The impact of supply chain integration on performance: A contingency and configuration approach

This study extends the developing body of literature on supply chain integration (SCI), which is the degree to which a manufacturer strategically collaborates with its supply chain partners and collaboratively manages intra- and inter-organizational processes, in order to achieve effective and efficient flows of products and services, information, money and decisions, to provide maximum value to the customer. The previous research is inconsistent in its findings about the relationship between SCI and performance. We attribute this inconsistency to incomplete definitions of SCI, in particular, the tendency to focus on customer and supplier integration only, excluding the important central link of internal integration. We study the relationship between three dimensions of SCI, operational and business performance, from both a contingency and a configuration perspective. In applying the contingency approach, hierarchical regression was used to determine the impact of individual SCI dimensions (customer, supplier and internal integration) and their interactions on performance. In the configuration approach, cluster analysis was used to develop patterns of SCI, which were analyzed in terms of SCI strength and balance. Analysis of variance was used to examine the relationship between SCI pattern and performance. The findings of both the contingency and configuration approach indicated that SCI was related to both operational and business performance. Furthermore, the results indicated that internal and customer integration were more strongly related to improving performance than supplier integration.     

A resource orchestration view of supply chain traceability and transparency bundles for competitive advantage

The literature has mostly examined supply chain (SC) traceability and SC transparency separately, ignoring the mutually constitutive relationship of these two related constructs. We draw on the resource orchestration theory and the causal complexity perspective to conceptualize and validate SC traceability and SC transparency as interrelated organizational capabilities that may mutually enhance or compensate each other for competitive advantage. We constructed an original sample from two sources to empirically test this conceptualization using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Our empirical results reveal that the ability of firms to leverage SC traceability for a high financial performance is contingent upon creating a transparency perception of SC with a wide range of stakeholders. Our results also identified the firm size and its international presence, as having a significant bearing on the ability of firms to leverage SC traceability and SC transparency capabilities for a competitive advantage.     

Implementing supply chain information integration in China: The role of institutional forces and trust

This study investigates the effects of Chinese companies’ institutional environment on the development of trust and information integration between buyers and suppliers. Three aspects of China's institutional environment are salient: legal protection, government support, and the importance of guanxi (interpersonal relationships). This study uses structural equation modeling to analyze data collected from 398 Chinese manufacturing companies. Government support and importance of guanxi significantly affect trust, which subsequently influences two elements of information integration, namely, information sharing and collaborative planning. Furthermore, the importance of guanxi has a direct, positive impact on information sharing, and government support has a direct, positive effect on both information sharing and collaborative planning.     

Time-sensitive supply chain disruption recovery and resource sharing incentive strategy

Market demand is becoming increasingly time-sensitive in competitive environments. Hence, supply disruptions will have a more serious impact on the profits of supply chains. This study applies a Stackelberg competition between a single supplier and a single manufacturer in a time-sensitive supply chain in a cloud manufacturing environment. We aim to address the supplier’s production capacity recovery issues and the manufacturer’s incentive decision issues after supply disruption. We find that the supplier is in a weak position when the information is symmetrical. The manufacturer can encourage the supplier to shorten the recovery time by raising the unit wholesale price. When the supplier’s unit production cost remains unchanged but the unit wholesale price increases, the profit of the supplier first increases and then decreases. In addition, under the centralized decision-making setting, the optimal recovery time of the supplier is shorter and the optimal unit market price of the product is lower than that under decentralized decision-making. We further find that resource sharing can shorten the optimal recovery time, but it does not necessarily play an incentivizing role.     

Green supply chain integration and financial performance: A social contagion and information sharing perspective

Although green supply chain integration (GSCI) has received wide attention, how it diffuses among supply chain members to affect the manufacturer's performance is still unclear. This study examines the relationships among GSCI, information sharing, and financial performance from a social contagion lens. By conceptualizing GSCI into three forms, two types of contagion mechanisms (i.e., cohesion and structural equivalence) were identified to investigate the underlying contagion effects between different forms of GSCI and the effects of various GSCI on information sharing and financial performance. Survey data were collected from 206 Chinese manufacturers and analyzed using structural equation modeling to test hypotheses. The results indicate that green supplier integration directly promotes green internal integration, green customer integration, and information sharing with suppliers. Green internal integration positively influences green customer integration and financial performance. Green customer integration enhances information sharing with customers. Both information sharing with suppliers and customers improve financial performance. This study contributes to the GSCI literature and provides novel managerial implications for manufacturers.     

Barriers to supply chain information integration: SMEs adrift of eLands

The literature extols the potential benefits of supply chain integration and the crucial role of integrated eBusiness to deliver those benefits. However, adoption of eBusiness in supply chains has been slower than expected, particularly in small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper reports findings of a longitudinal study of four supply chains in different sectors over a 4-year period. Specifically it examines the barriers to adoption of eBusiness technologies and therefore to achievement of integrated information in supply chains. Differences between firms in supply chains and between supply chains are examined. The study reveals disparity between existing and planned use of eBusiness by larger downstream firms compared to upstream SMEs. The SMEs are cautious, only planning to invest in eBusiness if dominant downstream customers force them; however, they do not appreciate the full benefits to be gained from eBusiness adoption. The downstream larger businesses are forging ahead with eBusiness in ‘eIsolation’ and are not providing supply chain leadership. They are creating eLands with SMEs adrift of them.     

Enhancing hospital supply chain performance: A relational view and empirical test

Improving hospital supply chain performance has become increasingly important as healthcare organizations strive to improve operational efficiency and to reduce cost. In this study, we propose a research model based on a relational view, delineating the factors that influence hospital supply chain performance: trust, knowledge exchange, IT integration between the hospital and its suppliers, and hospital–supplier integration. Testing results of the research model based on data from a sample of 117 supply chain executives from U.S. hospitals show positive direct effects: (1) from trust and from IT integration to knowledge exchange respectively; (2) from knowledge exchange and from IT integration to hospital–supplier integration respectively; and (3) from hospital–supplier integration to hospital supply chain performance. The results also show the following indirect effects: (1) the influences of knowledge exchange and IT integration on hospital supply chain performance are partially and fully mediated by hospital–supplier integration, respectively and (2) the influences of trust and IT integration on hospital–supplier integration are fully and partially mediated by knowledge exchange, respectively. In addition, the results show the following moderating effects: (1) hospital system membership moderates the relationships between IT integration and knowledge exchange and between trust and knowledge exchange; (2) hospital environmental uncertainty moderates the relationship between trust and knowledge exchange; and (3) trust moderates the relationship between knowledge exchange and hospital–supplier integration. Implications of the study findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Impact of eBusiness technologies on operational performance: The role of production information integration in the supply chain

While the information technology (IT) literature is mixed regarding the direct benefits of eBusiness technologies on performance, the impact of such technologies on supply chain practices remains largely an unexplored area of research. We hypothesize that while there may be no direct benefit of eBusiness technologies on performance, these technologies might support customer integration and supplier integration in the supply chain, which in turn might impact operating performance.To examine our hypotheses, we collected data from respondents who focused their responses to a single major product the process that manufactures it, a significant customer, and an important supplier. Our analyses showed that there was no direct benefit of eBusiness technologies on performance; however these technologies supported customer integration and supplier integration. Further, supplier integration was found to positively impact cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery performance; however there was no relationship between customer integration and performance. Consequently, there is a relationship between eBusiness technologies and supplier integration that leads to better performance. Further, there is an interactive effect between customer integration and supplier integration that supports the notion that firms that have both forms of integration, supported by eBusiness technologies, significantly outperform the others.     

The contingency effects of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between supply chain integration and operational performance

This paper extends prior supply chain research by building and empirically testing a theoretical model of the contingency effects of environmental uncertainty (EU) on the relationships between three dimensions of supply chain integration and four dimensions of operational performance. Based on the contingency and organizational information processing theories, we argue that under a high EU, the associations between supplier/customer integration, and delivery and flexibility performance, and those between internal integration, and product quality and production cost, will be strengthened. These theoretical propositions are largely confirmed by multi-group and structural path analyses of survey responses collected from 151 of Thailand's automotive manufacturing plants. This paper contributes to operations management contingency research and provides theory-driven and empirically proven explanations for managers to differentiate the effects of internal and external integration efforts under different environmental conditions.     

Antecedents of supply chain visibility in retail supply chains: A resource-based theory perspective

Although visibility has become a popular buzzword in the supply chain literature it remains an ill-defined and poorly understood concept. It is assumed that if companies across supply chains have visibility of demand, inventory levels, processes, etc., that organizational performance improves. This research explores the antecedents of high levels of supply chain visibility from a resource-based theory perspective across five different external supply chain linkages. We find that the level of visibility across these linkages differs considerably based on various contributing factors which are both technology and non-technology based. Using resource-based theory, we identify those factors that can give a sustainable competitive advantage to a supply chain linkage through a “distinctive” or high level of visibility.     

The impact of power and relationship commitment on the integration between manufacturers and customers in a supply chain

Supply chain integration (SCI) has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners in recent years. However, our knowledge of what influences SCI is still very limited. Although marketing and management researchers have investigated power and relationship commitment issues between organizations, few have examined their impact on SCI. This paper extends the power–relationship commitment theory established in Western marketing literature and links it with SCI in China, through examining the relationship between power, relationship commitment and the integration between manufacturers and their customers. We propose and empirically test a model using data collected from 617 manufacturing companies in China. The results show that different types of customer power impact manufacturers’ relationship commitment in different ways. Expert power, referent power and reward power are important in improving manufacturers’ normative relationship commitment, while reward power and coercive power enhance instrumental relationship commitment. We also found that normative relationship commitment had a greater impact on customer integration than instrumental relationship commitment. These findings are interpreted in light of national culture differences between China and the U.S. in terms of power distance and collectivism, which provide a new perspective on SCI.     

Levels of strategic purchasing: Impact on supply integration and performance

The growing importance of supply chain management has led to an increasing recognition of the strategic role of purchasing, which has recently evolved and expanded from “buying” to “procurement” and “supply management”. In this study, we chart our sample firms’ advance in strategic purchasing, characterized by the strategic focus, strategic involvement of the purchasing function and the status and visibility of the purchasing professionals, into three stages.This study provides strong empirical support for the importance of strategic purchasing by showing that, by moving towards the more advanced stages, firms at the nascent stage of strategic purchasing can achieve better supply integration, a second-order construct composed of four facets of relational, process, information, and cross-organizational team integration. Our analyses further reveal that strategic purchasing can have a profound impact on supply chain performance for both buyer and supplier firms.     

How supply chain strategies moderate the relationship between innovation capabilities and business performance

The purpose of this paper is to study how the fit between innovation capabilities and supply chain (SC) strategies affects business performance. An empirical study based on a sample of 329 companies from Portugal and Brazil was performed to test a theoretical model based on the resource-based view. Linear and hierarchical regression analyses are conducted to test the hypotheses. The different combinations of core and supplementary innovation capabilities and lean and agile SC strategies are empirically tested and discussed. Data reveal that core and supplementary innovation capabilities positively impact on business performance and that SC strategies moderate the relationship between innovation capabilities and business performance. The analysis also shows that the combination of an agile SC strategy and supplementary innovation capabilities offers the greatest opportunities to improve business performance. The results of this study could help managers to choose the most appropriate SC strategy, thus contributing to increasing the impact of innovation capabilities on business performance. This study contributes to the knowledge concerning the consequences of adopting different innovation capabilities and SC strategies on business performance.     

The link between supply chain fit and financial performance of the firm

The bottom-line financial impact of supply chain management has been of continuing interest. Building on the operations strategy literature, Fisher's (1997) conceptual framework, a survey of 259 U.S. and European manufacturing firms, and secondary financial data, we investigate the relationship between supply chain fit (i.e., strategic consistencies between the products’ supply and demand uncertainty and the underlying supply chain design) and the financial performance of the firm. The findings indicate that the higher the supply chain fit, the higher the Return on Assets (ROA) of the firm, and that firms with a negative misfit show a lower performance than firms with a positive misfit.     

Concentrated supply chain membership and financial performance: Chain- and firm-level perspectives

This study reports evidence that concentrated 3-firm supply chains achieve superior financial performance, and that supply chains’ financial performance varies systematically with measures of chain concentration and chain duration. Results from firm-level analyses suggest that the profitability benefits of supply chain relationships are captured predominantly by downstream chain members, whereas cash cycle benefits are realized throughout the supply chain. Firm-level tests also reveal that chain members’ financial performance varies systematically with measures of downstream bargaining power, downstream relationship duration, and degree of supply consolidation. The study's chain- and firm-level analyses employ data extracted from sample firms’ publicly available financial reports, including their major customer disclosures under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Nos. 131 (1997) and 14 (1976).     

Supply chain integration and operational performance: The contingency effects of production systems

The boundary conditions of supply chain integration (SCI) have been widely studied in order to find out when SCI is applicable and effective. However, prior studies have mainly focused on external contextual factors, such as supply complexity, environmental uncertainty and country-level infrastructure. This study contributes to the SCI literature by examining the contingency effects of internal production systems on the relationship between supplier integration, customer integration and operational performance. Based on organizational information processing theory, we provide evidence to show that the impact of supplier and customer integration on operational performance varies across production systems, such as one-of-a-kind production, batch production and mass production systems. The empirical results also reveal how supplier and customer integration can be matched with different configurations of production systems in order to achieve the desired quality, flexibility, delivery or cost performance.     

A decision framework for inventory- and equipment-based supply chain finance solutions

Supply Chain Finance (SCF) has recently gained attention and relevance in both academia and practice. Indeed, during the pandemic crisis, firms in need for liquidity have increased the adoption of SCF solutions. Within SCF, a new stream of research is Asset-Based Lending (ABL), that encompasses inventory-based and equipment-based financing solutions. This study focuses on this topic by using a theoretical framework built on previous literature review and by adopting the theoretical lens of contingency theory. The case study methodology is adopted, with 25 observations collected by interviewing 15 providers and experts. For each of the 8 ABL solutions considered, it was possible to recognize contingent factors that favours the adoption, the objectives pursued by companies through their adoption and the stemming performance, in terms of benefits and costs. Moreover, ABL solutions were clustered in three typologies – the pledged, the efficient and the leasing – according to the objectives of adoption and the contingency factors. Six propositions and nine sub-propositions that explain the different typologies of adoption have been formulated. The typologies and the propositions can be used by managers as a guideline in the decision-making process, as they provide detailed information about the relevant variables to consider when adopting ABL solutions. Moreover, this study identifies future research directions, to assess the impact of each variable through quantitative methods from the adopter perspective, thus complementing our study.     

Data center supply chain configuration design: A two-stage decision approach

Data centers are special-purpose facilities that enable customers to perform cloud based real-time online transactions and rigorous computing operations. Service levels of data center facilities are characterized by response time between query and action, which to a large extent depends on data center location and data travel distance. Another aspect of service level is resource up-time availability, which is determined by data center configuration. Data center location and configuration decisions are, therefore, of great significance to ensure uninterrupted operations in customers of manufacturing and service industries relying on cloud-based computing resources. In this study, following a grid-based location approach, we present two mixed integer linear programming models for capacitated single-source data center location-allocation problems. The first model provides optimal locations, capacities and configurations of data centers, and allocation of demands to open facilities when there is no existing facilities in the region. Our second model considers the decision problem of meeting new demand when the existing demand is met by the already opened facilities. We term these newly arrived demand as replication demand, which results either from emergence of new users of existing customers at distant locations in the future, or as a means of increasing data resilience by creating data replication as a backup. To solve the decision problem for meeting primary and replication demand optimally, we propose a two-stage decision algorithm. The algorithm provides optimal locations, capacities and configurations for new data centers, capacity addition decisions to the existing facilities and subsequent allocation of demands. Both models and solution algorithm are implemented using AMPL programming language and solved with CPLEX solver. The models are found to be scalable and capable to provide high quality solutions in reasonable time.