FROM COMMUNICATION TO PERFORMANCE: UNDERSTANDING THE PATHWAYS OF TECHNOLOGY ANTICIPATION IN SUPPLY CHAIN EXCELLENCE

Abstract

The complexity of supply chains is impacted by a number of factors. In an attempt to address some of these factors, businesses have begun to incorporate modern technology, integrated communication, and digital automation on a large scale. This study analyzes the relationships of Communication Level (CL), Use of Technology Level (UTL), and Anticipation of New Technologies (ANT), and their overall effect on Supply Chain Performance (SCP). Pakistan is home to a number of industries that are digitizing and modernizing quickly, and the textile industry is no exception. The relationships of the variables of interest have not been addressed to the extent that is needed, and this study speaks to that gap.

In reference to the Resource-Based View (RBV), the study posits that sustainable advantage lies in the ability to proactively identify, and in turn capitalize on, technological developments. In the Pakistani textile industry, 370 professionals’ responses were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

In the relationship of new technology anticipation and supply chain performance, Anticipation of New Technologies is the only mediator. Respondents’ results deemed it imperative to shift a firm’s overall strategy from a predominantly reactive to a predominantly proactive approach in order to achieve excellence in SC dynamic technological anticipation.