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Critical success factors in agile supply chain management ‐ An empirical study

Damien J. Power (Department of Management, Monash University, Australia)
Amrik S. Sohal (Department of Management, Monash University, Australia)
Shams‐Ur Rahman (Institute of Transport Studies, The University of Sydney, Australia)

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

ISSN: 0960-0035

Article publication date: 1 May 2001

17023

Abstract

This paper analyses results from a survey of 962 Australian manufacturing companies in order to identify some of the factors critical for successful agile organizations in managing their supply chains. Analysis of the survey results provided some interesting insights into factors differentiating “more agile” organizations from “less agile” organizations. “More agile” companies from this study can be characterized as more customer focused, and applying a combination of “soft” and “hard” methodologies in order to meet changing customer requirements. They also see the involvement of suppliers in this process as being crucial to their ability to attain high levels of customer satisfaction. The “less agile” group, on the other hand, can be characterized as more internally focused with a bias toward internal operational outcomes. They saw no link between any of the independent variables and innovation, and appear to see technology as more closely linked to the promotion of these operational outcomes than to customer satisfaction. The role of suppliers for this group is to support productivity and process improvement rather than to promote customer satisfaction.

Keywords

Citation

Power, D.J., Sohal, A.S. and Rahman, S. (2001), "Critical success factors in agile supply chain management ‐ An empirical study", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 247-265. https://doi.org/10.1108/09600030110394923

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited

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