| Supply chain process and information sharing play critical roles in today's supply chain management. Previous research in supply chain management has studied various supply chain processes and different aspects of information sharing separately. Therefore, this dissertation proposes a comprehensive framework to study the relationships among supply chain process, information sharing, supply chain dynamism, and business performance.; The dissertation starts with mathematical models and simulation models to better understand the relationships among the variables. The theorems derived from the mathematical models are tested in more generalized supply chain settings. The results from the mathematical models and simulation models provide several managerial insights and help develop the empirical models.; The empirical part of this dissertation uses a cross-sectional survey method. Structural equation modeling is used to explore the relationships among five supply chain processes, four aspects of information sharing, supply chain dynamism, and five dimensions of business performance. Responses from 120 executives in manufacturing industries, representing a 18 percent response rate, suggest that both effective supply chain process and effective information sharing are necessary to achieve optimal business performance. When supply chain dynamism increases, effective information sharing becomes more important. Information sharing does not have direct positive impact on business performance, but it has positive impact on business performance through effective supply chain process. Effective supply chain process has positive influence on all performance dimensions, but the degrees of positive influence vary for different performance dimensions.; The analytical methodology tests three of the six research hypotheses. The empirical methodology tests five of the six research hypotheses. The analytical and empirical research methodologies corroborate and complement each other. The results of this dissertation research show that both effective supply chain process and effective information sharing are necessary for achieving optimal business performance under alternative supply chain dynamism. Effective information sharing is important for assimilating supply chain dynamics information and using that information to guide the use of effective supply chain process. Effective supply chain process is important for mediating the influence of effective information sharing on business performance. Executives must balance the investment in information sharing and supply chain process. |
