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This paper analyses results from a survey of 962 Australian manufacturing companies in order to identify some of the factors critical for successful agile organizations in managing their supply chains. Analysis of the survey results provided some interesting insights into factors differentiating``more agile'' organizations from``less agile'' organizations.``More agile'' companies from this study can be characterized as more customer focused, and applying a combination of``soft'' and``hard'' methodologies in order to meet changing customer requirements. They also see the involvement of suppliers in this process as being crucial to their ability to attain high levels of customer satisfaction. The``less agile'' group, on the other hand, can be characterized as more internally focused with a bias toward internal operational outcomes. They saw no link between any of the independent variables and innovation, and appear to see technology as more closely linked to the promotion of these operational outcomes than to customer satisfaction. The role of suppliers for this group is to support productivity and process improvement rather than to promote customer satisfaction.

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Recently, a highly credible report suggested that the quality philosophy and quality standards have not effectively reached the core of Australia's commercial base ± 780,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on this critical finding, this study aims at providing empirical evidence on the differences in total quality management (TQM) implementation and organisational performance of SMEs in Western Australia, with and without ISO 9000 certification. Using the criteria of the Australian Business Excellence (ABE) framework as a guide, a questionnaire with 36 items was developed, checked for reliability and validity and applied to create a self-assessment measure of TQM practices. The results showed that there was no significant difference between SMEs with and without ISO 9000 certification with respect to TQM implementation and organisational performance. This result concurs with the findings of studies conducted in the context of large organisations in Australia.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which lean management practices are adopted by manufacturing organizations in Thailand and their impact on firms' operational performance. Design/methodology/approach -Using a survey questionnaire, data were collected against 13 lean practices from 187 middle and senior managers belonging to 187 Thai manufacturing firms. Using factor analysis these lean practices were then clustered into three higher level constructs namely just in time ( JIT), waste minimization and flow management. The responding firms were categorized into small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises (LEs) based on size and Thai-owned, foreign-owned and joint venture firms based on ownership. The multiple regression models were employed to investigate the effects of three lean constructs on operational performance in different categories of firms. The operational performance is measured by four parameters such as quick delivery compared to competitors, unit cost of products relative to competitors, overall productivity and customer satisfaction. Findings -The results indicate that all three lean constructs are significantly related to operational performance. JIT has a higher level of significance in LEs compared with SMEs, whereas for waste minimization there is a higher level of significance for SMEs compared with LEs. Flow management has a much lower level of significance for both SMEs and LEs. With respect to ownership, JIT is highly significant to operational performance for all three ownership groups (Thai, foreign and joint venture). Foreign-owned companies show a higher level of significance on operational performance for both waste management and flow management than Thai and joint venture companies. Originality/value -The paper provides insights into the adoption of lean practices in an Asian context and using survey data as opposed to case studies, and provides further evidence that lean practices are significant in enhancing operational performance.

This article introduces the relationship between complexities and proactive management practices in supply chain resilience, particularly due to global sourcing (GS) strategies. The main objectives of this paper are as follows: (i) explain the various aspects of GS rather than reporting the trends and implications described in the literature, (ii) view GS in terms of complexity theory and (iii) investigate the resilience of supply chain due to GS complexity and suggest strategies to overcome complexities. We propose a GS resilience framework for future researchers to analyse the impact of GS complexity factors on supply chain resilience with respect to three outcomes: (i) risk and innovation, (ii) benefit in terms of sales promotion and (iii) challenges and responsiveness. Based on the framework, this introductory article summarises the papers appear in this special issue. This article would be useful to researchers and practitioners to further explore the role of complexities, proactive management strategies on GS resilience.

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