Exploring pillars of supply chain competitiveness: insights from leading global supply chains

Abstract

This paper aims to explore key pillars of supply chain competitiveness (SCC) and understand how top supply chains remain competitive in the long term. The research design is divided into two phases. First, an extensive review of the scholarly SCC literature is conducted to identify the core pillars that help achieve SCC. Second, the literature published in practitioner outlets on the five selected companies of Gartner’s Supply Chain Top 25 is scrutinized to understand how top supply chains apply the core pillars of SCC in practice. A total of 193 scientific and practitioner articles were analyzed to develop the key pillars of SCC. This study identified six key pillars of SCC in the literature: innovation, sustainability, collaboration, information technology, agility, and flexibility. It has been found that a combination of these pillars, if not all, will be required to remain competitive in the post-COVID-19 era.

Keywords:

• Competitive advantage
• Apple Inc.
• Coca-Cola
• Walmart
• Nestlé
• Inditex

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article: This work was supported by the Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond (AUFF) of Aarhus University.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sudipa Sarker

Sudipa Sarker is currently working as a project researcher at the HUMLOG Institute, at Hanken School of Economics. She has been working as an educator, researcher, and advisor in the field of supply chain management for over 13 years. Her research interest lies in the areas of supply chain competitiveness, purchasing, risk management, sustainability, and circular economy. Her research is published in journals, such as IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, International Journal of Production Economics and Energy, and The International Journal. She also received the Prime Minister Gold Medal from University Grant Commission for her bachelor studies in Bangladesh.

Kamran Rashidi

Kamran Rashidi is Kamran Rashidi is an assistant professor at the Department of Business Administration, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University, Sweden. In December 2019, he received his Ph.D. degree with a dissertation titled ‘Sustainable supplier selection in the logistics industry: A comparison of alternative approaches’ in the field of business administration at the School of Business, Economics, and Law at Gothenburg University. He also did two-years post-doctoral research at Business Development and Technology Department at Aarhus University, Denmark. During that time, his research revolved around defining and measuring supply chain competitiveness in Danish multinational corporations. His research focuses on supply chain management, sourcing, purchasing, supplier management, competitiveness, and implementing sustainability within the supply chain management context. Additionally, his teaching portfolio covers different courses for master’s and bachelor’s degrees including Advanced Supply Chain Management, Logistics & Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Management & Strategy, Purchasing & Product Development, and Sustainability Principles & Practices.

Ismail Gölgeci

Ismail Gölgeci is an Associate Professor at Aarhus University, Herning, Denmark. Dr. Gölgeci’s research interests range from global and sustainable supply chain management to business-to-business marketing. His research has been published in over 60 peer-reviewed academic articles and appeared in journals, such as Journal of International Business Studies, Human Relations, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Journal of Business Research, International Business Review, Journal of International Management, Journal of Business Logistics, International Small Business Journal, International Marketing Review, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and amongst others. He is the senior associate editor of International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management.

David M. Gligor

David M. Gligor has earned his PhD at the University of Tennessee. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed academic articles and his work has appeared in journals, such as Journal of Operations Management, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Decision Sciences, Journal of Business Logistics, and Journal of Supply Chain Management.

Juliana Hsuan

Juliana Hsuan is a professor of Operations & Supply Chain Management at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and Affiliated Professor at Chalmers University of Technology. She is the Concentration Coordinator of CBS MSc in Supply Chain Management (SCM). Her teaching and research interests include (service) operations management, (circular) SCM, servitization, innovation management, modularity, mass customization, and portfolio management of R&D projects. Juliana was an automotive design engineer before joining academia. She served on the board of prominent academic associations including EurOMA and INFORMS TIMES. Her research has been published in leading academic journals including International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Production Planning & Control, Decision Sciences, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Technovation, R&D Management, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, and others.