A configuration study on supply chain strategy with focus on product variety management

A new configuration on supply chain strategies was proposed with focus on product variety management. The supply chain strategies were clustered into two types, i.e., a target strategy with a stable product variety, a growth strategy with a changing product variety. Decisions on these two choices may be impacted by managers' behavior. The matching relationships between these two types of supply chain strategies and supply chain systems were empirically examined and assessed with supply chain performance. Two types of supply chain systems were adopted, i.e., a modularity system, an integration system. Four dimensions of supply chain performance were adopted, i.e., quality, cost, delivery, and flexibility. There were 110 samples in the empirical study. Factor analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were used for data analysis. The results suggested that the new proposal on supply chain strategies could be supported. There are significant matching relationships between the growth supply chain strategy and the integration supply chain system, and between the target supply chain strategy and the modularity supply chain system. At last, some suggestions were given on product variety management from the strategic perspective.