Do Resources Aid in Supply Chain Functioning and Management? Yes, But More (and More Precise) Research is Needed

• Date: 01 July 2014
• Author: T. Russell Crook,Terry L. Esper
• Published date: 01 July 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12055

EDITORIAL

DO RESOURCES AID IN SUPPLY CHAIN FUNCTIONING

AND MANAGEMENT? YES, BUT MORE (AND MORE

PRECISE) RESEARCH IS NEEDED

T. RUSSELL CROOK

University of Tennessee

TERRY L. ESPER

University of Arkansas

We highlight key contributions from the special topic forum (STF) articles

and detail findings from a survey of researchers interested in the role of

resources on supply chain functioning and management. We assert that

the STF articles have closed important gaps between what needed to be

known and is now known about how and when resources aid supply

chains. However, the survey findings suggest that researchers who invoke

theories of resources need to be more precise in their theoretical

exposition and that future research needs to focus more heavily on the

role of resources not just within, but also beyond a firm’s boundaries

(i.e., interfirm), and how those resources aid supply chains. The survey

findings also suggest that future supply chain studies should focus more

on investigating contingency relationships, and fitting research designs to

address the specific research question of interest. Broadly speaking, we

conclude that resources within and across firm boundaries are vital to

supply chain functioning and management, but that as research evolves,

new insights might be best characterized by studies that take stock of

critical contingencies.

When we developed the idea for the special topic

forum (STF), our goal was to publish a set of papers

that offered additional insights into how theories of

resources can help describe, explain, and predict sup-

ply chain functioning and outcomes. We believe that

the STF articles have helped achieve this goal and have

helped close some important gaps between what

needed to be known and what has now been investi-

gated. We are grateful to the authors who submitted

their work, to the reviewers, and to the editors-in-chief

(Chad Autry, Craig Carter, and Lisa Ellram) for their

confidence in us and for their help along the way.

A comprehensive consideration of the set of articles

within the STF allows at least a few broad themes to

emerge. First, the papers collectively reveal that firm-

and supply chain-level resources are not only

important, but the effective management, allocation,

and deployment of these resources are critical to supply

chain functioning and management. Without keen

focus on resource availability and management,

firm- and supply chain-level outcomes—such as perfor-

mance—suffer. Second, as managers look to cultivate

resources within their firms, perhaps one of the best

places to help with these efforts is to simply look

within the supply chain. Each article has contributed

individually and uniquely to a broader understanding

of the issues associated with these key themes. In addi-

tion, we conducted a survey of the state of resource-

based inquiry and empirical research in supply chain

management. We report the survey findings to offer an

assessment of the state of extant inquiry and an indica-

tion of ways to further improve the field.

KEY CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE ARTICLES

The invited paper “Resource gaps and resource

orchestration shortfalls in supply chain management:

The case of product recalls” points us toward different

product recalls that can happen in the supply chain

(Ketchen, Wowak, & Craighead, 2014). In particular,

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