Episodic supply chains at times of disruption
Öberg, C. (2022). Episodic supply chains at times of disruption. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.
Öberg, C. (2022). Episodic supply chains at times of disruption. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.
Purpose
Additive manufacturing has been described as converting supply chains into demand chains. By focusing on metal additive manufacturing as a contemporary technology causing ongoing disruption to the supply chain, the purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss how incumbent firms act during an ongoing, transformational disruption of their supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews and secondary data, along with seminars attracting approximately 600 individuals operating in metal additive manufacturing, form the empirical basis for this paper.
Findings
The findings of this paper indicate how disruption occurs at multiple positions in the supply chain. Episodic positions as conceptualised in this paper refer to how parties challenged by disruption attempt to reach normality while speeding the transformational disruption.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to previous research by theorising about episodic positions in light of a supply chain disruption. The empirical data are unique in how they capture supply chain change at the time of disruption and illustrate disruptive, transformational change to supply chains. The paper interlinks research on disruption from the innovation and supply chain literature, with contributions to both.
Öberg, C. (2022).
2022
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.
2024
Journal of Cleaner Production
The sharing economy was initially beckoned as a facilitator of exchanges that would not compromise future needs and held great promise for those at the lower end of the socioeconomic pyramid. However, as the sharing economy expanded, questions about its sustainability emerged. This expansion manifested in two main forms: an influx of new users and providers into existing operations and the emergence of new platforms, resulting in a proliferation of sharing economy models. By categorizing these models based on their resource utilization, this paper establishes a connection between scalability and compromised sustainability, shedding light on the interplay between the two. The paper identifies seven distinct configurations in the sharing economy: co-use, re-use, repeated use, sustainable output, pooling of resources, and products and services created specifically for individual users. These configurations serve as a tool to uncover the tensions between scalability and coordination, as well as between sustainability and provision. The paper contributes to prior research by bringing attention to how the sharing economy is entangled in these tensions and by developing a typology. Understanding how these tensions can be resolved presents a highly significant practical contribution, allowing stakeholders in the sharing economy to navigate the challenges of scalability and sustainability effectively.
2024
Journal of Management & Organization
This paper builds on the creation of new ways of organizing work, where the freelance economy specifically targets the increasing number of skilled self-employed individuals collaborating for shared output. Through describing and discussing creativity within the freelance economy, this paper seeks to understand creativity in collaborations among these self-employed individuals. Drawing from a case study conducted in the advertising sector, the paper concludes that creativity within the freelance economy occurs between equal and inherently creative freelancers rather than being the product of individual traits, despite their respective skills. Creativity between individuals arises when processes are appropriately formalized, while the creative output is constrained by individual decisions and styles. The paper contributes to existing research by shedding light on the distinctive characteristics of the freelance economy and its paradoxical organizational nature. By doing so, it offers insights that contrast with prior studies on artistic creativity.
2023
Journal of Product Innovation. Management.
Grand challenges vary across industries and call for firms to craft a responsible innovation response to effectively address them. However, key questions concerning why firms embrace responsible innovation and the process by which they respond to grand challenges have yet to be fully answered. We integrate an issue-selling theoretical lens and the customer role from an innovation perspective to theorize about the different influencing motives that customers exert on their corresponding supplying firm to craft a more responsible innovation response to grand challenges. Based on qualitative data collected in almost a 10-year period from multiple respondents across eight customer firms and two supplying firms, we identify three core motives—regulatory, business opportunity, and socio-environmental motives—that propel customers to influence supplying firms to craft different forms of responsible innovation responses. Our research also reveals three vital socio-human capital pathways—human capital, socio-behavioral, and relationship—which, in turn, foster a co-active engagement in addressing grand challenges innovatively and responsibly. In so doing, this research advances novel theorizing on co-active engagement in responsible innovation where the customer acts as the primary champion and the supplier as the implementer. We discuss the important implications for customers and other stakeholders.