Customer responsive supply chains: an exploratory view of concepts and definitions

Markets are changing, with the demand for many products and services becoming increasingly uncertain in terms of magnitude, time, and place. The supply chains that produced the masscustomised products and services of the past do not have the capabilities to deliver the customised responses of the future. Building on a foundation of both literature and fieldwork, this paper explores the concepts and definitions surrounding customer responsive supply chains and proposes a framework of the capabilities, competencies and practices to support this. Preliminary results support the use of a model built around 4 ‘agile’ capabilities (Goldman et al, 1995): enhancing customer value, co-operating to compete, mastering change and uncertainty and leveraging people and information, and suggests the introduction of a fifth, mastering complexity.

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