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PurposeCompanies are increasingly challenged by sustainability-related supply chain risks. Research has developed linking supply chain sustainability priorities, practices and triple bottom line performance; however, risk is rarely included in these models. The purpose of this paper is to understand the link between sustainable supply chain strategies, practices and performance, and to test the importance of risk management practices in this relationship focusing on the product category level.Design/methodology/approachThe paper includes a survey of supply managers in four countries with 305 responses, with a focus on upstream supply chain strategies at the product category level.FindingsThe environmental and social sustainability strategies lead to sustainable supply sustainable performance, through focused practices in either area, but the effect on operational and cost performance is not significant. Social supply chain strategies positively impact environmental and cost performance when mediated by risk assessment practices.Originality/valueThis paper shows a more nuanced view of the impact of supply chain practices on the strategy–performance link. It is one of the first papers to empirically test the role of risk practices in sustainable supply chain management and emphasize the importance of alignment across the main dimensions of sustainability to achieve positive sustainable performance outcomes, but not necessarily cost and operational performance. Unlike other studies, social sustainability priorities may positively impact environmental and social performance and is linked to cost advantage when implemented with risk assessment practices.

Purpose Increasing amount of empirical research in operations and supply chain management is using institutional theory as its theoretical lens. Yet, a common scale to measure the three institutional pressures – coercive, mimetic and normative – is lacking. Many studies use proxies or a single, grouped, construct of external pressures which present methodological challenges. This study aims to present the development of multi-item scales to measure institutional pressures (in a purchasing context). Design/methodology/approach First, items were generated based on the theoretical construct definitions. These items were then tested through academic sorting and an international survey. The first empirical testing failed to produce reliable and valid scales, and further refinement and analysis revealed that coercive pressure splits into two separate constructs. A second q-sorting was then conducted with purchasing practitioners, followed by another survey in Italy to verify the new measurement scale for four institutional pressures. Findings The multimethod and multistage measurement development reveals that empirically the three institutional pressures actually turn into four pressures. The theoretical construct of coercive pressure splits into two distinct constructs: coercive market pressure and coercive regulatory pressure. Originality/value The results of the paper, namely, the measurement scales, are an important theoretical and methodological contribution to future empirical research. They present a much-needed measurement for these theoretical constructs increasingly used in management research.

Balancing environmental, social, and economic performance is today considered a key responsibility that firms have toward society. As a result, academics, practitioners, and political decision makers are increasingly paying attention to environmental management systems improving a full spectrum of environmental performance. In that regard, even if recent literature suggests that environmental management should be deployed through a cross-functional approach, extant literature mostly focuses on independent functional systems. This paper addresses this gap investigating how the deployment of environmental management in the human resource function—adopting green human resource management (GHRM) practices—and the supply chain function—adopting green supply chain management (GSCM) practices—impact on environmental and financial performance. We draw from a multiple-respondent survey of human resource and supply chain managers in multiple industries in Italy. The study suggests that GHRM and GSCM impact on both environmental and financial performance and shows that GHRM and GSCM exert those impacts in a joint fashion. Indeed, our results show that GSCM plays a mediating role in the relationship between GHRM and performance. Overall, our results provide researchers and managers with relevant insights into the cross-functional deployment of the environmental values and principles across functions.

Purpose Suppliers are essential partners in innovation projects, as they own resources, knowledge assets and capabilities that complement those of buying firms. In today’s competitive environment, firms may choose to collaborate with suppliers beyond dyads, forming triadic or three-party relationships. Using the theoretical lens of the relational view (RV), this study aims to explore what type of triad configurations firms use to govern supplier relationships in collaborative innovation projects, how they choose to share resources and implications for project performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors use interview data from buyers and suppliers in six case studies of firms involved in ten collaborative innovation projects. The four constructs of the RV are used to observe how firms govern triadic relationships, combine complementary resources, invest in relationship-specific assets and manage information and knowledge exchange with and between suppliers in innovation projects. Findings Four archetypes of triadic relationships in innovation projects – labeled Triangle, A-frame, D-Frame and Line – are presented and characterized in terms of their structural and relational features. The authors discuss how each triad archetype is applicable to different innovation projects according to specific project characteristics. Originality/value This study is pioneering in its empirical examination of triadic relationships in collaborative innovation projects. It provides a novel typology of four archetypes of triad from the perspective of collaborative relationships with suppliers. Through applying the RV, it advances understanding of how triadic relationships are governed, how they invest in relationship-specific assets, how they combine complementary resources and how they exchange knowledge and information in each type of triad appropriate to different innovation project settings. To date, much of the extant literature has focused on dyads.

Purpose Companies are increasingly challenged by sustainability-related supply chain risks. Research has developed linking supply chain sustainability priorities, practices and triple bottom line performance; however, risk is rarely included in these models. The purpose of this paper is to understand the link between sustainable supply chain strategies, practices and performance, and to test the importance of risk management practices in this relationship focusing on the product category level. Design/methodology/approach The paper includes a survey of supply managers in four countries with 305 responses, with a focus on upstream supply chain strategies at the product category level. Findings The environmental and social sustainability strategies lead to sustainable supply sustainable performance, through focused practices in either area, but the effect on operational and cost performance is not significant. Social supply chain strategies positively impact environmental and cost performance when mediated by risk assessment practices. Originality/value This paper shows a more nuanced view of the impact of supply chain practices on the strategy–performance link. It is one of the first papers to empirically test the role of risk practices in sustainable supply chain management and emphasize the importance of alignment across the main dimensions of sustainability to achieve positive sustainable performance outcomes, but not necessarily cost and operational performance. Unlike other studies, social sustainability priorities may positively impact environmental and social performance and is linked to cost advantage when implemented with risk assessment practices.

PurposeCompanies' ability to build sustainable supply chains and achieve strategic sustainability objectives largely depends on their supply network characteristics and the nature of the relationships with strategic suppliers. This poses the question of how purchasing departments can help to translate this sustainability commitment into performance benefits. The authors focus the attention on buyer-supplier information sharing practices and study how the availability of information interplays with the purchasing realized absorptive capacity (PRAC) to positively impact performance (operational, environmental and social).Design/methodology/approachThe study collected data from 305 procurement executives in four European countries and tested the hypotheses empirically using structural equation modeling. Mediation analysis is used to test the effect of PRAC on the relationship between buyer-supplier information sharing and performance.FindingsThe results show that increasing buyer-supplier information sharing is sufficient to obtain a positive impact on operational performance. To improve purchasing sustainability performance, companies need to develop their PRAC to adequately transform and exploit external information and identify opportunities in the environmental and social areas. Thanks to these purchasing capabilities, organizations can overcome potential trade-offs between different performance dimensions.Originality/valueIn the context of collaborative buyer-supplier relationships, this study is one of the first to propose purchasing knowledge management capabilities (i.e. PRAC) as a key factor to improve multiple performance dimensions. Additionally, it captures different sustainability aspects, concluding that organizations can improve purchasing operational, environmental and social performances by implementing appropriate information sharing mechanisms with suppliers and developing their PRAC.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework of the supply chain performance measurement system (SCPMS) lifecycle (highlighting key activities of the design, implementation, use and review phases) and to investigate how the different actors involved in the SCPMS perceive the system and can act to allow for an effective adoption. Design/methodology/approach The SCPMS lifecycle framework is developed grounding on performance measurement and supply chain (SC) management literature. To answer the two theory-building research questions, an in-depth case study involving seven firms across three tiers of the mass retail SC has been conducted. Findings The empirical evidence highlighted potential SCPMS benefits (including operational performance improvement, higher control, lower information overloading and higher SC integration) and criticalities/barriers to an effective adoption (lack of industry standards, lack of trust regarding data reliability, SCPMS as a tool of power, lack of interest in the system and the performance metrics). Several elements characterizing the SCPMS lifecycle could increase its effective adoption: engaging SC partners in the design phase; relying on a rigorous primary data collection and performance measures calculation; and actively exploiting the tool through a systematic discussion on performance and establishing incentive/disincentives plans. Originality/value The paper contributes to the conceptualization of SCPMSs and to clarify how to ensure an effective SCPMS adoption: apart from relationship-specific attributes, SCPMS lifecycle phases are suggested to have a key role.

PurposeThis paper aims to provide a starting point to discuss how social enterprises can drive systemic change in terms of social impact through operations and supply chain management.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reviews existing literature and the four papers in this special issue and develops a conceptual framework of how social enterprises and their supply chains create social impact and further enable systematic change.FindingsOur paper finds that social impact and systemic change can be shaped by social enterprises at three different levels of analysis (organization, supply chain and context) and through three enablers (cognitive shift, stakeholder collaboration and scalability). Such dimensions are used to position current literature and to highlight new research directions.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a novel understanding of operations and supply chain management in social enterprises intended as catalysts for systemic change. Based on this premise we distinguish different practices and stakeholders to be considered when studying social impact at different levels. The conceptual framework introduced in the paper provides a new pathway for future research and debate by scholars engaged at the intersection of social impact, sustainable operations and supply chain management.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the contribution of suppliers and the purchasing department in affecting a firm’s ability to innovate. Design/methodology/approach The paper develops a theoretical framework (tested through an international survey on a sample of 524 companies) grounded on the resource-based view theory, innovation management and operations management literature. Findings The results show that innovation is positively affected by supplier collaboration, which in turn is favored by purchasing absorptive capacity. Empirical evidence also shows that purchasing status and innovation objectives enable the development of greater absorptive capacity. Research limitations/implications Because of the survey approach, the research results are limited to the data collected. Researchers are encouraged to verify propositions with complementary methodologies (e.g. case studies). Practical implications The findings confirm the relevant role of the purchasing interface in innovation as well as the positive impact of supplier collaboration, contributing both to existing literature and managerial practice in terms of successful collaborative new product development (NPD) processes. Originality/value The study integrates three different research fields (innovation, operations, and purchasing management), providing a synergistic vision on the topic and considering, as a unit of analysis, the purchasing category level (rather than the NPD project level).

PurposeThe authors empirically examine purchasing strategy typologies based on strategic intent (i.e. competitive priorities) and practices used to achieve these priorities. The authors further investigate the implementation conditions of such strategies based on perceived uncertainty and strategic purchasing.Design/methodology/approach The authors utilize case study data from 11 international service and manufacturing firms with global supply chains. Each company was profiled based on the level of perceived environmental uncertainty, the characteristics of strategic purchasing, the use of relevant purchasing practices and its ability to create value through purchasing.FindingsThe study findings show that four purchasing strategy types exist: Purchasing Rationalization, Supply Base Optimization, Purchasing as a Service and World-Class Supply Base Management. Lower levels of perceived environmental uncertainty favor the adoption of rationalization strategies (i.e. Purchasing Rationalization and Supply Base Optimization), while increased uncertainty leads companies to switch to relationship-focused strategies (i.e. Purchasing as a Service and World-Class Supply Base Management). Further, that specific components of strategic purchasing (i.e. strategic planning, maturity, status and report level) enable the successful implementation of different strategy types.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the existing literature by outlining the different types of purchasing strategies and the external and internal factors that need to be considered to achieve strategic alignment and value creation in purchasing, and by classifying purchasing strategy types at the functional level based on empirical evidence.