Supply chain management, knowledge management capability, and their linkages towards firm performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how supply chain management (SCM) practices and knowledge management (KM) capabilities affect firm performance. This study was conducted in the Asia Pacific region, which had not been examined before. Design/methodology/approach – A three‐phase statistical analysis which comprised phase one (convergent validity, reliability, and discriminant validity), phase two (mediated regression analysis) and phase three (path analysis) was used to analyze the data. Findings – The results from this paper have shown that the implementation of SCM practices will interact with KM capabilities to influence firm performance. Research limitations/implications – The proposed model does not consider firm performance from multiple perspectives. In addition, the use of longitudinal data would be more useful to examine how changes in certain variables affect performance. Practical implications – These findings provide important insights for managers to understand the disposition of the firm to better leverage internal capability (knowledge), by exploiting relationships with supply chain partners. Social implications – This paper has extended knowledge in the mainstream management and provides valuable clues on how to improve organizational effectiveness, which is the crux of management. Originality/value – The paper is among the first empirical works that specifically investigate the relationships between KM and SCM; thus this paper fills an important gap in the supply chain literature.