Title: Impact of Supply Chain Management practices on the competitive advantage of Indian retail supermarkets

Authors: R. Mary Metilda, K. Vivekanandan

Addresses: SNS Business School, SNS College of Technology, Coimbatore-35, Tamil Nadu, India. ' BSMED, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore 641046, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Indian retail industries are increasingly facing intensifying global competition, rapid technology advances, and increasingly more demanding customer expectations. The right choice, implementation and evolution of an operations strategy can provide considerable competitive advantage. Firms are found successful in accomplishing this competition through supply chain initiatives. This research work provides a framework for a sustainable improvement by which supply chain practices can build the competitive advantage of Indian retail supermarkets. From the survey conducted on 198 retail supermarkets, the research investigates the dimensions of Supply Chain Management (SCM) practices and tests their relationships with competitive advantage. Data are analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) aimed to test the model fit.

Keywords: competitive advantage; India; retail trade; retailing; supermarkets; global competition; technological advances; customer expectations; operations strategies; supply chain initiatives; sustainable improvements; structural equation modelling; SCM; supply chain management; global supply chains; globalisation; logistics systems; logistics management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2011.041504

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2011 Vol.9 No.2, pp.170 - 185

Published online: 06 May 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article