SUPPLY CHAIN ANTECEDENTS OF AGILE MANUFACTURING IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY CONTEXT

Abstract

Purpose - Since there are absence of research and ignorance ofthe value of implementation regarding supply chain management terminology in any industry, in Pakistan. So I decided to do a research (specifically on manufacturing firms) to examine which are the most critical practices of SC which affect organization overall operational performance (OP) by transforming their manufacturing into agile manufacturing (AM) with the assistance of SC antecedents. Methodology & Design - The study is based on survey data collected from 179 respondent working in manufacturing companies from different industry types in Pakistan. In this study reliability and multiple regression analysis tests were carry out by using SPSS Statistics. The research consists of survey by collecting data of manufacturing industry via questionnaire through convenience sampling method. Findings - The research shows that although in developed country SC factors helps to improve organization’s operational performance, but in Pakistan these SC practices don’t show any significant impact on attaining manufacturing agility and improving OP, apart from AM has significant positive effect on OP. Customs and cultural difference between developed and developing countries may be the major factor. Limitations - The study faces some limitations as there are time constraints as per schedule related issues. Then there are limited resources which prohibits the increase in size of the sample. Recommendations - enlarged sample size for this research to attain consistent results. Furthermore it is suggested that the target population focused must be practitioners of such strategies and sorting out such firms which implement such strategies and aware of the various norms and outcomes of diversified strategies.