Drivers and sources of supply flexibility: An exploratory study

Purpose - There has been much research on manufacturing flexibility, but supply chain flexibility is still an under-investigated area. This paper focuses on supply flexibility, the aspects of flexibility related to the upstream supply chain. Our purpose is to investigate why and how firms increase supply flexibility. Methodology/Approach – An exploratory multiple case study was conducted. We analyzed seven Spanish manufacturers from different sectors (automotive, apparel, electronics and electrical equipment). Findings - The results show that there are some major reasons why firms need supply flexibility (manufacturing schedule fluctuations, JIT purchasing, manufacturing slack capacity, low level of parts commonality, demand volatility, demand seasonality and forecast accuracy), and that companies increase this type of flexibility by implementing two main strategies: “to increase suppliers’ responsiveness capability” and “flexible sourcing”. The results also suggest that the supply flexibility strategy selected depends on two factors: the supplier searching and switching costs and the type of uncertainty (mix, volume or delivery). Research limitations - This paper has some limitations common to all case studies, such as the subjectivity of the analysis, and the questionable generalizability of results (since the sample of firms is not statistically significant). Implications - Our study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating which are the main reasons for companies needing to increase supply flexibility, how they increase this flexibility, and suggesting some factors that could influence the selection of a particular supply flexibility strategy.Supply flexibility, sourcing, Spain, case study

How "smart cities" will change supply chain management

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of smart city initiatives and big data on supply chain management (SCM). More specifically, the connections between smart cities, big data and supply network characteristics (supply network structure and governance mechanisms) are investigated. Design/methodology/approach - An integrative framework is proposed, grounded on a literature review on smart cities, big data and supply networks. Then, the relationships between these constructs are analyzed, using the proposed integrative framework. Findings - Smart cities have different implications to network structure (complexity, density and centralization) and governance mechanisms (formal vs informal). Moreover, this work highlights and discusses the future research directions relating to smart cities and SCM. Research limitations/implications - The relationships between smart cities, big data and supply networks cannot be described simply by using a linear, cause-and-effect framework. Accordingly, an integrative framework that can be used in future empirical studies to analyze smart cities and big data implications on SCM has been proposed. Practical implications - Smart cities and big data alone have limited capacity of improving SCM processes, but combined they can support improvement initiatives. Nevertheless, smart cities and big data can also suppose some novel obstacles to effective SCM. Originality/value - Several studies have analyzed information technology innovation adoption in supply chains, but, to the best of our knowledge, no study has focused on smart cities

A first approximation to the SPOCs-FC in the context of the Supply Chain Management

This study provides a first overview of how to combine some of the elements of the blended teaching models, such as SPOCs, with new teaching approaches, like the Flipped Classroom, in the domains of the Supply Chain Management education. Its main goal is to raise the learning rate in a heterogeneous students’ group. The proposal takes into account both classic curricular concerns on the teaching of Supply Chain Management, as in Visich and Khumawala (2006), and its pedagogical new trends, like in Wisner (2017)

Uncertainty, Integration and Supply Flexibility

Flexibilidad de suministro es definida como la habilidad de la función de compras de responder a tiempo y coste aceptables a necesidades cambiantes, con relación a volumen, composición y fechas de entrega de los materiales comprados. El primer artículo de esta tesis es un estudio de varios casos que tiene por objetivo analizar por qué las empresas necesitan flexibilidad de suministro y cómo la consiguen (fuentes de flexibilidad). En el segundo artículo se explora cómo las empresas combinan diferentes fuentes de flexibilidad. El análisis cluster sugiere tres estrategias (tres combinaciones de fuentes): "integrada", "internacional" y "doméstica". Finalmente, en el tercer artículo, se realiza un análisis de la efectividad de cada una de las fuentes para conseguir diferentes dimensiones de flexibilidad de suministro. Los resultados del análisis de regresión muestran una relación compleja, la cual depende de qué fuente de suministro y qué dimensión de flexibilidad se considere

Drivers and sources of supply flexibility: An exploratory study

Purpose - There has been much research on manufacturing flexibility, but supply chain flexibility is still an under-investigated area. This paper focuses on supply flexibility, the aspects of flexibility related to the upstream supply chain. Our purpose is to investigate why and how firms increase supply flexibility. Methodology/Approach An exploratory multiple case study was conducted. We analyzed seven Spanish manufacturers from different sectors (automotive, apparel, electronics and electrical equipment). Findings - The results show that there are some major reasons why firms need supply flexibility (manufacturing schedule fluctuations, JIT purchasing, manufacturing slack capacity, low level of parts commonality, demand volatility, demand seasonality and forecast accuracy), and that companies increase this type of flexibility by implementing two main strategies: to increase suppliers responsiveness capability and flexible sourcing . The results also suggest that the supply flexibility strategy selected depends on two factors: the supplier searching and switching costs and the type of uncertainty (mix, volume or delivery). Research limitations - This paper has some limitations common to all case studies, such as the subjectivity of the analysis, and the questionable generalizability of results (since the sample of firms is not statistically significant). Implications - Our study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating which are the main reasons for companies needing to increase supply flexibility, how they increase this flexibility, and suggesting some factors that could influence the selection of a particular supply flexibility strategy