How Australian manufacturing firms perceive and understand the concepts of agility and flexibility in the supply chain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address an important question which centres on investigating how do manufacturing businesses perceive and understand the concepts of agility and flexibility in their supply chains (SCs). Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach was utilised and da...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of operations & production management 2015-02, Vol.35 (2), p.246-281
Main Authors: Fayezi, Sajad, Zutshi, Ambika, O'Loughlin, Andrew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agile manufacturing
Australia
Competitive advantage
Consistency
Cooperation
Data analysis
Data processing
Dynamic tests
Empirical analysis
Flexibility
Management science & operations
Manufacturing
Mathematical analysis
Operations management
Operations/process management
Pattern matching
Product development
Production management
Research methodology
Suppliers
Supply chains
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Summary:Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address an important question which centres on investigating how do manufacturing businesses perceive and understand the concepts of agility and flexibility in their supply chains (SCs). Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach was utilised and data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with ten organisations in the Australian manufacturing sector. Data analysis was conducted using analytic techniques based on, for example, pattern matching and cross-case synthesis. Findings – Findings confirmed that there is some ambiguity concerning the understanding of the terms agile and flexible, both within and between organisations. The implications are that there is often little consistency in the way the terms are operationalised and then applied. In this regard, and to inform future research, the paper offers empirically grounded definitions for SC agility and flexibility. Moreover, four propositions are developed and discussed which shed light on the dynamics of agility and flexibility in the SC. Originality/value – This is one of the first empirical studies to address some of the apparent inconsistencies between organisational applications of agility and flexibility, and their impact on SC operations.
ISSN:0144-3577
1758-6593
DOI:10.1108/IJOPM-12-2012-0546