Reconsidering the Supply Chain Integration-Performance Relationship: In Search of Theoretical Consistency and Clarity

摘要

Supply chain integration (SCI) purportedly helps firms achieve performance returns on supply chain management (SCM) activities and resource investments that exceed the sums of their parts. Thus, several of the SCM field's seminal models focus on SCI as a central construct. However, the rapid development of literature on SCI has yielded some inconsistent and confusing findings. For example, two recent meta-analyses of the SCI-per-formance relationship have attempted to clarify SCI's identity and value (authored by Leuschner et al. 2013, and Mackelprang et al. 2014). Both were rigorously executed and based on their differing initial assumptions, appear to be "right." But, they derive different conclusions pertaining to the overall "value proposition" of SCI. How can this be?