Twenty-third International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

Supply chain (SC) alignment refers to the ability to share responsibilities and roles, information, and incentives and to coordinate and synchronize activities and processes. An aligned SC is more efficient and effective, reduces costs, and improves results. However, only a limited number of studies exist that address the effects of this dynamic capability and few analyze and assess its influence on performance, which is the purpose of the present study. A systematic literature review was developed using the WOS and Scopus databases followed by a bibliometric analysis (R Bibliometrix package) and a meta-analysis (Meta-Essentials). A total of 36 empirical studies were selected and coded for the meta-analysis with over 8,000 firms in the manufacturing and service sectors included in the sample. The main preliminary results indicate, first, that there are significant and positive correlations between SC alignment and performance; second, the influence of the used moderating variables (industry, country context, type of performance) is not a determinant of the correlations, and third, due to high heterogeneity, more well-reported studies are needed to analyze this influence and develop theory on this topic. The implications of this study are useful for researchers as it offers new developments in this field by providing insights based on the empirical data reported in previous studies. Future lines of research are identified for advances to be made in the field focused on the detected gaps. For practitioners, important knowledge is obtained about the impact of the implementation of SC alignment practices on performance.