A Study of Supply Chain Integration Flexibility and Performance

Abstract

Supply chain management (SCM) is increasingly recognized as Key Business Processes across newlinethe organizations. Increasing interest in the SCM since 1980s shows that firms cannot perform and newlinecompete effectively in isolation. Collaborative relationships with the supplier and other entities in newlinethe supply chain benefits organizations. The research demonstrated that collaboration with partners newlinesynchronizes supply chain activities, which stimulate new product development to fulfill market newlineneeds. Many benefits of these practices, i.e., supply chain integration (SCI) and supply chain newlinecollaboration (SCC), include (but not limited to): operational and business performance, financial newlineperformance, non-financial performance such as market share, customer satisfaction and many newlinemore. SCI, according to current literature, is a prerequisite strategy for organizations to sustain in newlinethe competitive market. According to Stevens (1989), integration involves all the points of newlinecontact between customer and supplier, which improves the customer service level, i.e., order newlinefulfillment, delivery service, pre and post-service, and support, finances, etc. Integration requires newlinethe collaboration of those functional units which directly affect customer service. Integration, newlinetherefore, emerged as a central area of supply chain strategy (Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001) and newlineconsidered a highly effective approach for sustaining in a competitive world. newlineAdditionally, firms are spreading their capability and resources across the supply chain to resolve newlineissues such as flexible operations, quick delivery, managing inventory. Studying SCI and supply newlinechain flexibility (SCF) recently have increased the attention of researchers. Todays intensely newlinecompetitive environment prompts customers to demand more, seek a variety of products, and newlinebetter services, which enable organizations to design a flexible supply chain. Therefore, this study newlinehas developed an integrated supply chain performance (SCP) measurement framework by newlineincluding both upstream and d