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The purpose of the paper is to identify management and human resource (HR) practices that lead to satisfaction with the performance of an organization's supply chain as well as employee wellbeing, and to develop recommendations for practicing managers.

Adopting an empirical approach, a Delphi expert panel study was first carried out to identify the possible impact of supply chain integration, particularly with regard to human resource management (HRM) policies and practices. Then, using a survey of 228 supply chain professionals, hypotheses linking satisfaction with supply chain performance to non‐traditional HR practices, training, and team organization were tested.

The Delphi study identified specific HR practices, such as flexible job descriptions and teamwork training that would need to accompany successful supply chain integration. Regression results indicate that flexible job descriptions, team organization, teamwork training, and the use of performance metrics to determine rewards, are significantly related to satisfaction with supply chain performance.

The Delphi results are subjective by nature and the cross‐sectional survey design limits inferences of causality.

This paper identifies management and HR practices that lead to satisfaction with supply chain performance, which is particularly relevant to modern industrial organizations where the trend is toward inter‐organizational networks in the form of integrated supply chains. Implications for employee wellbeing are also discussed.

This paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach and links HRM practice with supply chain management; two separate fields with their own research traditions.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of different forecasting methods (judgmental, quantitative and mixed forecasting) on firms' supply chains and competitive performance.

Working with three groups of manufacturing companies, we explore the consequences of judgmental, quantitative and mixed forecasting methods on firms' competitive performance in supply chains. The validity of constructs and path relationships was examined using structural equation modeling (SEM).

Our findings indicate that supply chain efficiency influences both cost reduction and customer satisfaction. In addition, the three dimensions of supply chain performance are shown to be direct antecedents of competitive performance. Our empirical results reveal that although all studied forecasting methods meaningfully influence supply chain performance, the mixed method, compared to the other two methods, has greater capabilities to enhance supply chain performance.

This research provides originality and insight into supply chain practices through forecasting methods to improve competitive performance.

This paper addresses a gap in task performance research, with a focus on supply chain operations, by exploring the role that defensive pessimism (DP)—a phenomenon sparsely studied in supply chain literature—has in the workplace. It investigates the roles that task complexity, perceptions of control and employee situatedness in the workplace play as predictors of DP, as well as addresses the relationship between defensive pessimism and supply chain performance.

Five hypotheses are developed and empirically tested employing the data-generating method, Monte Carlo simulation and then applying factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to survey data from practitioner members of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

The results reveal that task complexity and external locus of control heighten perceptions among employees that task completion could be outside their locus of control. The increased tendency to be defensively pessimistic about workplace commitments negatively impacts supply chain performance. This study found that task complexity and external locus of control encourage DP, negatively impacting supply chain performance (SCP).

This study explored underlying causes of defensive pessimism, a self-limiting behavior among supply chain professionals. In understanding the role of DP, it is possible to enhance SCP by managing task complexity, external locus of control and job autonomy—predictors of defensive pessimism in work commitments.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the strategic fit of supply chains and the formulation of future strategies.

This study focuses on Taiwanese investments in China and offers models based mainly on the transaction cost theory and the eclectic theory using data surveyed from 1,100 Taiwanese companies in China's Pearl River Delta (PRD) and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD).

Strategic fit from the perspective of the degree of vertical integration and the degree to which a Taiwanese firm fits in the local supply chain can affect the propensity for strategic change. That is, strategic fits in internalization strategy for vertical integration and in localization strategy for fit in the local supply chain are related to how a firm formulates its future strategies. Industrial factors between technological sectors and non‐technological sectors, and geographical factors between the YRD and the PRD further reveal different levels of significance in the strategic fit‐change relationship.

The paper fills some gaps. First, the study described in the paper examines strategic fit from the supply chain perspective to fill the knowledge gap regarding the significance of strategic fit in a supply chain and its impact on strategic change. To deal with the multi‐dimensionality of strategic fit, this study attributes to evidence of multiple perspectives. Second, the study extends the industrial effect and the geographic effect on the strategic fit‐change relationship. Third, the evidence‐based findings provide academia, business practitioners and government agencies with evidence regarding foreign direct investment strategies from supply chain perspectives.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, a case study on the application of lean production principles in a manufacturing facility is presented to demonstrate the impact of frequent and systematic use of a Kaizen event on quality and delivery performance. Second, the detailed description and analysis of the Kaizen event and its impact are provided, including a comprehensive analysis of the role of Kaizen events on employee participation and motivation.

The study utilizes a Kaizen event’s case study data with the help of various waste detection and elimination tools and techniques. Changes in overall productivity along with potential long-term improvements in the delivery process are also analyzed and documented.

Pre- and post-quality measures are provided to demonstrate the results of the event on the production quality and on the performance of the overall manufacturing processes. Qualitative findings regarding performance measurements and the impact on the employees are reported.

The Kaizen team applied analytical techniques to one manufacturing site in North America of a company that has a manufacturing presence in 20 different countries.

Kaizen studies involving packaging operations are quite limited. This study fills this gap by detailing the Kaizen event implementation in a packaging delivery and dispensing systems manufacturer for the cosmetic industry. The implementation of this Kaizen event is detailed along with the data and techniques utilized for process improvement. The study also reports findings regarding the impact of the Kaizen event on employee participation.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an exploratory study that will assist supply chain firms in the development of partner satisfaction, flexibility, and supply chain performance. The authors examine how the interaction of information exchange, partner interaction, knowledge sharing and flexibility as mediated through partner satisfaction effectuates firm performance. The goal of this research is to answer the supply chain managers’ need to better understand where to invest their time and effort to get improved firm performance.

The model was tested with panel data from 105 experienced, US-based supply chain managers. Structural equation modeling using partial least squares approach was utilized to conduct the analysis.

The results provide crucial evidence that simple information exchange among supply chain partners does not result in improvements in firm performance or partner satisfaction, but, when mediated through the flexibility construct, it does. Further, the use of integration tools has a moderating effect on the relationship between flexibility and firm performance. The results suggest that working closely with supply chain partners helps ensure improved relationship satisfaction, and can reduce issues that can impact firm performance.

The empirical research presented requires additional validation though larger sample data from supply chain managers.

This study stresses on the importance of managers using information exchange, partner interaction, and knowledge sharing as a means of improving their firm’s indirect influence on firm performance through flexibility and integration tools.

This is one of the few studies in the supply chain literature that integrates flexibility as a mediator variable. Additionally, this study introduces the new construct of integration tools to the supply chain literature.

The aim of this study is to empirically test the relationship between supply chain performance and organizational performance mediated by customer satisfaction.

Respondents of this study include all the supply chain stakeholders, managers working in the dairy industry, bulk milk chillers/coolers (BMCs), farmer producers, wholesalers, transporters, retailers and consumers. The final sample has 67 firms and their forward and backward linkages, taking the total sample size to 1,139. Mediation analysis was performed using SPSS AMOS v26 to analyze the impact of supply chain performance on organizational performance mediated by customer satisfaction.

The findings of this study reveal that supply chain performance positively impacts organizational performance, and customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between them.

This study provides an opportunity for future researchers to test this model in different locations and different industries, incorporating other mediating variables, such as risk, coordination, supply chain orientation etc., as antecedents and operational, economic and marketing performance as consequences.

The study suggests that enhanced organizational performance requires supply chain management to be treated as a strategic function. Managers working at the processing/manufacturing level must focus on improving supply chain performance indicators through collaboration with supply chain stakeholders.

The present study adds to the existing literature by adopting a new supply chain performance measurement approach. The current literature has focused primarily on supply chain practices to study their impact on customer satisfaction and organizational performance. In contrast, the present study demonstrates how improvement in supply chain performance can enhance organizational performance through customer satisfaction.

This paper aims to empirically test the relationship between supplier relations and satisfaction with overall supplier performance in a services context at a process level of analysis.

Two hypotheses are developed, one predicting a positive relationship between a multi‐dimensional construct of supplier relations and satisfaction with overall supplier performance, and one five‐part hypothesis predicting positive relationships between the underlying components of supplier relations and satisfaction with overall supplier performance. Using a sample of 108 financial services processes, the first hypothesis is tested using regression analysis, and the second hypothesis is tested using correlation analysis.

After controlling for supplier efficiency and responsiveness, use of information technology, electronic information‐sharing, supplier type, and firm size, better supplier relations are associated with satisfaction with overall supplier performance. However, while the “partnering” components of the relationship (i.e. cooperation and long‐term commitment) are correlated with satisfaction with overall supplier performance, the “operational” components of the relationship (i.e. high degree of coordination, information‐sharing, and feedback) are not.

Limited informant population, primarily single respondents, some single‐item variables.

The research results suggest not only the importance of improving overall supplier relations, but also the particular benefits of building partnerships within the service supply chain through co‐operation and long‐term commitment in order to increase satisfaction with overall supplier performance.

Unlike most empirical supply chain management studies, which use data from manufacturers at the strategic business unit or firm level, and recognizing that services and manufacturers differ in certain respects that are salient for supply chain management, this study uses data from a services industry (i.e. financial services) collected at the process level and provides unique insights into services and process level supply chain management.

Supply chain analytics with big data capability are now growing to the next frontier in transforming the supply chain. However, very few studies have identified its different dimensions and overall effects on supply chain performance measures and customer satisfaction. The aim of this paper to design the data-driven supply chain model to evaluate the impact on supply chain performance and customer satisfaction.

This research uses the resource-based view, emerging literature on big data, supply chain performance measures and customer satisfaction theory to develop the big data-driven supply chain (BDDSC) model. The model tested using questionnaire data collected from supply chain managers and supply chain analysts. To prove the research model, the study uses the structural equation modeling technique.

The results of the study identify the supply chain performance measures (integration, innovation, flexibility, efficiency, quality and market performance) and customer satisfaction (cost, flexibility, quality and delivery) positively associated with the BDDSC model.

This paper fills the significant gap in the BDDSC on the different dimensions of supply chain performance measures and their impacts on customer satisfaction.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the combination of relational and organizational resource factors that influence small‐to‐medium‐sized firm satisfaction with their supply chain portfolio performance.

This research employs two complementary theoretical lenses frequently used in the explanation of relationship performance, resource‐based view of the firm and strategic behavior theory. The authors then used an international survey based in three Northern European countries to test their hypotheses with hierarchical linear regression.

The quantitative analysis supports all three hypotheses indicating that supply chain portfolio flexibility is an important determinant for small‐to‐medium‐sized firm satisfaction with supply chain portfolio performance. Additionally, firm alliance orientation and entrepreneurial orientation both significantly influence the relationship between supply chain flexibility and performance satisfaction.

This research is limited by the categorization of the supply chain portfolio flexibility types as high and low resource linkages by the researchers. Future research may look at additional ways to measure individual agreements and have firms categorize them according to resource requirements. However, the findings of this research provide a theoretical and empirical foundation through the application of resource‐based view of the firm and strategic behavior theory for future research in the area of small‐to‐medium‐sized firms and their satisfaction with supply chain portfolios.

Important managerial implications are found for small to medium‐sized firms and larger firms that work with them when managing portfolio satisfaction. This research indicates that it makes sense for managers to consider categorizing supply chain relationships similar to the way they categorize their end‐user relationships. This allows small‐to‐medium‐sized firms across the portfolio to be segmented into groups where appropriate relationship maintenance can take place and where more suitable satisfaction goals can be defined in terms of operational metrics.

The framework developed in this paper provides insights on small‐to‐medium‐sized firm satisfaction with supply chain portfolio performance. This research stimulates a new research stream towards an integrated theory of supply chain portfolio management.