Vicenta Sierra

Green supply chain management approaches: drivers and performance implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the complex interrelationships among environmental drivers, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) approaches and performance. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was sent to a sample of managers in the field of Purchasing and Supply Management in Spanish firms. Data were analysed using SmartPLS 2.0 to test a model that relates GSCM drivers, GSCM approaches and performance. Findings – Results show that coercive and non-coercive drivers have different implications in terms of GSCM approaches. Moreover, monitoring itself is not sufficient to improve performance; firms need to adopt collaborative practices with their suppliers. Results show that whereas collaboration has a direct effect on performance, monitoring has only an indirect relationship through collaboration. Research limitations/implications – One of the main limitations of this study is the use of data from a single country (Spain). The main contribution of the paper is to show that coercive and ...

Modelling the integration-performance relationship : Collaborative practices, enablers and contextual factors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of different dimensions of supply chain integration on performance, while considering both the interconnections between these supply chain integration dimensions and the effect of context. Specifically, the authors investigate the relationship between two enablers (communication infrastructure and cooperative behaviour) and two practices (planning information and joint improvement), and the moderating effect of supply complexity on their relationship with performance.Design/methodology/approach – A survey among 145 Dutch and Spanish manufacturers is used to gather data on the buyer‐supplier relationship. Both the sample and two subsamples – for high and low supply complexity – are analysed using SmartPLS.Findings – The paper finds that two dimensions – communication infrastructure and cooperative behaviour – enable the two collaborative practices: joint improvement and planning information. All mentioned supply chain integration dimensions, ...

Does implementing social supplier development practices pay of

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First is to investigate the impact of social supplier development practices on the suppliers’ social performance. Second is to analyze if the implementation of supplier development practices by Western buying firms pays off in terms of operational and economic results. Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses are tested in a sample of 120 Spanish manufacturing firms using Path Analysis. Findings – The results suggest that while supplier development practices help to improve the suppliers’ social performance and the buying firm’s operational performance, they do not pay off in terms of economic performance. Research limitations/implications – The paper shows that supplier development practices help to improve the suppliers’ social performance while improving the operational performance of the buying firm. The study has two main limitations. First, because cross-sectional data are used, possible recursive relationships could not be accounted for. Second, the s...

Randomization Tests for Systematic Single Case Designs Are Not Always Appropriate

The authors used a Monte Carlo simulation to examine how the violation of the exchangeability assumption affects empirical Type I error rates of the LMH randomization test (J. R. Levin, L. A. Marascuilo, & L. J. Hubert, 1978). Simulation results showed that the LMH test is not always an appropriate technique for analyzing systematic designs when data are autocorrelated. The use of both conditional and unconditional randomization distributions is proposed as a way of synthesizing the literature.

Determinants of Network Outcomes: the Impact of Management Strategies

The literature on network management is extensive. However, it generally explores network structures, neglecting the impact of management strategies. In this article we assess the effect of management strategies on network outcomes, providing empirical evidence from 119 urban revitalization networks. We go beyond current work by testing a path model for the determinants of network outcomes and considering the interactions between the constructs: management strategies, trust, complexity, and facilitative leadership. Our results suggest that management strategies have a strong effect on network outcomes and that they enhance the level of trust. We also found that facilitative leadership has a positive impact on network management as well as on trust in the network. Our findings also show that complexity has a negative impact on trust. A key finding of our research is that managers may wield more influence on network dynamics than previously theorized.

Public‐private collaborations: branded public services?

Purpose – The objective of this article is to understand how to optimize partnerships between the public and business sectors. It aims to use a reference group influence model to help identify which kinds of public services are best suited to this type of collaboration.Design/methodology/approach – Consumer data were collected in two stages using surveys. Data were analyzed using two‐sided paired t‐tests and a mixed factorial MANOVA. The model is validated in the two largest Hispanic consumer markets – Mexico and Spain.Findings – The paper finds that reference group influence has a greater impact on brand decisions for publicly consumed public services, and on service decisions for public services for which consumers pay extra. Reference group influence varies between contexts/countries.Research limitations/implications – Despite the economic, development and cultural differences between Mexico and Spain, countries with even greater differences, or additional countries, could have been included in the stu...

User Satisfaction as the Foundation of the Success Following an ERP Adoption: An Empirical Study from Latin America

Enterprise Resource Planning ERP adoptions keep consolidating as a critical IT initiative in developing regions. Although Latin America has exhibited lately the largest growth in terms of ERP adoption rate worldwide, there is a gap in the literature focused in examining the success and underlying causes of such adoptions there. This study develops and tests a theoretical model proposing factors that determine the success of ERP Latin American adoptions. A qualitative exploration proposes a model which is corroborated empirically with data from 49 firms using Structural Equations Modeling. The results suggest that User Satisfaction is the foundation for the success and its key role as a mediator between ERP Ease of Use capacities, Formal Communication Program, Project Implementation Success and the Success of the Adoption is also introduced. These results are compared with existing studies and the implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.

Quantifying social asymmetric structures.

Many social phenomena involve a set of dyadic relations among agents whose actions may be dependent. Although individualistic approaches have frequently been applied to analyze social processes, these are not generally concerned with dyadic relations, nor do they deal with dependency. This article describes a mathematical procedure for analyzing dyadic interactions in a social system. The proposed method consists mainly of decomposing asymmetric data into their symmetric and skew-symmetric parts. A quantification of skew symmetry for a social system can be obtained by dividing the norm of the skew-symmetric matrix by the norm of the asymmetric matrix. This calculation makes available to researchers a quantity related to the amount of dyadic reciprocity. With regard to agents, the procedure enables researchers to identify those whose behavior is asymmetric with respect to all agents. It is also possible to derive symmetric measurements among agents and to use multivariate statistical techniques.

The Influence of Trust on Network Performance in Taiwan, Spain, and the Netherlands: A Cross-Country Comparison

ABSTRACT Governance networks are generally seen as a vehicle for dealing with complex societal issues, and in such networks trust is seen as an important condition that enhances information exchange and learning among actors, thereby improving network performance. In this article, we use survey material collected in three countries—Taiwan, Spain, and the Netherlands—to explore hypotheses about trust enhancing network performance. Empirical analysis shows positive relationships between the level of trust and network performance. We also find that the number of network management strategies has a positive association with both network performance and trust. Our supplemental analysis also shows a positive relationship between the level of trust and output legitimacy.

Assessing Functional Relations in Single-Case Designs Quantitative Proposals in the Context of the Evidence-Based Movement

In the context of the evidence-based practices movement, the emphasis on computing effect sizes and combining them via meta-analysis does not preclude the demonstration of functional relations. For the latter aim, we propose to augment the visual analysis to add consistency to the decisions made on the existence of a functional relation without losing sight of the need for a methodological evaluation of what stimuli and reinforcement or punishment are used to control the behavior. Four options for quantification are reviewed, illustrated, and tested with simulated data. These quantifications include comparing the projected baseline with the actual treatment measurements, on the basis of either parametric or nonparametric statistics. The simulated data used to test the quantifications include nine data patterns in terms of the presence and type of effect and comprise ABAB and multiple-baseline designs. Although none of the techniques is completely flawless in terms of detecting a functional relation only when it is present but not when it is absent, an option based on projecting split-middle trend and considering data variability as in exploratory data analysis proves to be the best performer for most data patterns. We suggest that the information on whether a functional relation has been demonstrated should be included in meta-analyses. It is also possible to use as a weight the inverse of the data variability measure used in the quantification for assessing the functional relation. We offer an easy to use code for open-source software for implementing some of the quantifications.