Barrier factors of supply chain management implementation in small and medium-sized enterprises: Evidence from Hungary and Indonesia

Abstract

. Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) have major difficulties in implementing Supply Chain Management (SCM) strategy. Previous studies show that different types of industries in size, focus, and location have different SCM implementation problems but there is a lack of research on the effect of supply chain structure. This paper addresses this gap by comparing the barrier factors of SMEs with different supply structures. The survey revealed the ranking of the barrier factors in two countries and analyzes the effect of the different SCM structures. With a more complex supply structure, the Indonesian companies suffer more from their organizational factors as their top barriers in the rank order: inadequate performance measure, and management capacity, lack of inter-departmental cooperation in communication, and unclear organization objective. While Hungarian SMEs, having a simpler supply structure, evaluated the lack of financial resources, employees, knowledge of SCM, and poor commitment from other SCM partners as their top barrier factors. The outcomes of this research provide valuable knowledge to managers in priorities of SCM strategy implementation depending on the complexity of their supply structure.