Do Supply Chain Management Practices Contribute Firm Competitiveness? A Study based on Medium Scale Entrepreneurial Firms in Sri Lanka

Abstract

It is evident that supply chain management (SCM) practices are widely practiced by large scale and established business organizations as benchmark. Not only the large firms but also the small and medium scale businesses are required to follow these practices to achieve the growth. Further, present business environment is very competitive and organizations should face this as a challenge. This study is undertaken to empirically investigate the impact of supply chain management on competitiveness. Sample consists of 327 production managers of medium scale entrepreneurial firms (manufacturing sector) in Colombo district. The analyzed data supports the hypotheses revealing that higher the level of involvement in SCM practices higher the competitiveness. Further, it is found that except level of information quality and lean practices, other practices of SCM (Strategic partnership with suppliers, customer relationship, level of information sharing and internal supply chain process are significant factors that affect firm competitiveness.

The role of supplier relationship strategies, relationship with customer, and information sharing on firm performance

“…Some researcher claim that a company's capacity to exchange information with other participants in the supply chain can have an impact on its success (Fawcett et al, 2009). Information sharing improves business performance (Wijetunge & Ranwala, 2017;van der Westhuizen & Ntshingila, 2020). It is possible to save production costs and expenses, better understand consumer expectations, and respond to market changes more quickly when supply chain partners share vital information.…”