Supply chain learning, integration, and flexibility performance: an empirical study in India

Purpose - Supply chain flexibility has been acknowledged as a necessity in the context of constantly changing operational and service requirements in the global marketplace. However, limited research has focused on analyzing and empirically testing the dynamics of achieving enhanced flexibility performance. Drawing upon the knowledge-based view of the firm, the purpose of this paper is to address this research gap by introducing supply chain learning (SCL) and integration as key factors in the process. Design/methodology/approach - Survey data were collected in India. Structural equation modeling technique was used as the main analysis method to test the proposed conceptual model on SCL, integration, and flexibility performance. Findings - Research findings indicate that the supply chain integration construct (in its internal and external dimensions) mediates the proposed SCL-flexibility performance relationship. The analysis also confirms the positive relationship between cross-functional integration and inter-firm integration. Research limitations/implications - Focusing on only one country may limit the generalizability of the findings. Also, cross-sectional data collection may not be the ideal approach for evaluating the impacts of SCL. Therefore, future research with longitudinal data and in different contexts is warranted to validate the research results of this study. Originality/value - The proposed conceptual model adds to the limited existing knowledge body of SCL and links SCL, integration, and flexibility performance. It also provides a new venue for future research in this area.