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1. Introduction
Supply chain management (SCM) is a strategic mechanism to improve firm’s competitive edge (Thakkar et al., 2008), and establishing an agile supply chain management (ASCM) system is becoming critical for companies’ sustainability. SCM is challenging (Reefke et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2012; Varma et al., 2006) and in an agile supply chain, companies are struggling to identify opportunities that emerge in the form of changes in the market (Palaniappan, 2004). Business environment and market environment are facing many uncertainties and volatility as today’s market is very turbulent due to globalization, shifting technology, shorter product life cycle and customers who are more knowledgeable and well informed (Julian et al., 2014; Nagarajan et al., 2013). Examining agility in each stage of process is a desired action for many companies, but it is difficult if not impossible in practice. Therefore, researchers (Rogers and Tibben-Lembke, 1998) have attempted to find approaches that help companies optimize reverse logistics which eventually decrease cost and increase efficiency through mathematical methods.
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine ASCM among SMEs in manufacturing-related services sector. This study proposes that entrepreneurial orientation (EO), participative management style, supplier relations, resource management, just-in-time (JIT) methodology and technology utilization (TU) positively influence effective ASCM. This study is structured as follows. After a brief discussion on research background, the next section reviews related research, discusses the theoretical background and proposes a research model and hypotheses. The subsequent part of the paper proposes statistical and methodological approaches followed by the empirical results and findings. Finally, conclusions and the practical implications of study are discussed along with research limitations and future research directions.
2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development
A model developed by Power et al. (2001) determines critical factors in ASCM for manufacturing companies. Other researchers such as Yusuf et al. (2004) have argued about agile supply chain capabilities and determinants of competitive objectives. Martin Christopher (2000) is another researcher who had investigated ASCM and considered ASCM in volatile markets. In addition, variables such as participative management style, supplier relations, resource management, JIT methodology and TU have been found to be more significant in the field of ASCM. Furthermore, supply chain agility...