Identification of Critical Factors and Their Interrelationships to Design Agile Supply Chain: Special Focus to Oil and Gas Industries

Abstract

This research identifies the critical factors that drive agile supply chain management, especially to oil and gas industries. An extensive literature review and questionnaire survey was conducted within the oil and gas industries supply chain to identify the critical factors. Besides, several brainstorming sessions were held with the experts in the oil and gas industries supply chain to know the contextual relationship between the identified factors. Furthermore, with the help of a total interpretive structural modeling tool, a digraph was developed to analyze the relationships between the identified factors. From the analysis, out of the twelve identified factors, top management commitment, strategic alignment, competency of management and integration of information technology were found to be the main drivers to offer an agile supply chain. On the other hand, factors such as government regulations, transportation and logistics flexibility and production planning fell under the category of dependent factors.