system. Meade and Sarkis (1999) have used four dimensions to measure the agility of a manufacturing system. These are cooperating to enhance competitiveness, enriching customer, mastering change and uncertainty, and leveraging the impact of people and information.
Tolone (2000) has supported the role of real time and asynchronous collaboration technology for allowing manufacturers to increase their supply chain agility. Prater, Biehl, and Smith (2001) have used case studies to show how firms have successfully made a tradeoff between vulnerability and supply chain agility.
Svensson (2001) has stated that lean, responsive, and agile supply chains require satisfactory or high levels of perceived trust of companies towards suppliers and customers. Power, Sohal, and Rahman (2001) have identified some of the factors critical for successful agile organizations in managing their supply chains. Stratton and Warburton (2003) have explored the role of inventory and capacity in developing agile supply chain for an apparel manufacturer. Lau, Wong, Pun, and Chin (2003) have developed an infra-structural framework for the design and development of an agile supply chain system, which is characterized by its ability to cope with unpredictable changes related to the management of suppliers and flow of parts within the value chain of the entire production network. Yusuf, Gunasekaran, Adeleye, and Sivayoganathan (2004) have presented a conceptual model for assessing the capability of an agile supply chain, which consists of four dimensions: value