Abstract:
Supply chain management practices have been defined as a set of activities undertaken
in an organization to promote effective management of its supply chain. The
objectives of the study are to identify: the impact of SCM practices on competitive
priorities and organizational performances, the impact of competitive priorities on
organizational performances, and positive relationship between different SCM
practices and organizational performances.
For evaluating SCM practices, competitive priorities and organizational performances
a research framework is developed based on previous research studies. The eight
dimensions of supply chain management practices construct include strategic supplier
partnership, customer relationship, level of information sharing, quality of information
sharing, environmental monitoring with suppliers and customers and environmental
collaboration with suppliers and customers. The six dimensions of competitive
priorities construct include, price / cost, quality, delivery dependability, product
innovation, time to market and flexibility. The two dimensions of organizational
performance construct include financial and marketing performance.
This research focuses on empirically testing the framework under study. The data is
collected from randomly selected 16 manufacturing firms in Food & Beverages and
25 companies in apparel industries in Sri Lanka through a questionnaire. A formal
statistical analysis including validity and reliability analysis, descriptive statistic
analysis, correlation analysis, linear regression analysis and a cluster analysis are
carried out.
The major findings of the research are the direct effect of SCM practices on both
competitive priorities and marketing performances and direct impact of competitive
priorities on marketing performances. The mediating effect of SCM practices on
marketing performances through competitive priorities is also identified. The
environmental practices are identified as positive contributors for improving SCM
practices.
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