Supply chain integration: An international comparison of maturity
Abstract
Many authors claim that supply chain integration (SCI) is synonymous with management excellence, making it an important area of current research. Prior studies have focused on: power position in the supply chain, purchasing integration, and shared resources (among others). In the present study, a rigorous supply chain diagnostic approach was used to analyse 72 value streams in a wide range of industrial sectors and international settings, during eight years of ongoing investigation. While the overall assessment indicates that the majority of these value streams are struggling with the concept, a limited number of exemplars demonstrate the feasibility of SCI. The original contribution of the research is the international comparison of the status of SCI maturity in New Zealand, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.