Beyond Strategy: How Do Culture, Segmentation, and Internal Alignment Drive Supply Chain Management Strategy? A Case Study Approach

Carlos Raul Arredondo, José Antonio Alfaro-Tanco, Mónica Recalde

Abstract


Purpose: the context of this paper focuses on exploring how supply chain strategy is considered when the organization delineates the business strategy. More specifically, we are interested in analyzing how three specific factors: culture, segmentation, internal alignment allow to operationalize the supply chain strategy into the business strategy.

Methodology: this study has two methodological stages. First, through a literature review, we build a theoretical framework to identify those elements related to the three factors that influence supply chain strategy. Second, a study case in Plasticaucho. a shoe Ecuadorian firm, is carried out to build an extended framework that identify those relevant elements in the supply chain strategy of firm.

Results: analysing the factors, the main contribution of this research is to compare both theoretical framework and extended framework to enrich supply chain strategy literature. In this way, we identified relevant elements, including the influence of public stakeholders, the prioritization of suppliers and customers, and the misalignment of objectives.

Research limitations: although the results cannot be generalized, this study may contribute to future research by drawing attention to elements that have received limited consideration in previous studies.

Practical implications: this paper may contribute to raising awareness among local firms that supply chain management should be viewed not only as an operational concern but also as a strategic issue. Moreover, given the limited number of studies focusing on Latin American firms, our findings provide a useful framework for understanding and analyzing supply chain strategy in this specific context.

Originality: in this way, we identified relevant elements, including the influence of public stakeholders, the prioritization of both suppliers and customers, and the misalignment of objectives.

Keywords: Supply Chain; LatAm; Business Strategy; Case study; Culture; Segmentation; Alignment

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Xavier Cuesta and José Cuesta for opening the doors of their company to us and Andrés Cisneros Cadena for his collaboration within Plasticaucho so that this case study could be carried out.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58869/EJABM12(2)/03


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