Supply chain integration and performance: a review of the evidence

"Building Theory in Business Logistics Through Reviews of the Literature"

Edited by Matthew Waller - one of the usual editors

1 Introduction and purpose

Since its introduction in the early 1980s ([57] Oliver and Webber, 1982), supply chain management (SCM) has become one of the most popular concepts within management in general ([41] La Londe, 1997) and within logistics in particular ([64] Ross, 1998). The literature offers a number of definitions of SCM ([51] Mentzer et al. , 2001), most of which are related to integration: "the entire concept of SCM is really predicated on integration" ([58] Pagell, 2004, p. 460). Integration of supply chains is considered to be of strategic as well as operational importance ([4] Bechtel and Jayaram, 1997; [8] Christopher, 1997; [42] Lambert et al. , 1998; [21] Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001; [84] Zailani and Rajagopal, 2005). In research as well as in practice, it is often believed that the more integration the better ([71] Stock et al. , 1998; [15] Dröge et al. , 2004; [27] Gimenez and Ventura, 2005) and it is claimed that it has been widely discussed and supported on an empirical basis ([5] Cagliano et al. , 2006, p. 284).

Somewhat in contrast to this optimistic view of the "proven" relationship between supply chain integration (SCI) and performance, [61] Power (2005, p. 261) concludes from his recent literature review that there is an "apparent contradiction in the literature between promised benefits and still limited evidence of extensive implementation ... ". This is probably due, in part, to the lack of clear definitions and understanding of the concept of SCI itself. In [36] Kahn and Mentzer (1996, p. 6) stated: "To date, literature has neglected to provide a specific definition [of integration], and thus, the term remains vague." Again [58] Pagell (2004) claims that integration "has been defined in a number of different, albeit interrelated ways" and "many authors who have studied integration offer no formal definition of the construct" (p. 460). Apart from these and a few other exceptions ([31] Harland, 1996; [9] Christopher and Jüttner, 2000; [3] Bask and Juga, 2001) it is only recently that the concept of SCI has started to be questioned ([29] Håkansson and Persson, 2004; [2] Bagchi et al. ,...