FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE TRUST IN SUPPLY CHAINS IN PAKISTAN’S CEMENT SECTOR

Abstract

The exclusive purpose of this research was to examine the role of trust factors in the performance of the supply chain in Cement industry in Pakistan. The research utilized observations of 25 Cement Plants Installed and operating throughout Pakistan. Questionnaires with Likert type scale on seven trust factors were used with targeted demographics in the operating firms to measure cement producers’ trust in their suppliers. Descriptive statistics through SPSS v 24.0 was used to determine the impact of trust factors in cement industry of Pakistan, which will ultimately reflect an influence in the performance of the whole Cement Supply Chain. As Pakistan's economic development is progressing with new Projects and better awareness towards efficiency, developing inter- organisational collaboration between firms has become unavoidable for continual success. Collaboration is pivotal to survive in our market since it can provide supply chain partners with many advantages related to new product launches, new market penetration and innovation. The results confirm the literature and suggest that a relationship founded on trust, mutual respect is more likely to succeed than a relationship of convenience. These aspects bring implications for Supply chain Planners and Procurement Managers dealing with international and local supply chains and associated suppliers in the respected domains. The element of trust is the hardest to develop and maintain and is usually the main why business relationships break down. Each party has to be convinced that the relationship will be beneficial to both, without any guarantees of success. If both parties share, an equal responsibility and desire to make the relationship successful then this will be evident in the Cement products being delivered which will inherently affect mostly the reason infrastructure of Pakistan.