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An Empirical Study on the Manufacturing Firm’s Strategic Choice for Sustainability in SMEs

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  • Chang Juck Suh

    (Graduate School of Business, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul 04107, Korea)

  • In Tae Lee

    (Graduate School of Business, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul 04107, Korea)

Abstract

To survive in the current competitive, unpredictable business environment, it is significant for firms to search and enforce capabilities that lead them to adapt and cope with dynamic changes of environment for their sustainability. We try to connect operation issues with sustainability in this paper. From the perspective of the dynamic capabilities of the firm, this study suggests a conceptual model that presents relationships among supply chain visibility, modular design, supply chain flexibility, and agility. We do not focus on the module buyer but on the small and middle-sized enterprises (SMEs). An empirical study is performed to verify the relationships proposed, using datasets collected from 232 manufacturing SMEs as module suppliers in South Korea. We used SPSS to analyze data and structural equation modeling to verify the hypotheses of the research model. The important contributions of this study are as follows. Firstly, we suggest relationships among supply chain visibilities and a modular design for supply chain flexibility and agility in sustainable performance. Secondly, we show that supply chain visibility directly leads firms to implement modular design in sustainable development. Thirdly, we verify the importance of supply chain visibility, not for module buyers, but for module suppliers by switching views in terms of SMEs’ sustainability. Lastly, this study shows that the suppliers’ modular design affects supply chain flexibility and agility, which is consistent with the findings presented in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang Juck Suh & In Tae Lee, 2018. "An Empirical Study on the Manufacturing Firm’s Strategic Choice for Sustainability in SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:2:p:572-:d:133124
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    2. Kalaiarasan, Ravi & Olhager, Jan & Agrawal, Tarun Kumar & Wiktorsson, Magnus, 2022. "The ABCDE of supply chain visibility: A systematic literature review and framework," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    3. Zhining Zhao & Hassan Alli & Masoud Ahmadipour & Rosalam Che me, 2024. "Sustainable agility of product development process based on a rough cloud technique: A case study on China’s small and medium enterprises," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(8), pages 1-27, August.
    4. Byungjoo Paek & Joohyun Kim & Joonyoung Park & Heesang Lee, 2019. "Outsourcing Strategies of Established Firms and Sustainable Competitiveness: Medical Device Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-28, August.
    5. Dana Kiseľáková & Beáta Šofranková & Miroslav Gombár & Veronika Čabinová & Erika Onuferová, 2019. "Competitiveness and Its Impact on Sustainability, Business Environment, and Human Development of EU (28) Countries in terms of Global Multi-Criteria Indices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-25, June.

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