Since supplier capabilities often are essential for the success of a new product, previous studies suggest manufacturers to integrate strategic sourcing into the early stages of their new product development (NPD) processes. However, the literature on this topic offers only limited guidance for manufacturers in the engineer-to-order (ETO) context, where late strategic sourcing can be inevitable due to, for example, uncertainty or changing customer requirements. To address this gap in the literature, this article first draws on the literature to conceptualize five distinct strategic sourcing approaches that ETO manufacturers can employ. The approaches differ in terms of the timing of three strategic sourcing activities during the NPD process: make-or-buy analysis, supplier selection and supplier collaboration. To investigate the approaches, we conducted an embedded single case study involving a large turbine manufacturer. The study supports the existence of all the strategic sourcing approaches and identifies distinct conditions associated with each of them. Thereby, this article extends the literature with additional clarity about strategic sourcing in the ETO context, as well as when different approaches occur.

Purpose: In successfully meeting city and metropolitan growth, sustainable development is compulsory. Sustainability is a must-focus for any project, particularly for large and mega rail infrastructure. This paper aims to investigate to what degree social, environmental and economic factors influence the government when planning sustainable rail infrastructure projects. To respond to such a matter, this paper focuses on two Australian mega-rail projects: the South West Rail Link (SWRL) and the Mernda Rail Extension (MRE). Design/methodology/approach: As the basis of an experimental evaluation framework strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) and factor analysis were used. These two methods were specifically selected as comparative tools for SWRL and SWRL projects, to measure their overall sustainability effect. Findings: Using factor analysis, in the MRE, the factors of network capacity, accessibility, employment and urban planning were seen frequently throughout the case study. However, politics and economic growth had lower frequencies throughout this case study. This difference between the high-weighted factors is likely a key element that determined the SWRL to be more sustainable than the MRE. The SWOT analysis showed the strengths the MRE had over the SWRL such as resource use and waste management, and natural habitat preservation. These two analyses have shown that overall, calculating the sustainability levels of a project can be subjective, based on the conditions surrounding various analysis techniques. Originality/value: This paper first introduces SWRL and MRE projects followed by a discussion about their overall sustainable development. Both projects go beyond the traditional megaprojects' goal of improving economic growth by developing and enhancing infrastructure. Globally, for such projects, sustainability measures are now considered alongside the goal of economic growth. Second, SWOT and factor analysis are undertaken to further evaluate the complexity of such projects. This includes their overall sustainable development vision alignment with environmental, economic and social factors.

Manufacturing relocation decisions are complex because they involve combinations of location modes like offshoring or reshoring, and governance modes like insourcing or outsourcing. Furthermore, the uncertainty involved in the decision-making process makes it challenging to reach a right-shoring decision. This study presents a hybrid fuzzy-AHP-TOPSIS model to support generic relocation decisions. Industry experts were involved in a pairwise comparison of the competitive priorities’ decision criteria. A meta-synthesis of empirical studies is used to generate theoretical relocation scenarios. The presented hybrid model is used to rank the relocation scenarios in order to identify the most pertinent alternative. The resiliency of the solution is presented through a sensitivity analysis. The results indicate that the proposed hybrid model can simultaneously handle all the main relocation options involving governance modes. Based on the input data in this study, the competitive priorities criteria quality, time and cost are shown to have a strong impact, whereas the sustainability criterion has a weak impact on the choice of relocation option. The research presented in this paper contributes to the research field of manufacturing relocation by demonstrating the suitability of the hybrid fuzzy-AHP-TOPSIS model for relocation decisions and the resilience of the results. Furthermore, the research contributes to practice by providing managers with a generic relocation decision-support model that is capable of simultaneously handling and evaluating various relocation alternatives.

Purpose: Rapid advancements in blockchain technology transform various sectors, attracting the attention of industrialists, practitioners, policymakers and academics, and profoundly affect construction businesses through smart contracts and crypto-economics. This paper explores the blockchain innovation ecosystem in construction.

Design/methodology/approach: Through a qualitative study of 23 diverse interviewees, the study explores how open or closed the blockchain innovation ecosystem in construction is and who its emerging orchestrators are.

Findings: The data showed that construction aims towards an open innovation blockchain ecosystem, although there are elements of hybridisation and closedness, each system pointing out to different orchestrators.

Practical implications: The study has implications for governments and large companies in construction, showing that open innovation initiatives need to be encouraged by policymakers through rules, regulations and government-sponsored demonstrator projects.

Social implications: The data showed that there is lack of readiness for business model change to support open innovation blockchain ecosystems in construction.

Originality/value: This is the first study applying the open innovation theory in the construction industry and sheds light into the phenomenon of blockchain, suggesting routes for further democratisation of the technology for policymakers and practitioners.

The practice of ‘Design for Supply Chain’ (DfSC) aims at integrating strategic sourcing into manufacturers’ new product development (NPD) processes. The literature on this topic, however, mainly focuses on contexts involving high-volume, standardised products, while the engineer-to-order (ETO) context has received only limited attention. As argued in this paper, this constitutes a gap in the literature since the findings from high-volume, standardised contexts may not be directly applicable to the ETO context. To support this claim, a case study approach is used to explore DfSC in two ETO manufacturers. This paper terms this practice ‘Engineer for Supply Chain’ (EfSC) and identifies four dimensions that it comprises: (1) consideration of strategic sourcing in NPD, (2) representation of the sourcing function in NPD, (3) collaboration between the R&D and sourcing functions, and (4) adoption of methods for considering strategic sourcing in NPD. Although these dimensions partly overlap with the literature on DfSC, the characteristics of EfSC differ—most notably by requiring the consideration of strategic sourcing before the product design stage of NPD, as well as procedures that encourage this consideration. Finally, the study identifies relationships among the dimensions and develops a holistic four-step process for engaging with EfSC.

Purpose

The circular economy (CE) approach has been acknowledged as key for manufacturing organizations wishing to overcome sustainability challenges. However, the transition has been slow. Stakeholder engagement is a driver of the transition, but there is limited knowledge on stakeholder engagement practices in a CE context. The purpose of this paper is thus to explore with whom, on what and how organizations engage with stakeholders to implement CE as part of sustainability efforts.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is situated at the intersection of CE, stakeholder theory and supply chain literature. A case study with three Swedish manufacturing organizations was conducted to explore stakeholder engagement practices that facilitate the implementation of CE in organizational practice and the supply chain, considering conceptual differences between stakeholder engagement for sustainability and CE.

Findings

This study provides empirical evidence on how manufacturing organizations engage stakeholders to implement CE as part of organizations' sustainability efforts. The study highlights that manufacturing organizations have to move not only from linear to circular resource flows, but also from linear to circular stakeholder engagement. Such engagement can be achieved by extending with whom, expanding on what and leveling up how stakeholders are engaged.

Originality/value

This study provides an enhanced conceptual understanding of stakeholder engagement in the CE context and discusses differences regarding stakeholder engagement based on linear thinking. The study emphasizes the role of circular stakeholder engagement practices for the transition toward CE in manufacturing organizations.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to identify some specificities of production planning and control (PPC) activities in the one-of-a-kind-production (OKP) process through an extensive literature review. Relevant aspects related to systems and PPC activities in the context of OKP environment are discussed, and six opportunities for future research are highlighted.

Design/methodology/approach: The following research is based on a review of 53 articles published in peer-reviewed journals over the past three decades. After an initial descriptive analysis based on bibliometric indicators, a cluster analysis of 15 most cited articles was carried out using multivariate data analysis techniques and in-depth analysis.

Findings: The results reveal some specificities inherent to the clusters featured in the research, including aspects of planning, control and systems for OKP process. This cluster addresses information regarding next-generation manufacturing systems, scheduling and design science, computer simulation and project approach. On the other hand, the authors point out six topics for future research regarding contemporary issues associated with PPC in the context of OKP.

Originality/value: This paper fills an important gap regarding OKP production planning and control practices. The results provide a theoretical overview of different PPC practices suitable for the OKP environment. Furthermore, it can provide insights for scientific developments in order to manage the complexity inherent in the OKP process.

This paper explores how supply chains can be designed during product development (PD) through systematically reviewing 143 peer-reviewed journal articles written in English. The findings indicate that practitioners can perform 14 supply chain design (SCD) activities during PD. These activities are grouped into levels and areas, and a model is developed that interrelates SCD with nine product characteristics. Therewith, scholars are given a deep insight into the literature on SCD during PD. The paper also provides a framework for developing company- and project-specific checklists that can be used for multiple purposes, including planning, performing, or evaluating SCD activities before, during, or after PD projects. The implementation of the framework, according to the characteristics of a manufacturer and its PD projects, constitutes an opportunity for the creation of resilient supply chains.

This research evaluates the critical capabilities and improvement areas for competitive manufacturing in a developed-country environment. A multiple-case-study approach is applied, consisting of three manufacturing firms located in Sweden. The case study combines both quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the critical capabilities found in the extant literature. The research reveals fifteen critical capabilities and sixteen improvement areas for competitive manufacturing in a developed-country environment. The results show that the firms develop capabilities in a cumulative manner, starting with cost and quality, continuing with time and flexibility, and finally trying to improve innovation and sustainability. To develop competitive manufacturing operations in developed counties, it is therefore vital to improve capabilities related to time, flexibility, innovation, or sustainability. Irrespective of the targeted capabilities, they must contribute to cost-efficient operations and high quality must always be maintained. The efforts to develop capabilities related to innovation and sustainability may be expensive in the short term, however they can provide better cumulative results and competitiveness in the long term.

Purpose: Intermediate short food supply chains (SFSC) have been presented as a possible solution to unsustainable global food supply chains. There is currently a knowledge gap about intermediate SFSC. Thus, this review synthesizes the available literature to identify prominent themes and their main considerations. Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on a systematic literature review including peer-reviewed journal articles until December 2021. Inductive data coding resulted in the identification of four themes related to intermediate SFSC. Findings: The identified themes illustrate the complex landscape intermediate SFSCs operate in and focus on the key relationships within these supply chains. The established relationships have implications for the governance of intermediate SFSCs. The organization of intermediate SFSCs affects numerous sustainability indicators. Research limitations/implications: Future research should focus on the position intermediate SFSCs have in food systems and the roles intermediaries have in intermediate SFSCs. There is furthermore an opportunity for researchers to investigate different types of intermediaries and explore the factors influencing them. Originality/value: Creating sustainable food supply chains is one of the major societal challenges of today. The current state of the art suggests that intermediate SFSCs could play an important role in achieving this. So far, this area is underdeveloped and this review highlights knowledge gaps in the literature and suggestions for a future research agenda are proposed.