The popularity of supply chain partnerships has exploded over the past few years with an increasing interest in the role of trust in facilitating the relationship. There has been a noticeable increase in the last quarter of the twentieth century of the importance of trust in partnerships and alliances in management literature. This paper deals with the nature and crucial role played by trust in long‐term relationships and tries to integrate a number of different perspectives to develop a framework along with three issues: ways the term “trust” is used, factors leading to trusting behaviour in the customer‐supplier relationship, and the effect of trust on the behaviour of a customer and a supplier. The paper presents some insights for supply chain managers from which they can examine their own partner relationships and provides supply chain managers with an in‐depth analysis of how to manage their supply chain relationships.

Increasing uncertainty of supply networks, globalization of businesses, proliferation of product variety and shortening of product life cycles have forced Indian organizations to look beyond their four walls for collaboration with supply chain partners. With a gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$474.3 biilion, the Indian industry spends 14 percent of its GDP on logistics. Considering this scenario, it is necessary to study the supply chain practices being followed by the Indian industry and to suggest areas for improving the same. This paper is based on a joint survey, covering 156 organizations, carried out by Management Development Institute, Gurgaon and KPMG India. The paper primarily focuses on the status of four major supply chain dimensions. The paper recommends that the Indian industry should align supply chain strategy with business strategy, streamline processes for supply chain integration, form partnerships for minimizing inventory and focus on infrastructure and technology deployment to build a India‐specific supply chain.

Purpose -Rapid innovation and globalization have generated tremendous opportunities and choices in the marketplace for firms and customers. Competitive pressures have led to sourcing and manufacturing on a global scale resulting in a significant increase in products. The paper tries to identify the need for real time business intelligence (BI) in supply chain analytics. Design/methodology/approach -The paper provides argument and analysis of the advantages and hurdles in BI. Findings -The paper focuses on the necessity to revisit the traditional BI concept that integrates and consolidates information in an organization in order to support firms that are service oriented and seeking customer loyalty and retention. Enhancing effectiveness and efficiency of supply chain analytics using a BI approach is a critical component in a company's ability to achieve its competitive advantage. Originality/value -This paper furthers understanding of the issues surrounding the use of BI systems in supply chains.

As global markets grow increasingly efficient, competition no longer takes place between individual businesses, but between entire supply chains. Collaboration can provide the competitive edge that enables all the business partners in a supply chain to prevail and grow. This paper presents a framework for customer‐supplier collaboration that facilitates effective and efficient supply chain operation. The paper reveals that the level of involvement of customers and suppliers differs across different supply chain processes and also across different sectors. While the involvement of customers is high in demand management and product development, the involvement of suppliers is high in transportation and inventory management processes. The paper also reveals that about 50 percent of the organizations surveyed indicate that suppliers and customers have little or virtually no role in the demand management, inventory management, and product development processes.

Purpose -To carry out a comprehensive survey on 3PL practices in India and to establish the impact of usage of third party logistics services on business results. Design/methodology/approach -Begins by analysing the studies carried out on 3PL practices and establishing a research framework. The input variables to the research framework depict the organization-specific characteristics, such as the extent of usage of 3PL services, the reasons for outsourcing and the impact of the usage of 3PL services. The output function of future usage of 3PL services is influenced by the three input variables. Data collected through survey questionnaire on the input and output variables are used to establish impact of usage of 3PL services on business performance through statistical analysis. Findings -The usage of 3PL services reveals positive and significant impact on business performance though 3PL practices are still at a nascent stage in India. Additionally, results clearly indicate that significant increase in outsourcing has been planned across all activities of the logistics function in the next 2-5 years.Research limitations/implications -Further research work should focus on managing 3PL relationships; selection and contract management of 3PL service providers for building collaborative supply chain partnerships; and identifying critical success factors for 3PL implementation and establishing performance measures for long-term 3PL relationships. Practical implications -Detailed study to motivate supply chain managers to outsource and use 3PL services to focus on the core business, drive logistics cost reduction, and improve supply chain efficiency. These indicators should also help the 3PL service providers plan the depth and scope of their service offerings to user organizations in India. Originality/value -The paper contributes to the current 3PL and supply chain practices and the emerging trends in 3PL services for achieving improved business results and supply chain efficiencies.