Do a country's logistical capabilities moderate the external integration performance relationship?
| Published date | 01 January 2014 |
| Date | 01 January 2014 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2013.07.001 |
Journal
of
Operations
Management
32
(2014)
51–63
Contents
lists
available
at
ScienceDirect
Journal
of
Operations
Management
j
o
ur
na
l
ho
mepage:
www.elsevier.com/locate
/jom
Do
a
country’s
logistical
capabilities
moderate
the
external
integration
performance
relationship?
Frank
Wiengartena,∗,
Mark
Pagellb,1,
Muhammad
Usman
Ahmedc,2,
Cristina
Gimeneza,3
aESADE
Business
School,
Ramon
Llull
University,
Avinguda
de
la
Torre
Blanca,
59,
08172
Sant
Cugat,
Spain
bMichael
Smurfit
Graduate
School
of
Business,
University
College
Dublin,
Carysfort
Avenue,
Blackrock,
Co
Dublin,
Ireland
cSchulich
School
of
Business,
York
University,
4700
Keele
St,
Toronto,
ON
M3J
1P3,
Canada
a
r
t
i
c
l
e
i
n
f
o
Article
history:
Received
13
July
2012
Received
in
revised
form
28
June
2013
Accepted
2
July
2013
Available
online
20
July
2013
Keywords:
Supply
chain
management
Supply
chain
integration
Logistics
Performance
a
b
s
t
r
a
c
t
Companies
have
reacted
to
the
opportunities
and
threats
of
globalization
through
numerous
production
practices
that
have
increased
supply
chain
complexity.
One
of
the
ways
companies
have
been
able
to
manage
this
increased
level
of
complexity
is
by
integrating
their
supply
chains.
Logistical
capabilities
at
the
company
level
play
a
key
role
in
integrating
global
supply
chains,
but
logistical
capabilities
need
not
be
company
specific.
In
this
study
we
explore
the
role
of
a
country’s
logistical
capabilities
in
external
supply
chain
integration.
Our
results
indicate
that
plants
situated
in
countries
with
superior
levels
of
logistical
capabilities
adopt
significantly
lower
levels
of
external
supply
chain
integration.
Additionally,
plants
situated
in
countries
with
superior
logistical
capabilities
do
not
gain
the
same
performance
benefits
from
external
integration
as
plants
situated
in
countries
with
relatively
low
levels
of
logistical
capabilities.
©
2013
Elsevier
B.V.
All
rights
reserved.
1.
Introduction
Increasing
levels
of
globalization
have
resulted
in
increased
complexity
in
supply
chains.
This
is
evidenced
by
high
levels
of
cross-border
trade
and
the
increasing
number
of
multinationals
operating
subsidiaries,
warehouses
or
production
plants
on
multi-
ple
continents
and
in
numerous
countries
(Rodrigues
et
al.,
2005).
It
is
suggested
that
to
successfully
manage
this
supply
chain
complex-
ity
companies
should
tightly
integrate
their
supply
chains
(Flynn
et
al.,
2010).
Previous
literature
has
suggested
that
companies
can
gain
sig-
nificant
performance
benefits
through
integrating
their
supply
chain
(Frohlich
and
Westbrook,
2001;
Lee
et
al.,
1997;
Narasimhan
and
Jayaram,
1998;
Sanders,
2007,
2008;
Shin
et
al.,
2000;
Vereecke
and
Muylle,
2006;
Vickery
et
al.,
2003).
It
has
been
established
that
integration
between
functions
and
organizations
can
lead
to
increased
performance
(e.g.
Pagell,
2004),
whereas
a
lack
of
inte-
gration
can
have
negative
effects
on
performance
(Forrester,
1961;
Frohlich
and
Westbrook,
2001;
Lee
and
Billington,
1992).
However,
many
studies
have
failed
to
link
integration
to
per-
formance
(see
Flynn
et
al.,
2010
and
Schoenherr
and
Swink,
2012
∗Corresponding
author.
Tel.:
+34
935543511.
E-mail
addresses:
Frank.wiengarten@esade.edu
(F.
Wiengarten),
mark.pagell@ucd.ie
(M.
Pagell),
usman.york@gmail.com
(M.U.
Ahmed),
cristina.gimenez@esade.edu
(C.
Gimenez).
1Tel.:
+353
17168851.
2Tel.:
+14167362100x44609.
3Tel.:
+34
935543511.
for
recent
comprehensive
reviews)
and
the
more
is
better
view
of
integration
is
not
universally
accepted.
Since
the
early
work
of
Kraljic
(1983)
on
buyer–supplier
relationships,
a
contingent
view
of
supply
chain
integration
has
emerged
which
considers
the
moder-
ating
role
of
environmental
factors
on
the
supply
chain
integration
and
performance
relationship.
Researchers
have
considered
envi-
ronmental
uncertainty,
the
competitive
environment
and
other
business
conditions
as
important
contingencies
impacting
on
the
performance
benefits
of
supply
chain
integration
(Fynes
et
al.,
2004;
Gimenez
et
al.,
2012;
van
Donk
and
van
der
Vaart,
2004).
Most
of
this
literature
has
focused
on
factors
internal
to
the
chain,
such
as
the
strategic
nature
of
the
goods
or
services
transacted,
or
factors
in
the
chain’s
business
environment
such
as
competitive
intensity
and
uncertainty.
We
extend
this
literature
by
considering
how
country-level
factors
can
affect
the
need
and
efficacy
of
supply
chain
integration.
Specifically,
we
study
the
effect
of
country-level
logistical
capabilities
on
firm
level
supply
chain
integration
with
customers
and
suppliers
and
investigate
whether
this
country-level
factor
affects
how
firms
integrate
their
supply
chain.
Previous
research
has
applied
the
Resource
Based
View
(RBV)
to
justify
the
benefits
of
integration.
RBV
based
arguments
have
been
extended
to
include
resources
and
capabilities
that
a
firm
may
not
own
but
has
access
to
whether
they
lie
in
another
firm
or
else-
where
(Dyer
and
Singh,
1998;
Madhok,
1996).
Firms
have
access
to
infrastructural
and
institutional
resources
of
their
host
countries;
resources
that
traditionally
have
not
been
studied
by
supply
chain
researchers.
We
add
to
the
existing
understanding
of
external
supply
chain
integration
and
logistics
by
focusing
on
country
wide
logistical
0272-6963/$
–
see
front
matter
©
2013
Elsevier
B.V.
All
rights
reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2013.07.001
To continue reading
Request your trial