Supply chain coordination issues: an SAP‐LAP framework

Purpose – Supply chain coordination is concerned with managing dependencies between various supply chain members and the joint efforts of all supply chain members to achieve mutually defined goals. There are different coordination mechanisms reported in the literature that have been discussed in isolation like information sharing, information technology, long‐term partnerships, and joint decision making which help in coordinating supply chain members. Various coordination models have been proposed considering isolated activities of the supply chain. There is a need to consider a holistic perspective of coordination in the entire supply chain. This paper sets out to analyze a case study of XYZ, a leading automotive parts manufacturer in India, to throw light on the status of coordination in its supply chain. Design/methodology/approach – A situation‐actor‐process (SAP)‐learning‐action‐performance (LAP) model has been applied to analyze the case study of XYZ. The situation represents the present scenario of the organization. Actors are the participants, influencing the situation to evolve different business processes. Based on SAP, various learning issues have been analyzed which lead to suitable action followed by impact of SAP on the performance of the supply chain of the organization. Findings – Various issues that need attention are: the type of relationship with suppliers and buyers, coordination effort with supply chain members, various mechanisms like information sharing, information technology, information systems, joint decision making, and flexibility required to adopt the above‐mentioned issues of coordination. Research limitations/implications – The flexible model of SAP‐LAP is used to explain soft and hard issues of supply chain coordination in a managerial context with reference to a dynamic SAP‐LAP model as applied to the case of XYZ. Practical implications – The flexible model of SAP‐LAP presents the situation of coordination to participants who may initiate the processes needed to be coordinated. It also helps in identifying flexibility gaps in adoption of coordination mechanisms. The synthesis of SAP leads to LAP, which bridges the gap of flexibility by suggesting improvement actions on the gaps of flexibility or the learning from the present situation, actors and processes. Originality/value – This is a novel approach to analyze quantitative and qualitative issues of supply chain coordination in a single model comprising various perspectives on coordination, coordination mechanisms, and flexibility required to coordinate, and the impact of coordination on performance of the supply chain.