شایستگی در مدیریت زنجیره تامین : یک بررسی اصولی Competence in supply chain management: A systematic review

1. INTRODUCTION Competence is often portrayed as a combination of components, such as knowledge, skills, abilities, capabilities, and resources (Athey and Orth, 1999; Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Sanchez, 2004; Teece et al., 1997). In supply chain management (SCM), competence is a key factor in achieving superior performance and competitiveness. Bowersox et al. (2000) conclude that supply chain competency leads to business improvements both operationally and financially. Moreover, the top 25 companies identified as having excellent competence in SCM in the annual research reports by AMR Research/Gartner (Gartner, 2007-2010) obtained substantially higher financial performance than their competitors (Aquino and Draper, 2008; Ellinger et al., 2011; Ellinger et al., 2012). Although a consensus exists on the importance of competence in SCM for successful business performance, scholars vary considerably regarding the scope and meaning of the subject. In the SCM literature, competence is embraced from a variety of views and its content remains relatively incoherent. For example, Bagchi (2001) defines supply chain competence as an outcome of physical, institutional, and technology diffusion factors, whereas Ngai et al. (2011) refer to competence as a “framework for technological, production, and management expertise supporting supply chain capabilities.” Others view competence from a strict professions’ point of view, debating the vast assortment of competence that supply chain managers need (Christopher, 2012; Cottrill, 2010; McCarter et al., 2005; Myers et al., 2004; Van Hoek et al., 2002). From an educational standpoint, stakeholders (i.e., faculty, students, and practitioners) have voiced a considerable range of views on the meaning and importance of competences in SCM (Sauber et al., 2008). Scholars also point out a shift in modern supply chains toward a more relation-based strategy (Shub and Stonebraker, 2009), which has led to calls for more research on additional aspects of competence in SCM, such as the connection between human resource management (HRM) and SCM (Ellinger and Ellinger, 2014; Hohenstein et al., 2014; Shub and Stonebraker, 2009). Based on the incoherent view of competence in SCM, and the explicit need and call for more research, we conclude that the subject itself needs to be explored further. We therefore contend that, to achieve a coherent view of competence in SCM, a systematic review of the relevant literature is needed. To the best of our knowledge no such review yet exists. The purpose of the present paper, therefore, is to present an integrated view of the literature published on all aspects and facets of competence in SCM and to provide a framework for classifying and analyzing literature to facilitate further study, practice, and research. We examine the field of competence in SCM not so much to advance theory but to propose a taxonomy for mapping and evaluating research on competence in SCM. The focus is thus to identify what constitutes competence in SCM.