Yinan Qi

The impact of supply chain integration on firm performance

Purpose – This paper aims to provide empirical evidence of the effectiveness of various supply chain integration (SCI) practices under different competitive strategies in terms of cost leadership and differentiation. Design/methodology/approach – Survey methodology was used to collect data from 604 Chinese manufacturers. Hierarchical linear regression was used to analyze the moderating effects. Findings – The results showed that competitive strategies significantly influenced the effectiveness of SCI practices, including internal, process and product integration. More specifically, internal integration significantly affected the financial performance of cost leaders, while process integration contributed more to the financial performance of differentiators. However, competitive strategies had no significant moderating effect on the relationship between SCI and operational performance. Research limitations/implications – This study contributes to the literature by exploring the effectiveness of various SCI...

Simultaneous effects of functional involvement and improvement programs on manufacturing and financial performance in Chinese firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the simultaneous effects of two process variables: functional involvement in strategy formulation, and manufacturing improvement programs, on manufacturing performance and financial performance of manufacturing firms in China.Design/methodology/approach – Rigorous empirical research methods are used to ensure proper data collection process, and reliability and validity of constructs. Structural equation modeling is used to examine the relationships between functional involvement, improvement programs, manufacturing performance and financial performance.Findings – It was found that involvement of marketing, finance and operations in strategy formulation have an effect on cost and quality whereas the involvement of emerging functions such as human resources, public relations, research and development and information technology have an effect on all aspects of manufacturing performance.Originality/value – Studies of manufacturing strategy have primarily focus...

A resource-based view on enablers of supplier integration: evidence from China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of human resource (HR) and manufacturing plant information technology (MP-IT) resource on companies’ internal integration capabilities and how these resources/capabilities influence supplier integration. Design/methodology/approach – Using data collected from 604 Chinese manufacturers, the authors empirically test the effects of different types of resources/capabilities on supplier integration. Findings – The results show that HR has both direct and indirect effects on supplier integration through their effects on internal integration capabilities. MP-IT resource only has significant indirect effects on supplier integration through internal integration capabilities. The results also indicate that HR is more important than MP-IT resource in improving internal integration capabilities and supplier integration. Originality/value – This study empirically investigates enablers of supplier integration in China, contributing to supply chain integr...

The impact of mass customisation practices on performances: an exploratory study of Chinese manufacturers

Using a large-scale survey in China, this study identifies a set of manufacturing practices based on the framework proposed by Zipkin (2001), and builds and tests a model describing the relationship between mass customisation practices and firm performances. The results demonstrate that the mass customisation practices can bring benefits to manufacturers in terms of both cost reduction and product/service quality improvement, which in turn boost financial performance. Moreover, we find that the practices of elicitation, flexibility in design, advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), just-in-time (JIT) supply chain and integrated logistics information system (ILIS) play different roles in business performance improvement. To be specific, the elicitation and ILIS are very important to operational performance in terms of cost and product/service quality. The flexibility in design and AMT are beneficial to cost reduction only. However, the JIT supply chain has no impact on neither cost nor product/service quality in China.

Mass customisation systems: complementarities and performance consequences

Mass customisation (MC) is considered to be an important competitive tool to increase the performance of manufacturers. Due to the importance of MC as part of the manufacturing process, there is an increasing amount of research devoted to exploring the nature of MC and how to effectively implement MC processes. Based on the theory of complementary assets, this study investigates the relationships between different MC practices and the effects of these practices on the firms financial performance. In this study, simultaneous equation modelling and hierarchical regression analysis are applied to data collected from a large-scale survey in China. The results show that different MC practices positively affect each other, and that the interactions between the MC practices positively influence a firms financial performance. This indicates that the complementary adoption of MC practices is important for a firms success, requiring the simultaneous deployment of elicitation, process-flexible technology and logistics practices.

Impact of Product Modularity on Mass Customization Capability: An Exploratory Study of Contextual Factors

This study examines how the impact of product modularity (PM) on the mass customization capability (MCC) is moderated by several contextual factors, such as the firms’ information system capacity (ISC), teamwork (TW), multifunctional employees (MFE), and organizational structure (flat or hierarchical) (OSF). Data from 238 firms located in multiple countries across three different industry groups were analyzed to test the moderated regression models and the hypotheses. The results showed that the product modularity strongly impacts the MCC. Compared to ISC, the social contextual variables, such as TW, MFE, and OSF, have stronger moderating effects on the impact of the product modularity on the mass customization capability. In addition, ISC helps MCC solely for firms with flat organizational structures. Overall, our study suggests that manufacturers who desire to become mass customizers should create flat, nimble organizations with employees who are trained in several different tasks and are adept at teamwork.

How does intellectual capital affect product innovation performance? Evidence from China and India

Purpose Intellectual capital reflects the sum of existing knowledge a manufacturer is able to leverage and plays a critical role in new product development. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the mechanisms through which intellectual capital enhances product innovation performance and how economic and institutional environments affect the mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach Using a knowledge-based view and institutional theory, this study proposes a model on the relationships among intellectual capital, supplier knowledge integration, supply chain adaptability, and product innovation performance. The hypotheses are empirically tested using multiple group structural equation modelling and data collected from 300 Chinese and 200 Indian manufacturers. Findings The authors find that intellectual capital improves product innovation performance both directly and indirectly through supplier knowledge integration. However, the effects are different in China and India. In particular, the direct effect of intellectual capital on product innovation performance is significantly higher in China than that in India, and intellectual capital improves product innovation performance indirectly through supplier knowledge integration only in India. The authors also find that supplier knowledge integration improves product innovation performance indirectly through supply chain adaptability in both China and India. Originality/value Using a moderated mediation model, this study provides insights into the joint effects of intellectual capital, supplier knowledge integration, and supply chain adaptability on product innovation performance. The findings enhance current understandings of how supply chain management helps a manufacturer develop new products using existing knowledge and the influences of economic and institutional environments on knowledge and supply chain management.

Impacts of intellectual capital on process innovation and mass customisation capability: direct and mediating effects

This paper presents an empirical survey study. We propose a model to examine the individual and joint effects of the three components of intellectual capital (i.e. human, social and structural capital) on process innovation and mass customisation (MC) capability. The hypotheses are empirically tested using structural equation modelling and data collected from 645 manufacturing plants in 10 countries/regions. The results show that human and social capital are positively associated with structural capital. Human capital directly improves both process innovation and MC capability. The direct effect of social capital on MC capability and that of structural capital on process innovation is positive and significant. Moreover, process innovation is positively associated with MC capability. In addition, we find that structural capital mediates human and social capital’s effects on process innovation, and process innovation mediates human and structural capital’s effects on MC capability. This study contributes to the literature by providing insights into how human, social and structural capital jointly improve process innovation and MC capability, as well as how the different types of knowledge residing in a manufacturer affect MC capability development.