Various Stages in Supply Chain Management Evolution

The following research work in the context of a MBA Master Thesis analyzes supply chain management operations in five major industries in Taiwan. A social-scientific model was derived from literature review and its hypothesis states that six key dimensions have to be assumed as driving force to determine certain evolution stages in supply chain management. The six key dimensions are: Business Strategies, Customer and Partner Relationships, Information Technology, Information Sharing, Logistics & Procurement and Social Factors. A survey with 50 Taiwanese public trading companies was conducted in Taipei on four international trade fair exhibitions in the time period of June-October 2008. The statistical evaluation of the survey has revealed that a certain set of key elements among the six key dimensions do exert great impact in enhancing the performance level in supply chain management. Finally, the hypothesis was verified that those key elements, which were proven to help the company to achieve higher levels in supply chain management peformance, were also considered to be an appropriate tool in indentifying distinctive stages in supply chain management evolution!

In this research work a model was developed to show how Taiwanese IT-enterprises achieve different stages in SCM-evolution. A survey carried out with 80 Taiwanese companies in 2008 had proven which specific key-elements & dimensions are critical to identify certain SCM-evolution stages and help enterprises to achieve higher SCM-performance levels.