Micro-Foundations of Supply Chain Integration: An Activity-Based Analysis

Muhammad Usman Ahmed, Mark Pagell, Mehmet Murat Kristal and Thomas F. Gattiker
Additional contact information
Muhammad Usman Ahmed: School of Management, University of Michigan Flint, 303 E. Kearsley St, Flint, MI 48502, USA
Mark Pagell: School of Business, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4 D04 V1W8, Ireland
Mehmet Murat Kristal: Schulich School of Business, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
Thomas F. Gattiker: College of Business, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725, USA

Logistics, 2019, vol. 3, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: A large body of literature has studied supply chain integration (SCI) at the macro (firm or dyad) level. However, the micro-foundations of SCI that highlight the range of different activities and choices firms have in implementing integration have not been studied. This paper identifies and analyzes integrative activities or practices that form the micro-units of firm-level SCI. Qualitative analysis yields nine elements of integration that emerge from the large number of integrative practices. In doing so, the paper maps out the structure of the broad SCI construct and discusses the theoretical repercussions of this new approach. New theoretical insights and research directions are identified based on this new micro-level activity-based view of SCI. This paper shifts the focus from where integration is done (customer vs. supplier integration) to what integration entails. SCI has become a very broad construct over time. This paper is a significant and systematic step in unraveling the structure of this broad conceptual domain. It improves nascent ideas about the multiple dimensions of integration by identifying elements based on a comprehensive list of different integrative activities that firms undertake.

Keywords: supply chain integration; supply chain relationship management; theory development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L8 L80 L81 L86 L87 L9 L90 L91 L92 L93 L98 L99 M1 M10 M11 M16 M19 R4 R40 R41 R49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/3/2/12/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/3/2/12/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlogis:v:3:y:2019:i:2:p:12-:d:217762

Access Statistics for this article

Logistics is currently edited by Ms. Mavis Li

More articles in Logistics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().