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Article
Publication date: 23 January 2009

Alain Halley and Martin Beaulieu

According to the most recent theories, the competitiveness of organizations is based on the development of competencies. Core competencies result from greater mastery than…

6129

Abstract

Purpose

According to the most recent theories, the competitiveness of organizations is based on the development of competencies. Core competencies result from greater mastery than competitors of organizational abilities valued by customers. This paper seeks to investigate how a more thorough integration of the supply chain may be associated with greater mastery of operational competencies.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a mail survey carried out among Canadian manufacturing companies.

Findings

The statistical analyses identified four clusters of respondents with regard to their supply chain management practices. These practices may be either distant or integrated with upstream or downstream partners. The other component of the study made it possible to identify four operational competencies – i.e. cost, delivery, logistic services, and design. It was observed that the group with the most highly integrated supply practices mastered an operational competency in logistic services.

Research limitations/implications

The limited size of the sample and its regional character may limit the generalization of results. The study will therefore be reproduced in other regions of the world.

Originality/value

Very little research has been done on the impact of supply chain management on operational competencies. Using the results of an empirical study, the paper provides a better understanding of the relationship between supply chain management practices and the development of operational competencies. It also offers a somewhat different view of the concept of supply chain integration.

Details

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-8546

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Article
Publication date: 1 November 1997

Alain Halley and Alice Guilhon

Progressively acknowledged as a systemic function and an organizational integration factor, logistics is slowly becoming a major strategic issue for organizations. Small‐ and…

5628

Abstract

Progressively acknowledged as a systemic function and an organizational integration factor, logistics is slowly becoming a major strategic issue for organizations. Small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), defined as enterprises with fewer than 500 employees and management centralized mainly in the person of the owner‐manager, who has a high degree of control over activities, specifically seek to improve their performance and efficiency through logistics. Suggests that logistics appears to play two roles in SMEs: an adaptation role, helping the enterprise adapt to changes in external conditions, and an integration role at the various organizational levels. In fact, clearly observes, a growing need for logistics and the heterogeneity of the strategic behaviours indicates that logistics (as a performance factor) should be developed according to the distinctive advantages of the SMEs concerned ‐ for example, the technological and organizational structure or the management style of the owner‐manager. Logistics is an overall concern in small enterprise strategy. It evolves from the transformation of structure, behaviours and internal expertise towards efficiency and effectiveness zones for very integrated SMEs, and efficiency zones for the others.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 27 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

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Article
Publication date: 20 March 2009

Stephan Vachon, Alain Halley and Martin Beaulieu

Over the last decade, competition in the manufacturing sector has increased as globalization and customer requirements have evolved. Now, organizations are competing not only with…

5977

Abstract

Purpose

Over the last decade, competition in the manufacturing sector has increased as globalization and customer requirements have evolved. Now, organizations are competing not only with their internal capabilities but also on their abilities to leverage capabilities in the supply chain. Recent studies suggest that strategic alignment in the supply chain, assessed by the degree of matching between supply management and market requirements, is critical for the success of organizations in the global marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible linkage between strategic alignment (or lack of) in the supply chain, based on the traditional competitive priorities (i.e. cost, quality, flexibility and delivery), and the type of interactions with suppliers.

Design/methodology/approach

Strategic alignment in the supply chain was measured by the difference between customer's requirements and the emphasis that the organization puts on these same requirements in dealing with its suppliers. The types of interactions were assessed by six items, three of them to measure the degree of arm's length practices and the other three to assess the degree of cooperation with suppliers. The empirical analysis used data from 512 manufacturing companies in Canada surveyed in 2003 and 2005. Linear regressions were conducted to test a series of four hypotheses linking alignment in the supply chain and the type of interactions with suppliers.

Findings

Interactions with suppliers that are increasingly based on cooperation were found to be linked with a better alignment of competitive priorities that are characteristic of responsive supply chains. An unexpected result was the positive link between arm's length interactions and delivery, a dimension that is also associated with responsive supply chains.

Research limitations/implications

The choice of interactions with suppliers can be critical in the alignment of competitive priorities in the supply chain. A limitation is that the empirical analysis rests on data collected from one respondent per organization.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to research by providing empirical evidence of the link between the type of interactions with suppliers and the alignment of competitive priorities in the supply chain.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 16 November 2010

Brent Snider

482

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 30 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 6 February 2009

2187

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

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Article
Publication date: 1 August 1970

I suppose that most noticeable of all the changes in our profession since I came into it has been the multiplicity of the methods by which one can become a librarian. A. E…

84

Abstract

I suppose that most noticeable of all the changes in our profession since I came into it has been the multiplicity of the methods by which one can become a librarian. A. E. Standley says in a recent article in the L.A.R., in 1970: “The term librarian includes the Library Association chartered librarian, the graduate with a degree in librarianship, the scholar librarian, the information and intelligence officer, the translator, the abstracter, the non‐library‐qualified subject expert”.

Details

New Library World, vol. 72 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

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Book part
Publication date: 12 October 2012

Harry F. Dahms and Lawrence Hazelrigg

The thing about naïveté is its hermetic tendency. One imagines having graduated out of it, but imagination proves only its own potentials. It is of course good to be held to…

Abstract

The thing about naïveté is its hermetic tendency. One imagines having graduated out of it, but imagination proves only its own potentials. It is of course good to be held to account by the question that circulates through so much of our belletristic literatures (as in, for instance, Edward St Aubyn's Bad News): How can one think one's way out of a problem, when the problem is the way one thinks? Yet an extra layer of diagnosis need not result in anything beyond itself. I can easily glimpse the chiaroscuro of another mind and thus know of the limits of my knowledge of its furnishings without knowing what they (the limits or the furnishings) are, or even whether the clarity is meant to be hidden by, more than hide, the dimness. But is inner presentation/apprehension of one's own self-portrait any more diamantine, any less naive, in its “obviousness”? And if it should be, at any moment, where/what are the reliably timely markers? When, therefore, I experience increasingly complex realities – layer upon layer, cut and recut and repackaged – without commensurate increases in production of value, am I experiencing a mind-blindness?– An out-take from “After Fin de partie

Details

Theorizing Modern Society as a Dynamic Process
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-034-5

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