How SMEs can benefit from supply chain partnerships

Abstract

In recent literature on supply chain partnerships in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), there is controversy regarding the benefits of these partnerships. To resolve this controversy, specific information is needed on the implementation of these partnerships by SMEs; an area, that, thus far, has received little academic attention. In this paper, we examine different business functions (production, marketing and sales, purchasing and logistics, research and development (R&D) and finance) within a supply chain partnership. We collected data for each individual function from 279 high-tech SMEs and examined the relationship between the specific types of partnerships and the overall performance of the SMEs. The results indicate that it is only in the area of R&D that partnerships have a significant positive effect on overall firm performance. The results imply that SMEs primarily can benefit from particular types of supply chain partnerships, i.e. R&D partnerships. The results contribute to the debate in the literature by explaining why many SMEs were found not to benefit from these partnerships. We also provide implications for firms and how SMEs can better utilise supply chain management (SCM).

A Distributed Ledger for Supply Chain Physical Distribution Visibility

“…Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have low product volumes and relatively a large number of partners. As a result, these limitations constitute a major barrier and restrict the access of SMEs to different SCONs [13] due to cost and difficulties in introducing new SC management practices [12,14], which, in turn, prevents them from easily penetrating new markets. The proposed solution is aimed at addressing the above barriers and providing a distributed solution for SC physical distribution visibility by using the emergent blockchain technology [15].…”

An investigation into the development of the absorptive capacity of manufacturing SMEs

“…In addition, most of the existing literature on ACAP does not sufficiently acknowledge that there are firms such as SMEs which may not possess the required skills and competencies and organisation to help them successfully acquire and use external knowledge (Burcharth, Lettl and Ulhøi, 2015;Rezaei, Ortt and Trott, 2015). This paper proposes to explore this under-researched area related to the capacity of aerospace manufacturing SMEs to enhance their ACAP.…”

“…In spite of their well-recognised expertise, specialisation and flexibility, SMEs have unique characteristics and limitations which impede their capacity to up-to-date their learning (Strobel and Kratzer, 2017;Rangus and Slavec, 2017;Gray, 2006). The survival of SMEs depends, to a large extent, on their capacity to effectively learn (Onkelinx, Manolova and Edelman, 2016;Burcharth, Lettl and Ulhøi, 2015;Rezaei, Ortt and Trott, 2015) and share their high level of tacit knowledge (Kang and Lee, 2017;Knoppen, Sáenz and Johnston, 2011) in order to better respond to their rapidly changing manufacturing operations (MacBryde, Pato and Clegg, 2013) and environments (Raymond et al, 2016;Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000). It is therefore critical that SMEs improve their knowledge-based resources which are seen as the main asset for growth (Rangus and Slavec, 2017;Valentim, Lisboa and Franco, 2016;Onkelinx, Manolova and Edelman, 2016;Fornasiero and Zangiacomi, 2013).…”

The development of a green supply chain dual-objective facility by considering different levels of uncertainty

“…Managing environmental impacts in supply chain results in financial development in macro economical system (Ç iftçioglu and Almasifard 2015; Almasifard 2013), as well as organizational improvement. Hence, it is essential to consider large-scale technological practices and social, fiscal and political changes (Rezaei et al 2015). Moreover, understanding the needs of sustainable and environmental-friendly supply chain network causes of more governmental pressure on manufacturers (Zavvar Sabegh et al 2017;Gold et al 2010).…”