Integrating sustainable supply chain practices with operational performance: an exploratory study of Chinese SMEs

Abstract

With growing regulatory and market pressure to implement green practices, SMEs are facing enormous challenges to simultaneously improve operational and green performances of their supply chains. The paper aims to understand the green practices adopted by Chinese SMEs in the packaging sector in order to assess the impact of these practices in improving the operational performance. Case study-based research methodology is adopted and semi-structured interviews are conducted to collect data from seven SMEs in this study. Both in-case and cross-case analyses are performed to understand the green practices being adopted with the focus on improving the operational performance. The findings of this study indicate that although most SMEs understand the importance of green practices, they have limited knowledge to integrate these practices to improve operational performance. Integration and alignment of green activities with the operational improvement measures are identified as critical factors to develop an efficient green supply chain.     

How to reduce carbon emissions of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by knowledge sharing in China

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises are important components of the economy worldwide, and they are considered to be responsible for a large part of carbon emissions. However, because of the limitations in resource, knowledge and technical capabilities, most SMEs are confronting environmental issues such as the negative spillovers. The policy costs of an administrative order that is effective to promote emission reductions of large enterprises in China’s current economy could be high, and therefore, it is essential and crucial to establish a market-driven mechanism to help and encourage SMEs to make environmental improvement regarding the cap-and-trade system. In this context, new patterns of emission reduction would have profound impacts on knowledge management (KM) of SMEs, especially on knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. In this paper, we adopt a micro-model to study the behaviors and carbon emissions of SMEs under different scenarios. We find that both trading and sharing of knowledge on carbon emission reduction are conducive to reducing emissions of SMEs in the context of cap-and-trade. Besides, the more the compensation is granted, the more manufacturing firms are willing to share knowledge with partners who have complementary knowledge. Subsidies or rewards on knowledge sharing can be helpful to reduce carbon emission, which may have important implications for public policy to solve the problem of carbon emission reduction of SMEs.     

A reactive approach to material procurement in an SME

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a more reactive approach to material procurement in a small manufacturing enterprise (SME). The approach involves a hybrid top-down and bottom-up approach to the issue of material procurement. The implementation of the approach in the test site is discussed and we show how the company can benefit from its implementation. The approach requires that there is a good interaction and transfer of information between an SME and both its customers and suppliers. The approach also requires a manufacturing firm to have control of the shopfloor and to have access to relevant and accurate information from the shopfloor. This hybrid approach to material procurement coupled with improved production activity control has helped a local manufacturing company to increase its reactivity. A decision support software tool is available which supports this approach and is described in the paper.     

Event-driven production scheduling in SME

One common problem among Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) is to don’t have at disposal formal and simple approaches for production scheduling, especially in case of an event that introduces the requirement of a re-planning. The paper approaches this kind of event-driven re-scheduling problems at the arrival of a new order, when some jobs are under processing, some operation have already finished and other jobs are waiting to be loaded on a machine. For a simple application in a SME, to the operations already started and completed for a job a processing time equal to zero is assigned; the operations already started but not yet completed are interrupted and considered as operations that must be executed for the remaining part of their processing time; all the other jobs are considered for the event-driven job-shop re-scheduling problem. A validation of the procedure in a realistic application is presented.     

The moderating effects of home region orientation on R&D investment and international SME performance: Lessons from Korea

Drawing from the resource-based view, we investigate how firm and country combinations affect international SME performance. Using a sample of 2676 international Korean SMEs, we explore the relationships among SME R&D investment, home region orientation and financial performance. Results show that R&D investment has a horizontally inverted S-shaped relationship with performance reflecting cost leadership, stuck in the middle, and differentiation strategies. We also find that a home region orientation moderates the relationship between R&D investment and performance. Home region orientation positively moderates the relationship when R&D investment reflects cost leadership or differentiation but negatively moderates a stuck in the middle strategy.     

Performance measurement system contingency factors: a cross analysis of Italian and Indian SMEs

Recent studies have highlighted the presence of a strong relationship between performance measurement systems (PMSs) and corporate governance structures in European firms. Taking into account the growing economic relevance of developing countries, we investigated the role of corporate governance structure as a PMS contingency factor in Italian and Indian SMEs using a multiple case-study approach. The results show that the first development of a PMS was determined by two different factors; in Italian SMEs, the changes in the corporate governance structure promoted the implementation of an advanced PMS, while in Indian SMEs, environmental changes pushed the development of the PMS without affecting any modification in the corporate governance structure. Moreover, after the adoption of an advanced (or almost advanced) performance management system, relevant environmental changes or the positive impacts of the PMS use, were enough to promote further development of the system in both Italian and Indian SMEs, without any change in the corporate governance structure.     

银行对中小企业的最优随机监督强度研究

以最优监督框架为基础,引入随机监督机制,并构建理论模型,研究了银行对中小企业的最优随机监督强度问题。研究结果表明:对于银行方来说,较高强度的监督,看似可以减少评估中的不确定性行为,但实际上会影响对企业进行甄别和筛选的有效性;引入随机监督机制可使企业显露出其本来类型,有利于银行对企业的甄别与筛选;引入随机监督机制,并采取最优随机监督策略,有利于银行更好地维护自身利益。最后,对以上结论进行了数值模拟和理论解释,并提出相应的建议。     

Implementation of S-DBR in four manufacturing SMEs: a research case study

Production planning and control systems (PPCs) are tools that have a major effect on the performance of manufacturing companies. An inappropriate determination of the applicability of PPCs could seriously jeopardise the ability to achieve competitive priorities. This mistake can be expensive for any company, but proper implementation is particularly critical for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are characterised by limited access to financial resources. Simplified Drum–Buffer–Rope (S-DBR) is a PPC control approach that is characterised by minimum detail in the planning stage and a primary emphasis on the control of execution. Therefore, this approach is a suitable choice for the highly variable context of SMEs. This study aims to explore the practical issues related to S-DBR implementation in four Ecuadorian SMEs through case study research. The case analysis within this study first identifies the choices made in the implementation process design within the four companies according to process and product characteristics. We then conduct a cross-case analysis to explore the effects of the S-DBR implementation process designs on a group of performance measures. Our research findings provide new insights into the S-DBR implementation process in the context of SMEs, and the effects of this approach on performance measures.     

不同成长阶段下中小企业融资方式选择研究

本文通过实证研究检验了在经济转轨时期我国中小企业的融资行为符合西方成熟国家的金融成长周期理论,即中小企业的融资结构随着中小企业生命成长阶段的不同,其呈现周期变化趋势.同时,发现中小企业权益融资与债务融资的渠道多种多样,不同的发展阶段也必定有不同的来源.最后通过回归分析,对我国中小企业融资方式的选择进行了实证研究.     

中小企业仓单质押业务的质押率模型

面向中小企业的仓单质押业务能有效盘活企业库存、极大缓解资金压力,业界应用十分广泛,本文研究该业务的核心风险控制指标--质押率的决策问题。考虑供应链中零售商(中小企业)违约内生和需求具有不确定性,建立单期报童模型,探讨了零售商的再订货决策;在此基础上,运用Stackelberg动态博弈理论和VaR风险计量方法,研究了银行追求利润最大化和权衡风险收益两种情形下质押率的决策。通过模型分析和数值仿真明确了银行追求不同目标时的最优质押率决策,凸显了仓单质押业务风险控制中质押率所发挥的重要作用。     

Benefits of adopting lean production on green performance of SMEs: a case study

Abstract

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are widely recommended to strive, not only for their performance in operational side, but they need to integrate the environmental dimension. To do that, the literature widely indicates a positive impact of lean practices on green performance. However, very few studies have been carried out in SMEs context. In this view, this paper aims at providing through a practical case study of lean implementation in a real-life small manufacturing company, the information to confirm this synergy between lean and green performance. To achieve this aim, a proposed framework of lean and green integration has been implemented in a SME producing different types of pumps. The results achieved shows that there is a strong correlation between operational metrics improvement and green metrics improvement. Moreover, the benefits of lean practices such as 5S, Kanban, SMED, AM, cellular manufacturing and quality control on green performance are widely demonstrated. Future work could study other processes and explore other case-specific supporting tools and techniques.     

在线关系对中小网商绩效影响的实证分析

本研究以社会网络和社会资本理论为基础,结合电子商务平台双边市场的特点,探讨了关系对中小网商绩效的影响。以往研究对这一问题的探讨多聚焦于卖家间关系对绩效的影响,对于卖家与买家之间关系的分析则存在空白。本研究将二者综合考虑,构建了在线关系对中小网商绩效影响的理论模型,并采用真实电子商务平台上采集的数据对模型进行了实证检验,为在线关系对中小网商绩效的影响这一课题提供了更为系统的阐释,加深了企业绩效研究领域对中小网商这一特殊群体的绩效影响因素相关问题的理解。同时,本研究也为中小网商管理者如何管理关系这一重要无形资产提供了建议。     

Training perceptions,engagement, and performance: comparing work engagement and personal role engagement

The purpose of this study was to compare two engagement constructs (work engagement and personal role engagement) with regard to their relationship with training perceptions and work role performance behaviours. It was hypothesised that personal role engagement would show incremental validity above that of work engagement at predicting work role performance behaviours and be a stronger mediator of the relationships between training perceptions and such behaviours. Questionnaire data were gathered from 304 full-time working adults in the UK. As predicted, personal role engagement was found to explain additional variance above that of work engagement for task proficiency, task adaptability, and task proactivity behaviours. Moreover, personal role engagement was a stronger mediator of the relationship between training perceptions and task proficiency as well as between training perceptions and task adaptability. Both work engagement and personal role engagement mediated the relationship between training perceptions and task proactivity to a similar degree. The findings suggest that personal role engagement has better practical utility to the human resource development domain than work engagement and indicates that future research may benefit from adopting the personal role engagement construct.     

Entrepreneurial orientation dimensions and the performance of high-tech and low-tech firms: A configurational approach

Building on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO)-as-experimentation perspective, we examine how configurations of the EO dimensions (innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness) might lead to high and low firm performance, and how the configurations differ under different firm contexts. We adopted a configurational approach and applied fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to a sample of 110 UK small and medium-sized enterprises. Our findings show that three (four) configurations can result in high (low)-firm performance, demonstrating that the EO dimensions can contribute to as well as hinder firm performance. Moreover, the configurations leading to the same outcome are distinct between high-tech and low-tech firms, indicating that the impacts of the EO dimensions on firm performance depend on the firm context. Our findings offer useful insights for managers on how to configure the portfolio of firms' entrepreneurial activities to achieve superior performance.     

How planning and capital budgeting improve SME performance

This paper focuses on the use of strategic planning among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK manufacturing sector. It analyses the relationship between the intensity of strategic planning, business objectives, perceived performance, changes in the business environment and the use of capital budgeting techniques. Capital budgeting is of particular interest as an area of investigation, and is one which has seldom featured in previous studies of strategic planning behaviour. These issues were investigated via a survey of UK manufacturing SMEs carried out in the winter of 1996/97.

The key results suggest that SMEs incorporate a range of objectives into their strategic planning process, with profit improvement perceived to be the most important objective, followed by sales growth. SMEs engaged in detailed strategic planning are more likely to use formal capital budgeting techniques, including the net present value method, which is consistent with maximising the companys' value. Perceived profitability and success in achieving organisational objectives were positively associated with planning detail, suggesting that strategic planning is a key component improving performance. Planning detail was also associated with a significantly higher level of perceived change in the business environment.     

Sensitisation of SMEs towards the implementation of Lean Six Sigma – an initialisation in a cylinder frames manufacturing Indian SME

This article suggests the adoption of a model on Lean Six Sigma for successfully implementing it in small and medium engineering enterprises (SMEs). This model is given the name Deficiency Overcoming Lean Anchorage Define Measure Analyse Improve Control Stabilise (DOLADMAICS). The DOLADMAICS model has been designed to lift up an SME through the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in five levels. The implementation study on first level of DOLADMAICS model conducted in an Indian SME, manufacturing a component called ‘cylinder frames’, has been reported in this article. After conducting this implementation study, it was found that the first level of DOLADMAICS model would act as a catalyst and guide for sensitising the management of SMEs to successfully implement Lean Six Sigma.     

存在应收账款条件下中小企业不足额质押融资合同设计

债权融资合同和股权融资合同都存在经营者道德风险问题,与对称信息相比都尚存在效率改进的空间。针对此问题,在中小企业质押不足、存在应收账款的前提下,基于非对称信息博弈论给出了利用应收账款进行融资的"条件合同"。研究表明:与单纯的债权合同相比,"条件合同"能有效地减少中小企业谎报项目真实收益、将资金挪为它用投资更高风险项目的激励;与单纯的股权合同相比,"条件合同"能保证中小企业经营者付出更多的努力;进一步,"条件合同"是股权合同的严格帕累托改进,并且在一定条件下也是债权合同的严格帕累托改进。最后以一个算例说明了研究结论的有效性。     

Knowledge infrastructure capability,absorptive capacity and inbound open innovation: evidence from SMEs in France

Abstract

Inbound open innovation (IOI) has become a potentially valuable means of gaining competitive advantage and enhancing organizational performance. This article explores how knowledge infrastructure capability (KIC) affects IOI through the moderating role of absorptive capacity. This research conceptualizes and develops three dimensions of KIC (technological, structural and cultural), and tests the relationships between KIC, absorptive capacity and IOI. Data for the study were collected from 125 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) based in France, and the relationships proposed in the framework were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate that higher levels of KIC can lead to enhanced absorptive capacity and improved IOI. That is, KIC can have a direct, positive impact on absorptive capacity and IOI. Moreover, absorptive capacity partially mediates the linkage between KIC and IOI. The article contributes to the conceptualization of the impact of KIC on IOI, by emphasizing a firm’s absorptive capacity. It offers a validated instrument to measure KIC, and provides an empirical evidence of the impact of KIC on absorptive capacity and IOI. This article also extends the extant literature by focusing on KIC and absorptive capacity simultaneously in a model to understand the notion of IOI in the SMEs based in France. This study offers useful guidance for measuring and implementing KIC in a SME context and encourages further research in this area.     

我国中小企业策略联盟绩效及其影响因素的实证研究

探讨并提出了中小企业策略联盟绩效衡量指标、策略联盟绩效影响因素,对于策略联盟绩效和影响因素的关系提出相关假设,并在此基础上建立了中小企业策略联盟绩效及其影响因素的关系模型。运用问卷调查、访谈所获得的统计数据和Lisrel模型与软件,通过实证研究手段具体分析了我国中小企业现阶段策略联盟绩效影响因素对策略联盟绩效的影响关系与影响程度,进而检验了策略联盟绩效影响因素模型中的各项假设。     

‘Training,it's a load of crap!’: the story of the hairdresser and his ‘Suit’

Many managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more concerned about survival rather than growth. There are consistent findings that indicate managers in SMEs do not respond favourably to offers of HRD interventions and government policy now recognizes the value of informal learning and demand-led intervention. A social constructionist approach is suggested to consider engaging and working with SME managers. A framework of SME ‘worlds’ is considered before the case of one SME is examined. Using data from three different sources, the various positionings are considered. The case shows how from an apparently antagonistic view of external training, the manager was prepared to allow a coach/mentor to work with him towards his vision for expansion and growth. Conclusions are provided concerning engagement and stretch with SMEs, policy and future funding for HRD and the definition of skills development.