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PurposePerishable inventory management for the grocery sector has become more challenging with extended omnichannel activities and emerging consumer expectations. This paper aims to identify and formalize key performance measures of omnichannel perishable inventory management (OCPI) and explore the influence of operational and market-related factors on these measures.Design/methodology/approachThe inductive approach of this research synthesizes three performance measures (product waste, lost sales and freshness) and four influencing factors (channel effect, demand variability, product perishability and shelf life visibility) for OCPI, through industry investigation, expert interviews and a systematic literature review. Treating OCPI as a complex adaptive system and considering its transaction costs, this paper formalizes the OCPI performance measures and their influencing factors in two statements and four propositions, which are then tested through numerical analysis with simulation.FindingsProduct waste, lost sales and freshness are identified as distinctive OCPI performance measures, which are influenced by product perishability, shelf life visibility, demand variability and channel effects. The OCPI sensitivity to those influencing factors is diverse, whereas those factors are found to moderate each other's effects.Practical implicationsTo manage perishables more effectively, with less waste and lost sales for the business and fresher products for the consumer, omnichannel firms need to consider store and online channel requirements and strive to reduce demand variability, extend product shelf life and facilitate item-level shelf life visibility. While flexible logistics capacity and dynamic pricing can mitigate demand variability, the product shelf life extension needs modifications in product design, production, or storage conditions. OCPI executives can also increase the product shelf life visibility through advanced stock monitoring/tracking technologies (e.g. smart tags or more comprehensive barcodes), particularly for the online channel which demands fresher products.Originality/valueThis paper provides a novel theoretical view on perishables in omnichannel systems. It specifies the OCPI performance, beyond typical inventory policies for cost minimization, while discussing its sensitivity to operations and market factors.

This research investigates the effect of political risk on the offshore service industry. The study empirically examines how an extended political risk definition, operationalised into a model consisting of 12 political risk variables, helps predict location decisions across offshoring entry modes and activity types. The research focuses on captive offshoring and offshore outsourcing entry modes, and Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) activity types. The research indicated that political risk factors accounted for 38% of the variability in offshore outsourcing flows, implying that concerns about service disruptions and/or cost implications of external uncertainties feature as a key factor in supplier selection and location decisions. The findings further confirm a positive relationship between institutional and regulatory factors in host locations, and the flow of offshoring activities with a high knowledge content. The research contributes to enhancing the explanatory ability of Transaction Cost Economics by re-operationalising the concept of political risk in the context of both offshore outsourcing and captive offshoring. For practitioners, these findings provide a clear indication of the political risks that can affect service offshoring decisions; for policymakers, they highlight the importance of strengthening institutional and regulatory factors to attract investment.

PurposeThis paper examines how firms of different sizes formulate and implement strategies to achieve fit with an external environment disrupted by a geopolitical event. The context of the study is the pharmaceutical industry and how it managed the supply chain uncertainty created by the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, or Brexit.Design/methodology/approachData were collected longitudinally from the pro-Brexit vote on 23 June 2016, until the UK's departure from the EU on 31 January 2020. Twenty-seven interviews were conducted in the pharmaceutical sector, including nineteen interviews with senior managers at eight case companies and eight interviews with experts working for trade associations and standards institutes. The interview findings were triangulated with Brexit policy and strategy documentation.FindingsWhen formulating strategy, multi-national enterprises (MNEs) used worst case assumptions, while large firms, and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) gathered knowledge as part of a "wait-and-see" strategy, allowing them to reduce perceptions of heightened supply chain uncertainty. Firms then implemented reactive and/or proactive strategies to mitigate supply chain risks.Originality/valueThe study elaborates on strategic contingency theory by identifying two important conditions for achieving strategic fit: first, companies deploy intangible resources, such as management time, to gather information and reduce perceptions of heightened supply chain uncertainty. Second, companies deploy tangible resources (supply chain redundancies, new supply chain assets) to lessen the negative outcomes of supply chain risks. Managers are provided with an empirical framework for mitigating supply chain uncertainty and risk originating from geopolitical disruptions.

Purpose This paper examines how firms of different sizes formulate and implement strategies to achieve fit with an external environment disrupted by a geopolitical event. The context of the study is the pharmaceutical industry and how it managed the supply chain uncertainty created by the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, or Brexit. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected longitudinally from the pro-Brexit vote on 23 June 2016, until the UK's departure from the EU on 31 January 2020. Twenty-seven interviews were conducted in the pharmaceutical sector, including nineteen interviews with senior managers at eight case companies and eight interviews with experts working for trade associations and standards institutes. The interview findings were triangulated with Brexit policy and strategy documentation. Findings When formulating strategy, multi-national enterprises (MNEs) used worst case assumptions, while large firms, and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) gathered knowledge as part of a "wait-and-see" strategy, allowing them to reduce perceptions of heightened supply chain uncertainty. Firms then implemented reactive and/or proactive strategies to mitigate supply chain risks. Originality/value The study elaborates on strategic contingency theory by identifying two important conditions for achieving strategic fit: first, companies deploy intangible resources, such as management time, to gather information and reduce perceptions of heightened supply chain uncertainty. Second, companies deploy tangible resources (supply chain redundancies, new supply chain assets) to lessen the negative outcomes of supply chain risks. Managers are provided with an empirical framework for mitigating supply chain uncertainty and risk originating from geopolitical disruptions.

Purpose This paper examines how firms of different sizes formulate and implement strategies to achieve fit with an external environment disrupted by a geopolitical event. The context of the study is the pharmaceutical industry and how it managed the supply chain uncertainty created by the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, or Brexit. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected longitudinally from the pro-Brexit vote on 23 June 2016, until the UK's departure from the EU on 31 January 2020. Twenty-seven interviews were conducted in the pharmaceutical sector, including nineteen interviews with senior managers at eight case companies and eight interviews with experts working for trade associations and standards institutes. The interview findings were triangulated with Brexit policy and strategy documentation. Findings When formulating strategy, multi-national enterprises (MNEs) used worst case assumptions, while large firms, and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) gathered knowledge as part of a "wait-and-see" strategy, allowing them to reduce perceptions of heightened supply chain uncertainty. Firms then implemented reactive and/or proactive strategies to mitigate supply chain risks. Originality/value The study elaborates on strategic contingency theory by identifying two important conditions for achieving strategic fit: first, companies deploy intangible resources, such as management time, to gather information and reduce perceptions of heightened supply chain uncertainty. Second, companies deploy tangible resources (supply chain redundancies, new supply chain assets) to lessen the negative outcomes of supply chain risks. Managers are provided with an empirical framework for mitigating supply chain uncertainty and risk originating from geopolitical disruptions.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the link between servitisation and circular economy by synthesising the effect of product-service systems (PSS) on supply chain circularity (SCC).Design/methodology/approachFollowing a systematic literature review methodology, the study identified 67 studies and synthesised them using content analysis.FindingsA conceptual model is developed illustrating how PSS business models impact SCC through increased product longevity, closure of resource loops and resource efficiency. It also identifies six contextual factors affecting the implementation of SCC including: economic attractiveness of SCC; firm sustainability strategy; policy and societal environment; product category; supply chain relationships; and technology.Research limitations/implicationsThe conceptual model proposes that SCC increases with servitisation. It also proposes that the main circularity effect stems from increased product longevity, followed by closed resource loops and finally resource efficiency. The model is deduced from the literature by using secondary data.Practical implicationsThe review provides practitioners with a framework to increase SCC through PSS business models. It also gives insight into the various contextual factors that may affect how a manufacturer's servitisation strategy contributes to SCC.Originality/valueThis review contributes to the understanding of the relationship between servitisation and SCC by synthesising the different effects that exist. Moreover, it creates new knowledge by identifying a range of contextual factors affecting the relationship between PSS and SCC.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the relationships between macro-, meso- and micro-level contextual factors that enable or inhibit the contribution of product service systems (PSS) to circularity. It is informed by the natural resource-based view (NRBV) and the multi-level perspective as theoretical lenses.Design/methodology/approachA theory elaboration approach is used through three in-depth case studies of UK and German manufacturers. Case studies provide use- and result-oriented PSS for personal computers, power tools and wind turbines. Multiple sources of evidence, including 20 semi-structured interviews, company documents and quantitative data, are triangulated to improve the validity of the results.FindingsEmpirical evidence for relationships between macro-, meso- and micro-level contextual factors show significant barriers to the extending and cycling of resource loops, primarily through maintenance, repairs and refurbishment. A firm's environmental awareness has a determining role in the contribution of PSS to circularity. The evidence from two use-oriented PSS reveals different circularity maturity levels.Originality/valueThis research makes three key contributions. Firstly, it elaborates on NRBV by showing that a firm's environmental awareness determines product stewardship. The type of product stewardship practices depends on the enabling and inhibiting effects of macro- and meso-level factors. Secondly, it shows that use-oriented PSS have different circularity profiles and proposes three circularity maturity levels. Finally, it provides an empirically validated framework of macro-, meso- and micro-level enablers and barriers and how they interact to enable or inhibit circularity in PSS.

The COVID-19 crisis has caused unprecedented suffering across the world. Millions have become infected, and hundreds of thousands have lost their lives. Nations mobilised their health workers and infrastructure to curb the spread of the disease and cure the infected. This paper aims to investigate the efficiency of nations in their struggle against the COVID-19 and how their efficiency changed over time analysing data from June and December 2020 with a novel three-stage methodology. In the first stage, we clustered 107 nations into highly competitive, competitive, and non-competitive countries using their Global Competitiveness Index scores published by the World Economic Forum evaluate a country in a group of comparable countries. In the second stage, we used Data Envelopment Analysis to assess the efficiency of each nation. In the third stage, we investigated the relationship between countries' efficiency and performance in 66 variables published in the United Nations Human Development Report along with the long-debated aspect of a nation's political governance regime using Tobit regression. Based on the data in June and December, the USA and the UK were the worst performers in the highly competitive nations cluster, Chile and Peru were the worst performers in the competitive nations cluster, and Brazil and Mozambique were the worst performers in the non-competitive nations cluster, respectively. Air pollution, international inbound tourists, urban population significantly reduced while domestic credit and gross national income per capita significantly increased efficiency, but the political regime did not affect efficiency.

This research investigates sustainability concepts, linking them with social, environmental, and operational activities in the food supply chain. Building on the literature treating social sustainability as an antecedent of environmental sustainability, we present the effects of environmental sustainability on operational performance using constructs that reflect flexibility, quality, and responsiveness. For this purpose, manufacturing companies in the Turkish food industry are surveyed and 101 responses are collected. A partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) is constructed to test the reliability and the validity of the measurement model and the structural model. The results show that social sustainability is positively associated with environmental sustainability. Moreover, environmental sustainability has a positive influence on operational performance measures: flexibility, quality, and responsiveness with effect sizes that range from medium to large. Organizations in the food supply chain should consider not only the economic, but also the social and the environmental aspects of sustainability. To do this, governments could inform manufacturers in the food sector about the importance of sustainability and encourage them with different incentives towards more sustainable operational practices. This work establishes that investing in social and environmental sustainability returns increased operational performance. The limitation of the research is the size of the sample. In the future, the questionnaire can be used to compare results from other countries and other sectors.