آنالیز انتقادی ادغام مدیریت زنجیره تامین (SCM)

ABSTRACT Supply chain management integration: a critical analysis

Integration is frequently mentioned as a key characteristic of supply chain management (SCM). Most SCM definitions relate to integration (Pagell, 2004; Stock and Boyer, 2009). Mentzer et al. (2001) discuss how integration is one of the management actions essential to implement SCM, while Lambert et al. (1998) state that the goal of integration is to enhance total process efficiency and effectiveness across members of the supply chain. Integration of supply chains can exist at both strategic and operational levels (Mentzer et al., 2000; Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001; Zailani and Rajagopal, 2005).

Globalization is one reason for organizations to integrate their supply chains. Globalization leads to increased demand for product variety as well as shorter product life cycles and thus one can argue that competition is no longer between companies, but rather it is between supply chains. One stated benefit of SCM integration is the ability to design products faster, with higher qualities and lower costs as compared to a single company (Ajmera and Cook, 2009). Similar statements of the benefits of integration are made by a number of authors. External collaboration among supply chain partners leads to reduction of costs, stock-outs and lead-time (Gime´nez and Ventura, 2005). Integrated supply chains result in lowered costs across the supply chain (Sundaram and Mehta, 2002). Costs can be minimized through establishing consistent and predictable demand/-supply pattern (Sabath and Whipple, 2004). External (supply chain) integration leads to enhanced effectiveness and efficiency (Narasimhan and Kim, 2001). Integration contributes to significant improvements in service effectiveness and cost efficiency (Richey et al., 2010). Finally, one assumption seems to be that the more integration, the better (Stock et al., 1998; Gime´nez and Ventura, 2005).

However, the concept of SCM integration does not come without problems. First of all, academic literature provide little, if any, empirical evidence of integration of supply chains beyond the dyadic level (Fawcett and Magnan, 2002; Vepsa¨la¨inen, 2003; Fabbe-Costes and Jahre, 2008). Lambert et al. (1998), for example, found no empirical evidence of supply chains that were linked from the initial source of supply to the end-customer. In practice, there have been only minor integrated dyadic process links (Lambert et al., 1998). Similarly Bagchi et al. (2005) did not find evidence of companies that have established close integration with supply chain partners. Fabbe-Costes and Jahre (2008) found only few studies that focus on an extended scope of integration beyond the dyadic integration. Mejza and Wisner (2001) concluded that while studies suggest a wide scope of coordinated processes across supply chains, there is little empirical evidence that confirm these claims. According to Kemppainen and Vepsäläinen¨la¨inen (2003), the best practice of managing supply chains needs to be re-examined in a wider context, and Richey et al. (2010) emphasized the need for quantification to ensure that the increased efforts to integrate pay off. Thus, while the benefits of SCM integration are frequently discussed, there seems to be less empirical evidence to back up these claims.

Second, there is a lack of clear definitions and understanding of the notion of SCM (Skjoett-Larsen, 1999; Mentzer et al., 2001). This problem remains despite a considerable growth in the number of published articles dealing with the topic since the mid-1980s (Stock and Boyer, 2009). Furthermore, there is no widely accepted definition of SCM integration or even related topics as supply chain integration and supply chain collaboration. Fabbe-Costes and Jahre (2008) pointed out the substantial variations in the scope of supply chain integration in existing studies and they also state that it is problematic for researchers if the same concepts are interpreted differently, or if different concepts are used with the same meaning (Table I).

The confusing terminology, the lack of empirical results and the lack of understanding regarding the implication of integration prevents the development of normative recommendations to practitioners of why, how, when and what to integrate. The goal of this study is therefore to examine various aspects of integration in order to structure and define the concept of SCM integration.