An exploration of the strategic antecedents of firm supply chain agility: The role of a firm's orientations

Abstract

Agility has been identified as one of the most salient issues of contemporary supply chain management (Lee, 2004). Despite its importance, there has been limited theory development in supply chain agility at the firm level. The antecedents of firm supply chain agility are understood even less as they have been primarily addressed at an operational level. Gligor and Holcomb (2012b) emphasized that more research is needed to identify the firm supply chain agility strategic level antecedents. Gligor et al. (2015) specifically called for future research to investigate the role of market orientation and supply chain orientation in achieving supply chain agility. We address this call and expand on the work of Braunscheidel and Suresh (2009) who explored the role of different managerial orientations in achieving supply chain agility. The current research hypothesizes that market orientation has a direct impact on firm supply chain agility. Further, it is not enough to be market oriented to achieve a high level of supply chain agility; rather, a supply chain orientation also needs to be developed. In order to increase the explanatory power of our model we account for the impact of environmental uncertainty (Dess and Beard, 1984). Important theoretical and managerial implications are put forth as well.