Unlike the well-grounded manufacturing flexibility, SC flexibility is still an underinvestigated
area. Swafford et al. (2008) showed that achieving SC agility is a
function of other abilities within the organization, specifically SC flexibility and
IT integration. Using empirical data, this study grounded a domino effect among
IT integration, SC flexibility, SC agility and competitive business performance.
The results from this study indicate that IT integration enables a firm to tap into its
SC’s flexibility, which in turn results in higher SC agility and ultimately higher
competitive business performance.