ACHIEVING BUILD-TO-ORDER SUPPLY CHAIN CAPABILITY THROUGH SUPPLIER PARTNERSHIP PRACTICES DRIVEN BY SUPPLY CHAIN ALIGNMENT

摘要

This study builds a model of trust, based on joint operational activities and mass customizationusing theories of social capital and the resource-based view of the firm. Based on 208 responsesfrom suppliers in the U.S. and China, this study empirically supports the notion that trustpositively drives manufacturer-supplier activities in operations. It also supports the claim thatjoint operations activities contribute to mass customization capabilities in a significant way.Moreover, the level of trust and the degree of joint activities are different for the four types ofsuppliers used in the study: U.S. brands produced in North America, Japanese brands producedin China, U.S. brands produced in China, and Chinese brands produced in China.