Title: Adaptability and achieving supply chain agility

Authors: May Tajima

Addresses: BACS Program, Social Science Centre, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada

Abstract: Supply chains today form a global network of product and information flow. As a result, the extent of a supply chain disruption may be significant and may lead to potentially severe economic consequences. Hence, there is an increasing need for deeper understanding of agility and its one of key attributes: adaptability. In the first part of this paper, an overview of agility is provided including its historical background, definitions, and current research. Agility in the context of supply chain management is also reviewed. The second part of the paper discusses the importance and different aspects of the adaptability concept. Adaptability can be viewed in two ways – based on timing (response vs. planned) and based on the overall objective, minimising the damage (passive) or maximising the opportunity (proactive).

Keywords: supply chain agility; supply chain adaptability; supply chain management; SCM; passive; proactive.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2005.006494

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2005 Vol.1 No.2, pp.134 - 146

Published online: 14 Mar 2005 *

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