The strategic importance of supply chain management in small and medium sized enterprises :a case study of the garment industry in Sri Lanka

PhD ThesisThis research concerns SMEs in the Sri Lankan garment manufacturing and export industry and explores success factors in managing their supply chains. The overall aim of the study is to better understand successful supply chain management (SCM) practices which have been implemented by SMEs in the Sri Lankan garment exporting industry and the obstacles faced in their implementation. Eight telephone interviews were followed by 20 in-depth, face-to-face interviews with senior managers in Sri Lanka. Documentary evidence was also collected and analysed. Combined with a literature review on manufacturing operations, the data collection led to the development of three criteria for the selection of cases for the research: 1) maintaining direct contacts with foreign buyers, 2) shorter lead times and 3) high value added of products. Based on these three criteria, a sample of six cases: three firms that exercised 'more successful‘ SCM strategies and three characterised by 'less successful‘ SCM strategies were selected. Data were analysed using NVivo10 software with a combination of theoretically derived codes and indigenous codes as the coding strategy. Successful SCM strategies and constraints on improving SCM performance were identified based on each factor considered: lead time, value added and direct contacts related. While both macro and micro-environmental factors influence SME performance, the micro-environmental ones (in particular the lack of strategic business thinking, a weak resource base, resistance to business risk and low profit marginal niches) were far more salient. Further to this, the lack of a fabric manufacturing base within Sri Lanka is a common barrier for both 'more‘ and 'less successful‘ companies while company-specific successful strategies and constrains also were evident. The absence of direct contact with foreign buyers is critical for 'less successful‘ companies as it has led these companies to work with intermediaries. Critical supply chain decisions have to be channelled via buying offices, which leave these companies at risk. The findings add to a growing body of literature on the role of international buying offices and their impact on the implementation of SCM strategies‘ by exporting SMEs

Supply chain management in small and medium sized companies : opportunity or obstacle?

The purpose of this thesis is to establish how supply chain management expertise can be developed and embedded in a small and medium sized enterprise that will both enhance the efficiency of the existing business and create an additional business opportunity. In order to achieve this, the following aims have been set. A review of the latest academic literature concerning supply chain management and implementation of supply chain management in small and medium sized enterprises and the development of a framework of critical aspects for supply chain management implementation. In addition a case study of a two year knowledge transfer partnership between a company and a university has been conducted. From the case study it has been derived how supply chain management expertise can be developed and embedded in SMEs.For the methodology the action research and the case study approach have been chosen. The findings of the thesis confirm the characteristics and issues described in previous SME literature. Furthermore this two year study contributes to existing literature through in-depth understanding of the development process of supply chain management implementation in small and medium sized enterprises. In addition a holistic framework for supply chain management implementation in small and medium sized enterprises is provided, which also considers the importance of change and project management. In addition it is suggested that the solution should be tailored to the needs of a small and medium sized enterprise in order to correspond to time and resource constraints in small firms. Furthermore the thesis describes continuous improvement as a means for change management as well as for the embedment of collaboration in a small firm. Moreover it has been reconfirmed that also in small companies internal integration needs to be established before external integration and collaboration can take place.The value of this thesis lies in its attempt to establish how supply chain management in small and medium enterprises can be established through a knowledge transfer partnership with an external body (a university) and the development of a framework for implementation

Supply chain management strategies approach for the UK textile industry

This study focuses on the specific types of supply chain strategies throughout the UK textile industry as extant literature has either emphasised on the fashion apparel industry or on sub-industry of fast fashion. A combination of normalised local priority weights of criteria and sub-criteria is used with respect to successive hierarchical levels which modelled in an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) at different levels. This helped in obtaining global composite priority weights for all the sub-criteria at third level of AHP model. The changes in different factors are observed with respect to digitalisation in sensitivity analysis at different levels of variations in the weight for which marginal changes are noted in the following variables: development of key suppliers, supplier capability auditing, and long-term orientation with suppliers. Supply base optimisation and purchasing integration showed changes at all levels of variations. Purchasing and production strategy was crucial as primary criteria for accomplishing the goal of the supply chain management future. There was substantial evidence from the three companies participating in the research that purchasing and production strategies play equally significant roles in successful digitalisation, identification, and delivery

Investigation Study of the Challenges in Green Procurement Implementation in Construction Projects in UAE

The global construction industry is responsible for significant environmental and societal effects. Some researchers claim that it accounts for 35% of global gas emissions. One of the solutions is to practice green supply chain management. Part of this is Green Procurement (GP) to conserve energy and money. However, challenges in implementing green procurement in the construction industry are rising. This research aims to identify the most significant challenges when implementing green procurement (GP) in construction projects in the UAE. A comprehensive article review was conducted to determine the critical obstacles highlighted by different researchers. These challenges were prioritized using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method, and then recommendations on best practices to overcome these challenges were proposed. The results show that the lack of top management commitment is the biggest challenge when implementing green procurement in the construction industry in the UAE, with a priority value of 0.331, followed by a lack of knowledge, with a value of 0.2748. In contrast, lack of awareness is the lowest-ranked factor, with a value of 0.103. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-04-06 Full Text: PD

The Selection of a Possible Organizational Structure of Railway Companies by Application Fuzzy-ARAS Method

The European railway sector doesn't represent a single, generic type of organizational structure. The Directives from the 1990s offer the possibility for national interpretation giving a wide range of organizational structures for European railways. Different organizational structures of railways are present in the European railway market, and all of them are aligned with the national belief of the country - how to manage the railway. This paper focuses on Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods for ranking and selecting organizational structures of railways. In decision-making, we deal with different types of uncertainty and inaccuracy. For this purpose, we need to use some specific tools. In this paper, we use triangular fuzzy numbers to quantify linguistic data. To overcome the complexity of the decision-making problem, we propose the fuzzy Additive Ratio ASsessment (ARAS) method, which also includes linguistic variables and a group approach to decision-making. With the proposed methodology an evaluation of the alternatives to the organization structure of the railway company in Bosnia and Herzegovina is considered. Separation of railway transport from infrastructure management is ranked as the best organizational structure for this company

Environmental Sustainability and Freight Transport Performance in the EU – An Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (ARCH) Model Analysis

Transportation, which is a significant facilitator of global trade and development, faces a serious problem with respect to sustainability. Firstly, there is the need to minimise greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining profitability and social responsibility. Transportation will be totally decarbonised by consistently moving towards a more sustainable, diverse and resilient range of transportation modes with advanced vehicle technologies. However, what impact this will have on the economic performance of transport service providers remains a big question. The aim of this study is to examine the short-run relationship between environmental sustainability in road freight transportation and the economic performance of the road freight transport sector in the European Union using an autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH) model. The analysis was conducted using annual data spanning from 2008 to 2021. The results indicate that energy taxes on transport and storage, biodiesel consumption and vehicle capacity utilisation have a positive and significant impact on freight transport performance (FTP). The findings suggest that policymakers could use energy taxes and incentives to promote the use of biodiesel in the transportation sector to increase FTP. Additionally, efforts to improve vehicle capacity utilisation could significantly increase FTP and have positive environmental implications such as reducing traffic congestion and emissions

Sustainable supply chain management in SMEs: A multiple case study of the food industry

In recent years sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has become an increasingly important means of managing the negative environmental and social impacts of a firm’s operational activities. However, despite the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up a significant portion of the world’s employment and turnover, research on sustainable supply chain management has mainly examined the topic from the perspective of large corporations. This is alarming since tackling wicked problems such as climate change necessitates the active involvement of all businesses, regardless of their size. Furthermore, the challenge and complexity of sustainable supply chain management is neither exclusive to large companies, nor can it be assumed to be exactly the same for small businesses. Currently only two empirical studies evaluate the SSCM practices of small businesses as the focal buying firm. In order to address this sizeable research gap, this study aimed to identify the concrete practices adopted by SMEs as well as any contextual factors that frame this adoption, such as drivers and barriers. The research problem was approached through a qualitative multiple case study focusing on the processed food industry. Eight in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of small food businesses in Finland, Estonia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Both data collection and analysis were guided by the conceptual framework, modified from the SSCM literature and created for the purposes of this study. Thematic coding was the primary method for identifying patterns and emergent themes in the data set. The findings suggest that prior research does not adequately account for the unique implementation of SSCM in small businesses in the food industry. Oftentimes practices (for example supplier selection and assessment) are informal and unsystematic, regardless of the importance attributed to them within the company. Similarly, a sustainability orientation is not necessarily exhibited with distinct management policies, as in larger firms. Small businesses place more emphasis on developing long-term, trusting relationships, particularly with their strategic partners. This trust and closeness can be a substitute for advanced SSCM practices, but also imbues the businesses with bargaining power. Finally, the findings also showed that considerable differences can be found amongst small businesses according to their size; larger small businesses faced fewer resource constraints and were more likely to implement multiple practices than smaller ones

Gestión sostenible de la cadena de suministros: Revisión sistemática de literatura

La investigación tuvo como objetivo analizar la gestión sostenible de la cadena de suministro con la finalidad de brindar conocimientos sobre el enfoque de triple resultado final: ambiental, social y económica a las distintas empresas de países en desarrollo. La metodología fue una revisión sistemática con enfoque cualitativo; por otro lado, se llevó a cabo el procedimiento respectivo para la selección de los artículos, realizando un proceso de inclusión y exclusión de artículos que hablen de nuestra variable finalmente, se seleccionaron quince artículos que sirvió para desarrollar la investigación. Bajo el contexto mencionado; se concluyó, a las empresas de países en desarrollo a proporcionar una mayor comprensión de como el enfoque de triple resultado final puede mejorar el rendimiento sostenible dentro de la gestión de cadena de suministro; las cuales, antes de implementar nuevas estrategias de rendimiento sostenible, realicen más investigación en el área de las prácticas de la cadena de suministro, buscar promover las tres medidas de desempeño sostenibles, ser eco-innovadores, incorporar contratos de desempeño ambiental al desarrollar asociaciones estratégicas con proveedores, promover practicas internas de gestión ambiental, con el fin de crear una base sostenible social, ambiental y económica dentro de la cadena de suministro. Finalmente, se recomendó que futuras investigaciones exploren y analicen mediante estudios cuantitativos un poco más el tema de triple resultado final y sostenibilidad dentro de su cadena de suministro y sobre todo profundizar un poco más los temas de impactos ecológicos y la salud y seguridad de los empleados en las empresas mineras