Supply Chain Integration: Customer Value through Collaborative Closeness versus Operational Excellence

Abstract

In a global and competitive environment, supply chain relationships and processes must be continuously integrated and aligned with strategy. The objective should be to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of supply supply chains to create value for final consumers. The present reseach investigates and compares three major forms of supply chain integration of approximately two thousand global firms. The three forms of supply chain integration include intra-organizational process integration, inter-organizational collaborative integration including strategic alliances, and operational excellence. Significant firm and country differences as to value chain integration are identified which appear to relate to cost reduction versus differentiation strategies.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Edward A. Morash

Edward A. Morash (Ph.D., University of Maryland) is a professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management in the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University. He has held management and marketing positions in several of the supply chain and service industries. His teaching and research focus on service and organizational issues, quality, logistics, and supply chain management. He has published over 100 refereed articles in marketing, logistics, and transportation. He has received numerous awards for his teaching and research and is on the editorial review and policy boards of several journals. He is co‒author of the award-winning book “World Class Logistics: The Challenge of Managing Continuous Change.”

Steven R. Clinton

Steven Clinton (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of New Orleans. He has management experience in import/export distribution and warehousing. His teaching and research interests include international logistics, logistics strategy and performance, international marketing, customer service and satisfaction, and information utilization. He has published work in the Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Journal, International Journal of PhySical Distribution and Logistics Management, Production and Inventory Management Journal, and International Marketing Review. He is co–author of the award-winning book “World Class Logistics: The Challenge of Managing Continuous Change.”