An organisation's attempt at supply chain management: a qualitative field study

If the supply chain is now the source of competitive advantage then understanding how to manage the supply chain is crucial. Studies aimed at investigating the supply chain implementation process should further develop the theory of supply chain management (SCM). This study is thus a one-year qualitative field investigation of how an aerospace organisation managed its supply chain. Data are collected from three tiers of an aerospace supply chain and follow-up interviews are conducted with members of the focus organisation to examine the implementation of supply chain management. In moving toward supply chain management this study identifies six supply chain management execution antecedents that individual firms in a supply chain must address: proper alignment of management support; funding of verbal commitment; proper motivation; training; visioning; internal/external integration linkage. In addition, the study revealed the reinforcing linkage between internal integration and external integration.