We study a retailer’s sourcing strategy under consumers’ stockpiling behaviour and the factors associated with the selection of an optimal strategy in multi-tier supply chains in the presence of supply disruption risk. Stockpiling behaviour occurs when consumers attempt to mitigate the negative impact of a supply shortage. We prove that those behaviours become stronger if consumers have experienced similar problems before and weaker as more inventories are hoarded. Based on these findings, numerical analysis is carried out to compare the superiority of single sourcing versus dual sourcing from retailer’s perspective. Our results suggest that the superiority is highly dependent on factors such as supplier’s volume flexibility, retailer’s purchasing price, and supplier reliability.

Over the past two decades, since the emergence of the triple bottom line philosophy, the relationship between environmental sustainability and corporate performance has received a lot of attention, but has generated mixed or often even contradictory results. A few recent studies have inferred that innovations are the missing link that connects the environmental sustainability of a firm to other performance metrics; however, the evidence of such a proposition has been restricted to being conceptual or anecdotal. Relying on a knowledge governance approach, this study presents exploratory empirical evidence indicating that the impacts of a firm’s sustainability initiatives on its innovation performance originate from the governance mechanism it uses for sustainability, not sustainability outcomes per se. We tested this research proposition by using a subsample of Global Manufacturing Research Group’s global survey data. Our results support the positive impacts of two widely-used environmental sustainability governance mechanisms (i.e., internal monitoring and supplier collaboration) on product innovation capability. The findings further provide more useful and effective options for manufacturing firms and managers, to establish environmental sustainability governance mechanisms that can be converted into product innovation capability.

Background: Despite high nutritional and economic value, alfalfa yield has not been improved in the United States. Soil moisture critically influences alfalfa's yield and quality, affecting its physiological processes, nutrient uptake, and stand growth. Additionally, the maturity stage at harvest can significantly impact both hay yield and quality. Thus, this study aimed to assess the effect of different soil moisture levels and harvesting times on forage yield, nutritive value, and the overall profitability of commercially cultivated alfalfa.Methods: Two conventional and three lower‐lignin alfalfa varieties were planted in a randomized complete block with split plot design under drought, rainfed, and irrigation conditions in 2020 in Manhattan, Kansas, USA. The dry matter yield (DMY) and forage nutritive value were evaluated at late bud, early flowering, and 7 days after early flowering stages, respectively.Results: DMY varied with production year, soil water availability, and growth stages, with drought conditions causing a decline in DMY of 5% to 38% in the second production year. Water conditions and maturity stages influenced crude protein (CP) and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD). Higher soil moisture and advancing maturity stages negatively impacted CP, IVDMD, and relative forage quality. The study revealed net profit margins of 62%, 64%, and 52% for drought‐prone, rainfed, and irrigated production, respectively.Conclusions: Harvest timing and irrigation practices were found to have substantial implications for forage yield and nutritive value of alfalfa. The yield‐quality trade‐off differed under drought and irrigation, with early harvesting leading to lower yields but higher protein content and digestibility. The study findings provide potential guidance for improving alfalfa hay yield, quality, and profitability.

The extant sustainability literature has argued that supply chain (SC) members can gain both financial and operational benefits from a joint sustainability development (JSD) effort. However, no guidance has been provided on how SC members could collaborate on their sustainability development efforts to achieve the intended economic performance. This study addressed this research gap by proposing different contractual governances, based on a game-theoretic approach, for both manufacturer and retailer to better engage in JSD. Specifically, multiple JSD contractual arrangements regarding profit and associated cost sharing between manufacturers and retailers were defined and evaluated. Our analyses show that the manufacturer behaves opportunistically when the impact of a retailer’s effort on consumer demand is low. In other words, the retailer increases its sustainability effort, but not the manufacturer. However, such opportunistic behavior can be removed under a revenue sharing arrangement. That is, the manufacturer becomes cooperative with the retailer, and both retailer and manufacturer increase their JSD efforts. Several numerical experiments were conducted to assess the effectiveness of various revenue sharing arrangements (no sharing, partial profit sharing, and total profit sharing) in devising and implementing a mutually beneficial JSD program. Accordingly, several guidelines for the SC JSD implementation are provided.

This study investigates the process of how the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in automobile and consumer electronics industries design their supply networks. In contrast to the sociological viewpoint, which regards the emergence of networks as a social and psychological phenomenon occurring among non-predetermined individuals, this paper attempts to provide a strategic supply network perspective that views the supply network as a strategic choice made by an OEM. Anchored in the multiplex investigation of supply network architectures, this study looks into the following specific questions: (1) Are an OEM’s strategic intent choices associated with supply network architecture and (2) If so, what differential effects do those strategic intents have on the architectural properties of the supply network? Further field investigations were conducted to provide deeper insights into the quantitative and qualitative findings from statistical analyses.

Supply chain integration (SCI) has been touted as an important strategy for obtaining competitive advantage. In the context of the mobile telecommunication service (MTS) industry, this study examines how different dimensions of SCI relate to customer-oriented performance measures, including customer satisfaction, customer relationships, switching costs, and customer loyalty. Building upon the service profit chain framework, this study proposed and tested seven research hypotheses in two dimensions of SCI: upstream (i.e. phone provider and MTS provider) and downstream (i.e. MTS provider and application provider) integrations. As part of these efforts, this study developed a new instrument to measure the quality of upstream and downstream SCIs. The dataset with 158 upstream and 130 downstream integrations in the Taiwanese MTS industry was then analysed by using a structural equation model. The results confirm the impacts of upstream and downstream SCIs on customer loyalty and the mediation effects of relationship quality, customer satisfaction, and switching cost. This study also discovers differential effects of upstream and downstream integrations on customer-oriented performance: the upstream integration serves as an order qualifier in the marketplace, while the downstream integration is the order winner for MTS providers. Several suggestions are made regarding the measurement of SCI and improvement on SCI strategies to achieve customer loyalty in the MTS industry.