Identifying barriers to internal supply chain integration using Systems Thinking

Abstract

This exploratory site-centred research investigates barriers to internal supply chain integration in practice, using systems thinking. A multi-method procedure termed the Quick Scan Audit Methodology is applied to four engineering to order case companies from two different country settings to identify and categorize the actual barriers to internal supply chain integration. The study establishes that the case-significant barriers to internal supply chain integration chiefly relate to behavioral / cultural factors and the organizational arrangement / structures imposed on employees. A cross-case comparison reveals two major clusters of supply chain integration barriers termed " fire-fighting " and " functional-silo mentalities " . The fundamental structures of these clusters are identified. Abstract This exploratory site-centred research investigates barriers to internal supply chain integration in practice, using systems thinking. A multi-method procedure termed the Quick Scan Audit Methodology is applied to four engineering to order case companies from two different country settings to identify and categorize the actual barriers to internal supply chain integration. The study establishes that the case-significant barriers to internal supply chain integration chiefly relate to behavioral / cultural factors and the organizational arrangement / structures imposed on employees. A cross-case comparison reveals two major clusters of supply chain integration barriers termed " fire-fighting " and " functional-silo mentalities " . The fundamental structures of these clusters are identified. 1. Introduction Integration of supply chains – either within or between organization -continues to be a subject of significant research and debate within academe (Towill et al., 2002; Vickery et al., 2003; Droge et al., 2004; Swink et al., 2007; Flynn et al., 2010). The concept of integration originates from a systems perspective: because trade-offs and wider ranging decisions can be made based on shared information and coordination, optimization of the whole system is held to achieve better performance than a string of optimized sub-systems (Christopher, 1998). The purpose of linking internal functions, suppliers, customers and hence of removing barriers that impede the flow of materials and information is accordingly to improve organizational performance and/or supply chain performance. (Van der Vaart & Van Donk, 2004; Goldman et al., 1995; Sabath, 1998). In-depth investigations of the internal barriers to supply chain integration are rare though; noteworthy exceptions include those by Bagchi and Skjoett-Larsen (2002), van Donk and van der Vaart (2005), and Whipple and Frankel (2000). Giménez (2004) pronounced that the barriers to supply chain integration lack a commonly agreed classification schema. Pagell (2004), Giménez (2004), Lambert and Cooper (2000) stated that there is still a lack of understanding of the inhibitors/barriers to internal supply chain integration. According to Richey Jr. et al. (2009), Stevens (1989), Lambert and Cooper (2000) such a lack of knowledge regarding the internal chain would make the successful removal of seams and obstacles in the entire supply chain a challenge. The limited research concerned with barriers in the internal supply chain has focused on organizational structure, measurement and reward systems,