Supply chain management survey of Swedish manufacturing firms

Abstract

Supply chain management practices and principles are evolving and changing rapidly, e.g. through modern information and communication technologies. These changes affect the ways supply chains are designed, the way they are managed, and how planning and control activities take place within these chains. But how far have companies come in dealing with supply chain issues? This paper investigates supply chain management strategies and practices in a sample of 128 Swedish manufacturing firms. We specifically study issues related to the supply chain design, integration, planning and control, and communication tools for managing supply chains. The main findings indicate the following. The extent to which suppliers and customers are involved in supply chain planning and control is expected to increase steadily over the next 2 years. The primary priority for the selection of supply chain partners is quality performance. However, delivery dependability, cost efficiency, volume flexibility, and delivery speed are also judged to be important inputs to the supply chain partner selection process. Today, companies expect to broaden and deepen the use of new information and communication technologies for improving supply chain operations. Our findings concerning future supply chain management practices, principles and priorities are discussed.