Product variety management and supply chain performance: A capability perspective on their relationships and competitiveness implications

An Empirical Study on the Manufacturing Firm’s Strategic Choice for Sustainability in SMEs

“…We regard supply chain flexibility and agility as different concepts in this study. Supply chain flexibility represents internally-focused manufacturers' capabilities and responsiveness in a firm's internal function such as purchasing, production, and distribution flexibility [66]. Furthermore, supply chain agility refers to externally-focused manufacturers' competencies that are related to speed at the organizational level such as rapid market responsiveness, delivery reliability, and frequency of new product introduction [67].…”

“…Supply chain agility is widely considered to be the most significant success factor in today's competitive marketplace [69]. Um et al [66] use supply chain flexibility and agility as performance indicators for SC reaction and responsiveness in managing a variety of issues.…”

“…Dynamic capabilities allow firms to maintain a competitive advantage [66]. Many researchers suggest that dynamic capabilities are antecedent to organizational and strategic routines and new value-creating strategies [79].…”

“…The survey contained 23 items representing six constructs. The constructs were supply chain visibility [93], modular design [7,44], supply chain flexibility, [64,66] and supply chain agility [64,66]. The preliminary survey was reviewed by five senior-level managers in manufacturing or supply chain management for ambiguity, readability, and clarity.…”

“…We define supply chain flexibility as the capability to be internally focused on a firm's functions such as adaptability of changes, and agility as the capability to be externally focused on a firm's functions such as speed at the business level [66]. For flexibility and agility measures, respondents rated three or four items by Um [66].…”