Migration, Human Supply Chains, and the Multinational Enterprise: Confronting an Overlooked Global Mobility Challenge

Agriculture, food and global value chains: issues, methods and challenges

Companies are increasingly incorporating both social and environmental sustainability into their business activities. Ethical issues along with environmental and labor protection issues are integral components of the supply chain strategy. By implementing the concept of green supply chain, the level of sustainability, supply continuity and long-term business efficiency are improved. Positioning modern supply chains in the context of a green economy and a dynamic business environment is a matter of work. The key goal of this paper is to identify the business implications of the relationship between green supply chains, the environment and economic, social and environmental performance, based on the analysis for the field of research of relevant scientific sources, and to propose a model of "greening" of classic supply chains. of benefit to researchers and company managers. The research contribution of this paper is reflected in the achieved level of development and degree of implementation of sustainability practices in global supply chain management practices, overview of concepts, paradigms and research in the field of green supply chains over a period of twenty years, as well as in examining the impact of leading global supply chains on three main aspects of the environment-climate, water resources and forests. The paper is structured according to the IMRAD principle. The first part points out the different theoretical coverage of the concept of green supply chain. Then a green supply chain model is proposed. Analysis of the development perspective and discussion on the impacts of green chains on the environment is a key topic of the next part of the paper.

Human rights violations remain an urgent global grand challenge, and multinational enterprises (MNEs) face increasing pressure to address them in their global supply chains. Drawing insights from the information as regulation literature, we propose that MNEs’ smart disclosure (i.e., disclosure enabled by smart technologies with enhanced reprogrammability, accessibility, interactivity, and transferability) of supply chain information promotes suppliers’ human rights commitments. We theorize that through smart disclosure, MNEs can enlist all relevant stakeholders to influence and support suppliers to solve human rights issues through a “crowdsourcing” approach. Furthermore, we argue that the information conditions in global supply chains serve as important boundary conditions. Specifically, the relationship between MNEs’ smart disclosure and suppliers’ human rights commitments is weakened for suppliers with stronger relational embeddedness with MNEs (i.e., internal information condition). The relationship is also weakened for suppliers located in countries with greater institutional voids (i.e., external information condition).

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore mechanisms of supply chain inclusion in Base of the Pyramid (BOP) settings. It distinguishes micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSME)-led local supply chains on the one hand and multinational enterprises (MNEs)-led global supply chains on the other hand. This paper aims to answer the following research question: Which mechanisms of supply chain inclusion are employed empirically by MSMEs and how can these mechanisms influence social impact creation in MNE-led global supply chains?Design/methodology/approachA large-scale empirical study of MSMEs operating in BOP markets is performed and a cluster analysis conducted to systematically categorize supply chain inclusion. The cluster analysis and current literature yield theory-based implications for MNE-led global supply chains.FindingsThe cluster analysis reveals three meaningful clusters of supply chain inclusion in BOP markets and highlights two main aspects. They include direct vs indirect mechanisms of inclusion and diversity in supplier relationships with local organizations aimed at either “sourcing” local capabilities needed for inclusion or “outsourcing” the inclusion. Based on these aspects, two scenarios are proposed and evaluated for local-global supply chain symbiosis.Research limitations/implicationsThis study aims to contribute to the existing literature with a more fine-grained understanding of the inclusion of BOP actors in local supply chains and by proposing alternative trajectories for global supply chain inclusion.Practical implicationsThe findings outline several important decisions that managers need to make to include BOP actors in supply chain activities.Originality/valueThis paper contributes a novel, combined perspective of local supply chains (MSMEs) and global supply chains (MNEs).

This paper examines how multinational enterprises (MNEs) reconfigure their global value chains (GVCs) in response to global disruptions, focusing on the US-China trade war and COVID-19. Global disruptions compel MNEs to relocate some of their value chain activities and reconfigure their GVCs to stem its adverse impacts. However, in doing so, MNEs face a reactivity-resiliency tradeoff that has not been examined in the literature thus far. Thus, we theorize and empirically investigate how MNEs’ responses vary systematically across industries of varying technological intensity. We argue that MNEs' response to global disruptions significantly depends on the technological intensity in their affiliate industry because it affects the complexity of their value chain activities (VCAs) and the structure of their GVCs. The higher technological intensity of MNEs increases their reliance on tacit knowledge and increases the interdependence between their VCAs. In turn, MNEs need high levels of relational capital, i.e., have more interfirm and intrafirm connections in their GVC networks. Lower knowledge intensity of MNEs, on the other hand, means low levels of interdependence between their VCAs and less reliance on tacit knowledge. Such MNEs have relatively simpler GVCs and lower reliance on relational capital. The implication is that less knowledge-intensive MNEs react faster to global disruptions but have less resilient GVC network structures, unlike more knowledge-intensive MNEs that respond slowly to disruptions but have more resilient GVC network structures.

Contents: Introduction, James Wang, Daniel Olivier, Theo Notteboom and Brian Slack. Part 1 Conceptualization of Port-Cities and Global Supply Chains: Supply chain and supply chain management: appropriate concepts for maritime studies, Valentina Carbone and Elisabeth Gouvernal Global supply chain integration and competitiveness of port terminals, Photis M. Panayides The terminalisation of seaports, Brian Slack Re-assessing port-hinterland relationships in the context of global supply chains, Theo Notteboom and Jean-Paul Rodrigue. Part 2 Shipping Networks and Port Development: The development of global container transhipment terminals, Alfred J. Baird Mediterranean ports in the global network: how to make the hub and spoke paradigm sustainable?, Enrico Musso and Francesco Parola Northern European range: shipping line concentration and port hierarchy, Antoine Fremont and Martin Soppe Factors influencing the landward movement of containers: the cases of Halifax and Vancouver, Robert J. McCalla. Part 3 Inserting Port-Cities into Global Supply Chains: Globalization and the port-urban interface: conflicts and opportunities, Yehuda Hayuth A metageography of port-city relationships, Cesar Ducruet Chinese port-cities in the global supply chains, James Wang and Daniel Olivier The economic performance of seaport regions, Peter W. De Langen. Part 4 Corporate Perspectives on the Insertion of Ports in Global Supply Chains: The success of Asian container port operators: the role of information technology, Daniel Olivier and Francesco Parola Which link in which chain? Inserting Durban into global automotive supply chains, Peter V. Hall and Glen Robbins Sustainable development and corporate strategies of the maritime industry, Claude Comtois and Brian Slack References Index.

Chapter 6 introduces concepts of global business process, business process design, business process reengineering, and business process management, to present a process-based view of global operation strategy and to introduce the primary processes of global operation strategy. First, we discuss global supply chain strategy, including its concepts, global sourcing strategy, global internal supply chain strategy, global distribution strategy, global supply chain coordination, global supply chain strategic alliances, and global sustainable supply chain strategy. Second, we introduce concepts of global revenue management strategy, present its globally evolving process, and discuss strategies for global revenue management. Third, we discuss global technology strategy, including its concepts, global product development strategy, R&D internationalization modes, global R&D coordination and communication, global R&D sourcing strategy, and technology strategies for global sustainable operations. Finally, we discuss global risk management strategy, including its concepts, basic operational strategies, basic approaches and the operational risk management framework. In this chapter, we use case examples including Etam Distribution Center, Global Supply Chain of H&M, SkyTeam Alliance, Microsoft Research Worldwide, Mattel’s Global Risks and Supply Chains, and a case Tiffany to illustrate process-based fundamentals.KeywordsSupply ChainBusiness Process ManagementGlobal Supply ChainRevenue ManagementBullwhip EffectThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The goal of this paper is twofold: to comparatively analyze the social performance of global and local berry supply chains and to explore the ways in which the social dimension is embedded in the overall performance of food supply chains. To achieve this goal, the social performance of five global and local food supply chains in two countries are analyzed: wild blueberry supply chains in Latvia and cultivated raspberry supply chains in Serbia. The study addresses two research questions: (1) What is the social performance of the local and global supply chains? (2) How can references to context help improve understanding of the social dimension and social performance of food supply chains? To answer these questions, two interlinked thematic sets of indicators (attributes) are used—one describing labor relations and the other describing power relations. These lists are then contextualized by examining the micro-stories of the actors involved in these supply chains. An analysis of the chosen attributes reveals that global chains perform better than local chains. However, a context-sensitive analysis from the perspective of embedded markets and communities suggests that the social performance of food chains is highly context-dependent, relational, and affected by actors’ abilities to negotiate values, norms, and the rules embedded within these chains, both global and local. The results illustrate that the empowerment of the chains’ weakest actors can lead to a redefining of the meanings that performance assessments rely on.

This study investigates the inter-firm transfer of environmental disclosure, a voluntary corporate sustainable practice that improves transparency in global supply chains. Building on the liability of foreignness and organizational learning frameworks, we propose that the strength of the association between the multinational enterprise’s (MNE’s), i.e. buyer’s, disclosure and its foreign supplier’s environmental disclosures is systematically weakened by the cultural, administrative, geographic, and economic distances between the home countries of the firms involved, as these cross-country distances hamper the ability of buyers to efficiently share knowledge and to credibly lead by example. We also postulate that the buyer’s prior supply chain experience in the supplier’s country strengthens the association between buyer’s disclosure and supplier’s disclosure, because previous experience helps buyers to improve their ability to share their expertise and leverage their credibility. By assembling a unique panel dataset of 17,540 cross-border buyer-supplier relationships gathered from Bloomberg databases, we find evidence for the influence of different forms of cross-country distances and the buyer’s prior supply chain experience on the association between the environmental disclosures of buyers and those of their foreign suppliers. Our study contributes to literatures on corporate sustainability, international business, and supply chain management by extending the liability of foreignness concept to global supply chains, demonstrating the important role of supply chains in the inter-firm transfer of corporate sustainability practices.

Research SummaryUpgrading and governance in global value chains (GVCs) have been understood mainly through studying the buyer–supplier transaction, where the supplier is typically an independent contractor from a developing economy. Little is known about how subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) can upgrade in a GVC, whose core activities are coordinated through the “hierarchy” governance model. Using an in‐depth longitudinal single case study in the medical devices industry, we explain how a subsidiary can accomplish upgrading in an intra‐MNE GVC and, over time, increase its control of this GVC reaching a joint coordinator role for its governance. Our findings show that partaking in innovation may not be the final stage of a subsidiary's upgrading but can represent the start of a new phase that culminates with joint coordination of the GVC.Managerial SummaryThe competitiveness of a global subsidiary is determined by its capacity to upgrade in a GVC and engage in higher value‐adding activities. Moving from production to innovation is generally viewed as the pinnacle for subsidiaries in the accomplishment of upgrading within a GVC, thereby ensuring long‐term survival. We show however that specializing in innovation is not the highest peak a subsidiary can reach. Innovation is in fact a necessary condition for a strategic role for the coordination of a GVC. A subsidiary's management team can deliberately strategize to ascend to such a position in the multi‐business MNE as a GVC joint coordinator for a product category. It can achieve this prominent position by leveraging its innovation capabilities to assume a greater proportion of control over the business's GVC governance. This position of greater prominence for the subsidiary within the MNE advances its internal advantage and strengthens its survival prospects.

Forecasting disruptions in global food value chains to tackle food insecurity: The role of AI and big data analytics – A bibliometric and scientometric analysis

Global value chains (GVCs) have sharpened the interdependencies between trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). Using a novel micro-level dataset covering about 27 000 corporate relationships of 147 multinational enterprises (MNEs) in 13 sectors, new evidence is provided on how firms organise their production globally by combining trade with investment, and on a range of non-equity, contract-based partnerships. The analysis leads to five stylised facts. First, MNE activities are a combination of trade, FDI and strategic partnerships. All firms rely on a mix of these different types of corporate relationships. Second, the configuration of trade, investment and strategic partnerships varies across sectors, firms and markets. The results highlight considerable firm-level heterogeneity within the same industry and across the different modes of entry. Third, investment performs various functions in GVCs. In addition to traditional forms of FDI such as “market-seeking” or “input-seeking”, investment “in capabilities” or “conglomerate” FDI also account for a relevant share of equity-based relationships. Fourth, support business functions emerge as key building blocks in GVCs, which suggests that policy reforms in transversal services sectors that support all GVCs should merit special attention. Fifth, GVCs display a clear geographical organisation. While domestic corporate relationships may lead to higher volumes of activities, in terms of the number of relationships MNEs have more partners abroad. Moreover, the large majority of GVC interactions take place within OECD countries. Overall, the complex and heterogeneous interlinkages observed in modern firm strategies highlight the importance of ensuring a level playing field for both trade and investment.

Amidst the renewed quest for supply chain resiliency, finance outgrows its traditional role in B2B; instead, finance position itself to become a more integrated partner in supply chain management activities. Areas such as global trade management and supply chain risk management are fluid areas for finance to flourish, coupled with increasing demands for finance to take a more active role in supply chain management. The global supply chain has experienced several disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme climate change-induced events, natural disasters, conflict, financial crises, recessions, shortages of raw materials for manufacturing, and macroeconomic imbalances; however, futuristic disruptions are already projected by several stakeholders in the logistics and transport sector. Hence, companies must concentrate on building their resilience to all manner of supply chain disruptions. The initial motive of firm management to increase leverage and engage in financial goods is diminished when the economic dilemma of supply chain value is resolved; by so doing, the internal financial situations could facilitate the advancement of enterprise value. Keywords: supply chain, financial service innovations, distribution dimension, COVID-19 DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/15-7-01 Publication date: April 30 th 2023

Modern dietary habits in communities are linked and are part of the global food supply chain. To achieve sustainable food production and consumption, communicating the impact associated with food production and dietary choices at community level to consumers is important. However, previous footprint studies have primarily focussed on food consumption at the national level and neglected community–level consumption activities. This study surveyed the diets of a small island community and linked the results with multi-region land footprint analysis in Ollei Village, Republic of Palau. The analysis was used to determine the extent to which the dietary lifestyles of communities depend on external land use through the global supply chain. We showed that the global food supply chain has reached this corner of the world, and the dietary habits of the community are already heavily dependent on processed and imported foods. The community and country are highly dependent on large land use in some major producer/exporting countries through the global food supply chain. In addition, the amount of external land used for food production exceeds the biocapacity of the agricultural land in the community and country. This study bridges the gap between community–level consumption activities and national-scale footprint analysis, and quantitatively assesses the impact of consumption activities at the community level on the global environment. The results and approach of this study could contribute to the development and implementation of vertically integrated food policies between the national and community level in Palau.

Although fisheries production and seafood trade are global in scope, with billions of dollars in exports, the rebuilding of collapsed fisheries often focus on national fisheries policy and management measures, with little attention to global supply chains and international consumer markets. Even with two moratoria and two decades of policy changes since the Northern Gulf cod fisheries collapsed in eastern Canada, rebuilding has stalled and the fishing industry and coastal communities continue to undergo challenges with economic viability and resource sustainability. This paper examines and analyzes the global supply chain and marketing dimension of Northern Gulf cod fisheries. Drawing upon fisheries bioeconomics and governance theory, a pre- and post-collapse analysis is undertaken to understand key drivers and institutional mechanisms along global fish supply chains for an effective and successful rebuilding. Findings indicate that the collapse of the cod fishery has cascading effects that go beyond ecosystem changes to new harvesting activities, industry restructuring, supply chain reorganization, new global markets and consumer preference for certified seafood. This suggests that a holistic rebuilding approach is necessary, one that integrates institutional and behavioral changes for both producers and consumers at various scales of fisheries production, political economy issues, as well as cross-scale policies on marine conservation and regional economic development.