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Introduction Supply chain management (SCM) is a concept that encompasses different perspectives (Bechtel and Jayaram1997) and has been the object of numerous studies in various academic fields such as marketing, operational management, purchasing and logistics (Ketchen and Giunpero, 2004). Recently, SCM research has focused on an integrated perspective, first in incorporating all the activities both upstream and downstream of the supply chain, and subsequently through developing solid constructs touching on diverse research domains (Hult et al., 2006; Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001; Li et al., 2006; Zailani and Rajagopal, 2005). This multidisciplinary perspective seems essential given that the relationship between the development of competitive advantage and SCM practices lacks empirical evidence (Li et al., 2006). Among other theories thatcan deepen our understanding of the dynamics underlying the SCM concept, we find the resource-based view (RBV). For more than 20 years in the field of strategic management, the RBV has been a research trend examining links between an organization’s internal characteristics and its performance (Barney, 2001). The basic premise is that an organization is a blend of specialized resources that are deployed and combined to create competencies through which the organization can secure a privileged market position (Lado et al., 1992). In recent years, researchers in production and operations management have also paid particular attention to the development of competencies as a means of operationalizing manufacturing strategy (Swink and Hegarty, 1998; Kim and Arnold, 1996; Wheelwright and Clark, 1992). Moreover, a growing number of studies conclude that the supply chain may also be a setting where competencies can be developed, in particular core competencies (Dyer and Singh, 1998). Our objective is to study the link between the implementation of supply chain management practices and the mastery of operational competencies. Existing literature provides numerous examples of companies that have gained a competitive advantage by using superior supply chain management practices. For one, the results achieved by Toyota in the automobile industry have been largely documented (Dyer and Nobeoka, 2000; Liker and Choi, 2004). The Japanese company has implemented a variety of mechanisms favoring the exchange of knowledge with its suppliers, thereby improving the fit between their operations and its competitive priorities. On our part, we study this concept of aligning SCM practices with competitive priorities through the use of an empirical study. We thus present here the results of a survey carried out among a sample of 163 Canadian manufacturing companies. Our study adopts the view of Lambert et al. (1998), where each respondent is considered as a focal company. Thus, we analyze the behavior of each company with respect to their immediate partners, namely the first-tier suppliers on one side, and customers on the other side. Resource-based view, competencies and networks According to Rungtusanatham et al. (2001), during the past 20 years, several studies have attempted to integrate different supply chain management dimensions, such as: .thenature of information exchanged andthe improvement of competitive priorities; supply chain integration practices and their impact on demand amplification phenomenon; the impact of supplier involvement in product design; and the impact of strategic sourcing on operational performance improvement. However, as noted by Fynes et al. (2005), “empirical research in the area of supply chain (SC) relationships has primarily sought to explain the nature of relationship processes rather effect on business performance (p. 6)”. This dimension of performance can obviously be absolute, in financial terms, but it can also be relative to the competitiveness of the firm. In recent years, a growing number of studies have considered supply chains, not only as a network to get products where they need to be, but also as a tool to enhance key outcomes. For example, the works by Green et al. (2006) and by Zailani and Rajagopal (2005) show a very strong relationship between supply chain management practices and performance improvement. These results have been nuanced by Kim (2006) who has show that the impact of supply chain management practices on performance is not as visible in smaller companies as in larger ones. Moreover, in the past 20 years, this dimension of performance and/or organizational competitiveness has been analyzed under the angle of the resource-based view (RBV). According to this theory, the competitiveness of any organization is based on the resources it masters to develop core competencies (Minshall and Garnsey, 1999; Marino, 1996; Collis and Montgomery, 1995). In fact, a competency is core when, among other things, it meets the following two criteria: 1 thecompanyhas developed amoreefficient organizational capability than that of its competitors; and 2 this capability is particularly valued and sought after by its customers (Collis and Montgomery, 1995; Reed and DeFillippi, 1990). This concept of competency has been discussed in many operations management studies (Choe et al., 1997; Cleveland et al., 1989; Vickery et al., 1993). However, as mentioned by some authors, it has an ambiguous character, incorporating both the concept of an objective and that of a condition of competitiveness (Swink and Hegarty, 1998; Corbett and Van Wassenhove, 1993). Accordingly, many authors consider competencies either as competitive priorities or as objectives of the manufacturing strategy (Ward et al., 1998; Kim and Arnold, 1996; Wheelwright and Clark, 1992). Cleveland et al. (1989) propose a more complex construction by invoking the concept of “production competency“ (or “operational competency”), which they define as “the preparedness, skill, or capability that enables manufacturers to pursue a product-market specific business strategy” and competency as “a ‘patch’ around the poin where the product and process structures intersect on the product-process matrix”. Choe et al. (1997) express production competency in terms of “the degree to which product-process matrix”. Choe et al. (1997) express production competency in terms of “the degree to which manufacturing structural decisions are consistent with business strategy”. These definitions are closer to the perspective that competencies are a combination of tangible and intangible resources enabling a company to meet market needs. For the purpose of our paper, operational competencies are defined as abilities to control costs, quality, flexibility, deliveries and service. Discussion and conclusion Researchers in the field of production and operations management have been studying the concept of competency for many years (Lewis, 2003; Taylor Coates and McDermott, 2002), in order to identify the sources of competitiveness in organizations that result in improved performance. We wished to expand this perspective by integrating the concept of upply chain management as the operational system of the firm is no longer limited to the traditional boundaries of the organization but also includes the relationship with partners upstream and downstream. Our results enabled us to identify four clusters of respondents with heterogeneous supply chain management practices. These four clusters were characterized by a distant approach, unidirectional integration either upstream or downstream, and bidirectional integration. These initial findings are in keeping with the conclusions drawn by Frohlich and Westbrook (2001) and by Zailani and Rajagopal (2005) that identified five supply chain integration levels. We believe that our results are adding value to those obtained by Frohlich and Westbrook (2001) by the diversification of sectors studied By associating these four groups of companies with the dimensions of competitiveness being studied, we found that there were connections between the implementation of supply chain management practices and the mastery of certain operational competencies. However, this connection was found withonlyone competency, namely logistic services; and the companies in the balanced integrated cluster (the smallest group) differentiate themselves clearly from the others. Hence, the establishment of a superior integration approach is not an easy task and is hardly accessible to all. At the root, the focal company may be reluctant to share information with customers and suppliers in order to restrain the diffusion of some knowledge deemed strategic. Such a reluctance is seemingly typical of Western organizations, since Japanese companies, for example, are much more willing to share key information with their partners (Nishiguchi, 1994). Conversely, integration problems may originate with the focal company’s lack of bargaining power vis-a-vis its partners, a phenomenon that will restrain exchanges as a defensive measure. We are also aware that this study presents some limitations. One of them is perhaps the weakness of some constructs with respect to their Cronbach’s acoefficients. Our questionnaire included other dimensions that we have not examined in this paper in order to keep it relatively short and clear. However, it is quite obvious that such dimensions (for example, information and knowledge exchanges) could improve our knowledge of supply chain integration and management. Another limitation has to do with the relatively low response rate and the corresponding small number of respondents. The size of the questionnaire as well as the nature of the respondents, which are primarily small- and medium-sized enterprises, may explain the modest response rate. The low response rate does not, however, lessen the reliability of our results. We are nevertheless aware that it may limit the generalization of the results. Therefore, we plan to compensate for these weaknesses in the next future by extending our investigation to other areas of Canada, as well as to other countries (the USA and France). This next step should be relatively easy to implement since we already have a proven data-gathering tool and data-analysis procedure. An international perspective could offer new research directions and opportunities by highlighting sectors of activity or the nationality of companies as factors explaining the behavior of companies with regard to supply chain management. |
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