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The purpose of this paper is to investigate which firm‐level antecedent – resource‐based capability or inter‐organizational coordination – contributes to a firm's supply chain management (SCM) focus.

A conceptual framework of antecedents of SCM focus and several research hypotheses posit that for a thorough understanding of the behavior of an organization in the supply chain, it is necessary to consider two sets of antecedents simultaneously. Hypotheses are tested using confirmatory factor analysis and multiple linear regression on a set of survey data collected in the USA, Europe and New Zealand.

The analysis of survey data validates the major premise that inter‐organizational coordination plays an important role in explaining the SCM focus of a firm. Research results validate the positive relationships between the proposed antecedents and a firm's SCM focus.

Although the research design incorporates extensive literature reviews, it does not capture every aspect of complex inter‐organizational coordination. Future efforts should establish a valid, reliable instrument to measure the underlying constructs.

This study shows that a firm possesses inimitable internal resource‐based capabilities and external coordination mechanisms that are unique to each firm. Each of the resource‐based capabilities helps to integrate the various internal functional areas within an organization to increase efficiency and reduce waste. The external coordination mechanisms help a firm to link its processes seamlessly with upstream and downstream supply chain members. The paper also shows that product innovation is the only resourced‐based capability that predicts SCM focus when inter‐organizational coordination mechanisms are considered.

The paper contributes to the extant literature by integrating the traditional resource‐based view of a firm with inter‐organizational coordination to examine crucial factors that precede a firm's SCM focus. Both perspectives have considerable merit, so for a thorough understanding of a firm's SCM focus, it is necessary to consider these factors simultaneously.

This research aims to focus on supply chain coordination and its three determinants, i.e. responsibility interdependence, uncertainty, and inter‐functional conflict, developing research propositions to conceptualize how supply chain coordination is driven by its determinants.

The research propositions are tested by a case study in a shoe factory to examine the differences between the theory and the practice of coordination.

The findings show that the firm carried out only piecemeal coordination in defining and fulfilling customer needs.

A supply chain is known as a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers. Supply chain coordination plays a critical role in integrating different actors along the supply chain to enhance performance.

Modular product design is a practice manufacturers frequently adopt to develop new products. Some literature has reported the importance of the modular product design and its effect on supply chain management. However, until now, very few empirical researches have examined the relationship of product modularisation and supply chain design and coordination. Furthermore, the exploration on how manufacturers capitalize upon product modularization with supply chain design and coordination is rarely reported. This paper addresses this gap.

This paper conducted a case study to review the experience of an Audio Consumer Electronics Manufacturer (ACEM) in Hong Kong and China. This company has successfully integrated modular product design with supply chain design and coordination for more than five years.

Results indicate that product modularization affects supply chain design, whereas product innovation influences on supply chain coordination.

This study explores new relationships between supply chain and modular product design into three propositions for further studies. The first proposition shows that supply chain for modular product design has one more level than integrated product design in multiple‐tier supply chain. The second proposition shows that, regardless of either a modular or integrated product, an innovative product requires closer supply chain coordination than a conventional product in new product development. The final proposition shows that product modularization with close supply chain design and coordination brings down the inventory level, improve the quality of conformance and reduce development lead time.

In the present study, the authors have explored the research questions, “How do companies in the engineering and automobile manufacturing sector in India determine the coordination strategy with their suppliers?” and “Can we develop a framework which helps the company adopt a particular coordination strategy?” The authors also aimed for developing a generalizable theory of supply chain coordination (SCC) strategy.

The authors have studied upstream SCC practices at eight Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the Indian engineering manufacturing and automobile sector and identified 11 types of SCC in three categories of suppliers, namely large, medium and small. Each SCC is characterized by the category of items as the authors found the OEMs follow different strategies for different types of items. Initially, the authors started the study with the objective of strategy discovery, and later on, they prescribed a strategic framework based on the consolidated knowledge that they gathered at the discovery phase. The authors propose a SCC strategy framework consisting of four dimensions, i.e. time horizon, the formality of engagement, price and volume for the upstream supply chain. With the framework, the authors have identified the driving factors for choosing a particular strategy. The authors have found both OEMs and suppliers in India prefer to have a long-term relationship for building trust, which helps both the OEMs and the suppliers to go the extra mile when needed. Apart from large suppliers supplying technology and proprietary items, OEMs prefer to have an informal relationship so that they enjoy flexibility and attain agility. The price and volume dimensions are dependent on who enjoys more bargaining power.

The authors propose a SCC strategy framework consisting of four dimensions, i.e. time horizon, formality of engagement, price and volume for the upstream supply chain. With the framework, the authors have identified the driving factors for choosing a particular strategy. The authors have found that both OEMs and suppliers in India prefer to have a long-term relationship for building trust, which helps both the OEMs and the suppliers to go the extra mile when needed. Apart from large suppliers supplying technology and proprietary items, OEMs prefer to have an informal relationship so that they enjoy flexibility and attain agility. The price and volume dimensions are dependent on who enjoys more bargaining power.

This study made a substantial contribution to the literature by presenting a SCC strategy framework, ISCM (Indian Supply Chain Coordination Model). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, in the literature, there was no concrete framework for analyzing the coordination strategy specific to the Indian situation. The framework proposed has been derived based on empirical findings; hence, it is not a conceptual one. The authors also developed a supply chain typology. This study made a substantial contribution to the literature by presenting a SCC strategy framework, ISCM. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, in the literature, there was no concrete framework for analyzing the coordination strategy specific to the Indian situation. The framework proposed has been derived based on empirical findings; hence, it is not a conceptual one. The authors also developed a supply chain typology.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how big data and predictive analytics (BDPA), as an organizational capability, can improve both visibility and coordination in humanitarian supply chains.

The authors conceptualize a research model grounded in contingent resource-based view where the authors propose that BDPA capabilities affect visibility and coordination under the moderating effect of swift trust. Using ordinary least squares regression, the authors test the hypotheses using survey data collected from informants at 205 international non-government organizations.

The results indicate that BDPA has a significant influence on visibility and coordination. Further, the results suggest that swift trust does not have an amplifying effect on the relationships between BDPA and visibility and coordination. However, the mediation test suggests that swift trust acts as a mediating construct. Hence, the authors argue that swift trust is not the condition for improving coordination among the actors in humanitarian supply chains.

The major limitation of the study is that the authors have used cross-sectional survey data to test the research hypotheses. Following Guide and Ketokivi (2015), the authors present arguments on how to address the limitations of cross-sectional data or use of longitudinal data that can address common method bias or endogeneity-related problems.

Managers can use this framework to understand: first, how organizational resources can be used to create BDPA, and second, how BDPA can help build swift trust and be used to improve visibility and coordination in the humanitarian supply chain.

This is the first research that has empirically tested the anecdotal and conceptual evidence. The findings make notable contributions to existing humanitarian supply chain literature and may be useful to managers who are contemplating the use of BDPA to improve disaster-relief-related activities.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the empirical issues of the implementation of coordination for textile‐apparel supply chains.

Employing case study, the paper examines three different types of coordination practice in three different structures of textile‐apparel supply chains: vertical integration chain, efficiency oriented chain and 3P‐hub chain. The coordinators are three leading Hong Kong based international textiles and apparel companies in these cases. The case sources are published articles, company web sites and some open seminars offered by the case companies.

In textile and apparel industries, brand owners generally coordinate the supply chain. There are also other coordination practices in industries. Through the research observations and analyses in the cases it is found that the integrated company, powerful garment manufacturer and trade agent play the role of coordinators in vertical integration chain, efficiency oriented chain and 3P‐hub chain, respectively. No matter what type of coordination practice, information sharing and product flow coordination should be comprehensive. Coordinators are the information centers of the whole supply chain. They should have power to manage the supply chain. They should actively integrate the whole chain for maximum total profitability.

This paper is just an overview of coordination practice in textile‐apparel supply chains. The case sources are published articles, company web sites and some open seminars made by the case companies. The methodology should be more systematic.

Coordination in textile‐apparel supply chains is still an unresolved question both from the theoretic and practical points of view. This paper fills in some of the gaps.

The purpose of this study is to understand the antecedents that influence supply chain coordination in the pharmaceutical supply chain using the transaction cost analysis framework.

Data from 156 retail pharmacies on their relationship with the pharmaceutical wholesalers are used to test the hypotheses.

The findings of this paper show the importance of antecedents that are based on the transactional cost theory, such as asset specificity and environmental uncertainty. These antecedents impact the supply chain process coordination at different levels – transactional, operational and strategic.

Future research may investigate additional antecedents using other theoretical lenses.

Pharmaceutical wholesalers are dependent on pharmaceutical manufacturers for the supply of products and face intense competition that results in lower profit margins. Given that the pharmaceutical industry is strictly regulated, the wholesaler facilitates regulatory compliance of the manufacturers in the distribution process by coordinating with them. But the wholesalers do also face a constant threat from the manufacturers, who could potentially bypass the wholesalers (disintermediation) and go directly to the pharmacies. To counterbalance the dependence, the wholesalers strive to achieve loyalty with the retail pharmacies. Through supply chain coordination, the wholesalers achieve efficiency in procurement for the pharmacies, thus reducing cost and improving their competitive advantage.

Supply chain coordination in the pharmaceutical supply chain improves the safety and security of the pharmaceutical distribution system.

This paper contributes to the supply chain coordination stream of literature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to develop the three levels of process coordination in the pharmaceutical supply chain context. This paper shows how process coordination can be achieved between the dyad without vertical integration.

Today, most of the manufacturing systems are changing very fast in terms of the adoption of new technologies. New technologies being implemented are Internet of Things, cyber physical systems, cloud computing, Big Data analytics and information and communication technologies. Most of the organizations in the value chain are implementing these technologies at the individual level rather than across the whole supply chain. It makes the supply chain less coordinated and causes suboptimal utilization of resources. For efficient and optimal use of modern technologies, supply chains should be highly coordinated. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate an approach for determining the index to quantify coordination in the supply chain.

From the literature review, total 32 factors have been identified. These factors are further clubbed into six clusters for evaluation of the coordination index. The graph theoretic approach has been used for evaluating the coordination index of a supply chain of an Indian organization.

This study has illustrated a comprehensive approach to quantify coordination of a supply chains for effective benchmarking of the supply chain performance in the Industry 4.0 era. Presently, it is observed that top management is giving more focus on organizational issues such as lean organization structure, organization culture and responsiveness factors for improving coordination in the supply chain rather than on Industry 4.0 technologies.

This framework can also be used for comparison, ranking and analysis of coordination issues in different supply chains in the era of Industry 4.0. Organizations can use this approach for benchmarking purpose also to improve different supply chain processes for meeting dynamic market requirements.

Increasing competition due to market globalisation, product diversity and technological breakthroughs stimulates independent firms to collaborate in a supply chain that allows them to gain mutual benefits. This requires the collective know‐how of the coordination mode, including the ability to synchronise interdependent processes, to integrate information systems and to cope with distributed learning. However, research into coordination has paid little attention to acknowledging different modes of coordination. This study promotes the notion of mutuality and the focus of coordination in order to establish a comprehensive taxonomy of coordination modes. Four different modes of coordination have been identified: logistics synchronisation, information sharing, incentive alignment, and collective learning. The knowledge of coordination is then proposed as an explicit understanding about key drivers of coordination modes that have positive impacts on supply chain performance. This paper also presents a research agenda.

Supply chain coordination is concerned with managing dependencies between various supply chain members and the joint efforts of all supply chain members to achieve mutually defined goals. There are different coordination mechanisms reported in the literature that have been discussed in isolation like information sharing, information technology, long‐term partnerships, and joint decision making which help in coordinating supply chain members. Various coordination models have been proposed considering isolated activities of the supply chain. There is a need to consider a holistic perspective of coordination in the entire supply chain. This paper sets out to analyze a case study of XYZ, a leading automotive parts manufacturer in India, to throw light on the status of coordination in its supply chain.

A situation‐actor‐process (SAP)‐learning‐action‐performance (LAP) model has been applied to analyze the case study of XYZ. The situation represents the present scenario of the organization. Actors are the participants, influencing the situation to evolve different business processes. Based on SAP, various learning issues have been analyzed which lead to suitable action followed by impact of SAP on the performance of the supply chain of the organization.

Various issues that need attention are: the type of relationship with suppliers and buyers, coordination effort with supply chain members, various mechanisms like information sharing, information technology, information systems, joint decision making, and flexibility required to adopt the above‐mentioned issues of coordination.

The flexible model of SAP‐LAP is used to explain soft and hard issues of supply chain coordination in a managerial context with reference to a dynamic SAP‐LAP model as applied to the case of XYZ.

The flexible model of SAP‐LAP presents the situation of coordination to participants who may initiate the processes needed to be coordinated. It also helps in identifying flexibility gaps in adoption of coordination mechanisms. The synthesis of SAP leads to LAP, which bridges the gap of flexibility by suggesting improvement actions on the gaps of flexibility or the learning from the present situation, actors and processes.

This is a novel approach to analyze quantitative and qualitative issues of supply chain coordination in a single model comprising various perspectives on coordination, coordination mechanisms, and flexibility required to coordinate, and the impact of coordination on performance of the supply chain.