Enabling supply chain agility through process integration and supply flexibility

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Irfan ◽  
Mingzheng Wang ◽  
Naeem Akhtar

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the underlying mechanism through which firms can achieve supply chain agility and augment business performance from the vendor’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on dynamic capability view and contingency theory, the study conceptualizes a moderated mediation model to investigate the underlying influence of process integration (PI), supply flexibility and product-related complexity on supply chain agility and the subsequent effect of supply chain agility on firm’s business performance. Survey data from a sample of 148 firms, in the garment manufacturing industry, in Pakistan were analyzed using partial least square methods. Findings The results revealed that supply flexibility (i.e. volume and mix) mediates the effect of PI on supply chain agility. Supply chain agility, in turn, influences a firm’s business performance. Furthermore, the competence‒capability framework is not consistent across the varying degrees of product complexity such as product complexity hinders the effect of supply flexibility on supply chain agility, whereas it amplifies the impact of PI on supply chain agility. The conditional indirect effects suggest that the indirect effect of PI on supply chain agility through supply flexibility becomes stronger when product complexity is high. Originality/value The study is novel in the context of an emerging economy to educate fashion vendors to tune their competencies and capabilities to regain the market share in the global market place.

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xun Li ◽  
Qun Wu ◽  
Clyde W. Holsapple ◽  
Thomas Goldsby

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of three critical dimensions of supply chain resilience, supply chain preparedness, supply chain alertness and supply chain agility, all aimed at increasing a firm’s financial outcomes. In a turbulent environment, firms require resilience in their supply chains to prepare for potential changes, detect changes and respond to actual changes, thus providing superior value. Design/methodology/approach Using survey data from 77 firms, this study develops scales for preparedness, alertness and agility. It then tests their hypothesized relationships with a firm’s financial performance. Findings The results reveal that the three dimensions of supply chain resilience (i.e. preparedness, alertness and agility) significantly impact a firm’s financial performance. It is also found that supply chain preparedness, as a proactive resilience capability, has a greater influence on a firm’s financial performance than the reactive capabilities including alertness and agility, suggesting that firms should pay more attention to proactive approaches for building supply chain resilience. Originality/value First, this study develops a comparatively comprehensive definition for supply chain resilience and explores its dimensionality. Second, this study provides empirically validated instruments for the dimensions of supply chain resilience. Third, this study is one of the first to provide empirical evidence for direct impact of supply chain resilience dimensions on a firm’s financial performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 1511-1534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Jou Chen

Purpose Developing agility and innovativeness as dynamic capabilities are important for firms to sustain their competitive advantage in today’s global economy. The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a framework to investigate how the supply chain agility and innovativeness are achieved through IT integration and trust in members of supply chain and how these, in turn, can enhance firms’ competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach This research employs a survey method and data are collected from senior managers working in the supply chain or IT area. The model and hypotheses are tested utilizing data from 204 usable Taiwan manufacturing firms via structural equations modeling methodology. Findings The study demonstrates that both IT integration and trust in supply chain members significantly enhance supply chain agility and innovativeness, which in turn positively affect firm’s competitive advantage. The results indicate that IT integration and trust are antecedents and major joint partnership resources for improving supply chain agility and innovativeness. Research limitations/implications Data are collected from manufacturing industry in Taiwan and single respondent from each firm, the generalizability of current findings to other industries or countries should require additional investigation. Practical implications The study suggests that a firm should focus on IT integration and trust in supply chain members to achieve supply chain agility and innovativeness. To take advantage of supply chain agility and innovativeness, through maximizing firm’s competitive advantage, firms should continually adapt to the fast changing business environment and search for creative ways to satisfy new market needs. Originality/value Given the attention paid to supply chain agility and innovativeness in terms of importance to responding to business uncertainty and competitiveness, and more recently, as important capabilities in managing supply chain management, this paper investigates how IT integration and trust can contribute to supply chain agility and innovativeness. Provide evidence regarding the impact of IT integration and trust on agility of supply chains, innovativeness and competitive advantage.


Author(s):  
Hooshang M. Beheshti ◽  
Pejvak Oghazi ◽  
Rana Mostaghel ◽  
Magnus Hultman

Purpose – This article aims to explore the impact of supply chain integration on the financial performance of Swedish manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach – The literature review provided the foundation for the development of the survey instrument and hypotheses for the study. In addition, the survey instrument was tested by the experts in the field and modified before it was sent to the managers in the survey group. Findings – The findings show that supply chain integration at any level is beneficial to the financial well being of the firm. Companies with total supply chain integration reported the highest level of financial performance. Research limitations/implications – Data were collected from Swedish manufacturing firms without regard to the size of the firm. The results show that supply chain integration is beneficial at any level. Practical implications – The findings will assist managers with decisions regarding supply chain integration and its role as a critical factor in improving the financial performance of manufacturing companies. Originality/value – Limited empirical studies have been conducted in this area, especially in Sweden. This study provides insight for manufacturing managers with regard to the importance of supply chain management and the competitive nature of business in the global market.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Azwan Ahmad Shukor ◽  
Md. Shah Newaz ◽  
Muhammad Khalilur Rahman ◽  
Azni Zarina Taha

PurposeThis study investigates the impact of environmental uncertainty and organizational ambidexterity on supply chain integration and its relationship between supply chain agility and organizational flexibility in the manufacturing firms.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 526 managers in services and manufacturing industry in Kuala Lumpur. The partial least square (SmartPLS 3.0) tool was applied through the use of the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique.FindingsThe results revealed that a strong relationship exist between environmental uncertainty and supply chain integrations including customer, supplier and internal integration. Organizational ambidexterity has a significant relationship with supply chain integration. Supply chain integrations were shown to have a positive impact on the firm's supply chain agility and organizational flexibility.Originality/valueThe findings may assist to establish a set of key drivers for enhancing supply chain agility and organizational flexibility as a supply chain management initiative in the manufacturing and service industry.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bambang Tjahjadi ◽  
Noorlailie Soewarno ◽  
Viviani Nadyaningrum ◽  
Aisyah Aminy

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether human capital readiness affects business performance, and if so, whether the effect is mediated by global market orientation.Design/methodology/approachThis is a quantitative study employing partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypotheses. Using a survey method, the data were collected using both online and offline questionnaires. As many as 433 owners/managers of micro-, small- and-medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the East Java Province of Indonesia participated in this study. A mediating research framework was developed to investigate the mediating role of global marketing orientation on the human capital readiness–business performance relationship.FindingsThe results show that human capital readiness has a direct and positive effect on business performance. Further analysis reveals that global market orientation partially mediates the effect of human capital readiness on business performance.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, this study focuses on the MSMEs in the East Java Province of Indonesia. Caution needs to be taken if the results are generalized to other regions. Second, it employed a survey method that is commonly criticized as having the potential to be biased.Practical implicationsThe findings provide a more comprehensive understanding of owners/managers of human capital readiness and how it should be improved to better execute global market orientation strategies to achieve the desired business performance.Social implicationsBecause MSMEs play a crucial role in society, this study provides a general model to improve the welfare of society by enhancing the MSMEs' business performance. By understanding its antecedents, namely, human capital readiness and the global market orientation, improvements can be made.Originality/valueHuman capital readiness has been rarely examined in previous studies. This is the only study applying the constructs of human capital readiness, global market orientation and business performance to the Indonesian MSME research setting.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Zimmermann ◽  
Luis Miguel D.F. Ferreira ◽  
Antonio Carrizo Moreira ◽  
Ana Cristina Barros ◽  
Henrique Luiz Correa

PurposeThis paper investigates the effect of the fit between supply and demand uncertainty (SDU) and supply chain responsiveness (SCR) (SC fit) on business and innovation performance in Brazilian companies.Design/methodology/approachThe study presented an analysis carried out on an empirical study based on a sample of 150 manufacturing companies. Business and innovation performance of companies with different types of SC fit ( high–high and low–low fits) and misfit (positive and negative) are compared and discussed.FindingsThe results indicated that SC fit had a positive effect on both business and innovation performance. Further analyses suggested that companies with SC fit present similar business performance, independent of the level of SDU that characterizes the environment where they compete, while companies in environments with higher levels of uncertainty tend to present superior innovation performance. Companies with positive and negative misfit present similar performance.Originality/valueAn analysis of the literature showed that there is no consensus when it comes to the definitions and measurements of SC fit. The paper investigates the effects of SC fit on business and innovation performance, while previous empirical studies have mainly addressed its impact on financial performance. Moreover, this study compares the effects of two types of fit and two types of misfit and assesses SC fit in Brazilian manufacturing companies, analyzing the context of an under-researched reality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 1003-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anil Kumar ◽  
Rohit Kr Singh ◽  
Sachin Modgil

PurposeThis paper presents the concerns in agri-food supply chain. Further the research investigates the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in agri-food supply chain and determines the impact of supply chain management (SCM) practices on firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical framework was proposed for the study on the basis of existing literature. Data for the study was collected with the help of structured questionnaire from 121 executives and officers of the public food distribution agency. Partial least square (PLS)–structured equation modeling was employed to test the framework and hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that ICT and SCM practices (logistics integration and supplier relationships) have a significant relationship. Furthermore, SCM practices (information sharing, supplier relationship and logistics integration) have a significant and positive impact on performance of the organization.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research could be carried out to test the moderation effect of SCM practices between ICT and organizational performance (OP). Extending the research study to the companies operating in other sectors can enhance the external validity of the study and improve the accuracy of parameters examined.Practical implicationsThis study can be of interest to the agri-food industry as well as other industry practitioners interested in improving the performance of the organization from the view of supply chain.Originality/valueThe outcomes of this study have important implications that translate into a series of recommendations for the management of public food distribution as well as other agri-food-based supply chains.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 731-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abubaker Haddud ◽  
Anshuman Khare

Purpose New technological trends continue to emerge, and businesses adopt them in different capacity in a pursuit of improving current ways of doing things and to gain competitive advantages over rivals. One of the key business functions that is impacted by the implementation of different disruptive technologies is the supply chain management. As a result, there is a continuous need to identify where digitalizing supply chains may provide businesses with benefits to capitalize such gains. This study aims to examine potential impacts of digitalizing supply chains on five selected lean operations practices through the identification of key areas and benefits under each of these practices. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 74 participants mainly from the academic community and who were university scholars through the use of an online survey. The used online survey consists of six main parts in total, but three were included in this paper and these were designed to gather data about participants’ general information, level of influence of seven technological trends on supply chain performance and management and potential impact of digitalizing supply chains on five lean operations practices. Findings The authors were able to confirm the significant impact of digitalizing supply chains on the five examined lean operations practices. Most of the examined potential impacts were found to improve certain areas that directly improve the practices of the explored five lean operations practices as well as the overall supply chain and business performance. They were also able to determine the level of influence of the seven examined enabling technologies on supply chain performance and management. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind. Although some literature explored different aspects related to the concept of Industry 4.0 and digitalizing supply chains, no study has specifically explored potential impacts of digitalizing supply chains on lean operations. The results from this study can be beneficial to academic scholars interested in the researched themes, business professionals specializing in supply chain management and lean operations, organizations within different industrial sectors particularly manufacturing where lean thinking is adopted and any other party interested in understanding more about the impact of digitalizing supply chain on lean operations and on an overall business performance.


Author(s):  
Yongyi Shou ◽  
Ying Li ◽  
Young Won Park ◽  
Mingu Kang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of supply chain integration (SCI) at the product level. More specifically, it aims to show the relationship between product-level characteristics (i.e. product complexity and product variety) and different dimensions of SCI (i.e. internal, supplier and customer integration). Design/methodology/approach A survey-based research design is developed to measure different dimensions of SCI, product complexity and product variety. The authors use structural equation modelling to test the related hypotheses. Findings This research shows that internal integration is an enabler to supplier and customer integration. The results also show that under high product complexity, firms tend to implement internal and supplier integration, while product complexity does not have a direct impact on customer integration. Product variety is confirmed to be positively related to all dimensions of SCI. Originality/value This paper contributes to the SCI literature by first, providing empirical evidence which supports the study of the product design-supply chain interface; and second, exploring the relationships between product complexity, variety and internal, supplier and customer integration based on a governance view.


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