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Supply chain management is becoming critical as firms recognize that competition is shifting from company versus company to supply chain versus supply chain. Two important factors in building successful supplier relations are (1) defining criteria to select and evaluate suppliers and (2) involving suppliers in important, inter‐company decisions. This research describes the relationships between these factors and supplier performance and between supplier performance and manufacturing performance. It develops and administers a large‐sample survey and uses factor analysis to develop measures for the importance of supplier‐selection criteria, supplier involvement, supplier performance, and manufacturing performance. The results indicate that importance of supplier‐selection criteria and the use of supplier involvement have direct and significant impacts on supplier performance and that supplier performance has a direct and significant impact on manufacturing performance.

To respond to increasing environmental uncertainty, manufacturers are enhancing flexible manufacturing competence (FMC) as a source of competitive advantage. This study aims to extend research on FMC to its antecedent variables by investigating the impacts of advanced manufacturing technology and operations improvement practices (OIP) on FMC.

Using survey data from 273 manufacturing firms, this research tests additive, mediating, and moderating models that relate these variables.

Among three alternative models, the moderating model is best supported. The results indicate that advanced manufacturing technology has a stronger positive impact on FMC when OIP are effectively implemented than when they are not.

The research focuses attention on the antecedent variables to production competence, rather than on the concept and positive performance effect of production competence.

For managers, the issue is not simply purchasing automation but developing OIP to effectively use advanced manufacturing technologies, thereby achieving the magnifying effects of human capital on FMC.

This paper investigates FMC and its antecedent variables by testing three alternative models, and it offers assistance to managers who are implementing advanced manufacturing technologies and OIP.

To respond to an increasingly uncertain environment, firms are seeking to enhance flexibility across the value chain. Spanning flexibility, a critical dimension of value chain flexibility, is the ability of a firm to provide horizontal information connections across the value chain to meet a variety of customer needs. This research organizes literature on spanning flexibility and classifies it according to competence and capability theory.

The study collected data from 273 manufacturing executives related to spanning flexibility. The instruments used to collect these data have been validated via literature review and structured interviews with executives. Structural equation modeling was applied to these data to test relationships among the variables in the study.

This study develops valid and reliable instruments to measure the sub‐dimensions of spanning flexibility. The results indicate strong, positive, and direct relationships between flexible spanning competence and capability, and between flexible spanning capability and customer satisfaction.

This paper describes a framework to explore the relationships among flexible competence (supply chain information dissemination flexibility), flexible capability (strategy development flexibility), and customer satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of specific supply chain information technologies (IT) for e‐commerce, e‐procurement, and enterprise resource planning (ERP), when implementing lean practices to achieve mass customization (MC) performance. The study further investigates how these technologies may be deployed differently in product and service focused contexts. “Best practices” of high performing MC firms are also explored.

Survey method was employed to collect data from 711 firms in 23 countries. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to establish simple factor structure and construct validity. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze relationships between lean practices, IT use, and MC performance in aggregated and bifurcated samples of product and service focused manufacturers. T‐tests were used to examine differences between the practices employed by high and low MC performers.

Findings suggest that lean practices can reasonably predict MC performance. In this context, of lean practices, e‐commerce and e‐procurement reasonably predict MC performance. ERP is not shown to predict MC performance. Results suggest that e‐commerce use is a better predictor of performance than e‐procurement or ERP for service focused manufacturers. E‐commerce and e‐procurement appear to be reasonable predictors of MC performance in product manufacturers, while ERP is not. “Best practices” related to lean practices, e‐commerce, e‐procurement, and ERP emerge among high MC performers.

This paper describes what is believed to be the first study to examine these three IT approaches in the context of lean practices and supply chain MC performance. This paper also contributes to the growing interest in differences among product and service focused manufacturing firms. Finally, specific “best practices” are provided to add value for practitioners.

Posits that advocates of quality function deployment (QFD) claim that it leads to better product designs, lower product costs, and shorter development times. Presents a study which aims to learn if organizations that apply QFD to product development achieve these benefits. Data from a survey of 80 QFD projects undertaken by 40 firms are used to examine these critical relationships. When leaders from these project teams were asked to compare results from product development efforts without QFD to results with QFD, they claimed that product designs and customer satisfaction improved significantly with QFD. Product costs and time‐to‐market showed only modest improvements. Benefits in time and costs may increase as QFD teams get better training and more experience. Describes the development and costing of a model of QFD implementation issues, product development outcomes, and customer satisfaction. Concludes that QFD’s implementation issues, specifically the organizational dimensions, have a significant impact on product design outcomes and resource consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to identify relationships among buyer‐supplier trust, joint operational activities, and the degree of mass customization as well as the interactions between cultural factors (i.e. long‐term strategic alignment and autonomy) and trust in the context of supply chain management.

The model of trust is based on joint operational activities and mass customization using theories of social capital and the resource‐based view of the firm. Also, culture‐related antecedents of trust are identified. Based on 208 responses from suppliers in the USA and China, this study uses structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses.

This study empirically supports the notion that trust positively drives manufacturer‐supplier activities in operations. It also supports the claim that joint operational activities contribute to mass customization capabilities in a significant way. Moreover, two culture‐related antecedents are found to be significantly related to trust.

The sample is limited to the auto industry in North America and China. As in other supply chain studies, individual respondents may have somewhat limited information about different aspects of their company's supply chain.

In general, it appears that trust is important in determining mass customization capabilities regardless of culture. For practitioners, long‐term strategic alignment is more important for firms to increase trust than autonomy although both can significantly increase the level of trust between buyer and supplier.

Long‐term strategic alignment and autonomy are identified as antecedents of trust and empirically supported.

The purpose of this article is to empirically test the impact of supply‐chain management (SCM) capabilities on business performance so as to determine to what degree customer‐oriented SCM issues influence competitive position and organizational performance.

A rigorous methodology is employed to generate a reliable and valid measurement instrument. Responses from 474 manufacturing managers are then utilized to test a causal model using LISREL^®.

The results indicate significant positive relationships exist among three types of SCM capabilities (outside‐in, inside‐out, and spanning) and business performance (perceived customer value, customer loyalty, market performance, and financial performance).

The article demonstrates that strategically developing SCM capabilities such as efficient inbound and outbound transportation, warehousing, and inventory control, production support, packaging, purchasing, order processing, and information dissemination enable a manufacturing firm to identify and take advantage of opportunities in the global marketplace.

The sample was drawn from manufacturing firms in the USA across four SIC codes. Future studies could collect more extensive data to confirm, refine, and expand upon the model presented and the associated construct measures utilizing confirmatory factor analysis. Extending the research to include additional industries and firms from outside of the USA would enhance the generalizability and usefulness of the findings.

The paper statistically validates that managers should regard the cultivation of SCM capabilities as a proprietary resource that facilitates competitive advantage. It also contributes a concise instrument that may be used by academics interested in the areas of supply‐chain management processes and firm performance.

To succeed in an uncertain environment, firms must respond to changing customer needs, and logistics flexibility is an important part of the response. This paper defines logistics flexibility, creates a framework to understand it, and shows how it relates to customer satisfaction.

The study uses a large sample survey (n=273) from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers to develop valid and reliable instruments to measure logistics flexibility and to test the relationships among the variables using structural equation modeling.

The results indicate strong, positive, and direct relationships between flexible logistics competence and capability, and between flexible logistics capability and customer satisfaction.

The dependent and independent variables were measured through a single respondent, which may introduce common‐method bias. The respondents were manufacturing executives, which provides only a single perspective.

The dichotomy of flexible logistics competence and capability can help managers differentiate between the elements of logistics flexibility that are critical to customers from the elements that support these capabilities. Standing alone, flexible competence may not be sufficient to build a sustainable competitive edge.

The paper organizes literature on logistics flexibility and classifies it according to competence and capability theory. It describes a framework to explore the relationships among flexible competence, flexible capability, and customer satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing knowledge system of lean supply chain management (LSCM), i.e. by using main path analysis, and the authors extract the main development track of LSCM. It is advantageous for relevant scholars to deepen their understanding of this academic field from a bibliometrics view to grasp the future directions better.

Structuring a citation network with the processed data set containing 866 papers and relevant information collected from Web of Science (WoS). Conducting review analyses aiming at the main paths that are extracted from the above citation network.

There are two different evolution paths in LSCM field, i.e. improving corporate sustainability performance through combining lean and green practices, and seeking the balance between lean and agility to structure leagile supply chain for specific industries. LSCM research studies mainly focus on five aspects: (1) establishment and development of LSCM theory; (2) structuration of lean supply chain; (3) research studies of the relationship between LSCM and corporate performance; (4) supply chain evaluation system; and (5) review and vista of LSCM field. The intersection of two knowledge evolute routes would be Industry 4.0, which is an integrated theory system combining lean, agility, green and other supply chain thinking.

The data set collected from WoS cannot contain all the research studies about LSCM is the main research limitation. Sustainability, as represented by environmental performance, will continue to be a major pursuit of this field. Integrating LSCM in Industry 4.0 will be the next hotspot in LSCM field.

Providing the main research contents and common methods of LSCM field. It is conducive to deepening the understanding of relevant practitioners and scholars to LSCM field from a dynamic perspective.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time to reveal the knowledge diffuse trajectories of LSCM under different view with main path analysis. This study is unique that it provides a new view to understand the field of LSCM.

The purpose of this study is to address the nature of knowledge quality, describe its dimensions, and create valid and reliable instruments to measure it. Knowledge quality is proposed as a second‐order factor model which includes three dimensions: intrinsic knowledge quality, contextual knowledge quality, and actionable knowledge quality. This study also aims to examine important antecedents to and an outcome of knowledge quality.

Data collected from 208 project teams were used to test measures of knowledge quality and to examine a proposed research framework by using LISREL for structural equation modeling.

Results support the claim that knowledge quality has three dimensions. The results also show that functional diversity, absorptive capacity, and knowledge networks are critical antecedents that positively impact knowledge quality, which in turn has an influence on innovation.

The research framework enables academicians and practitioners to have important insights regarding the determinants of knowledge quality and its positive impact on innovation.

The valid and reliable instruments of knowledge quality provide a tool to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of intrinsic, contextual, and actionable knowledge quality. This study illustrates how firms can improve knowledge quality by integrating interdisciplinary knowledge.

This study identifies dimensions of knowledge quality and its antecedents and consequences.