As customers increasingly demand more specific products, firms are adopting new business approaches to satisfy customers and cope with competition. Efforts to satisfy ever more demanding markets appear to be associated with increased chain coordination, yet the relationship between these two factors is unclear. This research addresses the factors that affect chain coordination, focusing on the management of business processes to meet product specifications for customers. Five fresh meat New Zealandchains were the focus of multiple case study research. Results suggest that chains use different strategies and coordination mechanisms to deliver desired product specifications. More important, while product specifications are related to chain coordination as expected, the relationship is mediated by the coordination differential--the type and amount of effort that firms employ in their business processes to achieve the desired specifications. The nature and implication of the coordination differential concept are discussed. [L140, L150, L170].
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