. The study also examines the presence of moderating factors in the association between QM practices and performance. The results support many hypothesized relationships and also point towards the presence of moderating factors in almost all QM practice–performance relationships. A discussion of the findings is presented and directions for further development of QM theory are proposed.

AbstractSocial exchange theory is used to model the outcomes of procedural and distributive justice in supply chain relationships. In this study, we examine how the enacted procedural and distributive justice policies of a firm influence its partner's attitudes and behaviors within a sample of 290 supply chain relationships. Findings indicate that the perceived procedural and distributive justice of a supplier's policies enhance the long‐term orientation and relational behaviors of its distributor, which, in turn, are associated with decreased conflict and increased satisfaction, that influence the distributor's performance. The authors discuss the importance of the results for academics and practitioners.

AbstractFor many years, firms have been organizing supplier conferences, conducting on‐site visits, and talking about the concept of joint buyer/supplier teams. It is believed that the implementation of these concepts enhances inter‐firm relationships. Furthermore, as firms move towards closer and more integrated supply chains it is argued that socialization is an increasingly important mechanism in facilitating and enhancing the supply integration process. This paper has taken these activities and embedded them in the theory of ‘socialization’ and supply chain integration. The authors propose and test a model on how buyers can use the concepts of supply chain integration and socialization to achieve improved supplier communication and operational performance, and therefore, to improve the buyer's perceived level of the supplier's contractual conformance. The findings reveal that socialization is essential for the development of any significant business relationship and the enhancement of a supply integration strategy.

AbstractA supply base is defined as the portion of a supply network that is actively managed by a buying company. The buying company, referred to as the focal company, manages the suppliers in the supply base through contracts and purchasing of parts, materials, and services. To facilitate better management of a supply base, we observe “complexity” as a key area of managerial consideration and apply the literature on complexity to the supply base. Supply base complexity is conceptualized in three dimensions: (1) the number of suppliers in the supply base, (2) the degree of differentiation among these suppliers, and (3) the level of inter‐relationships among the suppliers. Four propositions have been formulated in terms of four major areas of research within supply chain management—transaction costs, supply risk, supplier responsiveness, and supplier innovation. Corollary propositions are also stated. Although a reduction in complexity may lead to lower transaction costs and increased supplier responsiveness, in certain circumstances it may also increase supply risk and reduce supplier innovation. Therefore, reducing supply base complexity in general may be a cost‐efficient approach, but blindly reducing it may potentially decrease the buying company's overall competitiveness.

AbstractIn a constantly changing global competitive environment, an organization's supply chain agility directly impacts its ability to produce, and deliver innovative products to their customers in a timely and cost effective manner. While the beneficial impact of supply chain agility is generally acknowledged, very little research exists to date addressing how an organization can achieve supply chain agility. This study first presents a framework of an organization's supply chain process flexibilities as an important antecedent of its supply chain agility, and then establishes the key factors that determine the flexibility attributes of the three critical processes of the supply chain—procurement/sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution/logistics. Using empirical data, we develop flexibility and agility scales related to our supply chain agility model, and then test the model. Findings reveal that supply chain agility of a firm is directly and positively impacted by the degree of flexibility present in the manufacturing and procurement/sourcing processes of the supply chain; while it is indirectly impacted by the level of flexibility within its distribution/logistics process. The results also support our view that a firm's supply chain agility is impacted by the synergy among the three process flexibilities in its internal supply chain.

AbstractIn this paper, we provide a perspective on why behavioral research is critical to the operations management (OM) field, what prior research exists, and what opportunities lie ahead. The use of human experiments in operations management is still fairly novel despite a small stream of publications going back more than 20 years. We develop a framework for identifying the types of behavioral assumptions typically made in analytical OM models. We then use this framework to organize the results of prior behavioral research and identify future research opportunities. Our study of prior research is based on a search of papers published between 1985 and 2005 in six targeted journals including the Journal of Operations Management, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Management Science, Decision Sciences, and the Journal of Applied Psychology.

AbstractBecause of the wide acclaim received by the Malcolm Baldrige Award, it has served as a model for national quality awards by many countries throughout the world. Some countries have adopted both the MBNQA criteria and weights, while others have adapted the criteria categories or weights somewhat. The relevance of this conceptual framework across national cultures has yet to be established, despite its use as the foundation for numerous national quality awards. This study uses Hofstede's dimensions of national culture to examine whether the theoretical constructs underlying the Baldrige criteria are relevant across national cultures. Correlation analysis, stepwise regression and analysis of variance are used to analyze hypotheses in manufacturing plants in the U.S., Japan, Germany, Italy and England. There were many interactions between dimensions of national culture and the Baldrige constructs advanced in this study. The findings indicate that national culture plays a strong role in the effectiveness of the Baldrige constructs, with the exception of customer and market focus. The findings are interpreted in light of the need for countries to develop awards and quality initiatives tailored to their national cultures.

AbstractThis study presents an analysis of the growing market for groceries and other foodstuffs ordered via the internet or telephone for delivery to the customer's home. This industry has been growing for the past 5 years at greater than 25% per year while the overall market for foodstuffs has been largely stagnant. The research utilizes data from surveys of over 2100 customers of five different home delivery grocers. The analysis utilizes two group variables (customer experience level and order picking method) and five primary constructs (service quality, product quality, product freshness, time‐savings and behavioral intentions). The results indicate that customer perceptions of the primary constructs generally improve as they gain experience with this new method of ordering and receiving groceries. Furthermore, the operational choice of picking method is also shown to have a large impact on customer perceptions—in particular, more experienced customers generally rate the primary constructs higher for distribution center (DC)‐based picking than for store‐based picking. The study provides support for the hypothesis that direct to customer foodstuffs can be of better freshness and quality when picked from a DC because of the ability to shorten the supply chain than from a store. The data suggest that a DC‐based picking strategy is viable if grocers can re‐shape customer perceptions and master the numerous intricacies of the supply chain.