Björn Claes

Improving logistics and supply chain management in Spain: An analysis of current practices and future requirements

Improvements in logistics and supply chain practices are essential to the competitiveness of businesses. In this paper, we present the most relevant findings of a large government-funded research project focused on the logistics and supply chain capabilities in Spain. In particular, this study highlights the gaps between logistics and supply chain practices in Spain and the best practices identified in the literature. Our research generated a rich database that will facilitate further research into this highly relevant topic. In our research design, we have been meticulous in addressing the current debate on the tension between rigorous research design and practical relevancy.

Benchmarking Logistics and Supply Chain Practices in Spain

This article describes the findings of an exploration into the adopted best logistics and supply chain practices in Spain. The aim of this article and the related government-funded research project has been to propose suggestions for improving Spain’s competitive position through enhanced logistics strategies. More specifically, this article presents an evaluation of the current state of logistics and supply chain practices in Spain that were identified by means of a survey instrument directed to operations and supply chain executives of large Spanish companies. The results of this evaluation are then benchmarked against the global best practices identified in the literature in order to identify any potential gaps. This article concludes by pointing towards various opportunities for improvement in several different areas.

ERP Implementation Strategies: The Importance of Process Modeling and Analysis

Despite the existence of a vast body of research and knowledge related to ERP implementation, the analysis of environmental aspects (e.g. organizational context, existing business strategies, and implementation strategies) that influence the implementation success remains under researched. Hence, the objective of this study was to gain insight of the relation between the ex-ante business variables (i.e. business characteristics identified prior to the implementation), the ERP implementation strategies, and the perceived final contribution. Using survey data obtained from 91 respondents out of a sample population of 549 SAP users in Spain and Latin America (a net response rate of 16.6%) we find a significant correlation between specific business strategies and particular ERP implementation strategies. In addition we observe that process mapping and process-based implementation strategies better explain implementation results than other strategies such as the use of consultants and previous experience.

Integration through orchestration : the interplay between enterprise systems and inventory management capabilities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanisms through which the use of enterprise systems (ESs) enhances buyer-supplier integration (BSI). More specifically, the authors explain a model where ES enhances BSI indirectly, mediated by inventory management capabilities (IMCs), as the way ES enhances BSI remains under-explored in the literature. Design/methodology/approach Application of the resource orchestration framework to explain how capabilities and mechanisms interplay to enhance BSI. Data were collected by means of a survey instrument. Data collection took place as part of a larger project, sponsored by the Spanish Government, to evaluate logistics competitiveness in Spain. Findings ES enhances BSI by serving as a coordinating mechanism that maintains capability configurations in a value-creating alignment. IMC plays a key, yet under-explored role as a mediating mechanism that supports ES-enabled BSI. Research limitations/implications First, this research does not fully capture the multi-party nature of the supply chain context. Second, data collection was limited to companies that were more likely to have a systematic approach to logistics issues (i.e. large- and medium-sized companies) and companies based in Spain. Originality/value This paper enhances both scholarly and practitioner understanding of the mechanisms through which the implementation and use of ES contributes to BSI. In addition, this paper integrates literature from different fields (e.g. strategy, information systems, and operations) to gain a better understanding of how the implementation and use of ES affects BSI.

Legitimate or illegitimate? Insights into validity cues, core values, and legitimacy judgments

The literature on legitimacy has established that to form legitimacy judgments, individual evaluators process two perceptual inputs. On the one hand, they interpret the behavior of the organization under scrutiny and benchmark it to their personal sets of norms, values, and beliefs. On the other, they interpret the judgments of legitimacy awarding institutions though validity cues that these institutions express. Evaluators use these cues to form a legitimacy judgment about an entity. In this paper, we seek to add to the current knowledge of the legitimacy formation process by answering two questions: (1) what are the relative weights of validity cues in the legitimacy assessments of individual evaluators and (2) what is the moderating influence of independence and pro-environmental values on the effects of the validity cues on the legitimacy judgments. We test our hypotheses using hierarchical linear modeling on 4944 legitimacy assessments nested in 206 individuals. We find that validity cues indicating ...

Getting Up After Falling Down: A Tale of Three Communities

Drawing on rich longitudinal data covering a period of more than 15 years, our study highlights specific affective and non-financial components of the entrepreneurial process in the context of community- based entrepreneurship (CBE). Without an understanding of the concrete role of the community in exit, re-entry, and growth, community members of such ventures may lack the awareness and resources to engage in a perennial venture. Despite the importance of community ventures in fostering economic development and growth, little is known about the antecedents, context and processes of entrepreneurial exit and re-entry in the realm of CBE. We, therefore, address this gap through an in-depth case study of a community-based initiative in the Cauca region of Colombia. We investigate how three distinct cultural communities reach successful collaboration after overcoming an initial organizational death. Our findings illustrate that exit was the result of several factors including the lack of a strong sense of community identity. However, over time the community members developed a solid sense of belonging, trust and reliance as they tackled difficult events such as exit and market struggles on one hand and engaged in positive community building events on the other hand. Moreover, the sense of belonging that the three different communities developed are comparable to a unique extended family business, whereby the non-financial aspects of the enterprise meet the communities’ affective needs. We term this affective component “community socio-emotional wealth”.

Transferring intermediate technologies to rural enterprises in developing economies: a conceptual framework

Abstract This paper integrates the contributions from different branches of the technology transfer literature to identify enablers driving the transfer of intermediate or appropriate technologies to recipients in rural areas of developing economies. An in-depth analysis of the literature shows that many enablers identified in the literature focus on high technology transfers and are of limited relevance in the context of rural enterprises. Other important enablers in this specific setting are ignored or insufficiently considered. This paper proposes a framework comprising a specific set of enablers that facilitates technology transfer in rural enterprises in developing regional economies.