This study analyzes the influence of supply chain integration dimensions (internal integration and external integration) on the product innovation capability (market knowledge and product development) and operational performance of manufacturing firms, considering product innovation capability as a mediator. A purposive sampling method was used, and data were collected through a survey completed by 129 medium and large manufacturers in Pakistan and analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique. The results show internal and customer integrations are not directly related to operational performance. Furthermore, supplier integration was positively related to both product innovation capability and operational performance. Likewise, the link between product innovation capability and operational performance is positive. The study uniquely evaluates that product innovation capability positively mediates the impacts of internal and external integration on operational performance. The outcomes of this study will help managers of manufacturing firms boost their firms’ product innovation capability and operational performance by focusing on supply chain integration. Moreover, to achieve sustainability in the supply chain, practitioners are provided with directions on operationalizing supply chain integration. The study uniquely identifies the mediation effects of product innovation capability (market knowledge and product development) between internal and external integration and operational performance.

In today’s hyper-competitive manufacturing world, the rapidly changing landscape has put new demands on organizations, and they need to reinvent themselves by injecting new strategies in order to stay ahead of the competition. Therefore, to achieve world-class performance and competitiveness in the global environment and competition, there is immense pressure on manufacturing organizations with limited resources to invariably pursue main drivers to enable them to improve process innovation. In this backdrop, this questionnaire-based study investigates the impact of various enabling practices on process innovation of manufacturing organizations. The questionnaire package included scales of lean manufacturing (LM), organizational culture (OC), human resource management (HRM), total quality management (TQM), supply chain management (SCM) and process innovation (PI). The data were collected through convenient sampling technique from presidents, CEO’s, directors, managers and senior supervisors of different functional areas of large-scale organizations. The theoretical model was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) through AMOS^®. The key findings revealed positive and significant relationships of LM, HRM and OC as drivers with TQM and SCM. The results also demonstrated affirmative and significant associations of TQM and SCM with PI. Similarly, the outcomes indicated that TQM and SCM, as carriers, partially mediate the relationships of LM, HRM and OC with PI. Overall, the findings elucidate the imperativeness for manufacturing organizations to reinforce their mediators (TQM and SCM practices) while effectively implementing LM, HRM and OC practices as drivers of PI. The study has important implications for the organizations seeking to determine the relative importance of various practices as an effective source of process innovation.

For achieving world-class performance and competitiveness in today’s global highly complex environment and competition, there is an immense pressure on manufacturing organizations having limited resources to pursue operational excellence in terms of productivity and quality, reduce cost, and provide high-quality products in shorter lead times. Identification of representative practices affecting operational performance (OP) and understanding of mutual dependence among those practices will improve the performance of manufacturing organizations with available resources. A sample of 10 experts of academicians and senior company managers from different functional areas of large-scale textile, sugar, and cement industries were surveyed to identify critical practices influencing OP and then to develop the relationships among them. It also identifies those practices that support other practices (driving practices) and also those that are most influenced by other practices (dependent practices). Firstly, through in-depth review of relevant literature, 10 most influencing practices were identified. Then expert elicitation was employed, and a hierarchical structure was established by using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique. After determining driving and dependence power of practices, classification or clusters of these practices were made through an additionally carried out MICMAC (cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification) analysis. The results contribute that lean management, organizational culture, ISO 9001 (quality management system), and human resource management practices indicate strong driving power and are at the bottom of ISM model. This is a novel and useful application of ISM to identify inherent interactions among these practices and construct a structural graph. With the help of this strategic understanding, researchers and practitioners will be able to identify the focal areas and to pay more attention to driver practices to effectively incorporate them at their strategic and operational levels and the effectiveness in addressing these driver practices will influence the OP to a large extent.

Organisations cannot put their efforts equally into all the best practices that impact operational performance, due to their limited resources, their ineffective usage, government policies, and inadequate strategic planning. In this contribution, we aim to identify and prioritise the practices with the most impact on operational performance. Twelve practices that steer operational performance were identified through a literature survey. Second, the identified practices were prioritised and evaluated, based on improving operational performance by using a hybrid approach. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method were used such that AHP was applied to determine the relative weights of alternatives, and then the final ranking was obtained by conducting a TOPSIS analysis. Empirical data were collected from eight experts and 417 users at operational-level. The results suggest that lean management, total quality management, six sigma, and supply chain management practices rank 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively, signifying the practices with the most influence and making the greatest contribution. This strategic understanding will help researchers and practitioners to frame competitive strategies in order to pay more attention to those practices that have a greater influence on operational performance.