Highly competitive environments are leading companies to implement Supply Chain Management (SCM) to improve performance and gain a competitive advantage. SCM involves integration, coordination and collaboration across organisations and throughout the supply chain. It means that SCM requires internal (intraorganisational) and external (interorganisational) integration. This paper examines the Logistics-Production and Logistics-Marketing interfaces and their relation with the external integration process. The study also investigates the causal impact of these internal and external relationships on the company's logistical service performance. To analyse this, an empirical study was conducted in the Spanish Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector.

Adversarial relationships have long dominated business relationships, but Supply Chain Management (SCM) entails a new perspective. SCM requires a movement away from arms-length relationships toward partnership style relations. SCM involves integration, coordination and collaboration across organisations and throughout the supply chain. It means that SCM requires internal (intraorganisational) and external (interorganisational) integration. This paper analyses the relationship between internal and external integration processes, their effect on firms' performance and their contribution to the achievement of a competitive advantage. Performance improvements are analysed through costs, stock out and lead time reductions. And, the achievement of a better competitive position is measured by comparing the firm's performance with its competitors' performance. To analyse this, an empirical study has been conducted in the Spanish grocery sector.

PurposeThis paper examines the logistics‐production and logistics‐marketing interfaces and their relation with the external integration. The study also investigates the causal impact of these internal and external relationships on the company's logistical performance.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study was conducted in the Spanish FMCG sector and the theoretical model was subjected to analysis using SEM.FindingsThe generic results derived from this study are: Internal and external integration influence each other. Integration in the logistics‐marketing interface does not lead to reductions in costs, stock‐outs and lead‐times, while the integration achieved in the logistics‐production interface does improve these performance measures, if there is no external integration. The external collaboration among supply chain members does always contribute to improving firms’ logistical performance.Research/limitations/implicationsThe study has some limitations: other important members of the grocery supply chain (such as retailers, TPL, etc.) have not been considered and the effect of inter‐firm co‐ordination has only been analyzed from the perspective of the provider (as most studies do). Further research on the logistics‐marketing impact on performance should be carried out and other important supply chain members should be considered.Practical implicationsThe study contributes to the existing literature by showing that the impact on performance of internal integration depends on the functional areas that are being integrated and the level of external integration.Originality/valueIt is believed that this paper will be insightful to researchers and managers in the SCM field. For researchers, this paper has provided new lines of research. And, for managers, this paper has shown that there is a positive relationship between firms’ logistical performance and SCM.

In this paper we study the welfare impact of alternative tax schemes on labor and capital. We evaluate the e¤ect of lowering capital income taxes on the distribution of wealth in a model with heterogeneous agents, restricting our attention to policies with constant tax rates. We calibrate and simulate the economy; we …nd that lowering capital taxes has two e¤ects: i) it increases e¢ciency in terms of aggregate production, and ii) it redistributes wealth in favor of those agents with a low wage/wealth ratio. We …nd that the redistributive e¤ect dominates, and that agents with a high wage/wealth ratio would experience a large loss in utility if capital income taxes were eliminated.Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona)