Abstract
According to Cao, Mei, Zhang and Qingyu (2011:163-180), supply chain collaboration is two or more independent organisations working together to design and implement operations within the supply chain. The results attained are beneficial to all the stakeholders involved. Supply chain collaboration boosts customer satisfaction (Veridian, 2017). Company X is a leading mobile communications company, globally serving 116 million customers, that has focused on enhancing customer satisfaction through value creation (Company X, 2020: 2). The investigation comprised two main objectives. The first study objective was to investigate the nature of the association between the two main supply chain collaboration activities, namely information sharing and supply chain integration, with customer satisfaction at Company X. The second objective of the study was to investigate the contribution of information sharing and supply chain integration activities towards customer satisfaction at Company X. A positivist approach was adopted for the study because it allows application of objectivity in the data collection and analysis. Understanding the association between supply chain collaboration and customer satisfaction must be done by collecting data that can be measured and supported by evidence through a scientific observation. Consequently, the study employed a quantitative research design. The study was grounded in the positivist paradigm and deductive reasoning was adopted for data analysis. Data collection involved simple random sampling that was distributed in the form of a structured questionnaire to 270 employees, for which 262 questionnaires were completed, representing a 97% response rate. The quantitative data was subjected to statistical data analysis methods to derive meaning from the data. The inferential statistical methods of correlation and regression analysis were used to deduce meaning from the data. The study found that there was a positive association between supply chain collaborative activities and customer satisfaction at Company X, as reported in Chapter 5 section 5.3.1. The association, however, was found to be weak. The study also found that among the information sharing collaborative activities, only activities related to product information sharing with the end user customer were found to have a statistically significant influence on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, none of the supply chain integration activities at Company X were found
M.Com. (Supply Chain Management)