A Study of Supply Chain Collaborations in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the UK, India and China



Unhale, Manish
A Study of Supply Chain Collaborations in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the UK, India and China. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

Collaborations in supply chains continue to be a central focus in a firm’s success and businesses are regularly striving to harness the collective capabilities of the networks to which they belong through the use of effective collaborative strategies. It is therefore vital for the firms to ensure sound and effective collaborative strategies in their supply chain practices. It is researched that supply chain collaboration provides a competitive edge in terms of improving the capability and performance of supply chain networks and the organisations linked in the network. The aim of the research is to contribute to a better understanding of the collaborative supply chain practices adopted by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This study on SMEs explored and evaluated scope of vertical and horizontal collaborations. This research also examined the relationship between different collaborative strategies adopted by SMEs. Additionally other collaborative issues such as: essential requirements of collaboration, principle reasons of collaboration, major hurdles in collaborative initiatives, and the major benefits associated with collaborations were also discussed in this research. Empirical data has been used to determine the relationship between various collaborative initiatives and to find out any difference in these initiatives from country to country. A chi-square test, ANOVA test, a post-hoc analysis and a correlation analysis were conducted with survey data collected from 365 manufacturing SMEs from the UK, India and China. The results indicate that collaborative initiatives adopted by the SMEs differ significantly from country to country and the results also indicate positive relationship between different strategies. Keywords: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, supply chain collaboration, collaborative initiatives, empirical study

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information: Date: 2014-10 (completed)
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 14 Sep 2015 14:35
Last Modified: 17 Dec 2022 01:16
DOI: 10.17638/02012029
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/2012029