KNOWLEDGE DIFFUSION IN A GLOBAL SUPPLY NETWORK: A NETWORK OF PRACTICE VIEW
Autores
Leonardo Marques, Tingting Yan e Lee Matthews.
Data
Janeiro de 2020
Journal
Supply Chain Management, Vol. 56
Abstract
This study investigates how knowledge diffusion occurs in a globally dispersed supply network, wherein buying firms and suppliers often do not have strong relationships and competitive tensions prevail. We elaborate the Network of Practice (NoP) view by examining a global supply network in the food sector that is as an exemplar of high global dispersion. This paper provides several novel insights into global knowledge diffusion. We introduce the NoP concept of homophily into the field of supply chain management to explain knowledge diffusion within global supply networks. We take a longitudinal perspective to show that although prior contractual ties (relational homophily) and co-location (location homophily) initially drive knowledge diffusion, inthe long-term, shared practices (practice homophily) are the principal driver of knowledge diffusion. We demonstrate that buying firms’ assurance of procedural justice, together with the predominance of geographically dispersed suppliers and the emergence of nexus members, can help dampen supplier resistance to knowledge diffusion. The study shows that knowledge diffusion in a global supply NoP occurs in two complementary forms – broadcasting forums and action groups – which vary in breadth, depth, and tie diversity. Ultimately, we present vertical (buyer-supplier), horizontal (supplier-supplier), and diagonal (non-competitive) relationships as important refinements of the NoP view that characterize a global supply NoP. Overall, our findings offer a path for buying firms to establish adequate online infrastructure to support the emergence of decentralized and self-organized knowledge diffusion in a globally dispersed supply network.
Sustainable supply network management: A systematic literature review from a knowledge perspective
Autores
Leonardo Marques
Data
8 de julho 2019
Journal
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to scrutinise how the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) literature has discussed knowledge dynamics across the extended supply network, particularly in the contemporary context of fragmented, globally dispersed supply networks.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic approach to reviewing the literature is applied, covering 20 years, starting with 267 references, and narrowing down to 88 articles specifically addressing knowledge diffusion processes across the extended supply network.
Findings
This study shows that vertical ties limited to direct suppliers or third-party monitoring of global suppliers are both insufficient. Lack of co-opetition is an impediment to knowledge diffusion. And the debate of whether or not global dispersion is an impediment to knowledge diffusion seems inconclusive. More importantly, there is a lack of network-level studies mapping the diversity of actors in supply networks.
Research limitations/implications
First, future SSCM research should shift from an operational focus to strategic knowledge diffusion. Second, the scope of SSCM should expand from linear buyer–supplier relationships to multi-tier and multilateral studies. Special focus should be placed on the literature on social network to support processes that look at the drivers of effective large-scale, global diffusion of sustainability.
Originality/value
This review contends that it is paramount to set a new research direction captured in a new definition of “sustainable supply network management”. Future research should overcome the barriers of data collection at the network level in order to contribute to the field’s current challenges, which clearly lies in globally dispersed and complex supply network, not dyads or linear chains.
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On the road to carbon reduction in a food supply network: a complex adaptive systems perspective
Autores
Anne Touboulic, Lee Matthews e Leonardo Marques
Data
11 de junho 2018
Journal
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Abstract
Purpose
In acknowledging the reality of climate change, large firms have set internal and external (supplier oriented) targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This study aims to explore the complex processes behind the evolution and diffusion of carbon reduction strategies in supply networks.
Design/methodology/approach
The research uses complex adaptive systems (CASs) as a theoretical framework and presents a single case study of a focal buying firm and its supply network in the food sector. A longitudinal and multilevel analysis is used to discuss the dynamics between the focal firm, the supply network and external environment.
Findings
Rather than being a linear and controlled process of adoption implementation outcomes, the transition to reduce carbon in a supply network is much more dynamic, emerging as a result of a number of factors at the individual, organisational, supply network and environmental levels.
Research limitations/implications
The research considers the emergence of a carbon reduction strategy in the food sector, driven by a dominant buying firm. Future research should seek to investigate the diffusion of environmental strategies more broadly and in other contexts.
Practical implications
Findings from the research reveal the limits of the control that a buying firm can exert over behaviours in its network and show the positive influence of consortia initiatives on transitioning to sustainability in supply networks.
Originality/value
CAS is a fairly novel theoretical lens for researching environmental supply network dynamics. The paper offers fresh multilevel insights into the emergent and systemic nature of the diffusion of environmental practices in supply networks.
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Building Bridges: Toward Alternative Theory of Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Autores
Anne Touboulic, Damien Power, Lee Matthews e Leonardo Marques
Publicação
09 de novembro 2015
Journal
Supply Chain Management
Abstract
We contend that the development of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) theory has been impaired by a lack of paradigmatic diversity in the field. The contested nature of the concept of sustainability has been repressed in SSCM theory, which has led to SSCM cutting itself off from debates that could be the source of inspiration for the development of interesting theory. We adopt the problematization approach proposed by Alvesson and Sandberg (2011) in order to unveil some of SSCM’s unquestioned assumptions, propose an alternative assumption ground, and in this way move toward stronger theory in SSCM. We use paradoxical framing to make sense of the inherent tensions between the different levels of sustainability and between the different types of theory being produced in response to the challenges of sustainability. We articulate a number of foundational assumptions for an alternative theory of SSCM that emerge from the various tensions identified between the different paradigms of sustainability. Finally, we identify a number of ideas for future research that would enable researchers to empirically explore the alternative assumptions.
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