Supply chain collaboration and performance: an empirical study of maturity model

Abstract

Supply chain collaboration (SCC) is a competitive tool used to improve the business performance of an organisation and the entire supply chain. Firms have therefore strived to achieve a greater collaboration level; however, most of the collaboration initiatives end up in failures. It is confirmed that how SCC impacts performance and how it leads to higher levels of performance are not well understood in real world. Especially, there is a dearth of empirical research on the analysis of the specific industry to minimize the chance of failure of implementation phase. Given these limitations, this paper aims to explore in-depth the relationship of SSC mechanisms; maturity level in particular; and performance outcomes in a specific industry. A maturity model for SCC based on capability maturity model integration approach is used to evaluate the current practices as well as to measure the maturity level of SCC of textile and garment case studies. In order to analyse how different maturity levels impact the performance, actual data on performance indicators was collected. The findings show the applicability and usefulness of the model. The relationship between SCC mechanisms and performance is confirmed with the role of internal collaboration as mediators. The in-depth exploration has also indicated that internal collaboration, including information integration and operations management, moderates the relationship between external integration and performance.