A theory of the competing supply chain: Alternatives for development

Abstract

Development of a coherent methodology for supply chain vs. supply chain competition remains elusive in literature in terms of purpose, approaches and theoretical foundations. The purpose of this paper is to identify suitable theories of competition from which supply chain vs. supply chain competition may be further developed. Paper explores literature on competition theories, competition and its correlates and also considers the dichotomy between competitiveness and competition in relation to achievement of a competitive advantage in supply chains. An argument is made for the identification and development of theory that reflects the multidimensional, process-based and emergent properties of supply chains. Three competition theories from which supply chain vs. supply chain competition may begin to be conceptualized and possibly operationalized are identified. A chronological conceptualization of competition, competitiveness and competitive advantage, which is intuitive to the realization of competitive advantage in inter-supply chain competition, is also proposed.

Reconfiguration and regulation of supply chains and HRM in times of economic crisis

“…In part enabled by technological developments in communication allowing the hyper-mobility of capital (Kraus and Lind 2007), networks were also seen to potentially constitute 'lean', 'flexible', low cost organization structures (Womack et al 1990;Krause 1997; Cooper and Slagmulder 2004) capable of 'unblocking' organizational learning, communication, innovation and change (Badarocco 1991;Bush and Frohman 1991;Hamel 1991;Bolton et al 1994;Womack and Jones 1996) whist enabling risk-sharing (Blos et al 2009) and the leveraging of inter-firm network resources (Gulati 2007). In other words, networks were seen to be able to gain faster access to new markets and develop new products more quickly (Van der Meer-Kooistra and Kamminga 2010) so as to create long term competitive advantage by being particularly suited to the contingencies arising in an increasingly globalized, uncertain and competitive environment (Antai 2011).…”

Dual Competing Photovoltaic Supply Chains: A Social Welfare Maximization Perspective

“…However, these recent PV supply chain studies considered only a single supply chain scenario. Since there is an obvious trend that in many industries it is no longer competition among firms rather it is competition among supply chains [ 16 , 17 , 18 ], there is a clear shortage in the PV industry literature regarding how dual supply chains compete and the key decision issues regarding the competition between dual PV supply chains. This paper intends to address the literature shortage issue and hopes to shed some lights on the competition of dual supply chains in the PV industry under the public subsidy.…”

Supply Chain Integration Strategy: A Conceptual Model of Supply Chain Relational Capital Enabler in the Malaysian Food Processing Industry

“…It was apparently and frequently described in current literature that firms may not be able to heighten their competitiveness if they isolated their internal process and structure with their external trading partners (Danese & Romano, 2011). In other word, competition that is based on a single firm competition is no longer relevant in today's business environment and therefore, competition between firms in the entire supply chain with another supply chain entities are perceived more significant by a substantial number of authors (Antai, 2011;Fawcett, Stanley, & Smith, 1997). The emergence of such competition has increased the need for firms in the whole supply chain system to cooperate, coordinate, collaborate, and integrate in order to ensure the investment effort in supply chain relationship will provide high value of return to the whole supply chain participants (Flint, 2004).…”