Researchers in supply chain management (SCM) have traditionally relied most heavily on the core disciplines of logistics, marketing, and operations; most are less familiar with empirical literature in strategic management. However, with the evolution of logistics into the more interdisciplinary SCM along with increasing attention within strategic management to supply chain issues, recent empirical research in strategy has much to offer. This study reviews and categorizes more than one hundred articles relevant to SCM drawn primarily from top strategic management journals.

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In this article, we investigate supply chain-related drivers that contribute to organizational flexibility (i.e., the ability of top management to be responsive to a firm's internal and external needs). Organizational flexibility occurs when a firm outsources manufacturing and operates with a more flexible structure. Drawing upon the supply network perspective, this study develops hypotheses relating attributes of the supplier, customer, and focal industries to the use of a flexible organizational strategy. Using an industry-level data set to test the hypotheses, we show that heterogeneity of supply sources and scale economies (in the focal and downstream industries) are positively associated with a greater degree of organizational flexibility, in terms of contract manufacturing in the focal industry. However, industry concentration levels in the focal and downstream industries are negatively associated with organizational flexibility.

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