الفهرس 
Ch. 1: IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Supply chains no longer have only to deal with the risks associated with
the uncertainty of demand or supply variability, but also now have to deal
with economic and environmental disruption events (Chiang et al., 2012,
Snyder, 2012). Given such developments, the cultivation of supply chain
agility has been suggested as an effective response strategy to the
dynamic changing business environment (Braunscheidel and Suresh,
2009; Swafford et al., 2006).
Research Objectives:
The main goal of this research is to investigate potential antecedents and
key drivers of supply chain agility to respond to market dynamics and
uncertainties in the business environment as well as consequences of
supply chain agility on organizational performance. This research is also
aiming to compare between the relative importance of each antecedent
competence to agility in both manufacturing and service supply chains
and how these antecedent competencies function differently within each
sector to boost responsiveness.
Research Methodology:
In line with the ontological and epistemological stance of the current
research, a Multi-phase mixed-model research methodology is
undertaken to carry out the study. The researcher utilized both the
Qualitative and Quantitative methodologies to investigate the research
problem.
The qualitative research design provides the advantage of more in depth
and comprehensive information and wide understanding of the context. In
the first phase of this research, semi-structured interviews are conducte to collect qualitative data about the variables of interest in both of the
research contexts; pharmaceutical manufacturing and healthcare service
supply chains. In order to test whether the results of the first phase of
research is generalizable to the entire sectors of both private and
multinational pharmaceutical manufacturing firms as well as private
hospitals in Cairo, A survey instrument was developed to collect
quantitative data from two representative samples of the research
populations. Utilizing previously established models in literature and
building on results of the first phase of research, the researcher generated
a unified questionnaire to extensively investigate each variable suggested
to affect supply chain agility in both sectors.
Research Results:
Results revealed that the relationship between supply chain agility and
supply chain performance is significant in both sectors investigated in
this research. Findings also show that supply chain agility significantly
mediates the relationship between strategic sourcing capability, supply
chain integration, strategic flexibility, lean practices and supply chain
performance in both the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and
healthcare service industry.
Research Conclusion:
SSC, SCI, SF, LP are found to be significant antecedents to supply chain
agility which in turn significantly affects performance. However, their
relative importance in each sector was found to be different. While
reinforcing internal and external integration is a priority when it comes to
improving pharmaceutical supply chain agility, lean practices are the
major determinants of agility in healthcare supply chains. Therefore, they
should receive the highest level of attention when trying to improve the
hospital’s ability of being responsiveness to change