The need to improvise during supply chain disruptions to enhance operational resilience is ever more critical. Yet, managers appear to lack an understanding of how and when improvisation matters. We apply the conservation of resources theory to conceptualize how firms activate spontaneous and creative improvisation during supply chain disruptions and theorize how that relates to operational resilience in low and high supply chain disruption conditions. We test our arguments on primary data from a sample of 259 firms in Ghana. We find that creative improvisation has a positive relationship with operational resilience, and this relationship is stronger in high supply chain disruption conditions. Spontaneous improvisation, on the contrary, is unrelated to operational resilience in both low and high supply chain disruption conditions. These findings indicate that not all types of improvisation contribute to operational resilience, suggesting the need for a nuanced approach to theorizing and applying the improvisation concept in supply chains.
Sustainability issues have gained the widespread attention of researchers and policymakers across the globe. Resultantly, studies on sustainability in supply chains and its associated relational and structural mechanisms are rife. This study has examined how the amount of power wielded by a buying organization affects its ability to lead the sustainability charge, to improve the environmental compliance among firms within the supply chain. The study adopted a quantitative approach for data analysis and reporting. A survey of 116 construction and Manufacturing and construction firms in Ghana. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression procedure using the PROCESS macro in SPSS. The findings of this study reveal a significant positive relationship between buyer power, collaboration with suppliers, and environmental sustainability performance. This study has implications for large corporations that are the target of stakeholder pressures, and small firms that need to corporate with their supply chain partners on the sustainability front.Contribution/Originality: This paper contributes to the supply chain sustainability literature by examining from an RDT perspective, how buyer dominance influences supplier relationships and environmental performance. This is one of the very few studies that seek to explore how power imbalances among supply chain partners influence sustainability.
Despite the growing research attention towards the role of stakeholders in developing green innovations, there is limited understanding of the mechanism and specific firm-level conditions under which stakeholder engagement enhances green innovation. Drawing on the Stakeholder theory and the Natural Resource Based View, this paper theorizes that absorptive capacity and risk-taking behaviour are underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions respectively in the stakeholder engagement-green process innovation relationship. The model is tested with survey data obtained from manufacturing firms in Ghana. The results show that absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between stakeholder engagement and green process innovation. Also, the relationship between stakeholder engagement and green process innovation is conditioned by risk-taking behaviour. The implication of these findings for theory and practice is discussed in the text.
This study examines the extent to which information sharing, records keeping and partner relations influence firm performance via the creation of an efficient procurement system. A survey of 142 firms in the Ashanti region of Ghana, selected using the convenience sampling technique is used in the study. The study adopted a quantitative approach, with a structured questionnaire as the primary data collection instrument. An examination of the relationship among the variables reveal that procurement efficiency partially mediates the relationship between each of the three procurement related practices and firm performance. The implication of these findings for practice is that a focus on collaboration, not competition must be the aim of procurement. In modern times, firms must move beyond adversarial relations and focus on creative collaborative, long term relationship with selected suppliers. The study proposes that records keeping and audit of the process must be accorded as much importance as tender evaluation and contract management. The findings further imply that Suppliers are an extension of the focal firm and must be viewed as such. Excessive use of power leaves the weaker party aggrieved and willing to resort to unethical practices, which may include supply of low quality materials or creation of artificial shortages.
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