Triple-A and competitive advantage in supply chains: Empirical research in developed countries

Based on his own experience in a number of companies, Lee (2004) posits that the Triple-A (agility, adaptability and alignment) is essential for supply chain (SC) management to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (CA). However, there is a lack of empirical research that analyzes the Triple-A...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of production economics Vol. 203; pp. 48 - 61
Main Authors Alfalla-Luque, Rafaela, Machuca, José A.D., Marin-Garcia, Juan A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.09.2018
Subjects
Adaptability
Agility
Alignment
Competitive advantage
Triple-A
Triple-A
Competitive advantage
Alignment
Performance
Agility
Adaptability
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Summary:Based on his own experience in a number of companies, Lee (2004) posits that the Triple-A (agility, adaptability and alignment) is essential for supply chain (SC) management to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (CA). However, there is a lack of empirical research that analyzes the Triple-A SC and its impacts on CA. The objective of the present work is to address this omission and to provide empirical evidence on this topic using a multiple-informant, international sample from eight developed countries. A consistent partial least squares structural equation model (PLSc) is used on data for 151 manufacturing plants in three industrial sectors to determine whether agility, alignment and adaptability have individual and/or joint effects on achieving a CA in SCs. In relation to the individual effects, different CAs are achieved by each of the Triple-A variables. SC adaptability has been shown to have a significant positive relationship with all the dimensions of CA. SC alignment affects most of these dimensions, but SC agility only affects financial CA and flexibility CA. This research does, however, confirm the positive relationship for the joint effect of the Triple-A SC variables and CA. The effects are significant on all the CA measures except quality. Important implications can be drawn for managers by showing how SC levers can be set to improve performance indicators.
ISSN:0925-5273
1873-7579
DOI:10.1016/j.ijpe.2018.05.020