| Today's business environment is more global and competitive than it has been in the past. The modern business is characterized with shorter product life cycles, rapid new product introductions, increasingly knowledgeable, well informed, and sophisticated customers. This forces supply chains to be more responsive. The modern supply chains are thus expected to respond rapidly, effectively, and efficiently to changes in the marketplace so as to sustain, and furthermore create competitive advantage. Most studies so far have focused on the organizational level manufacturing flexibility or agility. It is therefore of interest to study the responsiveness of supply chains.; This research studies the impact of various supply chain management (SCM) practices---external to the organization---and modularity based manufacturing practices---within the organization---on supply chain responsiveness. The study, further investigates the dimensions of supply chain responsiveness through an extensive literature review. It iv develops a reliable and valid instrument for the supply chain responsiveness construct, which will be beneficial for both practitioners and academicians. The study also assesses the impact of supply chain responsiveness on the outcome variable---competitive advantage---of the firm.; The large scale web-based survey yielded 294 responses from industry professionals in the manufacturing and supply chain area. The data collected was put through rigorous statistical analysis to test for content, construct, and criterion-related validity, as well as reliability analyses. Further a structural equation model was developed to test the relationships between SCM practices, modularity based manufacturing practices, supply chain responsiveness, and competitive advantage. In addition, rigorous regression analyses and MANOVA were performed to analyze the effects of various relationships at the sub-construct level as well as item level.; The research findings supported the hypotheses that SCM practices positively impact supply chain responsiveness, modularity based manufacturing practices are positively associated with supply chain responsiveness, supply chain responsiveness positively impacts competitive advantage of a firm, and SCM practices are positively associated with competitive advantage of a firm.; The research also found that 'dynamic teaming' and 'process modularity' practices were most influential in increasing operations system responsiveness, supplier network responsiveness, and the overall supply chain responsiveness. Further, effective relationships with customers and suppliers were found to positively influence a firm's ability to be operationally responsive. In addition, effective relations with suppliers, and information sharing with trading partners in a supply chain were found to directly and positively lead to increased supplier network responsiveness. Furthermore, customer relationship and strategic supplier partnership practices, and operations system responsiveness and supplier network responsiveness were most influential in increasing the overall competitive advantage of a firm. The study found that higher level of operations system responsiveness creates higher level of competitive advantage for a firm, collectively based on low price, high delivery dependability, high product innovation, and low time to market, as well as individually on each of the said dimensions. Also, it was uncovered that higher level of supplier network responsiveness creates higher level of competitive advantage for a firm, collectively based low price and high delivery dependability as well as individually on each of the said dimensions.; The research also uncovered the critical and specific practices (at the item level) that increase supply chain responsiveness. Furthermore, the study uncovered the specific SCM practices and supply chain responsiveness criteria that increase competitive advantage of a firm.; This research has some import... |
