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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain how a buying organization's desorptive capacity relative to its supply network enhances the organization's supply chain competence. The research also analyzes the contingent role of the balanced and combined dimensions of ambidexterity in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical results are obtained through analysis of survey data from a sample of 270 European firms. Hierarchical regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results confirm, first, the positive and significant relationship between the buying organization's desorptive capacity and supply chain competence; and, second, the key moderating role of organizational ambidexterity, especially in its combined dimension, in this relationship.Practical implicationsThe study suggests that desorptive capacity is key to the organization's contribution to supply chain competitiveness. The authors also provide practitioners with better understanding of the extent to which they should attempt to balance exploration and exploitation or/and to maximize both simultaneously when seeking greater benefit from desorptive capacity.Originality/valueThis study extends desorptive capacity research to supply chain management. It responds to calls in the desorptive capacity literature for deeper understanding of the benefits of desorptive capacity and of the role organizational ambidexterity plays in the success of desorptive capacity. By analyzing the independent effects of the combined and balanced dimensions of ambidexterity, the authors advance conceptual and operational understanding of the role of ambidexterity needed in the literature.

PurposeThis study aims to use expectation disconfirmation theory (EDT) to investigate how an organization's satisfaction with its supply network's behavior influences its intention to open innovation with that network. This paper proposes that an organization's orientation to open innovation is influenced by confirmation of previously held expectations of trust and commitment and level of perceived procedural justice in its open innovation partner. This paper also examines the effect of this orientation on the organization's supply chain competence.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from a survey of 286 European firms, the study proposes and evaluates a structural equation model.FindingsThe results show that a positive disconfirmation of trust (where perceived trust exceeds expectations) plays a crucial role in shaping organizations' intentions to continue open innovation with their supply networks. These results show that disconfirmation is a good predictor of overall satisfaction with open innovation. This paper also confirms the positive effect of orientation to open innovation on supply chain competence. Finally, this paper obtained evidence for the positive effect of supply chain competence on firm performance.Originality/valueThis study shows the importance of managing expectations in open innovation under the EDT. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous research has analyzed the consistency between the trust and commitment an organization expects from its open innovation partner and the trust and commitment it ultimately perceives as a factor explaining its degree of orientation to open innovation. Therefore, this research contributes to a better understanding of open innovation enablers and also its consequences.

Purpose
This paper aims to explain how small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs) create information technology (IT) business value through blended IT outsourcing (ITO). The explanatory framework it proposes enables SMEs to replicate IT capability outcomes (i.e. enhance their economic, strategic and technological competences, namely, ITO success) by endorsing an ITO strategy catalyzed by IT vendor integration.


Design/methodology/approach
This study uses covariance-based structural equation modeling to test the proposed research model. Data are collected from 251 knowledge-intensive business SMEs located in Science and Technology Parks in Spain.


Findings
The results demonstrate empirically that SMEs can replicate IT capability benefits (i.e. enhance their non-IT competences) through blended ITO in which IT, conceptualized as a transversal supporting activity, is outsourced to an IT vendor while the value creation process remains with the buyer. The integration (i.e. process integration and information sharing) of an IT-proficient vendor catalyzes ITO success. More specifically, the results show that, although process integration is not directly related to competence enhancement, fosters information sharing, which directly facilitates ITO success. The results also show that IT vendor proficiency accounts for ex ante trust.


Practical implications
Managers should think of transformational ITO as a strategy to enhance firm competences. For blended ITO strategies to succeed, managers must have a comprehensive understanding of the business they run, as it is important to create conditions that foster inter-firm information sharing. To achieve these conditions, managers should take special care in selecting boundary spanners, who are the pivotal links in competence enhancement.


Originality/value
While most research focuses on ongoing trust (i.e. trust develops as ITO evolves), this study focuses on initial (i.e. ex ante) trust and analyzes IT vendor proficiency (expert, experienced and reputed) to examine trust as an antecedent of ITO. This study also draws on previous conceptualizations of vendor integration to develop and analyze a two-step integration model to explain how IT vendor integration (i.e. process integration and information sharing) catalyzes enhancement of the buyer's non-IT competences. This study focuses on SMEs, which are often neglected in ITO studies.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between environmental dynamism and supply chain flexibility (SCF) and to evaluate if two dynamic capabilities, i.e. operational absorptive capacity (OAC) and organisational learning (OL), are necessary competences for firms to develop such a responsive supply chain strategy as flexibility.Design/methodology/approachHypothesised relationships are tested with survey data from 302 Spanish manufacturing firms using structural equations modelling.FindingsEnvironmental dynamism is positively associated with both OAC and OL, and both dynamic capabilities enable SCF. The authors also find that the relationship between environmental dynamism and SCF is partially mediated by both dynamic capabilities.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to the literature, for example, by determining when it is advantageous to develop SCF, by specifying what capabilities a firm needs to develop to align SCF with the environment, and by opening the black box that is the relationship between the environment and SCF.Practical implicationsManagers should develop SCF via OAC and OL when they detect a high degree of environmental dynamism. Knowing when this is necessary relies on a good understanding of the environment. OAC is found to be a stronger enabler of SCF than OL. The findings provide managers with an insight into why some firms are able to develop more effective responses to dynamic environments than others.Originality/valueThis study is one of only a limited number of studies that adopt a dynamic capabilities approach to supply chain management. Prior literature has shown that dynamic capabilities can aid in developing strategic, structural, and operational flexibility. The authors extend this literature by showing that OAC and OL have an effect on SCF.