Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyze different types of supply chain uncertainties and suggest strategies to deal with unexpected contingencies to deliver superior operational performance (OP) using symmetrical and asymmetrical modeling approaches. The data were collected through a survey given to 146 supply chain managers within the fast moving consumer goods industry in Thailand. Symmetrical modeling is applied via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in order to assess the theoretical relationships among the latent variables, while asymmetrical modeling is applied via fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to emphasize their combinatory causal relation. The empirical results support the theory by highlighting the mediating effect of supply chain strategy (SCS) in the relation between supply chain uncertainty (SCU) and firms’ OP and, hence, deliver business sustainability for the firms, demonstrating that the choice of SCS should not be an “either-or” decision. This research contributes by providing an illustration of a PLS-SEM and fsQCA based estimation for the rapidly emerging field of sustainable supply chain management. This study provides empirical support for resource dependence theory (RDT) in explaining the relation between SCU and SCS, which leads to sustainable OP. From a methodological standpoint, this study also illustrates predictive validation testing of models using holdout samples and testing for causal asymmetry.
Highlights
In recent years, the nature of competition has increasingly shifted toward one supply chain competing against another supply chain [1]
The results show minimal collinearity with the variance inflation factor (VIF) for two sets of constructs because they are much less than the common threshold of 5 [61]
The results show the existence of a significant indirect effect of supply chain uncertainty (SCU) on operational performance (OP) with the supply chain strategy (SCS) mediator (β = 0.07 ****; t = 13.31; CI0.90: (0.06, 0.07), suggesting that SCS mediates the association between SCU and OP
Summary
The nature of competition has increasingly shifted toward one supply chain competing against another supply chain [1]. In a related study, Culp reported that 80% of companies worldwide see better protection of supply chains as a priority, because significant supply chain disruptions reduce the share price of affected companies by as much as 7% on average. The Thai flooding created significant shortages in the hard disk drive market that generated millions of dollars of losses for well-known electronics manufacturers. In addition to these headline events, the nature of supply chain risk is constantly changing. Risk-based, cost-effective supply chain management can be an essential element of success This capability cannot only help prevent losses, but can prove, for many companies, to be a lasting source of competitive advantage
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
