Using a survey of senior supply and materials management
professionals in the US, Keah (2002) examined contemporary
practices and concerns of SCM. The objectives of his study
were to: develop a set of SCM practices and examine
practitioner perceptions of their impact on competitive
position; identify and compare major concerns in
implementing successful SCM; and identify practices and
concerns associated with successful supply chains. He
concluded that efficient and effective SCM positively impacts
product quality, customer service, and competitive position.
Lummus et al. (2003) examined the impact of marketing
initiatives on the supply chain. Their study showed that
marketing actions can have a significant impact on supply
chains. The “bullwhip” effect occurs when a firm’s marketing
actions, such as price discounts and trade deals, cause greater
variance in sales for upstream suppliers, and the distortions
are amplified back through the supply chain. These authors
demonstrated that not only does SCM affect marketing
efforts, but that marketing efforts affect the supply chain.
Park and Hartley (2002) investigated the effect of supplier
management on performance in the Korean automotive
supply chain, developing a conceptual model of supplier
management practices and performance. The model showed
that the supply chain practices of first tier suppliers affect the
performance of second-tier suppliers, supporting the notion
that supply chain best practice should propagate back through
the entire supply chain to improve overall supply chain
performance.
IElmuti (2002) examined the relationship between SCM
and perceived organizational success through a survey of
managers in organizations representing a variety of industries.
Regression analysis was employed in examining the strength
of the dependency relationship between SCM programs and
organizational effectiveness, measured in terms of cost,
quality, productivity, and cycle time. He found that,
although significant improvements in organizational
performance can be attributed to SCM, the magnitude of
improvements in costs, profits and productivity, risk reduction
and organizational success has been less than expected for
most companies. Issues or problems in SCM were identified.
One particularly noteworthy finding in this study was that
only a few of the surveyed companies included end product
user needs in their SCM practices. That leads one to
speculate that suboptimal performance in the area of SCM
could be due to a weak marketing orientation.
Elmuti (2002) further asserts that there is little empirical
research that clearly defines SCM and investigates its impact
on the firm as a whole. We propose a model to describe the
link between SCM, marketing orientation, and organizational
success.