The impact of the supply chain orientation fit between supply chain members: A triadic perspective

Abstract

Existing literature has established supply chain orientation (SCO) as a critical enabler of supply chain management. Although SCO is predicated on alignment across supply chain members, it has primarily been examined at the individual firm level. Given this limitation, we collected triadic archival and survey data from multiple levels of the supply chain to introduce the concepts of SCO supplier fit (i.e., firm's SCO matches its supplier) and SCO customer fit (i.e., firm's SCO matches its customer). The results reveal that SCO supplier fit and SCO customer fit each positively impacts firm operational and customer performance in return on assets (ROA) and return on sales (ROS). More specifically, a firm with an SCO matching its primary upstream or downstream partners performs significantly better than a firm with a higher or lower SCO. In fact, firms with relatively more SCO than key supply chain partners perform significantly worse than those having relatively less SCO. Finally, firms with both SCO supplier fit and SCO customer fit perform better than firms with SCO supplier or customer fit alone. Ultimately, SCO alignment across the supply chain appears to be more important than the level of SCO itself.