Abstract

Organisations can use supply chain strategies to gain a competitive advantage for the supply chain. A competitive advantage can be achieved by means of low cost or by means of differentiation. However, organisations have to implement the correct supply chain strategy. Returns on investment can be compromised if organisations implement an incorrect supply chain strategy. The objective of the article is to analyse the differences between theoretically implied and implemented supply chain strategies within selected organisations. The differences between supply chain strategies implied by literature and those implemented by selected organisations are analysed by determining how the organisations are managing their supply chain drivers. Organisations with lean supply chains should manage their supply chain drivers to achieve efficiency, while organisations with agile supply chains should manage their supply chain drivers with responsiveness towards customers' needs in mind. Non-probability sampling was used to include 13 organisations in the research. Six organisations are implementing different supply chain strategies to what literature principles are suggesting to them based on specific supply chain characteristics. An analysis is done on how these six organisations are managing their supply chain drivers.

Highlights

  • Decisions made within supply chains play a significant role in the success or failure of an organisation (Jacobs, Chase & Aquilano, 2009; Chopra & Meindl, 2010)

  • If there is alignment between organisations’ responses in terms of market demand predictability and market winners, a specific supply chain strategy is suggested to the organisation

  • The second section discusses the use of the decoupling point to suggest a supply chain strategy for organisations

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Summary

Introduction

Decisions made within supply chains play a significant role in the success or failure of an organisation (Jacobs, Chase & Aquilano, 2009; Chopra & Meindl, 2010). There are three different supply chain strategies They are lean, agile and a combination of lean and agile (hybrid) supply chain strategies (Towill & Christopher, 2002; Raturi & Evans, 2005). Lean supply chains have elements of agility and agile supply chains have elements of leanness, a lean supply chain is primarily a set of organisations directly linked by upstream and downstream flows of information, products and finances that collaboratively work to reduce cost and waste while agile supply chains primarily utilise differentiation strategies aimed at being responsive and flexible to customer needs (Lee, 2002; Yusuf, Gunasekaran, Adeleye & Sivayoganathan, 2004; Christopher, 2005; Vitasek, Manrodt & Abbott, 2005; Jacobs et al, 2009). Hybrid supply chains can be defined as the combination of lean and agile supply chain strategies that exploit the benefits of both lean and agile supply chains (Mason-Jones, Naylor & Towill, 2000; Towill & Christopher, 2002)

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