ENSURING COMPETITIVE PERFORMANCE THROUGH SUPPLY CHAIN PRACTICES

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study is to ensure competitive performance through supply-chain practices and also identifying the link among the supply chain practices. Nowadays, the competition exists among the supply-chain of different companies not among the companies. So, the effective and efficient utilization of the SCM practices provides a way to achieve or to secure the competitive performance of the firm. Methodology This research is explanatory in nature and quantitative in design, the primary data is collected from the employees of the manufacturing firms of Karachi (Pakistan) working in supply- chain and production department through questionnaire survey. The total 280 responses were received. Hypotheses were tested after collecting the data by using statistical tools. Correlation test is used to analyze the association among different variables and the regression analysis is used to analyze the impact of predictor variable on the outcome variable. Findings Result shows that there is a positive relation among the supply-chain practices and the competitive performance along with both the lean-production processes as well as the inbound-supply performance fully mediates the relation between them. Practical implications This study will help the supply-chain professionals to realize the importance of managing the both external processes (which are the logistics and supply chain) as well as the internal (which are the production processes) of the organizational functions in a combined manner in which the supply-logistics integration performs as a key element to impact on the outcome variable i.e. competitive performance.