With regard to public policy, firms engaging in SCM often seek social networks
with strategic suppliers and customers to facilitate their ongoing cooperative business
relationships and operations. Firms therefore should encourage their managers to
cultivate relationships with both suppliers and customers to gain new insights and
an expanded perspective of SCM. Such encouragement might include the provision of
specific training and resources that enhance relationships with external business
partners.
Figure 2 summarizes the key managerial implications of this study. While resourcebased
view literature has widely shown that unique product advantages in terms
of superior product performance, conformance, reliability, and durability generally
improves performance in the western hemisphere. The improved firm performance
is a direct result of a higher level of SCM practices that helps to streamline operations
across the supply chain, reduce waste, and increase efficiency. However, our research
shows that product advantages do not affect SCM practices among ASEAN
automotive suppliers. Instead, to facilitate SCM practices, savvy ASEAN automotive
suppliers should exploit their corporate entrepreneurship and social capital to ensure
seamless flows of products and information across their supply chains. Since the
two corporate entrepreneurship constructs, innovativeness and proactiveness, focus on
a firm’s internal capabilities and processes (e.g. novelty of products, technological
innovation, number and speed of new products introduced, product and speed of
innovation, competitiveness), we labeled them internal antecedents. Similarly, since the
two social capital constructs, supplier and customer relationships, focus on intangible
capabilities outside the four walls of a firm, we labeled them external antecedents