the study aims to identify the degree of alignment between the supply, manufacturing and distribution practices on the one hand and the generic business strategies suggested by Porter (1996): differentiation, low cost, focus on differentiation and focus on low cost on the other and to obtain some insights into how these relationships influence business performance. the gestalt and profile deviation (Venkatraman, 1989) approaches were used to identify the relationship between practices and the degrees of alignment in the respective strategy groups. When compared to other strategy groups, the group of companies predominantly devoted to the Focus on Low Cost strategy (49,25%) was found to have: greater consistency in the development of practices between supply, manufacturing and distribution, a high degree of alignment of most of these practices with that strategy, a greater tendency towards achieving better business performance.
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