Supply Chain Integration: Customer Value through Collaborative Closeness versus Operational Excellence

In a global and competitive environment, supply chain relationships and processes must be continuously integrated and aligned with strategy. The objective should be to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of supply supply chains to create value for final consumers. The present reseach investigates and compares three major forms of supply chain integration of approximately two thousand global firms. The three forms of supply chain integration include intra-organizational process integration, inter-organizational collaborative integration including strategic alliances, and operational excellence. Significant firm and country differences as to value chain integration are identified which appear to relate to cost reduction versus differentiation strategies.