Pervaiz Akhtar

Embracing supply chain agility: an investigation in the electronics industry

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the antecedents of firm’s supply chain agility (SC agility) and how SC agility impacts on firm’s performance. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a comprehensive literature review, a conceptual model was proposed, in which the interrelated hypotheses were tested by structural equation modelling methodology using a dataset collected from 266 Chinese electronics firms. Findings – Initially, it was found that SC integration and external learning positively influenced SC agility. Second, the results indicated that firm’s performance is positively impacted by SC agility. Moreover, SC agility also fully mediated the effect of SC integration on firm’s performance and the effect of external learning on firm’s performance. Research limitations/implications – The generalizability of this research sample might be the major limitation of this study. Therefore, future research can adopt other industry sectors samples, such as automobile manufacturing, or other country samples t...

Effects of uncertainty on a tire closed-loop supply chain network

In a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network, there are both forward and reverse supply chains. In this research, a tire remanufacturing CLSC network is designed and optimized based on tire recovery options. The objective of the optimization model is to maximize the total profit. The optimization model includes multiple products, suppliers, plants, retailers, demand markets, and drop-off depots. The application of the model is discussed based on a realistic network in Toronto, Canada using map. In addition, a new decision tree-based methodology is provided to calculate the net present value of the problem in multiple periods under different sources of uncertainty such as demand and returns. Furthermore, the discount cash flow is considered in the methodology as a novel innovative approach. This methodology can be applied in comparing the profitability of different design options for CLSCs.

The impact of leadership on organizational ambidexterity and employee psychological safety in the global acquisitions of emerging market multinationals

This paper examines the impact of leadership on organizational ambidexterity and employee psychological safety (EPS) based on a sample of 105 global acquisitions of emerging market multinationals. The findings suggest that, compared to the transactional and laissez-faire ones, the charismatic leadership style is more significantly related to organizational ambidexterity and EPS. The results also suggest that transactional leadership is more positively related to ambidexterity and EPS than laissez-faire leadership. In addition, organizational ambidexterity is directly and positively associated with EPS. The implications of these results for both research and practice are discussed in the paper.

The contingent role of distributed leadership in the relationship between HR practices and organizational ambidexterity in the cross-border M&As of emerging market multinationals

AbstractThis paper investigates the effect of human resource practices on organizational ambidexterity in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Previous research suggests that human resource practices play an important role in improving organizational performance, but that there may be contingency factors that interact with human resource practices, leading to different performance outcomes. We focus on one such potential contingency factor: distributed leadership as a key moderator that interacts with human resource practices, leading to organizational ambidexterity in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. We examine 84 deals of emerging economies cross-border mergers and acquisitions. We found that human resource practices positively influence the acquired firms’ ambidexterity, but when we take into account the contingent role of distributed leadership, the effect of human resource practices becomes much stronger, indicating the importance of distributed leadership as a key variable that can explain v...

The linkages between leadership approaches and coordination effectiveness : a path analysis of selected New Zealand-UK international agri-food supply chains

Purpose – A suitable leadership approach and multiple dimensions of performance (operational and social dimensions contributing to financial performance – the effectiveness of international agri-food supply chain coordination) are important because of significant linkages between them. However, there has been no such empirical research to explore the linkages in five selected New Zealand-UK international agri-food supply chains (dairy, meat, vegetables and fruits). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to address this knowledge gap. Design/methodology/approach – Before applying covariance-based structural equation modelling (a path analysis) on the data collected from 112 chain coordinators (CCs) (chief executive officers, managing directors and head of departments) of the selected agri-food supply chains, a comprehensive process of exploratory factor analysis, reliability and validity tests is used to develop the constructs. Findings – The findings suggest that CCs’ participative leadership approach is...

The influence of industrial policy and national systems of innovation on emerging economy suppliers’ learning capability

Abstract This paper links the industrial policy and national systems of innovation literature to the investigation of learning capabilities of suppliers in the context of the automotive parts industry of Pakistan. Drawing data from 50 Pakistani autoparts suppliers, the findings suggest that industrial policy has been helpful in creating a local parts supply base and facilitating the entry of Japanese assemblers in the market. However, the implementation of the policy has been weak, and it is an arduous journey for the local suppliers to develop ambidextrous (exploratory and exploitative) learning capabilities. The findings also indicate that where local training and support from R&D institutions are weak, networking alone with foreign multinationals is not sufficient on its own to develop exploratory learning capabilities of local suppliers. This paper shows the importance of creating national–provincial institutions offering learning and skills development aimed towards innovation.

Understanding behavioural intention to use information technology: Insights from humanitarian practitioners

We investigate the factors that influence IT adoption in humanitarian organizations.A combined model of UTAUT, personal innovation specific to IT domain and trust in IT was employed.The constructs of UTAUT, performance expectancy and effort expectancy have positive and significant effect on behavioural intention to adopt IT. The contemporary research in the area of individual technology adoption mainly focuses on commercial supply chains. However, limited research focuses on the context of humanitarian supply chains. This calls to develop structural models that can scrutinize the technology adoption behaviour of the users in the humanitarian context. Therefore, this study is an attempt to empirically examine the technology adoption behaviour of humanitarian organizations. It extends the unified theory of the acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model by integrating personal innovativeness and trust in technology with the behavioural intention to adopt technology in the humanitarian context. Data from 192 humanitarian practitioners, who have experienced a large number of disasters, is utilized to empirically validate the conceptual model. The structural equation modelling results show that - out of four constructs namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions under UTAUT - performance expectancy and effort expectancy significantly affect the IT adoption. Contrary to expectations, trust and personal innovation do not affect the behavioural intention. Also, personal innovation does not moderate the relationship between performance expectancy and effort expectancy. This underlines the need to foster a learning culture within these organizations. The efforts made by involved humanitarian organizations may be directed towards improving the level of education, skills and facilitating them with other resources such as appropriate IT and data mining training, so that the technology adoption becomes an integral part of their daily activities. Finally, detailed implications for humanitarian organizations are discussed.

Building relationship innovation in global collaborative partnerships : big data analytics and traditional organizational powers

This study examines how relationship innovation can be developed in global collaborative partnerships (alliances, joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions). The recently emerging theory of big data analytics linked with traditional organizational powers has attracted a growing interest, but surprisingly little research has been devoted to this important and complex topic. Therefore, after developing the theoretical foundations, our study empirically quantifies the links between the theoretical constructs based on the data collected from chief executive officers, managing directors, and heads of departments who work in contemporary global data-and-information driven collaborative partnerships. The results from structural equation modeling indicate that the relationship innovation depends on the power of big data analytics and non-mediated powers (NMP, expert and referent). The power of big data analytics also mediates the correlation between NMP and relationship innovation. However, mediated powers (coercive and manipulative) negatively affect the power of big data analytics and relationship innovation. The interaction effects further depict that analytically powered partnerships have better relationship innovation compared with those which focus less on the analytical power. Consequently, the contributions of this study provide a deeper understanding of mechanisms of how modern collaborative partnerships can use big data analytics and traditional organizational powers to co-create relationship innovation.

Supervision environments and performance of UK dairy warehouses: a path analysis

Purpose – For team leaders or supervisors (functional coordinators (FCs)) warehouses are one of the most difficult places to supervise and manage subordinate workers. FCs themselves can be supervised by their bosses in different ways, either semi-autonomously or in a traditional authoritarian manner. However, different supervision environments for FCs may affect the performance of the warehouses they work in. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the linkages between different supervision environments; FCs’ trust in and satisfaction with their bosses, warehouse service quality and company growth. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modelling (path analysis) is applied to a randomly drawn data sample (n=95) of dairy warehouses from the UK. Findings – The results show that semi-autonomous supervision has a strong positive impact on FCs’ trust and satisfaction and on warehouse service quality which positively affects company growth. In addition, FCs’ trust and satisfaction are found to be...

Essential Micro-foundations for Contemporary Business Operations: Top Management Tangible Competencies, Relationship-based Business Networks and Environmental Sustainability: Essential Micro-foundations for Business Operations

Although various studies have emphasized linkages between firm competencies, networks and sustainability at organizational level, the links between top management tangible competencies (TMTCs) (e.g. contemporary relevant quantitative-focused education such as big data analytics and data-driven applications linked with the internet of things, relevant experience and analytical business applications), relationship-based business networks (RBNs) and environmental sustainability have not been well established at micro-level, and there is a literature gap in terms of investigating these relationships. This study examines these links based on the unique data collected from 175 top management representatives (chief executive officers and managing directors) working in food import and export firms headquartered in the UK and New Zealand. Our results from structural equation modelling indicate that TMTCs are the key determinants for building RBNs, mediating the correlation between TMTCs and environmental sustainability. Directly, the competencies also play a vital role towards environmental practices. The findings further depict that relationship-oriented firms perform better compared to those which focus less on such networks. Consequently, our findings provide a deeper understanding of the micro-foundations of environmental sustainability based on TMTCs rooted in the resource-based view and RBNs entrenched in social network theory. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings, and we provide suggestions for future research.