Impact of Supply Chain Agility on Firm’s Competitive Performance in the Apparel Industry of the Twin Cities

Abstract

Agility in context of supply chain management has been a well-recognized concept in today’s fast-paced business environment. It has tried to derive its meaning from sports and military science, which refers it to anticipate opponent’s movements and act and change direction before the actions of competitors. In regime of manufacturing and business studies, researchers have defined it as an ability to quickly respond to customer driven market changes with efficiency and effectiveness. This study aims to study impact of supply chain agility on competitive performance of apparel industry in twin cities i.e. Islamabad and Rawalpindi. An empirically validated comprehensive measurement instrument composed of five dimensions including alertness, accessibility, decisiveness, swiftness and flexibility, has been used in this research, which was developed for further theoretical testing of the concept. To measure competitive performance, questions from a separate questionnaire were narrowed down, that were most relevant to the research and pre-tested by another dissertator. The research concluded that all the dimensions of supply chain agility are significant and has 49.9% effect on organization’s competitive performance. Therefore the proposed hypothesis is supported by study findings that supply chain agility has significant impact on competitive performance of firm.