The effectiveness with which a firm’s supply chain reacts to sudden or immediate changes
in the marketplace can create competitive advantage for the firm. In the context of supply
chain, this ability to respond is termed as responsiveness. Until recently, responsiveness
was considered an internal dimension—referring to systems and processes that are
required by the firm internally to achieve responsiveness. However, recent studies
increasingly accept that internal dimension is a necessary condition to be responsive, but
not a sufficient condition, and that the scope of responsiveness lies within the network
of players operating the supply chain (Reichart and Holweg, 2007).
For a chain to be responsive, it requires the activities of the members of the chain to
be coordinated. This would mean coordination of materials, processes, information,
knowledge, funds and returns. The level of responsiveness also affects the degree of
coordination of the chain (Zimmer, 2002). For example, a higher level of responsiveness
requires more information sharing among chain members, better movement of materials,
etc. Thus, there is a bidirectional relationship between chain responsiveness and
coordination. A well-coordinated chain ultimately leads to improved chain performance
(Da Silveria and Arkader, 2007).
A responsive chain also requires management of various sets of activities that aim at
seamlessly linking relevant business processes within and across firms. This, in general
terms, is called process integration. Well-integrated processes ultimately lead to better
chain coordination.
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