Aligning Product Variety with Supply Chain and Business Strategy

Juneho, Um and Neungho, Han and Tonci, Grubic and Asad, Ghalib (2018) Aligning Product Variety with Supply Chain and Business Strategy. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. ISSN 1741-0401 (Accepted for Publication)

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Abstract

Purpose - The study aims to demonstrate the strategic alignment between product variety and supply chain focus through cost leadership or differentiation to improve business performance.
Design/methodology/approach - The research investigated product variety-related capabilities and strategies in supply chains including level of variety, supply chain agility, supply chain cost efficiency, cost leadership, differentiation and business performance, and aimed to justify the theory by testing structural equation modelling using survey data from the UK and South Korea.
Findings - Differentiation links high product variety and agile supply chain while cost leadership is aligned with low product variety and supply chain efficiency. High product variety negatively impacts on cost leadership strategy. Also, product variety should be mediated by cost leadership or differentiation strategy to improve business performance. Companies in South Korea display higher supply chain agility, cost leadership and cost efficiency than companies in the UK, while the UK companies exhibit a higher level of product variety and differentiation than those in South Korea.
Research implications - The findings contribute to theoretical development of variety issues at the alignment of business strategy and supply chain management according to the level of product variety.
Originality/value - The findings can help international companies set up specific variety-related strategies to achieve global competitiveness.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Product variety, Supply chain, Business performance, Structural equation modelling
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Business, Law and Criminology > Liverpool Hope Business School
Depositing User:	Juneho Um
Date Deposited:	03 May 2018 11:15
Last Modified:	03 May 2018 11:15
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/2471

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