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PurposeLittle empirical work has been done on the effects of inclusive environmental disclosure and green supply chain management (GSCM) on firm outcomes. The literature on environmental disclosure suggests that it is a useful practice to improve a firm's reputation and its financial performance and also to establish a dialogue with stakeholders improving environmental performance. Recent conceptual contributions in the supply chain management literature state that stakeholder expectations and informational needs increasingly concern firm supply chains. Thus, the authors propose that positive effects of inclusive environmental disclosure practices are enhanced in presence of GSCM practices. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachTo test these relationships a combination of primary data on environmental disclosure practices, GSCM practices and environmental performance, and secondary data on financial performance was used. A series of hierarchical regression models were performed to test the disclosure-outcome relationships and the moderation of GSCM practices.FindingsResults provide empirical support for the impact of inclusive environmental disclosure practices on financial performance but no support for the impact on environmental performance. Specifically, the more inclusive the environmental disclosure practices the greater and positive is the impact on financial performance in presence of GSCM practices.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence of the joint effects of inclusive environmental disclosure and GSCM practices on environmental and financial performance. Doing so, it reinforces the recent conceptual foundation that firms should align and leverage on supply chain management for disclosure practice effectiveness.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of uncertainty on workplace accidents at the plant level. Furthermore, this study explores such relation in complex settings (i.e. manufacturing networks) and assesses whether or not information sharing in such environments can reduce the potentially negative impact of uncertainty on accidents.Design/methodology/approachTo assess the relationships between uncertainty, accidents and information sharing the authors utilise cross-country survey data collected through the sixth iteration of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey. The authors conceptualise workplace accidents through production time lost due to accidents. Furthermore, the authors conduct multiple regression analyses to test the hypotheses.FindingsResults suggest that procurement, production, and demand uncertainties do indeed lead to an increase in workplace accidents at the plant level. Furthermore, the negative impact of uncertainty can be significantly reduced through information sharing.Originality/valueThis study represents a comprehensive attempt to simultaneously assess the impact of uncertainty on workplace accidents at the plant level and the possible moderating impact of information sharing.

PurposeSustainable operations are increasingly part of firms' competitive strategies. Research widely investigates the relationship between sustainable operations and competitive advantage, considering financial performance as a dependent variable, and shows controversial results. The purpose of this paper is to operationalize competitive advantage as internal and external intangible benefits, such as human resource (HR) and customer benefits. HR benefits concern the deployment of a workforce pursuing a firm's goals and strategy; customer benefits concern the improvement of a firm's relationship with its customers.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical results are provided in an analysis of data from a survey conducted on a sample of 107 Italian firms in the food industry. A single industry and country are selected to avoid possible differences in regulations and in operations processes. Structural equation modelling is used to test hypotheses relating sustainable operations to HR and customer benefits.FindingsThe authors distinguish between green and social operations practices. Green operations practices directly impact customer benefits but not HR benefits. Social sustainable operations practices do not directly impact customer benefits but instead have a direct impact on HR benefits. Hence, through HR benefits, they have an indirect impact on customer benefits.Practical implicationsThe authors provide results showing to operations managers that both green operations and social operations are crucial to obtaining customer benefits. Social operations do this by enhancing HR benefits. Green operations instead are not positively related to HR benefits.Originality/valueThis research serves as an original contribution to the sustainable operations literature in two ways. First, from a resource-based perspective, the relationship between sustainable operations, HR benefits, and customer benefits is proposed and tested. Such benefits are also shown to be interrelated based on the service profit chain model. Second, green and social operations practices are analysed separately providing a nuanced view of benefits related to sustainable operations.

Purpose– Environmental and social sustainability are becoming key competitive priorities for companies, but the way in which they are integrated in operations strategies remains an open issue. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether established operations strategy configuration models (i.e. price-oriented, market-oriented and capability-oriented models) are modified to include environmental and social priorities and whether different operations strategy configuration models are equally successful in the short and long term.Design/methodology/approach– Analyses were performed using data from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (2009), including companies in the assembly industry in 21 different countries. According to previous studies, cluster analysis of competitive priorities and ANOVA analysis of the business strategy and short- and long-term performance were performed.Findings– The results show that traditional operations strategy configuration models are slightly modified. Market-oriented and capability-oriented operations strategies are complemented by environmental and social sustainability priorities. These operations strategies are adopted by companies with a differentiation and innovation business strategy. Moreover, capability-oriented companies, which are the most committed to environmental and social sustainability, perform better in both the short and long term.Practical implications– This research shows to companies that traditional operations strategies focusing on specific competitive priorities (e.g. low price) are being replaced by more holistic strategies that include sustainability priorities. However, environmental and social priorities contribute to competitive advantage when complementing capability-oriented operations strategies.Originality/value– This paper extends operations strategy configuration models highlighting how environmental and social sustainability priorities can be deployed together with traditional competitive operations priorities.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on how smart manufacturing (SM) affects work organization at both micro-level – i.e. work design, described in terms of operator job breadth and autonomy, cognitive demand and social interaction – and at macro-level – i.e. organizational structure, described in terms of centralization of decision making and number of hierarchical levels in the plant.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports on a multiple-case study of 19 companies implementing SM.FindingsResults present four main configurations differing in terms of technological complexity, and micro and macro work organization.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper contributes to the academic debate about the interplay between technology and work organization in the context of SM, specifically the authors find that the level of technology complexity relates to different characteristics of micro and macro work organization in the plant.Practical implicationsFindings offer valuable insights for practice, with implications for the design of operator jobs, skills and plant organizational structure, in light of the challenges generated by the implementation of SM technology. Guidelines on how policymakers can foster the implementation of SM technology to enhance social sustainability are proposed.Originality/valueThis study advances a novel focus in studying SM, i.e. work organization implications of this new manufacturing paradigm instead of its mere technological implications.

PurposeSustainable operations management is characterized by environmental, social and operational goals. The implementation of routines to protect and direct the effective use of human capital is proposed to potentially improve all three dimensions. However, functional managers with overlapping responsibilities at the plant-level might implement human capital routines based on their individual functional schemas. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether functional managers have conflicting perceptions of human capital routines, due to narrow perceptions benefiting their own functional domain, and thus generate trade-offs.Design/methodology/approachA combination of matched survey and archival data from 198 manufacturing plants is used to explore the degree to which functional managers have conflicting perceptions of human capital routines and the effects of these perceptions on sustainability outcomes.FindingsThe results indicate that on average functional managers have conflicting perceptions that generate trade-offs between sustainability dimensions. However, when functional managers had a shared perception better outcomes on all sustainability dimensions are shown. Thus, human capital routines can be a powerful tool for sustainability only if senior management can promote a shared schema across functional managers.Originality/valueDifferently than most previous studies assuming shared sustainability goals within an organization, this study considers a multiplicity of functional actors with potentially varying perceptions about sustainability goals and links these to organizational routine implementation and outcomes. Additionally, the dynamic and subjective nature of organizational routines, such as human capital routines, is proposed to explain contradictory impacts in a multi-objective setting such as sustainable operations management.

Increasingly complex supply chains and heightened disruption risks are bringing risk management to the forefront of managerial and research efforts. We examine how country disruption risks are related to the adoption of combined risk management and external supply chain integration practices, and how these combinations in turn are related to operational performance. We frame our propositions using information processing theory and complementarity theory. We combine primary data from the 6th International Manufacturing Strategy Survey on 21 countries, and secondary data on country level disruption risks to study these links. Our results indicate that companies in riskier countries, characterized by high operational contingencies risk, natural hazard and terrorism and political instability, use combined arcs of external supply chain integration and risk management practices. Such a combined approach is also related to higher operational performance. The findings suggest to managers that companies adopting risk management practices in combination with external integration achieve best operational results. We extend the arcs of integration concept to include also risk management practices thus showing that holistic risk management approaches along supply chains are positively related to operational performance. The combination of primary and secondary data, as well as the focus on exogenous risks distinguishes our approach from previous, mostly conceptual, studies on risks.

Purpose– Lean manufacturing has been demonstrated to increase operations and economic performance, but its alignment with environmental and social sustainability is unclear. The purpose of this paper is to understand how cross-functional executive involvement and worker involvement, in the formulation and implementation of the operations strategy, support the strategic alignment of lean manufacturing and sustainability.Design/methodology/approach– An inductive case study methodology was employed. Such theoretical elaboration is appropriate when extending existing theory (i.e. operations strategy theory and sustainability development theory). Evidence was drawn from ten cross-industry case studies. Within and cross-case analyses were performed.Findings– The results demonstrate that cross-functional executive involvement and worker involvement positively affect the strategic alignment of the lean manufacturing statement and bundles (just-in-time, total quality management, total preventive maintenance, and human resources management) with environmental and social goals and practices. Specifically, the study reveals the impact of cross-functional executive involvement on the formulation of lean manufacturing aligned with environmental and social sustainability. Worker involvement positively affects the actual implementation of lean manufacturing aligned with environmental and social sustainability.Practical implications– This research provides guidance to practitioners regarding how different organizational models lead to different levels of lean manufacturing and sustainability strategic alignment and performance.Originality/value– This research contributes to the operations strategy literature and the sustainability development literature, providing evidence regarding the mechanisms supporting the strategic alignment of lean manufacturing and social and environmental sustainability.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of complexity on the triple bottom line by applying information-processing theory. Specifically, the paper assesses the impact of internal manufacturing complexity on environmental, social, and financial performance. Furthermore, the paper assesses the moderating role of connectivity and shared schema in reducing the potential negative impact of complexity on performance.Design/methodology/approachMulti-country survey data collected through the Global Manufacturing Research Group were utilized to test the hypotheses. The authors used structural equation modeling to test the measurement and initial structural model. Furthermore, to test the proposed moderating hypotheses, the authors applied the latent moderated structural equations approach.FindingsThe results indicate that while complexity has a negative impact on environmental and social performance, it does not significantly affect financial performance. Furthermore, this negative impact can be reduced, to some extent, through connectivity; however, shared schema does not significantly impact on the complexity-performance relationship.Originality/valueThis study presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of complexity on sustainability. Furthermore, it provides managerial applications as it proposes specific tools to deal with the potential negative influences of complexity.

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.

PurposeThis paper aims at understanding the relationship between the adoption of new forms of work organizations (NFWOs) and measures of country impact, in terms of national culture and economic development.Design/methodology/approachThe adoption of NFWO practices is measured through data from the fourth edition of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey, while Hofstede's measures are adopted for national culture, and gross national income (GNI) per capita is used as an economic development variable. Multivariate linear regression is applied to investigate relationships, using company size as a control variable. A cluster analysis is utilized to identify groups of countries with similar cultural characteristics and to highlight different patterns of adoption of NFWO practices.FindingsThe authors show that it is possible to explain different patterns in the adoption of NFWO practices when considering company size and cultural variables. GNI is instead only significant for some practices and does not always positively influence the adoption of NFWO. On the other hand, cultural variables are linked to all the practices, but there is no dominant dimension to explain higher or lower NFWO adoption.Research limitations/implicationsResults are limited because only Hofstede's cultural variables are used and manufacturing performance is not considered. Therefore, it is not possible to discriminate between more or less successful NFWO variations.Practical implicationsThis paper provides managers with insights on how to take into account cultural variables when transferring organizational models to different countries.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to previous studies showing the importance of including several contextual variables, country impact in particular, in the study of operations management.