STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Summary of Findings
This document highlights the summary of important findings in the
reading published by Karachi School for Business & Leadership titled
Innovation Focus, Buyer-Supplier Relationships and Product
Innovation: Study of Organizations in India and Pakistan. The key
learning concepts are listed below:
There are 3 main perspectives mentioned for evaluation of a long term
and strategic supply chain focused towards innovation:
Supply Chain Innovation Focus
Buyer Supplier Innovation Intent
Buyer Supplier Innovation Structure
The research done by M. Shakeel Sadiq Jajja, Shaukat Ali Brah & Syed
Zahoor Hassan claims a strong support conforming their hypothesis
and supported through literature as being valid, reliable as well as
useful.
There is a direct relationship of innovation focus of supply chain on
both innovation intent and innovation structure between buyer and
supplier. A positive relation between all these elements influencing
supply chain helps to create a collaborative relationship and an
innovation focused strategy that is applicable to both product
manufacturers and service providers.
There is also an emphasis that if firms select innovative suppliers as
strategic partners, the development achieved by the business is high. If
suppliers are innovation oriented, they are keen to gather and provide
consumer insights and communicate customer feedback so they can
work in close collaboration with manufacturers to create more
innovative products and achieve a win-win situation. This clears the
path for product-concept testing and development of innovative
prototypes that if successful, lead towards highly successful product
introductions.
Another important finding of the research relates a directly proportional
relationship between the supply chain structure (and its
innovativeness) with overall business performance (measured in
financial as well as non financial terms).
According to the authors, there also exists the link between years in
the industry and innovativeness. Large players have a relative
competitive advantage in this case because of the knowledge of
industry, expertise, knowhow of national and economic functions and
development of formal and organized supply chains. Moreover,
economic fluctuations tend to keep entry barriers high for new
entrants.
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STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Finally the presence in foreign collaborations is also crucial as it helps

to diversify the business of the company. Knowledge of various target

markets and nature of competition learned through existence in the
industry for several years provides a better and more functional
awareness about the industry and therefore combined effort to achieve
excellence in all the areas mentioned above is crucial for businesses to
develop a strategically strong supply chain that leads the corporation
towards success.

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