Exploring the Complex Social Processes of Organizational Change: Supply Chain Orientation From a Manager’s Perspective

Abstract

E ffective supply chain management strategies can lead to substantial improvements in customer value and reductions in system wide costs for each participant. Implementing supply chain management strategies, however, is not possible without embracing supply chain orientation (SCO) as a managerial philosophy. Organizational theorists have argued that organizations change only when the people in them change, yet we know little about the complex social processes occurring in the minds of the individuals involved in creating an SCO. The current literature lacks research that describes the transition to an SCO from a supply chain manager's perspective. Our objective is to fill this gap by delving into the minds of operations managers, who must carry out an interpretation process to set goals, process information, perceive their environment, and actively solve problems when confronted with the organization's decision to implement supply chain initiatives. We adopt an interpretivist ontology through utilizing grounded theory to provide an indepth analysis of interviews from seven manufacturing organizations and 121 supply chain managers to provide a rich description of those managers' perceptions and challenges throughout the transition. Managerial and research implications as well as future research opportunities are provided.

The non-adoption of supply chain management

“…Fourthly, development and diffusion has been dominated by assumptions that 'promoters' are selfless, integration and collaboration are universally relevant and good, all stakeholders benefit and that complex temporary project networks can be holistically managed as chains. Challenging these assumptions and mirroring the research approach adopted to explain 'supply chain orientation' as pivotal to change in the manufacturing industry (Omar et al, 2012), grounded theory is adopted to provide a fresh perspective that helps to explain the development and diffusion of supply chain management in construction.…”

Supply chain challenges and their implications for business strategies : a small and medium sized enterprises perspective in Lithuania

“…That is supported by those findings that enterprises place more importance on consistency (quality and delivery) and the least importance on price while selecting supplier (Choi, Hartley, 1996;Blackburn, 2012). Supply side cost minimization (in terms of lower cost of suppliers) can result on poor product quality, longer lead times, additional supply chain costs and dissatisfied customers (Omar et al, 2012).…”

A Literature Review on the Linkage between Supply Chain Challenges and Key Success Factors for Small and Medium Size Enterprises

“…That is supported by the findings that enterprises place more importance on consistency (quality and delivery) and the least importance on price while selecting supplier (Choi, Hartley, 1996;Blackburn, 2012). Supply side cost minimization (in terms of lower cost of suppliers) can result in poor product quality, longer lead times, additional supply chain costs and dissatisfied customers (Omar et al, 2012).…”