Search results

It is crucial to recognize that supply chain flexibility is important to build sustainable competitive edge in coping with uncertainty. This study puts forth an empirically supported integrative framework to understand supply chain flexibility from market-oriented and network-oriented perspectives, interrelationships among its dimensions and the effect of supply chain complexity as a contingent factor.

The online survey data were collected from 201 manufacturing companies and checked for common method variance, validity and reliability. Structural equation modeling was then used to test the hypotheses.

The results of this study demonstrate that there are interrelationships among market-oriented and network-oriented supply chain flexibility dimensions. It is the flexibility embedded in the supply chain network configuration that plays critical roles in superior performance in flexibility capabilities to create customer values. The interrelated effect among flexibility dimensions is contingent on the magnitude of the supply chain complexity corresponding to the number of supply chain tiers.

This study takes a step to advance understanding of supply chain flexibility from an integrative point of view consisting of market-oriented and network-oriented perspectives. This study is expected to provide practitioners the foundation to implement supply chain flexibility considering the interrelationships among flexibility dimensions. Our results suggest that to carry out a supply chain flexibility strategy, the vertical complexity of the supply chain structure needs to be taken into consideration.

In the context of a retailer with an international supply network, this paper develops theories of (a) how both stability and strong ties in an international supply network combine to yield a resource base that enables the development of flexible relationships with suppliers, (b) how stability and relationship flexibility in the international supply network of a retail reseller may in turn be driven both by the international diversity and by the density of the retailer’s supply network in a product category, and (c) how both the international diversity and the density of a retailer’s supply network may directly affect the likelihood of a retailer developing flexible relationships with its supplier. In doing so, this paper develops and presents six hypotheses and discusses some approaches to measurement of the underlying constructs and testing the hypothesized effects.

The purpose of this study is to provide evidence on the impact of network flexibility and its ambidextrous influence on a firm's exploratory and exploitative partnership selection.

The authors develop our hypotheses based on the literature of network flexibility and draw on a sample of publicly listed firms in Taiwan semiconductor and optoelectronics industries. The authors collect our data from survey questionnaires and archival sources and examine our hypotheses by using the generalized linear model (GLM) approach.

The authors’ empirical findings show that configuration flexibility has a greater influence on exploratory partnerships, while manufacturing flexibility has a greater impact on exploitative partnerships. In addition, when firms are ambidextrous (i.e. have both types of flexibility), they are able to simultaneously obtain both exploratory and exploitative partnerships. The authors’ findings indicate that balancing network flexibility is critical when firms execute ambidextrous alliance strategies.

The authors’ use of survey data to measure network flexibility may limit our observations related to network evolution. In addition, the authors’ use of public annual reports to capture firm partnerships may cause us to ignore informal relationships between partners.

The authors’ empirical findings suggest that the types of partnerships firms develop depend on which types of flexibility they possess. The results further suggest that decision makers have to find a way to develop a balanced strategy between network configuration and manufacturing flexibility when they would like to develop an ambidextrous alliance strategy.

The authors’ study advances the understanding in the literature on supply chain flexibility and its ambidexterity by connecting network flexibility and ambidextrous alliance strategy. The authors offer a guide to supply chain managers in the area of network design.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate supply chain management practices related to flexibility, value chain and capabilities. It describes an exploratory study to examine the interrelated factors to propose a research framework.

A comparative case study was conducted on several manufacturing organizations in the electrical and electronic industry, investigating the business drivers and response effect of a flexible value chain.

In general, all the organizations enhanced their manufacturing flexibility components with supply and logistic networks in order to be responsive to customers and gain tangible benefits. The core flexibility of the value chain can be defined from operational, supply and logistics perspectives where different levels of integration and implementation strategies offer different levels of flexibility response to volume and product mix.

Research through case survey requires further empirical investigation to quantify the determinants and the significance of the relationship theorized. However, the findings confirmed the practical aspect of manufacturers to consider flexibility in designing their value chain within the industry.

The paper highlights the fact that local manufacturers value the flexibility aspect of supply chains to stay competitive during demand uncertainties and being responsive to customers.

A growing body of literature has begun to recognise that in the era of supply chain management it is important to look beyond the flexible factory to the flexible supply chain. This paper seeks to further our understanding of supply chain flexibility and provide a comprehensive review of the available literature.

Published literature on supply chain flexibility has been considered. Where appropriate, additional insights have been obtained from related streams such as manufacturing flexibility, agility and supply chain responsiveness.

Much of the existing research has a limited definition of supply chain flexibility and describes flexibility simply as a reactive means to cope with uncertainty. Supply chain flexibility has emerged from the manufacturing flexibility literature and hence to date is largely confined to a manufacturing context (neglecting the role of services). Empirical research often takes the form of a cross‐sectional postal questionnaire conducted at the firm‐level that fails to explore the inter‐organisational components of supply chain flexibility.

The paper presents a timely review of the available literature and provides a more complete definition of flexibility in the context of supply chains. It is argued that future empirical research should approach research design from a network perspective, treating the supply chain as the unit of analysis, in order to develop a more complete understanding of the effects of flexibility across the whole supply chain. The paper also explores combining a flexible supply chain strategy with proactive means of reducing unwanted supply chain uncertainty, focusing on the roles of supply chain design, supply chain collaboration and inter‐organisational information systems.

The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical study of supply chain flexibility, asking: what specific inter‐firm practices are used to achieve increased flexibility in buyer‐supplier pairs and in the wider supply chain or network, and how do these practices and effects interact?

The approach taken is a qualitative study of a network of 16 inter‐related manufacturing companies. Semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews with senior representatives from each company.

A wide range of supply chain flexibility practices are identified, some confirming existing research, some additional. These are grouped into ten categories, and two over‐arching themes are found. First, firms use various forms of outsourcing and subcontracting to reduce their own need for internal flexibility. The second related insight is that, having externalised the need for flexibility, firms improve flexibility of the whole chain by engaging in committed relationships with counterparts. The authors term the ability to change counterparts “configuration flexibility” and the ability to change the timing, volume and design of supply “planning and control flexibility”. Therefore, it is suggested that firms make complex trade‐offs between the two in the interest of achieving overall supply chain flexibility. These are presented in a model to allow for future refinement and testing.

Supply chain flexibility is a strategic objective, but is not achieved by all members of supply chains aiming for as much flexibility as possible on all dimensions. The identification of the supply chain flexibility practices provides a starting point for further theoretical developments as well as for practice. In particular, further work is required to understand the interplay between the two types of flexibility identified.

Study of inter‐connected supply chains, model linking practices to performance, and the main notions of configuration and planning and control flexibilities.

The importance of supply network flexibility (SNF) in the development of mass customization capability (MCC) has been implied in the literature but seldom subjected to empirical investigation. To fill the gap and contribute to MC literature, this paper aims to examine the role of SNF in facilitating the development of MCC of organizations. Furthermore, it has been investigated whether the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) strengthens the above relationship.

Drawing on the supply chain literature and dynamic capability theory, the study proposes a research framework depicting the interconnectedness among the variables of interest. The proposed framework has been tested using structural equation modelling based on partial least squares by using the data collected from a questionnaire-based survey of a sample of Indian manufacturing organizations.

The findings indicate that the dimensions of SNF, namely, sourcing flexibility and supplier flexibility, positively affect the MCC of the organizations and the strength of these relationships is further amplified by the implementation of ICTs.

The study shows the managerial opportunities for the development of a flexible and competent supply network to facilitate the development or enhancement of MCC.

This study contributes to scant literature by providing empirical evidence for the relationship between SNF and MCC. Further, this study enriches the understanding of the crucial role of ICT by exploring its moderating effect on the relationship between the variables of interest.

There has been limited research examining the influence of inter‐organisational relationships and the social capital they may nurture in building SCRES. The authors aim to explore how three dimensions of social capital (cognitive, structural and relational) may act as facilitators or enablers of the four formative capabilities for SCRES (i.e. flexibility, velocity, visibility, and collaboration), identified by Jüttner and Maklan.

Data were collected from three separate tiers of the supply chain involved in the response to an extreme event (the Lambrigg, UK rail crash). Using a social constructionist approach, the paper explores how social capital may enable the emergence of formative capabilities for resilience.

The data suggest that the dimensions of social capital may play an influential role in facilitating the four formative capabilities for SCRES and indicate the potential for these to be mutually reinforcing.

The paper provides an illustration of some links between resilience and social capital constructs within one supply network, in the context of crisis response. Different types of network and contexts may result in other outcomes and have other facilitating effects upon SCRES. These findings should be explored within other contexts.

The authors highlight that social capital may be nurtured deliberately or emerge as a consequence of relationships within a network. Formal efforts to build network communications, norms of reciprocity may create the conditions for appropriable organisations to emerge when faced with extreme events.

Drawing from a social capital perspective, this paper contributes to a fuller understanding of notions of relational capital.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to evaluate the roles of a transactive memory system and the supply network flexibility (SNF) of the firm as antecedents of a firm’s supply chain agility (FSCA), also incorporating the moderating role of the transactive memory system; and, second, to evaluate the relationship between FSCA and operations performance (OP).

Four hypothesized relationships are tested with survey data from 190 high-tech firms using structural equation models.

FSCA can be enhanced through the transactive memory system and SNF, although a higher degree of transactive memory system weakens the positive relationship between SNF and FSCA. A positive relationship is identified between FSCA and OP, while FSCA mediates the relationship between SNF and OP.

Managers can increase FSCA and improve OP by developing both the transactive memory system and SNF. Given that firms have limited resources, investment in internal capabilities should be prioritized as this appears to be more effective at developing FSCA.

The findings expand the literature by exploring two antecedents of FSCA and by analyzing the impact of FSCA on different measures of OP. Few prior studies have highlighted the importance of the transactive memory system to the operations function.

In response to highly volatile and uncertain environments, many firms have implemented flexible strategies and many management researchers have discussed the topic of flexibility. The purpose of this paper is to focus on distribution flexibility, the aspect of flexibility related to a downstream supply chain and to examine the construct of distribution flexibility and how organisations make strategic choices among different distribution flexibility strategies.

This work conducts an exploratory multiple case study which analyses four Chinese manufacturers from different industries (pharmaceutical, solid/liquid separation, electric appliances, and clothing).

The results show that, given different circumstances, firms might choose an appropriate distribution flexibility strategy (one focused on either physical distribution flexibility, demand management flexibility, coordination flexibility, or on distribution flexibility co‐alignment) which fits with their distribution environment in the contingency theory sense of matching. Furthermore, for implementation, they fit a given distribution flexibility strategy to both their distribution networks and their distribution performance outcomes in the sense of gestalts or covariance.

This paper has some limitations common to all case studies, such as the limited generalisability of results (since the sample of firms is not statistically significant) and the potential subjectivity of the analysis.

The paper contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating the dimensions of distribution flexibility, by considering how an organisation develops a distribution flexibility strategy in order to adapt to a particular environment, and by suggesting that final performance outcomes may arise through a variety of different distribution flexibility strategies.