Table 1 Supply chain strategies Strategy... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Supply chain strategies

Strategy	Characteristics	References
Lean	- Minimizing supply chain costs - Elimination of waste or non-value-added activities across the chain - Supplier attributes involve low cost and high quality - High inventory turnover - Low inventory level - Shortens lead time as long as it does not increase cost - High average utilization rate - Maximizes performance and minimizes cost	Huang et al. (2002), Wang et al. (2004), Vonderembse et al. (2006), Christopher (2000), Christopher and Towill (2002), Lee (2003), Qi et al. (2009)
Agile	- Market responsiveness - Production flexibility - Adaptability to customer needs - Supplier attributes involve speed, flexibility, and quality - Deploys significant stocks of parts to tide over unpredictable market requirements - Invests aggressively in ways to reduce lead times - Deploys excess buffer capacity to ensure that raw material/components are available to manufacture the product according to market requirements	Huang et al. (2002), Christopher and Towill (2000), Wang et al. (2004), Vonderembse et al. (2006), Christopher (2000), Van Hoek et al. (2001), Lin et al. (2006), Agarwal et al. (2007), Towill and Christopher (2002), Power et al. (2001), Lee (2003), Qi et al. (2009)
Hybrid	- Interfaces with the market to understand customer requirements, maintaining future adaptability - Tries to achieve mass customization by postponing product differentiation - Supplier attributes involve low cost and high quality, along with the capability for speed and flexibility, as and when required - Is similar to the lean supply chain at component level (shorten lead-time but not at the expense of cost). At product level, accommodates customer requirements, it follows that of an agile supply chain	Huang et al. (2002), Naylor et al. (1999), Wang et al. (2004), Vonderembse et al. (2006), Towill and Christopher (2002), Christopher (2000)

Strategy	Characteristics	References
Lean	- Minimizing supply chain costs - Elimination of waste or non-value-added activities across the chain - Supplier attributes involve low cost and high quality - High inventory turnover - Low inventory level - Shortens lead time as long as it does not increase cost - High average utilization rate - Maximizes performance and minimizes cost	Huang et al. (2002), Wang et al. (2004), Vonderembse et al. (2006), Christopher (2000), Christopher and Towill (2002), Lee (2003), Qi et al. (2009)
Agile	- Market responsiveness - Production flexibility - Adaptability to customer needs - Supplier attributes involve speed, flexibility, and quality - Deploys significant stocks of parts to tide over unpredictable market requirements - Invests aggressively in ways to reduce lead times - Deploys excess buffer capacity to ensure that raw material/components are available to manufacture the product according to market requirements	Huang et al. (2002), Christopher and Towill (2000), Wang et al. (2004), Vonderembse et al. (2006), Christopher (2000), Van Hoek et al. (2001), Lin et al. (2006), Agarwal et al. (2007), Towill and Christopher (2002), Power et al. (2001), Lee (2003), Qi et al. (2009)
Hybrid	- Interfaces with the market to understand customer requirements, maintaining future adaptability - Tries to achieve mass customization by postponing product differentiation - Supplier attributes involve low cost and high quality, along with the capability for speed and flexibility, as and when required - Is similar to the lean supply chain at component level (shorten lead-time but not at the expense of cost). At product level, accommodates customer requirements, it follows that of an agile supply chain	Huang et al. (2002), Naylor et al. (1999), Wang et al. (2004), Vonderembse et al. (2006), Towill and Christopher (2002), Christopher (2000)