Abstract
In today’s dynamic and competitive business environment, shaped by rapidly advancing technological changes, globalisation and shifting customer expectations, the alignment of supply chain strategy with overall business strategy has become a critical determinant of organisational success. Misalignment can inhibit performance, reduce competitiveness and compromise long-term sustainability. To achieve and sustain alignment, organisations must understand and leverage the key factors that enable effective alignment of supply chain strategy with broader corporate and business objectives. Although existing literature highlights the importance of strategic alignment and strategic fit between supply chain and business strategy, organisations still continue to experience challenges in achieving and sustaining such alignment.
In particular, limited attention has been given to understanding how supply chain strategies align with business objectives and the specific factors that determine strategic fit. Furthermore, empirical evidence remains scarce regarding the key drivers that enable and sustain this alignment within contemporary business environments. This identified gap motivated this qualitative inquiry to generate context specific insights into the factors influencing effective alignment between supply chain and business strategy. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design was adopted to investigate the drivers of successful strategic alignment and to explore how organisations can effectively achieve and sustain such alignment over time.
Phase 1 employed a bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed literature to map the intellectual structure of research on strategic alignment, identifying nine (9) dominant themes, namely (1) Management and governance, (2) Performance and metrics, (3) Capabilities and resources, (4) Operations and logistics, (5) Decision-making and collaboration, (6) Flexibility and agility, (7) Market and business context, (8) Technology and innovation, and (9) Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Phase 2 involved semi-structured interviews with eight industry experts. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach in Atlas.ti, to contextualise and further enrich Phase 1’s quantitative findings with practical insights and industry perspectives. The findings highlighted three overarching themes, namely: (1) leadership, governance and strategy, (2)...