Analysis of Effects of Antecedents of Supply Chain Leanness and Agility on Corporate Performance: fs/QCA Versus Structural Equation Modeling

[[abstract]]Facing global competition and product diversity, companies have to grasp market and consumption information timely, keep the operation flexible, and satisfy market demands rapidly. To maintain the competitiveness of the company, it is also important to ensure that the business operation is low cost, highly efficient and with excellent flexibility. In other words, aside from possessing the capability of leanness, agility is indispensible as well for sustaining a company’s competitive advantages. Having a supply chain equipped with both leanness and agility these two capabilities is critical for companies. A company’s supply chain strategy is about realizing its competitive advantages and using supply chain capabilities, including leanness, response speed and flexibility, to support the required competitive strategies. In this thesis, the investigator chose the automobile component sector in Taiwan as the empirical subject. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed, and 40 of them were returned and valid. The structural equation modeling approach and fs/QCA were used for data analysis, and both approaches showed (1) a significantly positive effect of innovative products on supply chain agility, (2) a significantly positive effect of functional products on supply chain leanness, (3) a significantly positive effect of cost leadership on supply chain leanness, (4) a significantly positive effect of differentiation on supply chain agility, (5) a significantly positive effect of supply chain leanness on corporate performance, and (6) a significantly positive effect of supply chain agility on corporate performance