Supply Chain Integration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Supply Chain Integration - Essay Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that the supply chain is a vital topic for most of the practitioners and researchers. However, the main concerns constraining the full and complete use of the concept of supply chain management research has been the construct taking its own meaning that depends on the subjectivity of an individual and the different points of views. Therefore, there is a need for most of the researchers to operationalize and measure what actually supply chain integration means. Over the past years, one of the major themes in the supply chain literature has always been the integration as a key factor in achieving improvements. The general idea, in this case, is that the integrative practices and the high level of integration have a great impact positively on the performance of corporate and supply chain. A study conducted by McCarthy and Golicic showed that case studies are the most suitable methods for evaluating and understanding supply c hain integration. McCarthy and Golicic showed that case studies provided two important advantages that are crucial to achieving positive results in supply chain integration. Hitt, on the other hand, proposed that a quantitative approach is the best strategy to use in supply chain integration research. According to McCarthy and Golicic, case studies are ideal because they provide valuable insights into the theoretical and practical aspects of supply chain integration. In addition, unlike quantitative techniques, which show an overreliance on data, case studies offer real examples of successes and failures in supply chain integration and how they can be avoided. Quantitative methods are preferred in some quarters because they support long-term investigations. For example, data can always be stored and used in future probes. However, both case studies and quantitative technique demonstrate a noticeable weakness in the sense that they are not balanced enough to support varied and comple x inquiries on supply chain integration. This is a major reason for opting for a multi-case approach in this paper.