In today’s world, globalization has increased the competition among companies and functioned as a factor for increased product variety, increased amount of customized products and shorter product life cycles. Supply Chain management is considered one of the most critical strategies for increasing organizational effectiveness and enhancing the customer service. Supply Chain needs to be evaluated based on its performance of how efficient and effective it is. Quality on products and processes has becoming even more critical to companies’ success. Zero defects on the components and parts that meet the customers’ needs are important for the quality of the final products and quality efforts can decrease the costs throughout the Supply Chain. Moreover, Supply Chain’s cost identification is getting even more important in order for the companies to evaluate the performance of their channel and realize the efficiency of their activities based on their supply chain processes. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the implementation of a performance measurement system can assist companies to improve the Supply Chain based on the identification of the relation between the evaluation of the Supply Chain and the quality and service that is provided to the customer. Moreover, the cost of the production and the after-sales service is measured, in order to have a clear image of the Supply Chain performance. A case study company, Giraff Technologies, was examined and investigated further in order the author to be able to support the results and the analysis of the primary research combined with the analysis of the literature review. Based on the results of the research it can be said that the quality performance of a company and the service that is offered to the customers can be enhanced through the measurement and evaluation of the Supply Chain performance. Better collaboration with the suppliers and customers, customer focus and continuous improvements are ways to improve not only the Supply Chain but also the quality and the service that is offered. The production cost is considered as a factor that can be influenced positively or negatively by the Supply Chain performance, whereas the after-sale service cost is not clear if it can be affected immediately from the Supply Chain performance.

Aujourd’hui, avec la mondialisation et la concurrence internationale effrénées, les chaînes logistiques globales (CLG) sont conçues à l’échelle planétaire, les places portuaires deviennent entre autre, des sites d’implantation idéale, permettant ainsi la valorisation des marchandises, grâce à la performance de son maillon portuaire. Depuis l’élaboration d’un partenariat commercial en 2000, entre le maillon portuaire de Djibouti (MPD) et le groupe international portuaire Dubaï Port World (DPW), entre 2002 et 2012, le trafic conteneurisé s’est accru de près de 700 %. De plus, depuis l’ouverture de Djibouti Free Zone (DFZ) en 2004, gérée totalement par une filiale du groupe DPW, près de 150 entreprises sont venues s’y implanter, dont plus de la moitié sont des entreprises étrangères. Partant de ce double constat, notre problématique de recherche s’attache à comprendre la contribution du MPD, à la performance de la CLG. Dans une phase de recherche empirique, qui nous a permis d’identifier les dimensions et les axes caractérisant la performance logistique du MPD, nous déployons un modèle descriptif et synthétique de la performance portuaire. / With globalization and international competition sprees, the Supply Chain (SC) are designed on a global scale, the port spaces, thus allowing ideal implementation sites, thanks to the performance of its link port. Since the development of a strategic partnership between the link port of Djibouti (LPD) and the international group port Dubai Port World (DPW) in 2000, the containerized traffic increased of almost 700 %, between 2002 and 2012. With in addition, with the opening of Djibouti Free Zone (DFZ) in 2004, managed entirely by a subsidiary of the group DPW, nearly 150 businesses have implemented there warehouses in DFZ, with more than half of whom are foreign companies. Starting from this dual observation, our research has been focused on understanding the contribution of the LPD, to the performance of the SC. In a phase of empirical research, which has allowed us to identify dimensions and axes characterizing the logistics performance of the LPD, we deploy a descriptive and synthetic model of the port performance.

M-Tech (Department of Logistics Management, Faculty of Management Sciences) Vaal University of Technology / One of the most significant changes in the paradigm of modern business management is that individual businesses no longer compete as solely autonomous entities, but rather as supply chains. In this emerging competitive environment, the ultimate success of the business will depend on management’s ability to integrate the company’s intricate network of business relationships. Effective supply chain management (SCM) has become a potentially valuable way of securing competitive advantage and improving organisational performance since competition is no longer between organisations, but among supply chains, which can be obtained through the sharing of appropriate information between supply chain partners and forming healthy inter-organisational relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of supply chain dynamism, information sharing and inter-organisational relationships on supply chain performance in manufacturing, service and mining in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Data for the study were collected from 350 prominent organisations and the relationships proposed in the framework were tested using different statistical techniques. The results indicate that supply chain dynamism have a positive influence on both information sharing and inter-organisational relationships. They also indicate that higher levels of information sharing can lead to enhanced competitive advantage and improved supply chain performance, which further indicate that the more organisations have healthy inter-organisational relationships, the better the supply chain performance becomes. These results have value to both the academic and business worlds as they provide verification of the widely held belief of the value of effective supply chain management and performance.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / This research analyzes the Peruvian organic production coffee industry, the relationship between Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Supply Chain Integration (SCI) concerning the performance of the Cooperatives and the Coffee Associations in Junin Region of Peru. It also analyzes the current scenario of the Coffee Sector and the participation of the Supply Chain (SC) in the processing and distribution of Organic Coffee in Junin, Peru. A diagnosis was made to the certified organizations from the market. The diagnosis and the surveys indicated that they do not have a correct flow of information, shared goals and objectives, strategic decisions, and sourcing materials among the different parties demonstrating the lack of interrelationship among the members. The final objective of this research is to improve the competitiveness of these organizations through the increase in the performance of the SC, for which a model of supply chain integration is proposed. / Revisión por pares

M. Tech. (Department of Logistics Management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / The successful implementation of supply chain strategy has received significant attention among literature and practitioners, due to its importance in contributing to company success. The success of the FMCG industry in South Africa has also been attributed to the effectiveness of its supply chain strategies. However, the industry faces numerous challenges such as miscellaneous risks that include the potential loss of key suppliers, innovation, and risk, planning and forecasting, power outages in manufacturing plants and the fact that only a limited amount of safety stock can be held to offset uncertainty. It also faces difficulties in improving supply and demand, which further extends to transforming supplier relationships into effective collaboration. Thus, this study applies supply chain strategy to the FMCG industry in South Africa, and seeks to establish the connection between supply chain strategies, flexibility (SCF) and performance (SCP) in the sector. The methodological procedure in this study was guided by the positivist paradigm which is embedded in quantitative and causal designs. A sample of 228 respondents purposively drawn from the FMCG industry in Gauteng province participated in the survey. The collected data were tested using descriptive and inferential statistics. The specific statistical techniques applied included the analysis of frequency distributions, percentages, mean scores, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hypotheses tests using partial least squares-based structural equation modelling. The empirical results showed that two supply chain strategies, namely, organisational learning and supplier integration contribute significantly to SCF. In turn, SCF contributes positively to financial and non-financial performance. Supply chain strategies such as innovation, risk management and customer orientation were statistically insignificant in predicting SCP. The study is significant because it identifies that supply chain strategies are important in developing flexible FMCG supply chains in South Africa. It also confirms the importance of SCF in improving the performance of FMCG supply chains. The study may therefore be used as a reference source for information on the improvement of SCP in FMCG supply chains.

M. Tech. (Logistics management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology / The growth and development of SCM is attributed to number of factors such as partnership, collaboration, integration and relationship commitment. Despite increasing awareness of the importance of joint venture to organisations, research on the supply chain relationships (supply chain partnership, collaboration, integration and relationship commitment) and performance have received little attention. Therefore, using a data set of 271 individuals from the small and medium enterprise (SMEs) sector in South Africa, this study examines the influence of supply chain partnerships on collaboration, collaboration on integration, integration on relationship commitment and relationship commitment on performance. Structural equation modeling (SEM) method was used to analyses the data collected whereby individuals agrees with that supply chain relationships increase performance in the work environment. The study has developed a supply chain management (SCM)-based performance measurement system (PMS) for the case of SMEs. Such a framework may help SMEs managers to establish their own supply chain functions and strategically plan improvements for weak areas. In addition, it may remain helpful for benchmarking current practices with industry norms requirements. Quite often, companies dealing with a large number of performance measures derived and expanded based on the suggestions from employees, consultants and past experiences (history) forget to realise that supply chain performance measurement can be better addressed when they joint venture.

Title: Collaborative Supply Chain Performance Measurement Systems. A multiple case study on the OTD-process of manufacturing SMEs in the Swedish lighting industry. Authors: Arvid Svensson, Frida Gustafsson and Julien Guillaume. Background: Even though the multiple stated benefits of Supply Chain Performance Measurement Systems (SCPMS) to enhance the collaboration, there is a lack of research, especially regarding the presence among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME). Closely associated with the presence of a SCPMS are the challenges. Research on SCPMS and the accompanied challenges have been made in multiple fields and contexts. Yet, SCPMS in the Order to Delivery (OTD)-process between a SME lighting manufacturer and their key customers is missing. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate to what level collaboration regarding SCPMS is present in the OTD-process among the cases studied as well as explain this level of collaboration by studying the challenges of SCPMS. The aim is to contribute to existing literature with an explanatory model that highlights the challenges for a highly collaborative SCPMS with their key customers. This model should also give practical contributions to the case companies. Method: A multiple case study have been conducted. Qualitative data has been gathered through semi-structured interviews. Findings and Conclusion: The findings show that the level of collaboration in the SCPMS differs from no presence at all to an almost total high presence in the cases studied. The criteria that were found in previous literature for high collaboration in the SCPMS were overall similar to the practices found in the cases. Most of the challenges found in previous research were able to explain the difference in level of collaboration in the SCPMS. The two major challenges were lack of knowledge and lack of will. Lack of knowledge was present where the will to progress was clear, while also in one case, there was not even a will to progress. Overall, the company with low level and will to progress was most likely to perceive challenges, while the company with the highest level perceived the least challenges.

Supply chain systems have become a vital component of successful networked business firms/organisations. Over the last three decades, there has been a dramatic growth globally in the formation of supply chain networks. Research, however, indicates that there has been an increase in reported supply chains failures, and the incompatibility issues between participated organisations. Yet, these incompatibility issues are not just technical, but encompass wider cultural, organisational, and economical factors. Whilst research has shown the effect of such factors on supply chain performance, the influence of achieving corporate culture compatibility to the success of supply chains remains poorly understood. This is because it is widely accepted that organisations that operate in the same region possess a similar culture. In contrast, this research will examine the existence of corporate culture diversity between organisations in the same region, rather than diversity of national culture across different regions. Specifically, the study described the development of corporate culture compatibility between supply chains’ organisations and its influences on supply chain performance. Therefore, the thesis focus is the complex interrelationships between corporate culture compatibility of member organisations and supply chain performance. This research identifies cultural norms and beliefs of supply chain members within key organisational factors, rather than national or multi-national organisations factors, as in Hofstede (1983). A multi-method research design (combining case study, simulation, and neuro-fuzzy methods) was used to provide a rounded perspective on the phenomena studied. The multiple case studies helped to explore how corporate culture compatibility influences supply chain performance and develop a conceptual model for this association. The simulation experiments were conducted to verify the obtained conceptual framework from the multiple case studies, and investigate the effects of changing the corporate culture compatibility level on supply chain performance. The simulation is designed based on a Multi-Agent System (MAS) approach, in which each organisation in a supply chain is represented as an intelligent agent. Finally, a neuro-fuzzy approach is presented to assess corporate culture on supply chains context using real data. The analysis of the quantitative neuro-fuzzy study confirmed and validated the theoretical findings and adds depth to our understanding of the influences of corporate culture compatibility on supply chain performance. The study confirmed that organisations within the same supply chain in the same region possess different corporate cultures that consequently need the achievement of corporate culture compatibility as it is indicated by the literature. Moreover, the study revealed two types of corporate culture in supply chains’ context: individual culture and common culture. Individual culture refers to the internal beliefs within the organisation’s boundary, while common culture refers to beliefs when trading with partners across the organisation’s boundary. However, the study shows that common culture has more influences on supply chain performance than individual culture. In addition, the study highlighted bi-directional association between individual culture and common culture that helps the supply chain’s organisations developing their corporate culture compatibility. The results from the current study also showed that supply chain performance was shown to arise dramatically in response to corporate culture compatibility level increases. Yet, this increase in performance is diminished at a higher level of corporate culture compatibility, because more corporate culture compatibility increases are not cost effective for the organisations. In addition, organisations at a higher level of compatibility have more preferences to preserve their individual culture because it represents their identity. Furthermore, the study complements the gap in the literature related to the assessment of corporate culture of individual organisations in supply chains for sustaining a higher supply chain performance. While current culture assessment models observe individual organisations’ culture, the proposed approach describes a single concentrated model that integrates both individual and common culture in measuring influences of culture compatibility on supply chain performance. The findings from this study provide scholars, consultants, managers, and supply chain systems vendors with valuable information. This research thesis contributes to supply chain configuration and partnership formation theory, along with corporate culture theory, and is the first of its kind to establish the use of intelligent methods to model corporate culture compatibility. It is also one of the first empirical studies to compare corporate culture compatibility of supply chains’ organisations from organisational perspectives, rather than national perspectives.

在全球競爭劇烈、市場迅速變化的環境下，企業能否在所屬產業的供應鏈中做適當且敏捷的調整，以維持創新與產品開發績效，成為影響企業競爭優勢的重要課題。一般供應鏈相關論文大多將供應鏈整合放入單一構面討論，較少研究能將其作進一步區分並探討構面內部可能的關係。本研究將供應鏈整合區分成企業內部與外部整合，且再將外部整合區分為供應商整合、顧客端整合，並根據相關文獻探討構面之間的關係。其中”整合”的意義有別於傳統的作業整合，強調在放眼中長期規劃的策略整合，進而形成供應鏈策略整合。依據資源基礎觀點，本研究探討供應鏈整合策略、創新能力對於企業供應鏈績效的影響。本研究資料來源為高績效工廠計畫 (High Performance Manufacturing，HPM)，其中收集了歐、美、亞共八個國家，橫跨產業為高科技、機械、運輸三大製造業供應鏈訪查資料，本計畫總共訪問約238家廠商，其中有效問卷共199份。本研究計量方法採用近年逐漸被重視的偏最小平方法(Partial Least Squares)，並使用SmartPLS工具做衡量。 研究結果顯示，企業內部整合對供應商整合有正向顯著性影響; 企業內部整合對顧客端整合有正向顯著性影響;供應商整合對創新能力有正向顯著性影響; 顧客端整合對創新能力影響不顯著;創新能力對供應鏈績效有正向顯著性影響; 創新能力在供應商整合與供應鏈績效有中介效果;創新能力在內部整合與供應鏈績效間具有中介效果。最後我們將論述本研究相關的管理意涵。 / Under intense global competition and rapidly changing market environment. It is an important issue for a company that whether can properly adapt and agile supply chain in their respective industry. In previous studies, most of them put supply chain integration (SCI) into a single dimension for discussion, However, it causes too many sub-constructs and questions to distinguish actual cause effect in single dimension. In this case, we separate a supply chain integration from a single dimension into multiple dimensions, which are internal integration, customer integration and supplier inte- gration , and related reviews are discussed in this thesis. This study also focus on long term vision of strategy integration instead of tradition operational integration to form our supply chain integration strategy. From Resource Based View, we would like to discuss how supply chain integration strategy can generate a unique capability, which is innovative capability, and impact supply chain performance in a company. This study is based on the High Performance Manufacturing (HPM) project database collected from 238 manufacturing plants in eight countries and three representative industries (machinery, electronics and transportation components), using Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) methods. In our research result indicate as following: Internal integration is positively related to supplier integration. Internal integration is positively related customer integration. Innovation capability is positively related to supply chain performance. Innovation capability has indirect effect between internal integration and supply chain performance. Innovative capability has indirect effect between supplier integration and supply chain performance.

During the last decade, research related to Supply Chain Management has got a great deal of attention. The focus has especially circulated around supply chain integration and centralisation due to the increasingly competitive global market. The aim of this thesis has been to investigate how the supply chain performance in international manufacturing companies could be improved. By having a qualitative approach, this thesis contributes to earlier conducted research by providing a holistic view on supply chain management. This is by the authors considered crucial to manage the complexity of supply chain management and supply chain change. The specific context examined in this thesis concerns the spare parts distribution of large international manufacturing companies. The methods used during the case study consisted of a thorough literature review, external interviews and workshops with experts within supply chain management and supply chain change, and several interviews with employees at different levels and functions at the focal company, Toyota Material Handling Europe. Two of the interviewed external experts were managers at the supply chain function at Volvo Construction Equipment and Ericsson. To answer the main research question, three sub-queries have been examined. The first one concerns what main areas of difficulty that can be identified in the current supply chain of the focal company and in international manufacturing companies in general. The second sub-query concerns which supply chain policies that could be used to solve identified areas of difficulty. Finally, the third sub-query concerns which prerequisites that could be identified to successfully manage change within supply chains. The results imply that Information and Inventory Management are the main supply chain related areas in need of improvements at the focal company, as well as in international manufacturing companies in general. Thereby supply chain performance could be improved if performance within these areas is enhanced. To solve these two identified areas of difficulty, four theoretical supply chain policies related to supply chain integration have been examined due to complexity, need of investments during an implementation, as well as each policy’s possibility to solve the identified areas of difficulty. The supply chain policy Vendor-Managed Inventory was considered the most appropriate policy for the focal company to implement. As a consequence, an evaluation of the focal company’s readiness to implement a Vendor-Managed Inventory policy was also conducted by using a supply chain readiness framework developed by Niranjan, Wagner and Nguyen (2012). Based on the literature review, including the theoretical evaluation of the appropriateness of implementing Vendor-Managed Inventory, together with the findings from the external expert interviews, the focal company is recommended to implement a Vendor-Managed Inventory strategy. However, the focal company is also recommended to see such an implementation as an opportunity to later investigate the possibility to also include large suppliers in the collaboration. This would increase the level of integration among supply chain members further and thereby secure the company has the possibility to receive the advantages associated with sharing information (including Points-of-Sales data) with all supply chain members.   From a theoretical perspective the conclusion is that Vendor-Managed Inventory, with its focus on supply chain integration through collaboration and information sharing among supply chain members, is considered appropriate to implement when companies want to improve performance in one or all of these areas. Furthermore, the usage of a consignment stock agreement might be an appropriate complement to Vendor-Managed Inventory due to the international context. However, the authors suggest that international manufacturing companies should strive towards including large suppliers in the supply chain collaboration to increase performance further. Thereby they should move towards capabilities promoted in the supply chain policy Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment, which advocate a higher level of integration than Vendor-Managed Inventory. Another main finding pinpoints the importance of a well-formulated and communicated vision in the beginning of a transformation, to manage supply chain change successfully. As a consequence, the authors of this thesis expanded the supply chain framework developed by Chopra and Meindl (2010) to also include vision. In addition, legal has been added as an important supply chain driver since it affects supply chain possibilities and decisions. The added parts are considered critical for the framework to be applicable in an international and rapidly changing business environment. Furthermore, the authors suggest the extended framework should be used to support companies evaluate the current and a desired future supply chain in accordance with examined change management literature. / Supply Chain Management har under det senaste decenniet fått mycket uppmärksamhet. På grund av en ökande internationell handel har forskningen framförallt behandlat Integration och Centralisering inom distributionskedjor. Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur man kan förbättra prestandan av distributionskedjan hos internationella tillverkningsföretag. Genom ett kvalitativt angreppssätt bidrar denna studie med ett holistiskt synsätt av Supply Chain Management, vilket av författarna är ansett kritiskt för att kunna hantera komplexiteten relaterad till Supply Chain Management och förändringsarbete inom detta område. Studiens forskningsfråga har kunnat besvaras genom att undersöka tre delfrågor. Den första behandlar att identifiera huvudproblemområden i distributionskedjan hos fokusföretaget samt internationella tillverkningsföretag generellt. Den andra delfrågan behandlar vilka teoretiska supply chain policies som skulle kunna användas för att lösa de identifierade problemområdena, medan den tredje och sista delfrågan handlar om att identifiera förutsättningar för att kunna hantera förändringsarbete av, och inom, distributionskedjor på ett lyckat sätt. Samtliga delfrågor och huvudfrågan har kunnat besvaras genom genomförandet av en litteraturstudie, intervjuer och workshops med externa områdesexperter inom Supply Chain Management och Supply Chain Change, samt interna intervjuer med anställda på olika avdelningar och nivåer inom fokusföretaget, Toyota Material Handling Europe. Två av de intervjuade experterna utgjordes av chefer på logistikavdelningen på två stora internationella tillverkningsföretag. Företagen i fråga utgjordes av Volvo Construction Equipment respektive Ericsson. Resultaten visar att Informations- och Lagerhantering anses vara de huvudområden inom Supply Chain Management, vilka är i störst behov av förbättringar och förändringar på fokusföretaget samt i stora internationella tillverkningsföretag generellt. Därmed kan prestandan av distributionskedjan förbättras om företag fokuserar på dessa två områden. För att förbättra Informations- och Lagerhanteringen har fyra teoretiska supply chain policies utvärderats, vilka alla mer eller mindre fokuserar på att öka integrationen mellan medlemmar inom distributionskedjan. Genom att utvärdera dessa supply chain policies med avseende på komplexitet, implementationskostnader samt möjlighet att lösa de identifierade huvudproblemområdena, har författarna kunnat dra slutsatsen att policyn Vendor-Managed Inventory bör vara mest passande att implementera på fokusföretaget. I och med detta resultat utvärderades fokusföretagets lämplighet att implementera Vendor-Managed Inventory utifrån en teoretisk modell utvecklad av Niranjan, Wagner och Nguyen (2012). Resultatet av denna utvärdering stödde det tidigare antagandet att Vendor-Managed Inventory är lämpligt för fokusföretaget att implementera. Författarna rekommenderar dock att en VMI-implementation ska ses som ett första steg varefter förtaget även skall utvärdera möjligheten att inkludera sina större leverantörer och därmed öka integrationen av distributionskedjan ytterligare. Detta för att verkligen uppnå de fördelar informationsdelning kan medföra om information delas med samtliga medlemmar i kedjan. Författarna har med hjälp av dessa resultat kunnat dra den teoretiska och generella slutsatsen att Vendor-Managed Inventory, med dess fokus på att öka integrationen i distributionskedjan genom ökat samarbete och ökad informationsdelning mellan distributionskedjans medlemmar, anses lämplig att implementera då företag vill eller behöver förbättras inom dessa områden. Vidare kan avtalsmodellen Consignment Stock komplettera Vendor-Managed Inventory i en internationell kontext genom användandet av en legal ägare av lager, oavsett lagerposition. Författarna rekommenderar även att stora internationella tillverkningsföretag bör sträva mot att inkludera sina större leverantörer och därmed öka integrationen av, och samarbetet inom, distributionskedjan. Detta skulle medföra att prestandan av distributionskedjan förbättras ytterligare. Därmed bör de utvecklas mot supply chain policyn Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment, vilken förespråkar en högre nivå av samarbete än Vendor-Managed Inventory. Vidare visar studien vikten av en välformulerad och kommunicerad Vision i början av större förändringsprojekt. Detta för att öka chanserna till lyckade och välmotiverade förändringar. I och med identifieringen av visionens vitala del i förändringsprojekt, vidareutvecklade författarna modellen; Supply Chain Decison-Making Framework, utvecklad av Chopra & Meindl (2010), till att även inkludera Vision. Dessutom adderades Legala aspekter, då de påverkar både beslutsfattande och möjligheter inom en internationell kontext. Både Vision och Legala aspekter anses av författarna vara kritiska delar för att modellen skall vara applicerbar i en internationell och föränderlig miljö. I linje med forskning inom förändringshantering som identifierats i litteraturen, anses Chopra & Meindl’s vidareutvecklade modell nu vara lämplig att användas som en hjälp för företag att utvärdera sin nuvarande och önskade framtida distributionsstruktur.