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Research Methodology*
3.1. Introduction
In this Chapter, the research methodology used in this thesis is described. First, the
justification for research methodology employed is described followed by survey design, the
development of questionnaire and its administration. Subsequent sections of the Chapter report
on analysis and validation aspect of the research methodology developed.
The research methodology adopted in this research is based on literature review, expert
opinion, questionnaire based survey and modeling. Thus, Chapter presented the details of
research steps followed for thesis were (I) first stage deals with questionnaire based data analysis
and survey study (e.g. the identification and analysis of key SSC items) and (II) second stage
deals with analytical methods (e.g. AHP, ISM etc.) in robust and secure supply chain.
The subsequent sections present the details of the various tools and techniques along with
the justification
* Part of this chapter is under second review as “Modeling and Analysis of Integrated Supply Chain Risk and
Security Framework" to be considered for publication in the International Journal of Physical Distribution &
Logistics Management and assigned manuscript ID is IJPDLM-12-2013-0304.
* Part of this chapter is published as “Anjali Saxena, Nitin Seth, 2012. Supply chain risk and security management:
an interpretive structural modeling approach, Journal: Int. J. of Logistics Economics and Globalization, 2012
Vol.4, No.1/2, pp.117 – 132.
*Part of this chapter is published as “Supply Chain Risk and Security Management: Interpretive Structural
Modeling”, 16th Conference of SOM (Society of Operations Management), IIT Delhi, December 21-23, 2012.
49
The research methodology used for the present thesis follows the guidelines prescribed
by Churchill, 1979; Gerbing and Anderson, 1988 and Parasuraman et al., 1988. In the present
study, survey research method has been employed to study the issues of robust and secure supply
chain in Indian automotive industry context. Survey research is an established method which
encompasses the use of structured and unstructured questionnaire to collect information from a
sample of respondents (Kerlinger, 1986). Surveys are fairly related to the study of the
interruption sources (Tang et al., 2006; Chopra et al., 2008) and supply chain research (Niraj et
al., 2002; Mentzer et al., 2005; Abdelraoof et al., 2011; Xiqiang, et al., 2014). Some sub fields
of the Supply Chain (such as manufacturing, strategy, Procurement Strategy and management)
have been researched extensively through survey method but survey research in RSSC is still not
much used. Hence, the survey research is an appropriate method in the present study.
Some established Operations Management sub-fields have been researched extensively,
in past through survey research, and the corresponding bodies of knowledge developed to an
extent enough to allow researchers to embrace theory testing survey research (Handfield and
Melnyk, 1998; Constantin, 2011; Mathiyazhagan et al., 2013). The reported research indicates
high need of secure supply chain framework, modeling and mitigation in various scenarios (Jyri
et al., 2012; Joshi et al., 2013; Lahiri and George, 2013; Jayanth, 2014)
The significance of exploratory research increases when the literature lacks theoretical
models on issues being researched (Nix, 2001; Seth et al., 2006b) and also when the literature
does not fully explain the contours of the problem being examined (Forza, 2002). According to
Batra (2005), the quantitative methods provide a tangible and objective analysis of the problem
situation, where as the qualitative methods helps in providing a fuller perspective of the problem
solution more creatively by considering both tangible and intangible variables involvement.
Since Robust and Secure Supply chain is a relatively less researched area, an exploratory and
explanatory research methods have been adopted for this study.
The use of various modeling tools like (AHP, ANP, etc.) in supply chain is been explored
by various researcher for ex. Yunna, et al., (2012); Lin and Yeh (2013); He et al., 2013; and
Mendoza (2014) for gaining the insights of the subject.
According to Kothari (2007), quantitative methods and help in drawing inference
regarding a population from a sample and qualitative methods involve a subjective assessment of
attitudes, opinion and behavior of the researcher’s understanding. Thus this research used an
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appropriate combination of various quantitative and qualitative tools viz. a) Reliability
assessment b) EFA, c) CFA, d) AHP, and e) ISM analysis. Further to strengthen the findings,
qualitative approach through Interpretive Structural Modeling was adopted in the analysis of the
data.
Thus, drawing the support from the literature the use of survey and modeling
methodology in the present case is justified. The questionnaire survey for the empirical research
was selected as the basic instruments of research. Further, AHP & ISM based modeling research
is used to evaluate supply chain risk and security in Indian environment. The individual
justification for AHP, ISM is covered along with the respective review on these tools and
techniques in Chapter 5 and 6 respectively. The next section presents the step by step procedure
used to carry out this research.
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Literature Review
Industry Experts
Expert Opinions /Practitioners/
Academicians
Development of Questionnaire
Pilot Study
Data Analysis
Execution of Survey 2
Data Collection
AHP Modeling
52
1 2 3
Literature Review Expert Interviews Survey Design
Selection of Practitioners, consultants Development of questionnaire
representative items for and academicians Sampling
RSSC with the final list of items to
measure SCR, SCS and SCRS
10
Correction of NO
Learning and Consolidation
of Findings questionnaire item Pilot
and design that Testing
affect the objective
9
Interpretive Structural Yes
Modeling
Development of model
Showing the linkages of various 4
factors of automotive industries
4
Yes Survey Administration
Select professional at
Model various levels
Consistency 7 Share Questionnaire
Check? Data Collection
NO
8
Analytical Hierarchy Process
Modeling
Multi Criteria evaluation
Improve NO Do item
based on key factors
Scenario Analysis reliability by possess good
correcting reliability
items
7
Survey Administration (Study 2 Yes
for AHP and ISM)
5 5
Select professional at various
levels from 7 Automotive Exploratory Factor
Industries Analysis
Share Questionnaire Principal component
Data Collection Analysis with Varimax
Rotation using SPSS 16)
Yes
6
Establishing Validity Confirmatory
(Content , Construct & 1
Nomological Validity)
Factor Do items
Analysis having high
through SEM loading
(SPSS AMOS)
NO
Figure 3.2: Flow chart of research methodology adopted for present work
53
3.4.1. Literature review
Insights from the literature helped identify the gaps in the literature and led to framing of
the research questions and developing a methodology for the present work. Numerous
researchers (Juttner et al., 2003; Christopher and Peck, 2004; Spekman and Davis, 2004;
Norrman and Lindroth, 2004; Juttner, 2005, Wan et al., 2010) have worked in the area of
quantifying and managing the supply chain risk, as a result the literature is replete with studies in
this area.
Literature review was carried out reviewing the scholarly journals and periodicals overall
205 research publication were reviewed. Chapter 2 presented the details of literature reviewed.
Literature review helped in identification of items for supply chain risk (refer Table 2.4 from
Chapter 2) and supply chain security (refer Table 2.5 from Chapter 2). The literature review
helped in assessing the gaps and developing the objectives of this research. These details were
shared with experts. The subsequent section provided the details of the steps followed.
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Expert opinions were carried out from May, 12 -June, 12. Researcher personally visited
and discussed these issues with selected very experienced professionals. At majority of times
whatever additional and expert suggested /deleted was consulted with the other experts either
through mail or personally visiting them. Experts have been contacted in a conference.
Table 3.1: Items Identified for each Robust and Secure Supply Chain Category
Total 61 issues are undertaken for the study. Following are the key issues identified for robust
secure supply chain. Further Table 3.3 presents the detailed description of the 61 items with their
relevance and literature support.
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Table 3.2: Key Issues For Robust Secure Supply Chain
The various items along with their source in literature are tabulated. (Table 3.3)
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Table 3.3: Item Definition for SC Security, SC Risk and Common Items
Supply Chain
SN Definitions Author, Year
Risk Items
War (Local & Global Political conflicts, internal and external war scenario that influence trade
1 Peck, 2005; Craig et al. 2011; Lee et al. , 2011
Scenario) and logistics
Government Government policies rules and regulation specific to country. This may
2 Aichlmayr., 2002; Peck ,2005; Finch et al. , 2005
Regulations include country specific and globally adopted policies.
Country specific trade rules, treaty, regulations. for ex. Trade among
3 Trade Restriction Peck ,2005; Pfohl, et al. , 2011
European countries
Country specific political scenario and influence of political instability on
4 Political Instability Peck ,2005; Lee et al. 2011
supply chain performance.
Service And Social Company & country specific society risk which will be applicable to
5 Svensson, 2000; Stradley and Karraker,2006
Risk impact supply operation on limited social demographic area.
6 Customer Behaviour Customer demographic and type of customers Svensson, 2000; Williams et al., 2008
Economic condition, barriers and financial liability to nature of specific
7 Economic Issues Svensson, 2000; Salmela et al.2010
geography and demography.
Distortion of demand or change in demand as compare to estimated
8 Uncertain Demand demand higher inventory cost, or unmet demand Ex; Cisco had loss of Tang, 2006 ; Craig et al. 2011
2.1billion
Higher, frequent demand fluctuation .Sudden serge and dip in automotive
9 Volatility Tang, 2006, Lee et al. 2011
product based on new product or campaign.
Collaboration With Collaboration, selection, and agreement between supplier and
10 Peck, 2005; Faisal et al. 2006
Suppliers manufacturer.
Supplier History Ensure history of supplier performance and all details on various
11 Peck, 2005; Pfohl, et al. 2011
Verification parameters
Environmental
12 Natural hazards (force majeure), and terrorist attacks. Svensson, 2000; Williams et al, 2008
Attacks
Socio-Political Socio-political instability, unstable neighbourhood or local politics and
13 Pfohl, et al. 2011
Instability civil unrest
Epidemic dieses and medical problem wide speeded in society i.e. swine
14 Epidemic Disruption Svensson, 2000; Williams et al, 2008
flu, plague.
15 Customer Churn Customer dynamic behaviour which impact of losing business Lee, 2011
Change in market scenario due to any reason for ex. Change in cost,
16 Dynamic Market Giunipero. and Eltantawy, 2004
product variety etc.
Supplier side risk due to various supplier service issues related to on time
17 Supplier Service Peck,2005; Lee et al. 2011
delivery ,cost and capacity
57
Supply Chain
SN Definitions Author, Year
Risk Items
Customer Order And Fulfilment of customer expectation in line with desired product feature,
18 Peck, 2005
Service cost etc.
Poor Financial
19 Poor financial stability of an Organization and particular region. Lee et al. 2011
Stability
Supply Chain
SN Definitions Author, Year
Security Items
Employee Background Satisfactory routines for security checks on their employees and
1 Svensson, 2000; Salmela et al.,2010
Check prospective employees.
2 Human Resources Checks of employees, suppliers and others to minimize disruption. Svensson, 2000; Aichlmayr, 2002
Infrastructure and Infrastructural and assets security due to inadequate practices, theft, attacks
3 Svensson, 2000; Christian, et al. , 2011
Asset Security etc.
System, processes and assets risk due to inadequate practices, theft, attacks
4 System Threats Svensson, 2000 ; Craig et al. , 2011
etc.
5 Physical Security Security measures to protect the workers, employees and human being. Hallside, 2007; Lee, 2011
International or Local Security measures to protect the process for international logistics for ex.
6 Hallside, 2007; Williams et al., 2008
Certification Marine cargo shipment.
Outbound and Inbound Security measures to protect inbound logistics (receiving material from
7 Lee, 2011; Hallside, 2007
Security supplier) and outbound shipment (delivery to customer).
Security measures to protect the operation environment specially
8 Operational Security Clossa and Mollenkopf, 2004; Hallside, 2007
manufacturing units.
Incident Reporting and Security training programme on proactive Incident Reporting and
9 Tang, 2006; Salmela et al.2010
Investigations Investigations.
Crisis Management Security training programme on business discontinuity. It is useful on
10 Tang, 2006; Lee et al. 2011
and Disaster Recovery disaster management.
Appropriate Employee Employees should be trained for their domain related security measures.
11 Cuneo, 2003;Tang, 2006
Training i.e. procurement, manufacturing, logistics etc.
Security training based on the overall security policies and practise
12 Resources Training followed by the organization. For ex. Environmental health and safety Tang, 2006 ; Craig et al, 2011
dep’t.
Security Benchmark Training of the employees on the security gaps of industry, benchmark
13 Cuneo, 2003; Tang, 2006
Training standards and training to fill that gap.
58
Supply Chain
SN Definitions Author, Year
Common Items
1 Cyber Issues Internet based leakage, attacks, hacking and various other crime McKinnon, 2006; Stradley and Karraker,2006
Patent Information
2 Leakage of proprietary or patent related information to unauthorized people McKinnon, 2006; Hallside, 2007
Issues
3 Software Piracy Issues Illegal use of the software, protection of the software Cuneo, 2003
Technology Breach Breaching technology and unauthorized change and right to access the
4 McKinnon, 2006; Lee et al. 2011
Issues system
Unauthorized Access
5 Unauthorized access of internet sites, Physical access of the premises. Cuneo, 2003; Giunipero. and Eltantawy, 2004
Issues
Confidential Data Prevent confidential data sharing inside and outside the company. Prevent
6 McKinnon, 2006; Finch et al., 2005
Sharing Issues information leakages.
Fraud and Financial
7 Duplicate claims and forfeit documents. Williams et al, 2008
Crime Issues
Viruses Threats and
8 Virus attacks and spyware which disrupts the system and information flow. McKinnon, 2006; Cuneo, 2003
Spywares Issues
Account and Password
9 Unauthorized access to system, computer or web Salmela et al., 2010; McKinnon, 2006
Breach Issues
New Technology and Any new technology and product comprise risk and security of failure. This
10 Mottley, 2002; Stradley and Karraker,2006
Product happen due to lack of validation and testing in different scenarios
Partner Background History check of collaborative members( production partner, supplier,
11 Clossa.and Mollenkopf, 2004; Mottley, 2002
Issues ancillary units)
12 Data Control Issues Data could be confidential open for all can be shared with predefine group. Mottley, 2002; Cuneo, 2003
13 System Issues System operation continuity and challenging scenarios. Finch et al., 2005; Stradley and Karraker, 2006
Business Continuity Undisrupted business flow and operations continuity disaster or
14 Mottley, 2002; Stradley and Karraker, 2006
Issues challenging scenarios.
Platform Enablement Platform and software enablement is essential (for example middle ware S
15 Mottley, 2002; Mollenkopf, 2004
Issues / W is needed to integrate platform among different companies)
Resource Sharing Resource sharing by multiple companies in collaborative assignment where
16 Mottley, 2002; Cuneo., 2003
Issues lot of precaution is required.
This refers to different supportive mechanism and controls which are
17 Utility Control Issues employed to main process like conveyer, lifts A.C. Any interruption in this Finch et al,. 2005; Lee, 2011
support may halt the overall supply chain
Different supportive mechanism and controls which are employed to main
Collaboration and
18 process like conveyer, lifts A.C. Any interruption in this support may halt Mottley, 2002; Lee et al. 2011
Competitiveness Issues
the overall supply chain
19 Shrinkage and Collaboration and competitiveness with various partners’ suppliers and Norrman and Lindroth, 2004; Finch et al., 2005
59
Supply Chain
SN Definitions Author, Year
Common Items
Pilferage Issues customers.
Theft and Shoplifting
20 Prevent Inventory shrinkage or losses or ex, goods losses. Giunipero. and Eltantawy, 2004; McKinnon, 2006
Issues
Giunipero. and Eltantawy, 2004; Norrman and Lindroth,
21 Terrorist Attack Issues Frequent terrorist attacks have major impact on business continuity
2004
Work Place Violence
22 Labour unrest, strikes and valance during work Finch et al. 2005; Norrman and Lindroth, 2004
Issues
Supply chain corruption is considered as breaching integrity, bribe and
23 Corruption Issues Salmela et al., 2010
sacrificing organization benefits over individual interest.
Disruption happening specifically during transportation for example
24 Transportation Issues Norrman and Lindroth, 2004; Cuneo, 2003
change in routes, traffic, goods etc.
25 Port Issues Port activities at the time of, operation, loading and unloading of the cargo. Saxena and Wadhwa, 2008; Finch et al., 2005
Cargo hijacking, pirates attacks, Marine life risk are prominent points of
26 Marine Issues Aichlmayr., 2002; Salmela et al., 2010
marine security guideline
Not following the rules, regulations, certification guidelines and policies
27 Compliance Issues Salmela et al,.2010; Saxena and Wadhwa, 2008
adapted by organization.
Missing of goods happens at various points, which is measure risk, satellite
28 Missing Goods Issues Pfohl et al., 2011
tracking, GPS are very much requirement
Hazardous Shipment
29 Shipment of toxic product .Oil leakage, fires on fleet equipment. Aichlmayr, 2002
Issues
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3.5 Survey Design and Data Collection
This section includes description of all the activity related to sampling, questionnaire
development and survey administration. Suggested guidelines has been followed with
prescribed in the literature for questionnaire development (Flyn et al., 1994; Netemeyer et al.,
2003; Parasuraman et al.,1988, 2005). Mix of affirmative and negative statements to
formulate questions has been used, so as to avoid similar responses. Following Churchill
(1979) and Nunnally (1978), multiple items for measuring the underlying constructs has been
developed. In order to ensure reliable and unbiased responses, all the questions have been
worded carefully (Forza, 2002). Thus, deriving the items of the scale for RSSC from the
literature, and fine-tuning them through exploratory interviews, scale for RSSC in the supply
chain is developed.
Respective break up with number of items in each section is shown Figure 3.3 below:
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Questionnaire for assessment of Robust and secure
supply Chain (RSSM)
On 5 point
Likert scale
Based on the insights from the review of research methodology tools and techniques,
the questionnaire so developed is subjected to pilot testing. The next section covers the
details of pilot testing exercise carried out.
62
All the items were retained after brief testing. The next section covers step by step
process of survey administration.
3.5.3.1 Sampling
Sampling in survey research involves defining the population, population element,
population frame, sample, subject and sampling (Forza, 2002; Henry, 1990). The sample is
the respondents selected from the population, using a particular sampling approach.
Individual respondents are the subject of study. In order to reach respondents who were
information-rich (Patton, 1987) and willing to participate in the survey, we adopted the
convenience sampling approach. This is in line with the approach suggested by
Rungtusanatham et al. (2001), who argue against the suitability of probabilistic sampling in
operations management context, because of the difficulty in data collection, particularly
reaching information-rich and willing respondents (Forza, 2002). At the first step of
sampling, ten automotive manufacturing organizations in India have been selected and
contacted. Based on the subsequent discussion and follow-up 7 automotive industries were
agreed to support for this research and allow survey based data collection. Different
professionals from varied supply chain areas are identified in these automotive industries.
After providing initial background of the research and context setting questionnaire were
shared with them. Following is the list of the 7 automotive organization agreed to support this
research survey study.
1. Ashok Leyland (Bangalore)
2. Eicher Motors (Indore)
3. Hindustan Motors(Indore)
4. Mahindra & Mahindra(Nasik)
5. Maruti Suzuki (Gurgaon)
6. Tata Motors (Pune)
7. Toyota Kirlosker (Bangalore)
63
3.5.3.2 Sampling Frame and Unit
Once sampling method is decided, sampling frame and unit is to decide which helps
in considering right population of professionals to provide inputs.
Sampling Frame:
The research site was confined of 7 automotive industries in and around Delhi,
Mumbai, Indore and Bangalore companies are selected primarily based on nature of work (in
this case automotive manufacturing). Supply chain is broader areas where diversified
professional from different areas are working together to achieve common supply chain
goals. While conducting survey, in this research this fact is considered and diversified
professionals are approached, for instance, Marketing, Operation, Procurement,
environmental health and safety (EHS), distribution or logistics, etc. It is ensured that these
professional are involved in supply chain activities and have meaningful understanding of
supply chain risk and security perspective.
Sampling Unit
Different level of the organization has been contacted to get the wider opinion. The
major respondents are Manager, Senior Manager, AVP and Vice President from automotive
industries. These practitioners are majorly subject matter expert in supply chain and have
diversified experience working with different automotive industries.
The entire sample studied as a whole and independently for supply chain risk, supply
chain security and supply chain risk & security. In this case the sampling unit was the entire
sample.
64
found valid and complete for the analysis. Rangtusantham et al 2001, Parsuraman et al., and
1997, Comrey and lee 2005 recommends that sample size of 200 is fair for factor analysis
specifically in operation management.
65
scholars in the literature (Flynn et al., 1990; Forza, 2002; Kang and Bradley, 2002).For some
places where hard copy of questionnaire was not possible, there data was collected by visit,
email and phone.
Robust and Secure Supply Chain Items (identified from Literature and Expert Opinion) were
taken as a base (Questionnaire). 350 respondents contacted to provide the responses. 205
Responses received from the respondents after mild reminder cum follow ups. After initial
validation, 201 questionnaires were found valid for the analysis since four questionnaires
were found incomplete. Response rate of 59% has been achieved, which was quite
encouraging.
This high rate of response may be attributed to involvement and commitment of plant
heads of respective organizations and personal visits by the researcher to collect data.
However, through preliminary scanning, we found that some sections had been left
incomplete in a few questionnaires.
Organization
Tata Maruti Toyota Ashok Mahindra Eisher Hindustan
Attribute
Motors Suzuiki Kirloskar Leyland and Truck Motors
Mahindra
Establishe 1945 1982 1997 1948 1947 1948 1954
d
Managing Mr Karl J K AyuKava Hiroshi Vinod K Annad G Siddhart Uttam
Director Slym Nakagawa Dasari Mahindra ha Lal Bose
22 include 15 9 5 12 4 4
Products
all
CV (Buses PV (all PV (all CV CV (Buses Volvo CV (Buses
truck etc), segments) segments) (Buses truck etc), truck, truck etc),
Product
PV (all truck PV (all Buses, PV (all
Types
segments) etc), segments) cargo & segments)
and two and two 2 and two
66
Organization
Tata Maruti Toyota Ashok Mahindra Eisher Hindustan
Attribute
Motors Suzuiki Kirloskar Leyland and Truck Motors
Mahindra
wheelers wheelers wheeler wheelers
No of 62000+ 35000+ 5000+ 12000+ 18000+ 8000+ 12000+
Employee
615000 1.5 Million 150,000 1.5 3940855 (CV) - PV(26298
(CV) million 3,95,180 39)
606,963; units Eicher CV
Production
(PV) Trucks (460283)
Capacity
and
Buses -
48262
spread Gurgaon, Suburb of Chennai, kandivali, Pithampu Pithampur
across NCR Bangalore, Hosur, nasik, ra Indore Kadambat
Jamshedpur, Karnataka Prague igatputi, hur
Pune State (Czech nagpur, Hooghly
Lucknow, Republic jahherabd,
Location
Pantnagar, ) and Ras jaipur,
Sanand Al rudrapur,
and Khaimah haridwar,
Dharwad (UAE). chaken and
mohali
CV 1171434 1,36,150 60,000 398357 CV 1,00,000 PV(26298
593,897; PV units vehicles and 70988 motorcyc 39)
Total 598,082= and three le CV
Units Sold 11,91,968 about wheelers, (460283)
7,000 245700 PV
engines
Jaguar Suzuki Toyota Nissan acquisition Volvo GM,
Land Rover, Motor (Major (Renault of the group, Mitsubishi
Foreign
acquired in Corporation share) Nissan Ssangyong
Collaborat
2008 Japan Group) Motor,
ors
Korea and
Reva
ISO 9001, ISO 9001, ISO 9001, ISO ISO 27001, ISO ISO 9001,
ISO 14001, ISO 14001, ISO 14001, 9001, ISO 9001, 9001, ISO
OSHA OSHA OSHA ISO ISO 14001, ISO 14001,
18001, ISO 18001, ISO 18001, ISO 14001, OSHA 14001, OSHA
TS16949:20 TS16949:20 TS16949:20 OSHA 18001, OSHA 18001,
Certificate 02, ISO/IEC 02, ISO/IEC 02, ISO/IEC 18001, 18001 ISO
1705 1705 1705 ISO
TS16949
:2002,
ISO/IEC
1705
Dealer 6600+ 8000+ 225+ 1000+ 2500+ 200+ 400+
Network
1,89,629 444,003 Cr. $226,106 US $ 2.3 US $ 15.4 1173 Cr 880 Cr
Gross
Cr.( US $ (Overall) billion billion
Turnover
34.7 billion
67
3.5.4.1.1 Demographic
Following is diagram of demographic profile considered in this research (Figure 3.4,
3.5, 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8).The respondents have been categorized on the basis of designation,
number of years of experience, qualifications, and functional area of work. Most of the
respondents have work experience in the range 4 to 20 years, hold technical, masters and
PhDs qualification, and work in the various areas of supply chain for ex. materials, marketing
and operation.
A summary of responses received on the questionnaire is presented in Figure 3.4. 30
% valid respondents were from Tata Motors, Pune and 28% were from Maruti Suzuki,
Gurgaon. These two are major automotive industries in India and shows greater interest on
this research.
Further analysis is done on designation of respondents (Figure 3.5) and it is visible that good
participation at AVP and AGM level viz. 17% and 21%.
68
Figure 3.5: Demographic–Designation of Respondents
69
Equal importance is also given to Qualification and shown in Figure 3.7.
Professional are selected from diversified supply chain areas and shown in Figure 3.8.
70
Figure 3.9 and 3.10 shows the automotive industries current need and maturity
respectively for secure supply chain. This shows that more than 50% population believes that
there is a need for secure supply chain where current preparedness is very low. This justifies
the need of this research work and help automotive industries to improve their current
maturity level.
Figure 3.10 shows the automotive industries maturity level based on RSSC perspective. It is
visible that experienced industry practitioners accepting this fact of low level RSSC maturity
in Indian automotive.
71
3.6 Data Analysis
Once collect the data from the different respondents, data has been summarized and
prepared in excel sheet. To analyze it in various form this data has been grouped in different
forms.
3.6.3 Reliability
In order to develop valid and reliable measure, the data so collected need to be tested
for its reliability. Reliability is a consistency among the scales in their measurement for a
latent construct (Shin et al., 2000). Reliability is assessed after completion of data collection,
by using any of the following four methods: Test-retest method, alternative forms method,
split halves method and internal consistency method (Forza, 2002). Reliability comprises
dependability, stability, predictability, accuracy and consistency (Forza, 2002), and refers to
72
the extent to which a measuring procedure yields the same results on repeated measurement
(Carmines and Zeller, 1979; Kerlinger, 1986). It is inversely related to the degree to which a
measure is contaminated by random error (Bollen, 1989; Carmines and Zeller, 1979). By
using the split halves method, the items of a measure are subdivided into two subsets and the
answers obtained are statistically correlated. This method assesses the equivalence of
different sets of items measuring the same construct. The internal consistency method
assesses the equivalence, homogeneity and inter-correlation of the items used in a measure.
The most popular test of internal consistency is Cronbach coefficient alpha (Cronbach, 1951).
Coefficient alpha is defined as the proportion of the total variance of a scale that is
attributable to a common source (Kerlinger, 1986). In the present research, reliability
assessed through internal consistency method using Cronbach coefficient alpha. The results
of the reliability tests are shown in Chapters 4.
73
EFA to be used for establishing that a group of empirical indicators are unidimensional with
regard to a predefined latent variable (Schwab, 1980).
In Exploratory Factor Analysis three things are very important: a) sample size; b)
method of factoring; and c) rotation method. These are briefly discussed as follows:
a) Sample size: An important element affecting the stability of factor analytic results is
sample size, the larger the sample the more stable the results obtained from EFA
(Pedhazur and Schmelkin, 1991) and having too small a sample may require that
latent variables be analyzed separately (Dixon, 1992). In general, EFA should not be
conducted on samples with fewer than 50 observations while samples of 100 or more
are preferable (Hair et al., 2010).
Further, the sample needs to be tested for sample adequacy for factor analysis (Kim and
Mueller, 1978). Sampling adequacy predicts if data are likely to factor well, based on
correlation and partial correlation. It is measured by Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) statistics
(Hutcheson and Sofroniou, 1999). KMO varies from 0 to 1.0 and overall KMO should be
0.60 or higher to proceed with factor analysis. If it is not, drop the indicator variables with the
lowest individual KMO statistic values, until overall KMO value rises above 0.60 (Kim and
Mueller, 1978). KMO statistics of the data was calculated using SPSS 10.0; the detailed
results are discussed in Chapter 4, and 7.
b) Method of factoring: Exploratory factor analysis offers a choice of different methods
for factoring i) Principal Component Factoring ii) Principal Component Analysis iii) Image
factoring iv) Maximum Likelihood Factoring v) Alpha Factoring vi) Unweighted Least
Squares Factoring and vii) Generalized Least Squares Factoring.
In the present case, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is taken for factoring as it is
generally used when the research aims at data reduction (to reduce the information in many
measured variables into a smaller set of components). Further, PCA is most preferred by
many researchers (Parasuraman et al., 1988; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Babakus and
Mangold, 1992).
PCA seeks a linear combination of variables such that the maximum variance is
extracted from the variables. It then removes this variance and seeks a second linear
combination which explains the maximum proportion of the remaining variance, and so on.
This is called the principal axis method and results in orthogonal (uncorrelated) factors
(http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/factor.htm). In the present case the factors are
extracted using PCA with Kaiser Criterion (to drop all components with Eigen values under
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1.0) through SPSS 10.0. For the new subjects and unexplored areas, researchers (Hair et al.,
2010; Kim and Mueller, 1978) have recommended this criterion for extraction of factors.
b) Method of Rotation: In order to have clear interpretation of factor structure
researchers (Hair et al., 2010; Kim and Mueller, 1978) have recommended rotation.
Rotation serves to make the output more understandable and is usually necessary to
facilitate the interpretation of factors. The sum of eigenvalues is not affected by
rotation, but rotation will alter the eigenvalues of particular factors and will change
the factor loadings (http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/factor.htm). In the
present case varimax rotation is adopted after PCA. Varimax rotation is the most
common and preferred (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Saleh and Ryan, 1991) rotation
option. Varimax rotation is an orthogonal rotation of the factor axes to maximize the
variance of the squared loadings of a factor (column) on all the variables (rows) in a
factor matrix, which has the effect of differentiating the original variables by
extracted factor. That is, it minimizes the number of variables which have high
loadings on any one given factor
(http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/factor.htm).
c) Also, an indicator is considered as significant, if it has the factor loadings more than
0.4 (Hair et al., 2010; Zhu et al., 2002). In the present case, the varimax rotation
analysis was performed after the Principal Components Analysis using Kaiser Criteria
procedure i.e. all factors with Eigen values less than one are considered insignificant
and are therefore disregarded (Schwab, 1980; Hair et al., 2010).
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variables) a priori. In the present research, CFA was performed through structural equation
modeling (SEM) using SPSS 16 software.
Content Validity
In order to achieve content validity, it is necessary to demonstrate that the empirical
indicators are logically and theoretically related to the construct (Carmines and Zeller 1979;
Kerlinger 1986; Nunnally, 1978; Pedhazur and Schmelkin, 1991).
It is determined through subjective analysis (Kaplan and Sacuzzo, 1993), meaning
thereby that a survey would have content validity if researchers and participants agreed that
the items in the survey adequately covered the domain of the research. In the present
research, content validity was assessed through discussions with scholars, practitioners, and
insights derived from the literature.
Construct Validity
Construct validity is the extent to which an observation measures the concept it is
intended to measure (Schwab, 1980) and comprises unidimensionality, reliability, convergent
and discriminant validity (O’Leary-Kelley and Vokurka, 1998).
Unidimensionality implies establishing that a set of empirical indicators relates to one and
only one construct or trait (Gerbing and Anderson, 1988), and this is a matter of empirical
necessity (Bagozzi and Phillips, 1982). EFA and CFA are common methods for assessing
unidimensionality (Pedhazur and Schmelkin, 1991). In the present research, CFA was used to
assess unidimensionality by examining the closeness by which the individual items in the
model represent the same construct (Ahire et al., 1996). A comparative fit index (CFI) of
0.90 or above for a model represents strong evidence of unidimensionality (Byrne, 1994).
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Convergent and Discriminant Validity
Convergent validity relates to the degree to which multiple methods of measuring
available provide the same results. Discriminant validity is the degree to which measures of
different latent variables are unique. Two commonly used methods for assessing convergent
and discriminant validity are Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix Method, and the CFA (O’Leary-
Kelley and Vokurka, 1998).
Convergent validity can be established using Normed Fit Index (Bentler and Bonett,
1980). A value of 0.90 or above reflects evidence for strong convergent validity. Since CFA
is a superior approach1, we used it to assess convergent and discriminant validity (Bagozzi et
al., 1991; Farh et al., 1984; Pedhazur and Schmelkin, 1991; Schmitt and Stults, 1986) in the
present research.
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(5), Sr. experts from industry (5), and target respondents (10). The role of colleagues is to
oversee whether the questionnaire accomplishes the study objectives (Dillmann, 1978). The
role of industry experts is to highlight the issues in practice that the researcher may have
missed. The role of target respondents is to provide feedback on the understandability of the
contents of the questionnaire. The responses so received from various respondents were
analyzed and item reliability tests were performed. The reliability scores were found to be
more then 0.8 and within the acceptable limit recommended by Hair et al., 2010 and He,
2013.
3.7.1 Survey 2 Administration
In this step same survey 1 methodology (described in previous section) is leveraged
and used for survey 2 study. Automotive industries and profile of the organization is same as
provided previous section. In survey 2 studies, Initially 49 senior professional and
practitioners were approached to collect data for 7 automotive industries. These respondents
were selected specifically from the top management labels/ retired persons having served in
different auto companies for more than 20 years. In order to get the unbiased opinion
majority of the persons were recently retired senior professional who has worked more than 3
organizations. 33 Responses received from the respondents after mild reminder cum follow
ups. After initial validation, 31questionnaires were found valid for the analysis since two
questionnaires was found incomplete. Response rate of 65% is achieved. Seven key
automotive industries (same as selected in study 1) are considered for this study which is
explained in another section of this Chapter.
Diagram of demographic profile for study is shown in Figure 3.11(respondent designation)
and Figure 3.12 (respondent’s experience).
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the previous variant of the AHP and now it is called the Ideal Mode AHP. However, the AHP
(in the original or in the ideal mode) is the most widely accepted method and is considered by
many as the most reliable MCDM method (Dyer and Wendell 1985). Saaty (1980 and 1994)
provided some axioms and guidelines on how close a near copy can be to an original
alternative without causing a rank reversal. Satty, 1994, suggested that the decision maker has
to eliminate alternatives from consideration that scores within 10 percent of another
alternative. The process involves structuring a problem from a primary objective to secondary
levels of criteria and alternatives. Once the hierarchy has been established, a pair wise
comparison matrix of each element within each level is constructed. The AHP also allows
group decision making, where group members can use their experience, values and
knowledge to break down a problem into a hierarchy and solve it by the AHP steps (Fuller
and Carlsson, 1996). Participants can weigh each element against each other element within
each level, each level is related to the levels above and below it, and the entire scheme is tied
together mathematically. For evaluating the numerous criteria, AHP has become one of the
most widely used methods for the practical solution of multi-criteria decision making
problems (Liu et al., 1999; Chan et al., 2000). The analyses and findings are discussed in
Chapter 5.
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the supply chain risk and security performance and highlighted the importance in current
supply chain environment.
The method supports the identification and order of the complex relations between the
elements of a system so that the influence can be analyzed between the elements. The
modeling converts the object system into a well-defined and representative system consisting
of directed graphs (digraph). An interpretation of the object system as regards content is also
carried out besides the structural one, i.e. the digraphs are completed with context
(information). The object system mapped as digraphs becomes the “basic structural model”.
The expansion with content finally leads to an “interpretive structural model”. In this research
this method is finding suitable to analyze the robust performance secure supply chain. This
modeling is done based on the specific data collection in second stage. The details of data
collection, along with the justification of ISM and analysis of data have been detailed in
Chapter 6.
3.10 Summary
This Chapter delineates the methodology in terms of the research design, sampling
design, questionnaire design, methods of data collection and the analysis of data. The
research design explains the conceptual framework within which the research study has been
conducted. The pre testing of the questionnaire, its validity and reliability and the techniques
used for analysis of the final data are outlined. The Chapter describes the methodology of the
pilot and the main study and also highlights the method and techniques used for the analysis
of data.
The research methodology adopted is based on a combination of literature review,
exploratory interviews and questionnaire based survey. The expert interviews provided
valuable insights, which helped supplement the literature and understand more fully the
problem under investigation. Scales have been designed to measure robust performance for
secure supply chain at the supplier, manufacturing and distribution in automotive supply
chain. Data has been collected from seven automotive organizations through convenience
sampling. A five-point Likert-type scale anchored from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly
agree) has been used for the measurement of both expectations and perceptions of secure
supply chain from robust performance perspective. This research followed the steps of survey
research based on the proven research guidelines. Proper justifications are documented for
selecting survey method, sampling method and sample size. Further, justifications and details
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of various analysis procedures (reliability, Bartlett test, KMO, exploratory factor analysis,
and confirmatory factor analysis) are given along with sequential process of validation
comprising of validity tests. Modeling approaches like factor analysis, Interpretive Structural
Modeling (ISM), and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) are described to model and
analyze the secure supply chain framework.
The next Chapter presents the details of analysis for the assessment of dimensions for
RSSC.
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