A Survey on Factors Affecting Supply Chain Management Effectiveness: A Case of Textile Sector in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The modern world is streaming towards the simplification of processes, reengineering and reformations of management to increase the effectiveness of manufacturing, thus practices innovative concepts, state of art technologies, best management strategies and approaches. Supply Chain Management is one such critical management approach to manage the flow of goods and services from its origin to destination effectively and efficiently.Supply Chain Management is executed in industries throughout their value chain. The apparel industry is a major industry in the world which practices supply chain management. When it comes to Sri Lanka, the apparel industry is a vital contributor to the economy and effectiveness is the key player of achieving stakeholder expectation and increasing the bottom line of the industry. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting supply chain management effectiveness in the Sri Lankan textile industry. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect primary data. The sample size was 130 with a response rate of 79%. The questionnaire consisted of nineteen factors identified through an extensive literature review. A likert scale of five options was used to capture the responses. Respondents for the questionnaire were managers, assistant managers, executives and operation analysts. In the analysis KMO and Bartlett Test have used to evaluate the reliability and the significance of the study. SPSS statistical software was used for the analysis. Varimax rotated component matrix was used to determine the coefficient of the equations. Only twelve of them affect to the research model. According to the analysis 11 factors were significant and five factors strongly affect to the effectiveness of Supply Chain Management of textile industry of Sri Lanka. They are planning, quality, sourcing, communication and procurement. Recommendations are provided related to the affecting factors as organizations need to concentrate their effort on developing these factors. Organizations are suggested to use planning tools and communication tools to improve sharing of information among supply chain partners which helps increase the transparency and planning tools such as MRP, MRPII, ERP, VMI, DRP to improve the planning process.