الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Supply chains no longer have only to deal with the risks associated with the uncertainty of demand or supply variability, but also now have to deal with economic and environmental disruption events (Chiang et al., 2012, Snyder, 2012). Given such developments, the cultivation of supply chain agility has been suggested as an effective response strategy to the dynamic changing business environment (Braunscheidel and Suresh, 2009; Swafford et al., 2006). Research Objectives: The main goal of this research is to investigate potential antecedents and key drivers of supply chain agility to respond to market dynamics and uncertainties in the business environment as well as consequences of supply chain agility on organizational performance. This research is also aiming to compare between the relative importance of each antecedent competence to agility in both manufacturing and service supply chains and how these antecedent competencies function differently within each sector to boost responsiveness. Research Methodology: In line with the ontological and epistemological stance of the current research, a Multi-phase mixed-model research methodology is undertaken to carry out the study. The researcher utilized both the Qualitative and Quantitative methodologies to investigate the research problem. The qualitative research design provides the advantage of more in depth and comprehensive information and wide understanding of the context. In the first phase of this research, semi-structured interviews are conducte to collect qualitative data about the variables of interest in both of the research contexts; pharmaceutical manufacturing and healthcare service supply chains. In order to test whether the results of the first phase of research is generalizable to the entire sectors of both private and multinational pharmaceutical manufacturing firms as well as private hospitals in Cairo, A survey instrument was developed to collect quantitative data from two representative samples of the research populations. Utilizing previously established models in literature and building on results of the first phase of research, the researcher generated a unified questionnaire to extensively investigate each variable suggested to affect supply chain agility in both sectors. Research Results: Results revealed that the relationship between supply chain agility and supply chain performance is significant in both sectors investigated in this research. Findings also show that supply chain agility significantly mediates the relationship between strategic sourcing capability, supply chain integration, strategic flexibility, lean practices and supply chain performance in both the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and healthcare service industry. Research Conclusion: SSC, SCI, SF, LP are found to be significant antecedents to supply chain agility which in turn significantly affects performance. However, their relative importance in each sector was found to be different. While reinforcing internal and external integration is a priority when it comes to improving pharmaceutical supply chain agility, lean practices are the major determinants of agility in healthcare supply chains. Therefore, they should receive the highest level of attention when trying to improve the hospital’s ability of being responsiveness to change |