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PurposeThere have been contradictory findings in the literature regarding the impact of information technology (IT) on firm productivity. While the debate known as the "IT paradox" still endures, there has been little empirical research to clarify why or when IT offers benefits to the owning firms. This study attempts to fill this gap in the literature by investigating when IT contributes to firm performance.Design/methodology/approachUsing survey data, this study explores how IT adoption by a firm, in the context of supply chain communication systems, influences its market performance. Of special interest are improvements in both the firm's own and its partner's coordination activities. Criticality of a firm's channel partner is used as a moderating variable.FindingsResults suggest that a firm's own coordination mediates the influence of IT adoption on market performance only when the partner being coordinated is critical to its success. If the partner is not critical to the success of the firm, the benefits of IT adoption can be materialized only through enhancements in the coordination activities of the partner.Originality/valueThe study results clarify why the assumed benefits of IT have been inconsistent in the context of supply chain relationships.

Including criticality into Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has always been challenging to achieve but desirable to accomplish. In this article, we present a new approach for the evaluation of resource consumption of products by building comparison values based on Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) combined with weighted criticality values to show the direct impacts of criticality on LCA results. For this purpose, we develop an impact indicator based on the Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP) of natural resources and use the two main parameters defined by the EU to determine the criticality of a material - the economic importance and the supply risk – in our case studies to build the Criticality Weighted Abiotic Depletion Potentials (CWADPs), one for each parameter. These indicators allow identifying and measuring the impacts of criticality when comparing the results of resource depletion using the ADP methodology and the results that incorporate criticality. The comparison of the CWADPs to the corresponding EU criticality values and its thresholds it reflects the equivalent criticality of the assessed product. This information reflects the impacts of criticality on LCA and assesses the total resource consumption of critical materials in a system.Keywords: Life Cycle Assessment, criticality, resources, materials, sustainability indicator

Large power transformers (LPTs) represent a critical "tent‐pole" in national electric power grid, and national resiliency. They are essential to both the generation and transmission sectors of our electric power grid. They are known to be targets in adversaries' plans to debilitate our critical infrastructures. Their high cost and supply chain issues involving months to years of replacement times dictate the importance of survivability assurance. Transformer vulnerability and protection are addressed for physical attacks, cyber, and electromagnetic effects, including solar weather geomagnetic disturbance (GMD) and high altitude burst nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects. Programs have been underway to improve transformer and transformer substation cyber and physical resiliency. Similar programs are lagging for electromagnetic threats. Transformer vulnerability to EMP remains a subject of conjecture since no large power transformer has undergone threat‐level EMP testing. Prevalent claims that LPTs are immune to EMP are premature.The Savannah River National Laboratory has developed a test program and designed a test bed to complete testing on LPTs including physical set‐up, injection sources, and measurement equipment to enable transformer testing under real load conditions without harming the larger power grid. The SNRL test bed will enable tests to determine both transformer vulnerability thresholds and the effectiveness of protection devices. A concerted national effort is needed to determine LPT vulnerabilities and to expeditiously develop and certify effective EMP and GMD protection approaches.

AbstractThe risk assessment of drinking‐water supply systems in Ogun State, Nigeria, was carried out using the failure mode effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) approach. The FMECA is a systemic process that identifies potentials failure modes within a system and was chosen for its causes and effect approach to assessing risks. The objective of the study was to assess drinking‐water supply systems and identify water supply systems' risks from source to point‐of‐use. Three major water supply sources were selected for assessment: hand‐dug wells, boreholes and public water supply sources. The sources were assessed by identifying the potential failure modes that exist within the water supply sources and the consequence of the identified risks on relevant stakeholders. The sources were divided into modules. The risk in each module was determined by multiplying failure rate (likelihood) and consequences of failure of the module. Risk reduction options include repair and maintenance measures, information dissemination on the procedures to reduce the identified risks and preventive and regulatory approaches. The resulting risks were characterized using FMECA risk matrix of each water source and classified into high, medium and low risks. Well cover and lining were the most risk‐prone modules for hand‐dug wells (high and medium risks). Broken well cover and lining serve as pathways to contaminants into the well. Casing and screen modules posed the highest risk for boreholes, recording high to medium risk. Cracked casing and broken screen provide access for contamination into boreholes. The module with the greatest risk for public water supply source was the point‐of‐abstraction/use module. Unsanitary containers and poor storage conditions is believed to be responsible for recontamination of the treated water Climate variability, environmental and anthropogenic influences were observed to be responsible for most of the identified risks. The study highlights that consumer participation is vital in ensuring the availability of safe drinking‐water, stressing consumer education as the most important channel. The study recommends the use of FMECA to ensure implementing preventive and regulatory measures by water monitoring agencies and for water resources planning and policy making.

China is globally the largest and a rapidly growing market for electric vehicles. The aim of the paper is to determine challenges related to criticality and environmental impacts of battery electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles, focusing not only on a global but also the Chinese perspective, applying the ESSENZ method, which covers a unique approach to determine criticality aspects as well as integrating life cycle assessment results. Real industry data for vehicles and batteries produced in China was collected. Further, for the criticality assessment, Chinese import patterns are analyzed. The results show that the battery electric vehicle has similar and partly increased environmental impacts compared with the internal combustion engine vehicle. For both, the vehicle cycle contributes to a large proportion in all the environmental impact categories except for global warming. Further, battery electric vehicles show a higher criticality than internal combustion engine vehicles, with tantalum, lithium, and cobalt playing essential roles. In addition, the Chinese-specific results show a lower criticality compared to the global assessment for the considered categories trade barriers and political stability, while again tantalum crude oil and cobalt have high potential supply disruptions. Concluding, battery electric vehicles still face challenges regarding thei environmental as well as criticality performance from the whole supply chain both in China and worldwide. One reason is the replacement of the lithium-ion power battery. By enhancing its quality and establishing battery recycling, the impacts of battery electric vehicle would decrease. ; TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel – 2021 ; DFG, 353450346, Bewertung der Inanspruchnahme biotischer und abiotischer Ressourcen im Mobilitätssektor -Entwicklung von Ökobilanz-kompatiblen Bewertungskriterien, -methoden und -konzepten

China is globally the largest and a rapidly growing market for electric vehicles. The aim of the paper is to determine challenges related to criticality and environmental impacts of battery electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles, focusing not only on a global but also the Chinese perspective, applying the ESSENZ method, which covers a unique approach to determine criticality aspects as well as integrating life cycle assessment results. Real industry data for vehicles and batteries produced in China was collected. Further, for the criticality assessment, Chinese import patterns are analyzed. The results show that the battery electric vehicle has similar and partly increased environmental impacts compared with the internal combustion engine vehicle. For both, the vehicle cycle contributes to a large proportion in all the environmental impact categories except for global warming. Further, battery electric vehicles show a higher criticality than internal combustion engine vehicles, with tantalum, lithium, and cobalt playing essential roles. In addition, the Chinese-specific results show a lower criticality compared to the global assessment for the considered categories trade barriers and political stability, while again tantalum crude oil and cobalt have high potential supply disruptions. Concluding, battery electric vehicles still face challenges regarding their environmental as well as criticality performance from the whole supply chain both in China and worldwide. One reason is the replacement of the lithium-ion power battery. By enhancing its quality and establishing battery recycling, the impacts of battery electric vehicle would decrease. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43615-021-00012-5.