Effect of Supply Chain Drivers on Leagile Implementation: Examining the Moderating Role of Industrial Cluster in Mazandaran province.

Abstract

Companies within industrial clusters must implement appropriate supply chain strategies to gain a competitive advantage in a market with unexpected fluctuations and demand uncertainty. This thesis demonstrated that implementing a leagile strategy significantly improves supply chain performance. This study evaluates the effect of the five Supply Chain (SC) drivers consisting of production, location, inventory, transportation, and information, on implementing the leagile strategy through the Decoupling Point Position (DPP) approach. Also, the DPP's effect on the supply chain's performance has been studied by evaluating the Total Supply Chain Value (TSCV), which consists of cost, quality, service, and lead-time measures. Moreover, moderating effects of industrial clusters (i.e., Basis and Foundation, Business and Enterprise, and Market factors) between supply chain drivers and DPP were also examined. The extant literature has been reviewed to propose a model highlighting the relationship between supply chain drivers, DPP, and TSCV, along with moderating variables. The data used in this research were collected by surveying 212 participants within three industrial clusters, including furniture, agricultural machinery and equipment, and trout fish in Iran. Partial Least Squares and bootstrapping methods were used in SmartPLS-V3 software to conduct Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Also, Slope Analysis has been shown to validate the findings of the Bootstrapping method. The results demonstrated that the supply chain drivers of information sharing, production, inventory, and location significantly affect the leagile implementation in companies within industrial clusters. Also, the companies with a higher level of DPP show higher performance in their supply chain. In addition, Business and Enterprise, Market, Basis, and Foundation have a significant adverse effect on the relationship between supply chain drivers. DPP results demonstrated that companies within industrial clusters must establish, expand, and strengthen their relationships with the value chain members to boost their SC drivers' capabilities.