Arif Khan K, B. Bakkappa, Bhimaraya A. Metri and B.S. Sahay
The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical distribution practices of agile supply chains and provide a comprehensive framework that can be used to improve the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical distribution practices of agile supply chains and provide a comprehensive framework that can be used to improve the responsiveness of supply chains. The research is carried out in the context of different manufacturing industries and provides empirical evidence that agile supply chain distribution enhances organisational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employed survey research, using a sample of 128 manufacturing companies.
Findings
The paper explores the critical distribution practices of supply chains that make supply chains agile. Collaborative distribution, order commitment, distribution flexibility and inventory management are the key SCM distribution practices associated with agile supply chains, and have significant impact on organisational performance.
Research limitations/implications
Data were collected from a single node/respondent of a supply chain. Further research could be carried out using mutiple node data of each supply chain to make the research more meaningful and generalisable.
Practical implications
The findings may be used to gauge the competitive capabilities of SCM distribution and to guide organisations to measure and improve supply chain responsiveness and organisational performance.
Originality/value
The paper provides evidence regarding the impact of the critical distribution practices of agile supply chains on performnace.
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Veera Pandiyan Kaliani Sundram, VGR Chandran and Muhammad Awais Bhatti
The purpose of this paper is to employ a newly developed framework to examine the complex relationship between different components of supply chain practices, supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to employ a newly developed framework to examine the complex relationship between different components of supply chain practices, supply chain integration (SCI) and supply chain performance (SCP) in the Malaysian electronics sector.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilizes survey data of 156 electronics firms in Malaysia and tested the research framework and hypotheses. In addition to the traditional approach of Barron and Kenny (1986), the Sobel test as well as a bootstrapping approach, which is deemed for small sample size, is used to formally test the indirect effects of SCI in the model.
Findings
SCI has fully and partially mediated the relationship between supply chain management practices (SCMPs) and SCP. SCI fully mediates the relationship between SCP and three of the SCMPs, namely, information quality, agreed vision and goals and postponement strategies. The relationship of supply strategic partnership, customer relation management, information sharing with SCP were partially mediated by SCI. Risk and reward sharing is found to be non-significant. These insights allow managers to effectively utilize the different components of SCMPs for SCI and performance.
Practical implications
For supply chain practitioners, the results of the study can be useful in integrating SCMPs and SCI on improving SCP. Practitioners should take into account the mediating effect of SCI in designing their supply chain management approach to production.
Originality/value
To the authors’ best knowledge, this paper is one of the first to address the mediating effect of SCI between SCMPs and overall performance of the supply chain.
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Arif Khan K and Rajesh K. Pillania
The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of strategic sourcing and determines its relationship with organisational supply chain agility and performance. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of strategic sourcing and determines its relationship with organisational supply chain agility and performance. It classifies manufacturing firms based on their level of supply chain agility and test the diffrences in firms' performnace across the clusters so obtained.
Design/methodology/approach
This research employes survey method and data is collected from 128 manufacturing companies in India. Valid and reliable measures of strategic sourcing, supply chain agility and organizational performance are developed. Factor structure and initial validity is determined and K‐Means cluster analysis is applied for clustering firms based on their level of supply agility. Multiple regression and ANOVA is used for hypotheses testing.
Findings
Strategic suplier partnership, sourcing flexibility, supplier evaluation and trust in supply chain members are the key dimensions of strategic sourcing. Result shows the significant effect of strategic sourcing and its diemnsions on supply chain agility and firms' performance.
Research limitations/implications
Data is collected from single node/respondent of supply chain and further research can be carried out by using mutiple node data of each supply chain to make the research more meaningful and generalisable.
Practical implications
Findings are useful to develop and measure the competitive capabilities of strategic sourcing and guide the organisations to enhance supply chain responsiveness and organisational performance.
Originality/value
The paper provides strategic diemnsions of sourcing and their measurement scales. Provide evidence regarding the impact of strategic sourcing on agility of supply chains and performnace.
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Cagla Burcin Akdogan, Nimet Uray, Burc Ulengin and Meltem Kiygi-Calli
This paper aims to examine the direct impacts of marketing resources and marketing activities on several business performance indicators in the banking industry and the indirect…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the direct impacts of marketing resources and marketing activities on several business performance indicators in the banking industry and the indirect effects through customer-based brand equity.
Design/methodology/approach
We use a holistic empirical approach based on resource-based view and marketing productivity chain. The main study consists of a secondary analysis using quarterly data of fourteen banks over four years. We analyze the data using fixed-effect panel data regression, namely seemingly unrelated regressions.
Findings
We find that customer-based brand equity is one of the most influential factors on business performance. Moreover, the indirect effect through customer-based brand equity should be considered in improving business performance. Marketing-related financial resources positively impact customer-based brand equity and business performance. Regarding marketing activities, pricing strategies affect the bank preferences of customers, which in turn affect the growth of deposit volumes and churn rates. Additionally, the number of bank branches positively impacts business performance. Advertising spending on different media has differentiated impacts on the performance indicators; thus, the allocation of advertising budget and advertising planning are critical.
Originality/value
This study examines the inter-relationships among marketing resources, marketing activities, consumer response through brand equity and marketing performance. This study contributes to the literature by integrating the resource-based view and the marketing productivity chain to analyze the inter-relationships using panel data and several sector-related metrics. This study provides valuable insights to decision-makers in the banking industry.
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First, the paper aims to explore the ability of the actor sitting on the structural hole to achieve the additional rent, which is modeled as the outcome of joint effect between…
Abstract
Purpose
First, the paper aims to explore the ability of the actor sitting on the structural hole to achieve the additional rent, which is modeled as the outcome of joint effect between the relational performances of two dyads (supplier–buyer and buyer–customer) within the triadic supply chains. Second, the paper seeks to empirically compare the value of additional rent among different structural hole states of triadic supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
Building upon the theoretical tenets of social capital theory, complemented by the underpinnings of relational view, this research uses survey data gathered from the triadic supply chains in Europe. To conduct necessary processing, the multivariate statistical analyses have been performed.
Findings
The findings suggest that the rent is actually yielded by the actors bridging the structural hole in the triadic supply chain; however, its value, as evidenced in the study, is diverse regarding the specific structural hole state. More specifically, the highest value of rent is generated by the buyer establishing cooperative posture of both dyads in the triadic supply chains. The value of rent close to zero is revealed in the triadic supply chains with negative relational posture of both dyads. Interestingly, the lowest level of rent produced by the buyer from bridging the structural hole is reported with the triadic supply chains in which one dyad demonstrates a more cooperative relational posture, whereas the other one indicates an adversarial relational posture. Not only does this result suggest that there is no rent, but it even goes further to indicate a negative return (or loss) derived by the manufacturer in this group of triadic supply chains.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to the relational posture, either strong or weak; therefore, it would be worthwhile to examine a wider spectrum of behaviors, based on the adversarial relationships, deprived of mutual trust, when both actors in a dyad act opportunistically and antagonistically. Moreover, regarding the research method used, the case study is usually deemed to be more appropriate to deeply grasp the complex issues of social behavior. Finally, caution should also be exercised while generalizing the results obtained from the research.
Practical implications
For practicing supply chain managers, this study points that that it is likely that both actors collaborating with the buyer (the supplier and the customer) also enjoy additional benefits offered by the rent. Importantly for managers, regardless of the effort made by the focal actor, the careless attitude and independence of suppliers and customers may make it hard or even impossible for the buyer to establish triads that include relationships of high quality.
Social implications
In terms of social implications, this study brings to the fore that not only are the buyers driven by self-interest but they may be also guided by ethical and social rules when interacting with suppliers and customers in their triads. This research evidenced that the buyer in the triadic supply chain can act as the moderator that tends to simultaneously establish a strong relational posture to two other actors in such a way that the joint effect of relational performance generated by both dyads significantly contributes to the higher level of buyer’s individual performance.
Originality/value
The study investigates whether and how establishing relational posture of two dyads in the triadic supply chains can affect the additional rent for the buyer derived from bridging the structural hole.
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Thiago Fernandes Lima, Bouchaib Bahli, Alberto Arbulu, Ahmed Hamdi and Tarik Saikouk
This study aims to identify the “should have” and “must have” capabilities required to boost a supply chain’s robustness and operational performance. Research on supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the “should have” and “must have” capabilities required to boost a supply chain’s robustness and operational performance. Research on supply chain capabilities and their impact has long been central to the supply chain discipline. However, empirical studies continue to report mixed results regarding the relationship between integration and performance or agility and robustness. Using a novel methodological approach, this study explores how supply chain integration, agility and supply chain risk management activities influence the operational performance and robustness of supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected through surveys and analyzed using SmartPLS 4 and necessary condition analysis (NCA). This combined approach shifts focus from average trends to identifying the required levels of capabilities, offering insights into the necessity logic of supply chain strategies.
Findings
The study reveals that supply chain risk management and internal integration significantly influence operational performance and robustness. It also supports agility as a precursor to enhancing supply chain robustness, aligning with contemporary theoretical perspectives.
Practical implications
The findings suggest the importance of integrating risk management and internal processes to enhance supply chain performance and robustness. Additionally, agility emerges as a critical strategy in navigating disruptions, emphasizing the need to prioritize it in supply chain management.
Originality/value
By adopting a holistic approach grounded in dynamic capability theory, this study contributes to understanding the interplay of supply chain strategies amid unprecedented challenges. The combined use of SmartPLS 4 and NCA offers a novel perspective, shedding light on the necessary logic of supply chain capabilities.
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There is a lack of consensus in conceptualizing and defining logistics flexibility as a distinct construct among supply chain scholars. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a lack of consensus in conceptualizing and defining logistics flexibility as a distinct construct among supply chain scholars. The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze the existing literature on logistics flexibility.
Design/methodology/approach
By taking a systematic approach to literature review, a total of 100 academic articles were content analyzed. As a general framework, the classification broadly provided by Zhang et al. (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006) was applied in order to increase the consistency and validity of the review.
Findings
The results show that logistics flexibility has gained an increasing academic attention in the past two decades in terms of the number of published articles. First, the various terminologies often used in relation to logistics flexibility are explored. Second, the definitions of logistics flexibility at various levels of analysis are presented along with methodological considerations of the current literature. It is shown that most of the existing articles claim to study the matter at the chain level. The main methodological tools used in studying logistics flexibility are revealed as well as the fact that the majority of the empirical studies correspond to the manufacturing industry. Moreover, a synthesis of the principal measures used to gauge logistics flexibility is provided. Finally, current and emerging themes in logistics flexibility research are highlighted. The study also underlines the main measures used in studying logistics flexibility.
Research limitations/implications
This paper only focusses on academic articles published in journals and does not include other contributions such as books, etc. The systematic literature review facilitates further conceptual and empirical studies; however, more narrative literature reviews could complement the results of this study.
Originality/value
This paper is unique in the sense that it specifically reviews the literature on logistics flexibility in a systematic fashion. The content analysis has been carried out using NVivo 10 enabling the systematic nature of the review as well as increasing the pedagogical value of the method.
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Gizem Erboz, Işık Özge Yumurtacı Hüseyinoğlu and Zoltan Szegedi
Industry 4.0 not only impacts the manufacturing industry but also supply chain practices. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), the purpose of this paper is to examine how…
Abstract
Purpose
Industry 4.0 not only impacts the manufacturing industry but also supply chain practices. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), the purpose of this paper is to examine how Industry 4.0 affects supply chain integration (SCI) and supply chain performance (SCP).
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from 212 respondents in manufacturing companies. The partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypotheses of this study.
Findings
The findings reveal that Industry 4.0 has a positive impact on SCI and SCP, and SCI has a positive impact on SCP. In addition, a partial mediating role of SCI has been found between Industry 4.0 and SCP.
Practical implications
This study reveals the role of Industry 4.0 on supply chain practices and draws attention to SCI in the linkage between Industry 4.0 and SCP. The findings emphasise the need for Industry 4.0 and SCI to enhance SCP.
Originality/value
There is limited research on the impacts of Industry 4.0 on SCI and SCP. This research finds empirical evidence for these impacts and enhances knowledge of Industry 4.0 by using a sample from an emerging country.
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Rajesh Kr. Singh, Saroj Koul and Pravin Kumar
In the present scenario of global competition and economic recession, most of the organizations are facing tough challenge to survive in the market because of shortening product…
Abstract
Purpose
In the present scenario of global competition and economic recession, most of the organizations are facing tough challenge to survive in the market because of shortening product life cycle and reducing profit margin. Customers are seeking better design, production and delivery, which have made firms to concentrate on flexibility in supply chains. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify major factors and develop a suitable framework for flexibility in supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on literature review, about 14 factors have been identified. To develop relationship among these factors, a team of five experts from industry and academia was formed. Based on inputs from experts, different relationships are developed among factors to form structural self-interaction matrix (SSIM). Based on this matrix, a flexibility framework is developed by interpretive structural modelling approach.
Findings
Top management commitment, strategy development for flexible SC, application of advance technology and IT tools, information sharing in SC members, trust development among supply chain members have emerged as major driving factors. Logistics and warehouse management, suppliers flexibility, distribution flexibility and manufacturing flexibility have emerged as dependent factors.
Research limitations/implications
Framework developed in this study is based on interpretive structural modelling. This framework can be further validated with some case analysis and empirical findings.
Originality/value
Findings of the study can be useful for industry professionals to develop strategies for flexible supply chains. It will help them in taking new initiatives for making supply chains more responsive and proactive for customers demand.
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Wojciech Domink Piotrowicz, Urszula Ryciuk and Maciej Szymczak
The aim of this paper is to review metrics and develop a framework for measuring leagile supply chain. Metrics that are applicable in the lean, agile and leagile strategies are…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to review metrics and develop a framework for measuring leagile supply chain. Metrics that are applicable in the lean, agile and leagile strategies are identified in the literature and are then combined into a framework that can reflect both agile and lean strategies – the leagile supply strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
This work is based on the systematic literature review. Literature was collected, then lean and agile metrics were extracted, analysed, counted and grouped into the framework. Findings are compared against literature on leagile supply chain.
Findings
Findings indicate that there are sets of metrics specific to lean strategy, such as are process-focused, cost, productivity, inventory and delivery-based metrics, and specific to agile such as flexibility, responsiveness, information sharing and cooperation. There are also metrics common for both strategies; they are related to time, quality and customer satisfaction. Lean measures are tangible and focused on internal processes and products, while agile measures are targeted at external environment.
Practical implications
The framework could be used by practitioners as a starting point for performance system design.
Originality/value
There is a need to stop looking at lean and agile as separate and distinct supply strategies. Results of this research indicate that lean and agile are interlinked, both are focusing on customer satisfaction and quality. Applying a proposed set of metrics enables to design supply chain measurement system that reflects both strategies to measure leagile supply chain. The framework could be used by practitioners as a starting point for performance system design.