Ruggero Golini

• Ph.D.
• PwC Luxembourg

Environmental and social sustainability are becoming sources of competitive advantage for multinational companies. Consequently, they need to understand how to manage their global manufacturing networks to enhance both environmental and social performance. Results from an international survey show that site competence—that is, having competences in...

Performing global sourcing – which is defined as the amount of purchases made by a plant outside its continent of origin – effectively is highly complicated because of several concurring variables (e.g. number of suppliers, supplied goods, and the location of the buyer and supplier, among other factors). However, the findings available in literatur...

Purpose – The past three decades have seen the transformation of manufacturing involving its global dispersion and fragmentation. However, a number of recent developments appear to suggest that manufacturing may be entering a new era of flux that will impact the configuration of production around the globe. The purpose of this paper is to address t...

Purpose. The aim of this paper is to explore (i) the impact that sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has on company’s sustainability performance (both environmental and social), (ii) the direct and the indirect impacts that traditional supply management (SM) has on such performance and (iii) the effect that global sourcing exerts on the rela...

E-procurement is gaining in popularity in business practice and its benefits encourage its adoption for a variety of areas, including IT (Information Technology) purchases. The problem with assessing the value associated with e-procurement has been addressed by researchers and practitioners, but a clear methodology to determine the benefits related...

While digital transformations are taking place, we still have limited understanding as to how ecosystems and supply chains differ from a theoretical standpoint and how they relate practically. We study the evolution of the concept of ecosystems through a systematic review of the literature to describe how the two concepts relate throughout this evo...

Business leaders often consider digital technologies an enabler of new business models and market opportunities, but they often overlook their potential impact on the entire value chain. Considering three Industry 4.0 technologies—big data analytics and cloud computing, track and tracing, and simulation and modeling software—we identify the opportu...

This article offers a comprehensive and systematic review of the literature on Global Value Chains (GVCs). The GVC framework has received growing attention in the last decade, providing theoretical concepts and analytical tools to understand and assess patterns of value creation in view of the new international division of labour. In this area, a b...

In the realm of manufacturing location decisions, reshoring has increasingly attracted the attention of practitioners, policy makers and scholars. While many articles have analysed the drivers of reshoring decisions, the decision-making and implementation process still lacks empirical analyses. This paper addresses this gap with a grounded theory a...

A wide literature about International Manufacturing Networks (IMNs) has been developed in the last decades, driven by the globalization of operations. Attention has typically been directed on plant and network level, while little emphasis was given to subgroups of plants within the same company. This paper aims at providing a definition of the “sub...

We study the “Relocations of Second Degree” (RSDs), i.e., the location decisions that modify the country of destination of a previous offshoring investment. Specifically, we distinguish between two types of RSDs, i.e., “Relocation to the Home Country (RHC)”, also known as back-reshoring, and “Relocation to a Third Country (RTC)”, i.e., the choice t...

The reshoring phenomenon is gaining momentum among scholars, managers and policy makers. Extant literature has mainly focused on reshoring motivations and drivers, locations, and activities. Reshoring decision-making and implementation processes are relatively unexplored, leaving managers without any support when they are called on to implement res...

This paper proposes a framework that supports the collection and classification of information about the features of a city relevant to Urban Freight Transport (UFT). The information is organized in a framework of 28 different layers that are then stored in a Geographic Information System (GIS) tool to enable efficient data retrieval and effective...

The issue of food waste is increasingly attracting scientific and public interest due to the magnitude of the problem (in terms of quantity and global reach) and the growing attention to healthy and sustainable food production and consumption. As a consequence, an increasing number of initiatives aim to reduce the food discarded in each stage of th...

Over the last decade, reshoring has increasingly attracted the attention of the practitioners and academic community. While a significant number of articles have analyzed drivers, locations and activities involved in reshoring decisions; the decision-making and implementation still lack empirical analyses. The aim of the paper is to develop and emp...

Private equity (PE) funds have started looking beyond their original short-term horizon. They have expanded their investment time-frame and gradually moved their focus from exploiting leverage and market timing of the deals to generating structural value in their portfolio companies. The impact of their takeovers has been largely studied in terms o...

As industries are becoming increasingly global, researchers and practitioners are compelled to look at supply chains (SCs) from a global perspective. In this respect, the Global Value Chain (GVC) framework is particularly useful in understanding global dynamics because it relates the nature of relationships between firms (governance) to the possibi...

The chapter investigates the importance that differences in national culture characteristics have in explaining the investment that companies do in collaboration with their supply chain partners. Empirical analysis is based on the fifth round of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS V), through which have been gathered data among 39...

The volume of freight vehicles operating within city boundaries is steadily increasing, which contributes to road congestion, especially in urban areas with a parking deficit. The proper identification of the location and size of commercial parking lay-by areas, where delivery vehicles can park for a limited time to perform loading/unloading operat...

Purpose – While controlling for supply chain effects, this research investigates if globalization and collaborative integration within a firm-wide manufacturing network have significant implications for the adoption of sustainable production and sustainable sourcing practices at the plant level. Methodology – We conceptualize sustainable productio...

The Urban Freight Fleet Composition (UFFC) problem concerns the definition of the optimal mix in terms of types and number of vehicles (fleet composition) to serve the demand for parcel delivery in an urban area. Urban areas can be subject to access restrictions that reduce the possibility to enter the area. In this paper, we consider time access r...

Collection-and-Delivery Points (CDP) have become increasingly important for couriers operating in the e-commerce sector. Through this way of delivery, it is possible to mitigate many issues related to the traditional home delivery (e.g. missing delivery, complex routing planning, and traffic delays). Despite this, there are still obstacles that pre...

The debate on how to reconcile the global and local perspectives on manufacturing activities in global value chains demands informative empirical evidence. By leveraging the global value chain framework, this chapter develops an original mapping methodology of manufacturing firms to be applied at the industrial district (ID) level, to capture both...

At the interface between supply chain management and strategy, this paper uses a global value chain (GVC) perspective to explore the concept of firm-level upgrading – i.e, changing the processes, products, the position in the supply chain or the supply chain itself - to increase the share of added value obtained by a firm. In particular, by means o...

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a fundamental role in International Development but their projects often lack efficiency and effectiveness. A key aspect is the proper use of project management tools and methodologies. The Logical Framework (LF) has been suggested as a key tool in this sector. However, the extent and impact of its use by...

Urban freight transportation plays a pivotal role in ensuring the liveability of urban areas, due to its fulfilment of citizens needs and its induced economic impact. Building upon the body of research on the topic of city logistics and its connected impacts and measures, this paper focuses on the development of a framework which is collectively ex...

The smiling curve theory adds to globalization phenomenon a discrimination feature, by assuming a selective division of higher and lower value added stages respectively to developed and developing countries. In such a Global Value Chain context, the upgrading ability – that helps to gain a higher share of value added – is a relevant variable to con...

The importance of international development projects in the field of international aid is growing. Given the characteristics of these projects, some specific methodologies have been developed, such as project cycle management (PCM) and the logical framework (LF) to efficiently carry out social impact assessment and project execution. However, few s...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the role of the plant in a manufacturing network (MN) affects the configurations of the flows of goods among plants, suppliers and customers and how these configurations, in turn, affect the extent of adoption and effectiveness of supply chain (SC) integration. Design/methodology/approach Three r...

The already significant volume of freight vehicles moving within city limits is steadily growing, and is expected to continue increasing at an even faster rate. Many European cities, however, have historical urban heritages and constraints that make them a logistics nightmare, where traffic congestion can result from improperly parked vehicles. In...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance in setting the level of autonomy (i.e. parental control) of plants in a network to enhance operational performance. In particular, the effect of autonomy on performance is analysed directly and indirectly through internal manufacturing network integration (MNI) and external supply chain integ...

Purpose The last decades have witnessed an increased interest in urban logistics originating from both the research and the practitioners’ communities. Sustainable freight transports today are on the political, social and technological agenda of many actors operating in urban contexts. Due to the extent of the covered areas and the continuous progr...

Although sustainable supply chain (SC) management has been widely investigated in recent years, the focus has mainly been on the practices adopted by a single company, so missing the big picture at SC level. This study of the Italian meat industry considers the SC as a whole, identifying the critical points for each stage in terms of economic, envi...

The Urban Distribution (or Consolidation) Centers (CDU) are one of the available solutions for the last mile logistics that have gained greater interest in both academic and transportation corporate fields. Despite the widespread of the projects involving CDUs, only few of them are recognized as effective over the years. In this paper, through a ca...

The construction industry is one of the oldest industries; still many researches show its low productivity. Supply Chain Management (SCM) has been identified as a key area for increasing productivity in this industry. Therefore, in this paper we present a systematic literature review about the development of the SCM concept within the construction...

The globalization phenomenon compelled researchers and practitioners to look at Supply Chains (SCs) from a global perspective. In this sense, the Global Value Chain (GVC) analysis can be beneficial to SC management by bringing new lenses of analysis, through the concepts of governance and upgrading. Based on the analysis of the International Manufa...

The global value chain (GVC) framework and its central concept of governance are increasingly advocated as powerful tools for interpreting managerial issues with particular reference to global supply chain (SC) management. However, a gap still exists about how the GVC concepts, which have been developed at the industry level, can be applied at the...

2010 technical article in the trade journal Powder Coating about the Duke CGGC powder coating sponsored research report

2009 European Coatings Journal article on the sponsored research project report conducted at Duke CGGC

Golini, R., Gimenez, C., 2013. Linking Supply Chain Management To Manufacturing Strategy: An Empirical Analysis, Proceedings of the 20th EurOMA Conference, Dublin.

In this paper, we propose a framework aiming to provide a preliminary assessment and comparison of cities on the most important dimensions related to city logistics, thus preparing the ground for stakeholder engagement and solution design. The framework is also designed to overcome some of most relevant issues in city logistics research, such as la...

The pursuit of sustainable solutions for moving goods in urban areas with minimum impacts on the society and the environment is nowadays a broadly discussed subject. To better frame the research interests in this area, in this paper we discuss the main evidences emerged from a systematic literature review regarding the field of city logistics, whic...

In recent years, companies have paid growing attention to supply chain management at a global level. However, an under investigated point is how companies in different contexts experience the effects of global sourcing and the outcomes from their investments in the supply chain. Based on a model proposed by Golini and Kalchschmidt (2010), the aim o...

Using the lenses of the Global Value Chain analysis, this paper explores the concept of upgrading and the role of supply chain (SC) management in the context of the Italian textile and clothing industry. By means of seven case studies, we highlight different upgrading trajectories, the internal and external drivers and which SC management leverages...

Using the lenses of the Global Value Chain analysis, this paper explores the concept of upgrading and the role of supply chain management in the context of the Italian textile and apparel industry. By means of five case studies, we highlight different upgrading trajectories, the internal and external drivers and which supply chain management levera...

In recent decades, inventory reduction has been a key objective of companies in various industries and is particularly important in the current crisis. Inventory is closely related to a company's production system and supply chain and a one-way strategy towards zero-inventory can be inapplicable or too general. As a matter of fact, there is a compl...

International Development (ID) projects carried out by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are considered one of the pillars for providing assistance to developing countries, but these projects are reported to have high failure rates and their performance is often considered not satisfactory. Only recently researchers started to consider project...

Urban population is steadily growing, bringing along a manifold increase of demand for goods and services, mainly concentrated in relatively limited or overly constrained areas. This is inevitably leading cities around the world to face increasing challenges in terms of efficient transportation of persons and goods, while controlling and ideally re...

International development (ID) projects are pivotal in the field of international aid, but their actual impact is difficult to assess and often questioned. Focusing on non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in this paper we analyse two aspects related to the impact of ID projects. The first concerns the characteristics of ID projects. We reviewed t...

This paper aims to study whether Human Resource Management and the organizational practices related to New Forms of Work Organization (NFWO) (e.g., teamwork, training, and employee involvement) should be implemented to attain higher environmental and social sustainability performance. This potential connection is analyzed using the International Ma...

Probabilmente, il tema della logistica urbana di per sé non suscita immediato di interesse al di fuori della cerchia degli addetti ai lavori. Molto spesso, è un tema dato quasi per scontato, e del quale magari ci si rende conto solo in occasioni particolari. Ma, allo stesso tempo, il tema della logistica urbana delle merci è un tema reale e attuale...

This paper investigates the moderating effect of global supply chain (SC) configurations on the relationship between SC improvement programs and operational performance improvement, based on data collected from the fifth edition of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS). Configurations are defined through the level of sourcing, manu...

Sustainability, intended as including in companies’ strategies and practices environmental and social aspects, is an always more relevant topic. In this paper we specifically address how three variables, namely “sustainable” supply chain management (SSCM), “traditional” supply chain management (SCM) and global sourcing interact each other to determ...

This paper aims at analysing the supply management strategies in the luxury industry in order to find out (1) whether different clusters of companies could be identified within the luxury industry, on the base of a set of contingent variables derived from previous research, and (2) which supply chain strategy is currently applied within each cluste...

In recent years, companies have paid growing attention to supply chain management at a global level. With regard to the upstream part of the supply chain, the need for better suppliers, the research into specific competences and concerns related to international competition have forced companies to improve their ability to cope with suppliers locat...

Purpose This paper aims at understanding the relationship between the adoption of new forms of work organizations (NFWOs) and measures of country impact, in terms of national culture and economic development. Design/methodology/approach The adoption of NFWO practices is measured through data from the fourth edition of the International Manufacturi...

Globalization is an ever growing phenomenon. Especially for what concerns sales and distribution activities, globalization offers the possibility, even to smaller companies, to access to new markets and, in turn, to increase scale and scope of operations. However there are some pitfalls, such as higher lead times induced by longer distances. This c...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify different maturity stages of eProcurement adoption. eProcurement (i.e. electronic purchase of indirect goods), is a growing reality and it is spreading among companies. However, even inside a growing trend, no and low adopters can still be found, and those already using eProcurement go through many...

Purpose In 2003 the authors investigated the level of adoption of e‐business by manufacturing firms in Europe. Four company strategies were identified based on different extents of adoption of internet‐based tools for interaction with customers and/or suppliers. The purpose of this paper is to replicate, those analyses using the new release of the...

The industry of luxury goods is worth investigating from the point of view of operations and supply chain (SC) strategy. Several authors expressed the need to focus SC strategy and align it towards the critical success factors (CSF) of the product/market. Despite this is a relevant topic also for the luxury industry, very few specific contributions...

This paper analyses the impact of local sourcing on lead time performances. In particular attention is devoted to the effect of choosing to source locally without having made a proper strategic analysis of the purchasing process. Analyses are based on data provided by the IMSS research project regarding more than 500 companies in different countrie...

The powder coating market of China with respect to the world market comprises of the small and medium enterprises (SME). Over 2,000 powder coating manufacturers exist in China, 98% of them are SME with production levels under 1,000 MT per year. Ten large foreign firms produce 20% (142,000 MT) of Chinese powder coatings, with the largest three produ...

In the last few years, companies have paid growing attention to the management of their supply chain at a global level. The need for better suppliers, international competition and research of specific competences have forced companies to improve their ability to cope with suppliers and customers located in different countries around the world. Thi...

This work investigates the relationship between manufacturing best practices and competitive priorities. By means of data provided by four editions of the IMSS dataset, a longitudinal analysis is performed to analyze to which extent this relationship is stable over time. Results provide evidence that some best practices have always been adopted to...