The significant effect of information sharing and strategic supplier partnership on supplier performance

This article explores the importance of incorporating supply chain management (SCM) in Malaysian manufacturing industry. The paper investigates the influences of two important key ingredients of SCM namely 'information sharing between SCM partners' and 'strategic supplier partnership' on 'supplier performance'. The study measures production or SCM managers' perceptions regarding SCM and level of performances in their companies. The SEM result demonstrates that proxies of 'information sharing between SCM partners' namely 'sharing of business knowledge and plan', and 'sharing of production information' appear to be of primary importance and exhibit significant impact on 'supplier performance'. In addition, determinants of 'strategic supplier partnership' such as 'quality and continuous improvement programs' and 'joint-effort problem solving' also demonstrate high and significant impacts on 'supplier performance'. Manufacturing companies should emphasize greater attention to 'sharing of business knowledge and plan with suppliers' in ISBP programs as well as 'quality and continuous improvement programs' in SSP programs.