Analyzing the interaction of factors for flexibility in supply chains

Abstract

Purpose In the present scenario of global competition and economic recession, most of the organizations are facing tough challenge to survive in the market because of shortening product life cycle and reducing profit margin. Customers are seeking better design, production and delivery, which have made firms to concentrate on flexibility in supply chains. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify major factors and develop a suitable framework for flexibility in supply chains. Design/methodology/approach Based on literature review, about 14 factors have been identified. To develop relationship among these factors, a team of five experts from industry and academia was formed. Based on inputs from experts, different relationships are developed among factors to form structural self-interaction matrix (SSIM). Based on this matrix, a flexibility framework is developed by interpretive structural modelling approach. Findings Top management commitment, strategy development for flexible SC, application of advance technology and IT tools, information sharing in SC members, trust development among supply chain members have emerged as major driving factors. Logistics and warehouse management, suppliers flexibility, distribution flexibility and manufacturing flexibility have emerged as dependent factors. Research limitations/implications Framework developed in this study is based on interpretive structural modelling. This framework can be further validated with some case analysis and empirical findings. Originality/value Findings of the study can be useful for industry professionals to develop strategies for flexible supply chains. It will help them in taking new initiatives for making supply chains more responsive and proactive for customers demand.

Manufacturing and Supply Chain Flexibility: Building an Integrative Conceptual Model Through Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis

“…The building blocks of the manufacturing and supply chain flexibility competence are the interconnected and reinforcing approaches to planning (the planning cluster), partners -in procurement (the purchasing cluster) and distribution (the distribution and MSCF sub-cluster) -, the processes that build manufacturing flexibility and finally information sharing and communication (the collaboration and MSCF sub-cluster) These can be considered as the key structural and infrastructural building blocks of manufacturing and supply chain flexibility (Slack 2005a;Merschmann and Thoneman 2011;Alves-Filho et al 2015). It is worth noting that these building blocks are still predominantly considered in isolation (Li et al 2018), providing opportunities for integrative studies (Kumar and Mishra 2017;Singh and Kumar 2017). and Tiwari et al (2015) conceptual models are good starting points in addressing this need.…”

“…Luo and Yu (2016) also offer an in-depth argument on contingencies approach, which could be extended further with different contingency factors in the future. Investigating several contingencies holistically is important (Simangunsong et al 2012;Singh et al 2017;Kumar and Mishra 2017), as most of the previous studies are fragmented and cannot help identify the more prominent, and even perhaps conflicting ones. Sanchez and Perez (2005) is an illustration of this point and should be complemented with studies outside the automotive sector.…”

“…To ensure that we capture the overlap between MF and SCF, we included "suppl* chain* flexib*", and "manufact* flexib*" and the co-occurring terms "flexib* suppl* chain*", "operat* flexib*" and "production flexib*" as primary terms of the search (Seebacher and Winkler 2013;Serrano-Bedia et al 2013;Tiwari et al 2015;Yu et al 2015;Esmaeilikia et al 2016;Singh et al 2017). Additionally, the broader term "supply chain*" was included as a secondary keyword to guarantee the search being sufficiently inclusive to capture most relevant articles within the scope of our research objective.…”

Theoretical Framework for a Local, Agile Supply Chain to Create Innovative Product Closer to End-user: Onshore-Offshore Debate

“…The most important reasons for reshoring and apply agile supply chain are based on wage and currency exchanges, quality and warranty problems, increased freight costs, unreliable deliveries, increased inventory, intellectual property loss or risk, misleading total cost calculations and difficult communications Singh et al, 2017 Analysing the interaction of factors for flexibility in supply chains Innovative products-with their unpredictable demand and short lifecycle-increase the risk of shortage of supply; hence, the predominant cost of innovative products is always the market mediation cost…”

“…As a reflection of the research question, a firm's application of strategic agility into their process to adapt to increased environmental turbulence can be achieved most ideally in the same business environment where the demand occurs (Aitken & Bozarth 2016, Eltawy & Gallear 2017. By building strategic agility and applying near term supply chain, efficient and responsive production can be achieved, which helps firms react promptly and successfully to volatile market demand, as well as overcome fluctuations and uncertainty in customer demand (Singh et al 2017, Vos et al 2016. The structure of this study research accommodated the emerging question of the onshore-offshore debate in a changing business environment.…”