Performance outcomes of supply chain agility: When should you be agile?

Abstract

Please cite this article as: Gligor, D.M., Esmark, C.L., Holcomb, M.C.,Performance outcomes of supply chain agility: When should you be agile?, Journal of Operations Management (2014), http://dx.Abstract: Traditionally, researchers have claimed agility as an attribute closely tied to the effectiveness of strategic supply chain management. Because of its association with customer effectiveness, some researchers have considered agility to be fundamentally different from lean, which has been linked to cost efficiency (Goldsby et al. 2006). Therefore, the relationship between agility and cost efficiency is not clear due to limited empirical scrutiny from researchers. Since elimination of waste is the cornerstone of lean, unravelling the relationship between agility and efficiency can also offer a better perspective on relationship between the fundamental paradigms of agility and lean. The manuscript makes a key contribution to the agility literature by examining the association between supply chain agility (FSCA), cost efficiency and customer effectiveness across various environmental situations. We use archival data to examine the moderating effects of environmental munificence, dynamism, and complexity. It has been argued that firms should embrace agile strategies when operating in highly uncertain environments, and embrace lean strategies when operating in more stable environments (Lee, 2002;Sebastiao and Golicic, 2008). We empirically question this premise to determine whether supply chain agility can also lead to superior performance for firms operating in stable environments.The study results also provide a better understanding of how FSCA contributes to firm financial performance. We evaluate the impact of FSCA on the firm's Return on Assets using archival data from the Compustat database. Thus, we provide evidence to managers that deploying resource to enhance FSCA can positively impact the firm's bottom line.

Is lean service promising? A socio-technical perspective

“…Gligor et al, 2015;Chavez et al, 2013), there is some emerging evidence suggesting that senior managers may not always have detailed information on the practices used on a daily basis in their organisations (Leyer and Moormann, 2013). Furthermore, the sample size in this research is relatively small and the effect of its size on generalisation of findings should be noted.…”

Impact of human resources on wine supply chain flexibility, quality, and economic performance

“…However, food companies that do not meet appropriate quality standards must not commercialize their products, as they may represent huge health risks (Aung & Chang, 2014) and can compromise their SCs (Gligor et al, 2015). Considering these arguments, the third working hypothesis states as follows:…”

“…In an era of rapidly changing trends, customers can unexpectedly change their minds, and companies must respond swiftly to such market fluctuations and uncertainty (Gligor et al, 2015). Flexibility can thus be reached by delivering products on time (Barad, 2012), changing production volume levels, making product modifications, or by implementing different layouts (Karakaya & Bakal, 2013).…”

“…Human Resources (HR) (Badea et al, 2015;Gil et al, 2015) Education and skills Human resources availability (Babak & Saeid, 2012;Gligor et al, 2015) Short setup times Flexible work contracts…”

Concerns of Vietnamese Producing-exporting Seafood SMEs (VPESSMEs) on Supply Chain

“…Companies adopting an agile supply chain practices are fewer than the ones with a lean supply chain (Yusuf, Gunasekaran, Adeleye, & Sivayoganathan, 2004) because a lean supply chain aims to reduce inventory cost while maximizing revenue as well as profit (Agarwal, Shankar, & Tiwari, 2006). However, an agile supply chain can generate cost savings even for firms operating in industries with fewer opportunities for growth (Khalili-Damghani & Tavana, 2013), (Gligor, Esmark, & Holcomb, 2015). What do Vietnam"s small-medium companies consider while building their supply chain is very important and will be studied in the next part?…”