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The purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of integrated supply chain management on productivity, efficiency, and performance of participants in the system, in an industrial setting in the USA.

This study uses longitudinal and experiment field study. Actual organizational data from the survey firm was used. Follow‐up interviews were conduced with key managers in the manufacturing facility.

The results show positive and substantial improvements in overall performance as a result of integration and coordination of the internal functions within the firm and effectively linking them with their external suppliers. The results also support the claims that an integrated supply chain involves aligning outsourcing activities to achieve the organizational goal of responding positively to the needs of consumers. Several factors were identified as key contributors to supply chain program success in this firm. These included sharing information through new technologies, established partnerships with key suppliers, and constant communication with employees.

Organizations must realize that integration and coordination in each stage of the supply chain design, planning and operation result in considerable impact on the complete chain. Firms should realize that it takes commitment and skill to implement an integrated supply chain program and reap its benefits. Managers interested in applying an integrated supply chain management system would benefit from this study.

This exploratory empirical study provides insight into the effectiveness of implementing an integrated supply chain management approach for increasing the probability of success in the supply chain management approach and identifies areas that need further investigation.

This study aims to explore the relationships among the five components of supply chain (SC) resilience (SCRES): visibility, velocity, flexibility, robustness and collaboration and their impacts on the SC performance under disruption (SCPUD).

Five SCRES components are identified from the literature review and data are collected using an web survey from 113 manufacturing companies in Taiwan. The data are analyzed by structured equation modeling with the partial least square solution. Two-stage least-squares (2SLS) regression was used to test the potential endogeneity of SC collaboration (SCC).

The results reveal that SCC is an exogenous driver of SCRES; it directly affects visibility, velocity, flexibility, robustness and SCPUD. Furthermore, SC flexibility is the only component of SC agility that directly affects SCPUD; it is influenced directly by SC velocity and indirectly by SC visibility through SC velocity. SC visibility is a vital agility component that positively influences SC velocity and SC robustness.

The data in this study are cross-sectional and the sample size of 113 is relatively small. The relationship between SC robustness and SCPUD needs a longer observation period to reveal. The logistic issue in the shortage of carriers caused by the pandemic has been overlooked.

A firm should enhance its collaboration and flexibility in the SC as they both are the critical antecedents of SC performance (SCP) during the disruption period.

This study integrates visibility, velocity, flexibility, robustness and collaboration into a complete framework of SCRES. The dependent variable, SCPUD, measures SC performance (SCP) under the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the first study to investigate the associations of the six constructs in a research model.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the moderating effect of uncertainty impacts the relationship of operational responsiveness and firm performance. Research on the relationship of supply chain fit and firm performance is discussed in isolation in different streams of research – such as in studies on responsiveness, agility, flexibility, efficiency and lean – without promptly recognising cross-stream contributions. This, at worst, prevents theory development. Therefore, the authors build a synthesis of literature from these streams. Grounded in the synthesis, a well-positioned empirical study that uses best research practices of past studies on the phenomenon is presented.

A cross-sectional survey sample of 875 Russian manufacturing firms was analysed with hierarchical regression.

The findings show that operational responsiveness leads to superior organisational performance if the relationship is moderated by uncertainty and supply chain responsiveness. Additionally, a direct relationship between operational responsiveness and operational performance was found. These results imply that efficiency is a precursor to responsiveness.

This paper contributes to the unification of practice–performance studies on lean, agility, flexibility, efficiency and responsiveness into a single stream of research: supply chain fit. The empirical results support contingency theory in the context of supply chain design. This paper also contributes by shedding light on supply chain dynamics of an under-researched national context. For managers, this paper offers concrete advice on decision-making regarding supply chain strategy trade-offs.

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.

Logistics and supply chain management has been elevated to a strategic level whereby firms can simultaneously achieve differentiation and low cost for sustained competitive advantage. Empirical studies have often concentrated on logistics management in developed Western countries, displaying a bias towards the USA. This study applies the competency approach to explore logistics in Taiwan. A survey of 1,200 manufacturing firms was undertaken in order to examine the relationships between logistics competency, logistics performance, and financial performance, using exploratory factor analysis and the structural equation modelling technique. Four logistics competencies, namely, integration and knowledge competency, customer focused logistics competency, measurement competency, and agility competency were identified. The research findings revealed that (1) logistics competency was significantly related to logistics performance but not significantly associated with financial performance, and (2) logistics performance was positively associated with financial performance. These findings also implied that logistics competency has an indirect effect on financial performance through logistics performance. This finding confirmed the “world-class” logistics competencies (i.e. positioning, integration, agility, and measurement) as identified by MSUGLRT (1995). In addition, it suggests that logistics competency in a huge geographic area such as America can have the same effect in a smaller geographic area such as Taiwan.

This paper aims to investigate the characteristics of demand and supply in relation to the real-world supply chain strategies of local urban fresh food supply chains (FFSC). It generates insights into how a range of strategies is adopted by urban retailer businesses in attempting to cater for the particular requirements of food-literate urban consumers and small-scale local growers.

Using a multiple case study method, 12 urban local fresh food retailers in Sydney were studied and interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Local fresh produce has characteristics of both functional and innovative products. Retailers with strong upstream and downstream collaborations adopt hybrid strategies for increased time efficiency and product variety. The dominance of strategies for time efficiency in downstream activities is aimed at maximising the product’s freshness and taste, while product range improvement strategies mean innovative retailers are working with growers to introduce new product types and offering new recipes to consumers that encourage a wider use of products. Urban retailers of local fresh produce leverage on their relationships with upstream and downstream supply chain entities in implementing hybrid strategies.

Policymakers will make use of the new knowledge generated about the real enablers of contemporary urban food systems in designing developmental policies; findings will inform urban FFSC retailers about how harmonious relationships can be leveraged for sustainability.

The study generates new knowledge on the implementation of a leagile approach by studying the adoption of innovative hybrid strategies by urban local FFSCs in relations to demand and supply characteristics and the utilization of strong vertical relationships in a short supply chain.

A trade-off exists between product variety and supply chain (SC) performance. To help mitigate the impact on SC of increased product variety, the purpose of this paper is to examine how variety management activities including variety management strategy (VMS), supplier partnerships and close customer relationships affect SC flexibility and agility at different levels of customisation.

A survey-research methodology is employed using data from 363 manufacturing firms from the UK and South Korea. In particular, cluster analysis and structural equation modelling were used to evaluate the proposed model according to the level of customisation.

The results suggest that internal variety management strategy and external SC integration have a positive influence on SC flexibility and agility. Customer relationships and variety management strategies influence SC flexibility more than partnerships with suppliers whereas variety management strategies and partnerships with suppliers influence SC agility more than customer relationships. In fact, for external integration in particular, customer relationships influence SC flexibility (i.e. reaction capability) rather than agility (i.e. reaction time) whereas partnerships with suppliers influence SC agility rather than flexibility. In a high-customisation context, close customer relationships are the most effective way to increase SC flexibility, whereas partnerships with suppliers are the most effective way to increase SC agility. In a low-customisation context, a VMS and customer relationships are the most effective way to increase both SC flexibility and agility.

This paper suggests key variety management activities to aid managers to better manage product variety ambitions in SC under varying customisation profiles through internal and external approaches.

This paper aims to identify the antecedents of firm’s supply chain agility (SC agility) and how SC agility impacts on firm’s performance.

Based on a comprehensive literature review, a conceptual model was proposed, in which the interrelated hypotheses were tested by structural equation modelling methodology using a dataset collected from 266 Chinese electronics firms.

Initially, it was found that SC integration and external learning positively influenced SC agility. Second, the results indicated that firm’s performance is positively impacted by SC agility. Moreover, SC agility also fully mediated the effect of SC integration on firm’s performance and the effect of external learning on firm’s performance.

The generalizability of this research sample might be the major limitation of this study. Therefore, future research can adopt other industry sectors samples, such as automobile manufacturing, or other country samples to validate the research model.

This research outlines strategies for better preparedness to achieve SCs to be agile which is a core competency of electronic firms in emerging market. Findings reveal that the external coordination practices – external learning and SC integration – are important factors of SC agility. In addition, the findings contribute to understanding the important role of SC agility in improving firm’s performance.

This research examines the impact of two antecedents (i.e. SC integration and external learning) on SC agility and is the first empirical research to analyze the mediation effect of SC agility on the relationship between SC integration and firm performance and the relationship between external learning and firm performance.

To address how organizations should be malleable, the purpose herein is to draw on complementarity theory to examine the interaction effect of customer integration (i.e. coordination) and shared relationship governance (i.e. cooperation) on supply chain adaptability and firm's performance.

A survey research design is adopted to collect primary data from 177 automotive components suppliers. After assessing the measures' psychometric properties, the hypothesized relationships are evaluated using hierarchical regression analysis supplemented by structural equation modeling and complementarity test.

In the context of industrial markets, and specifically the automotive component industry, a complementary interaction effect is found between coordination and cooperation. The complementary impact was significant in affecting the supply chain adaptability and the firm's performance. Our results refine the existing supply chain integration by highlighting the complementary effect of coordination and cooperation.

Understanding the true interaction effect between cooperation and coordination to develop supply chain integration avoids decision-makers' misperception over or underinvesting in activities. This research also provides key insights on the complementary effect of coordination and cooperation to establish structural flexibility in the supply chain and the ability to respond to the disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Understanding the true interaction effect between cooperation and coordination to develop supply chain integration avoids decision-makers' misperception over or underinvesting in activities. The implications for theory and practice are also presented.