Jeen-Su Lim

The impact of supply‐chain management capabilities on business performance

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to empirically test the impact of supply‐chain management (SCM) capabilities on business performance so as to determine to what degree customer‐oriented SCM issues influence competitive position and organizational performance.Design/methodology/approach – A rigorous methodology is employed to generate a reliable and valid measurement instrument. Responses from 474 manufacturing managers are then utilized to test a causal model using LISREL®.Findings – The results indicate significant positive relationships exist among three types of SCM capabilities (outside‐in, inside‐out, and spanning) and business performance (perceived customer value, customer loyalty, market performance, and financial performance).Practical implications – The article demonstrates that strategically developing SCM capabilities such as efficient inbound and outbound transportation, warehousing, and inventory control, production support, packaging, purchasing, order processing, and information di...

Logistics flexibility and its impact on customer satisfaction

Purpose – To succeed in an uncertain environment, firms must respond to changing customer needs, and logistics flexibility is an important part of the response. This paper defines logistics flexibility, creates a framework to understand it, and shows how it relates to customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a large sample survey (n=273) from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers to develop valid and reliable instruments to measure logistics flexibility and to test the relationships among the variables using structural equation modeling.Findings – The results indicate strong, positive, and direct relationships between flexible logistics competence and capability, and between flexible logistics capability and customer satisfaction.Research limitations/implications – The dependent and independent variables were measured through a single respondent, which may introduce common‐method bias. The respondents were manufacturing executives, which provides only a single perspective.Practi...

Integrating web-based data mining tools with business models for knowledge management

As firms begin to implement web-based presentation and data mining tools to enhance decision support capability, the firms knowledge workers must determine how to most effectively use these new web-based tools to deliver competitive advantage. The focus of this study is on evaluating how knowledge workers integrate these tools into their information and knowledge management requirements. The relationship between the independent variables (web-based data mining software tools and business models) and the dependent variable (strategic performance capabilities) is empirically tested in this study. The results from this study demonstrate the positive interaction effect between the tools and models application on strategic performance capability.

Spanning flexibility: supply chain information dissemination drives strategy development and customer satisfaction

Purpose – To respond to an increasingly uncertain environment, firms are seeking to enhance flexibility across the value chain. Spanning flexibility, a critical dimension of value chain flexibility, is the ability of a firm to provide horizontal information connections across the value chain to meet a variety of customer needs. This research organizes literature on spanning flexibility and classifies it according to competence and capability theory.Design/methodology/approach – The study collected data from 273 manufacturing executives related to spanning flexibility. The instruments used to collect these data have been validated via literature review and structured interviews with executives. Structural equation modeling was applied to these data to test relationships among the variables in the study.Findings – This study develops valid and reliable instruments to measure the sub‐dimensions of spanning flexibility. The results indicate strong, positive, and direct relationships between flexible spanning ...

Innovation‐driven learning in new product development: a conceptual model

This paper develops a conceptual framework that incorporates three innovation strategies and three learning activities through the mechanism of four conversion processes in new product development. Also included is the impact of the three learning activities on performance. The framework can provide a tool for systematically examining the effectiveness of product innovation efforts.

Effects of store image and attitude toward secondhand stores on shopping frequency and distance traveled

This study is prompted by the growing sales and the acceptance of thrift stores in the USA. It focuses on consumers’ evaluations and attitudes of secondhand, or thrift stores, and specifically examines the effects of store image and general attitude toward secondhand stores on “shopping frequency” and “distance traveled”. Shoppers who held more favorable store specific attitudes and had a positive quality‐availability perception were more likely to shop at a secondhand store and to travel longer distances to patronize that store. No significant relationship was obtained for either general store type attitudes and shopping frequency or general store type attitudes and distance traveled. The paper concludes with managerial implications and directions for future research.

Assessing Demand Artifacts in Consumer Research: An Alternative Perspective

In a recent Insightful article on demand artifacts in consumer research, T. A. Shimp, E. M. Hyatt, and D. J. Snyder, using a 1989 article by J. J. Kellaris and A. D. Cox as backdrop, provided an appraisal of demand artifacts. In this article, we critically evaluate some of the assumptions and conclusions of Shimp et al.s analysis of the extent to which demand artifacts might explain the 1982 results of G. J. Gorn as analyzed by Kellaris and Cox. In addition, we offer some useful suggestions for minimizing demand problems.

An assessment of demand artefacts in country‐of‐origin studies using three alternative approaches

Investigates the potential of demand artefacts in country‐of‐origin studies using three alternative methodological approaches: hetero‐method replication, non‐experiment and post‐experimental inquiry. The results converge in their support of the plausibility of demand artefacts in the single and multi‐cue list format conditions. However, in the multi‐cue ad format condition, demand artefacts are found to be a less plausible alternative explanation for the experimental results. Discusses the implications of these results and future research directions.

Competitive environmental scanning and export involvement: an initial inquiry

Presents an initial inquiry into the role of competitive environmental scanning in the internationalization process. Explores specifically the relationship between dimensions of competitive environmental scanning and measures of export market involvement and success. Finds that the results provide strong support for the contention that scanning capabilities must be developed for firms to pursue strategies that will result in a higher degree of export involvement and export success.

Model for organizational knowledge creation and strategic use of information

Nimble competitors competing in a dynamic global marketspace increasingly characterize the current environment faced by many organizations. Providing the organizations knowledge workers with the tools and technology to mine information and generate insights has become a key issue facing organizations. In this study we investigate the potential combined impact of the use of organizational decision models and competitive intelligence tool proficiency on knowledge creation and strategic use of information competence. Regression analysis results show significant main and interaction effects of the organizational decision models and competitive intelligence tool proficiency on four identified factors of knowledge creation and strategic use of information competence: pattern discovery, strategy appraisal, insight generation, and solution formulation. Organizational implications and future research directions are discussed.