By far the biggest proportion of supply chain theory is bound up within North American and European business settings; hence, its generalizability to culturally diverse global supply chains are investigated. This exploratory research utilizes the anthropological approach of observing supply chain manager behaviour in five distinct natural settings (Egypt, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom). Hofstede’s well-known measures of work-related culture are used to explain the observed manager behaviours. The supply chain theory needs to be tailored to take account of culturally diverse settings, as the optimal local supply chain architecture requires consideration of national, organizational, and individual cultural norms. Similarly, change roadmap and management should also be matched to the local cultural environment. A limited number of national settings and cases in each setting is investigated. Hence, a significant scope exists for further exploratory research into the implications of cultural diversity for global supply chain management. The behaviour of supply chain managers in a range of national settings appears to be closely correlated with the national culture value set. Such cultural drivers of manager behaviour offer pointers to the successful design and implementation of high performing international supply chains.

PurposeQuick scan audit methodology (QSAM) has been adapted to include some change management practices. This paper seeks to relate how the company's dissemination feedback presentation sessions and implementation team‐work added value to the established QSAM by: offering a new method of demonstrating a “listening ear” to employees, providing enhanced verification of the QS results, increasing “buy in” and offering the possibility of a deeper knowledge transfer and increased audit accuracy.Design/methodology/approachThis action research project is oriented around diagnosis and improvement of Company A's production‐planning process using an adapted QSAM procedure, and a qualitative investigation into the effect of increasing employee participation in QSAM with a view to increasing its potential as a change management tool. The primary research was largely conducted through semi‐structured interviews designed according to role. An important change management dimension of the primary research was to clearly explain the purpose of the audit at the beginning of each interview. A total of 16 interviews were conducted. The data collected were analysed using standard techniques including: process mapping, Ishikawa cause and effect diagrams, why‐why‐why and Pareto analysis. The accuracy of the company's existing forecasting was measured using mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The uncertainty circle diagram was used to provide a higher level of analysis, categorising the causes of uncertainty into: supply side, process side, demand side and control side. Once the findings had been presented to the business champion and senior managers, the main findings and suggested solutions were presented throughout the company in a series of six presentations to 40 people over a period of ten days.FindingsA human‐centred QS was successfully applied to Company A with limited resources. With the application of mathematical forecasting models, the forecasting error (MAPE) was reduced from an average of 22 to 18 per cent. Completion of production schedules was increased from 96 to 98 per cent, while packaging efficiency increased from 94 to 96 per cent. Most importantly, the company have established a “road‐map” to achieve a better and more flexible supply chain. The QSAM is a robust auditing tool, but it does not take account of potential resistance to change. Company A have adapted the QSAM to include some basic change management practices, effectively extending its feedback stages through wider dissemination, in order to build consensus and to improve the response to change.Research limitations/implicationsOn the basis of a single case study conducted in a UK food‐manufacturing company, “change management” appears to be compatible with supply chain audit, where this is conducted as a means of driving improvement. The effectiveness of the project is judged via “hard” rather than “soft” measures of supply chain performance. Further external verification would be necessary to generalise from this research, and future research directions are indicated in the paper.Practical implicationsSupply chain improvement projects involving supply chain audit can be enhanced through the integration of change management practices.Originality/valueThe originality of the research stems from the integration of change management practices into the established QSAM.

The extant meanings of “lean” and “agile” are explored through secondary research. The four material flow principles and uncertainty circle diagram are employed to analyse essential features of agile supply chains along with a brief discussion of industrial practice. Mastery of “lean” practices seems to be a precursor to “agility”, but further research into the electronics industry is recommended as a means to expand the agile practice toolkit.

Three improvement programmes; Lean, Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) and Managing by Projects (MBP) are disaggregated into: vision, principles, toolbox and learning organisation, and benchmarked against the TPS. MBP is found to bear the closest resemblance to the TPS, by virtue of its systems orientation and learning organisation.

Analogies can be a powerful way of understanding and improving industrial performance. This paper exploits the similarities between Formula 1 competition and racing car design and supply chain competition and supply chain design, as a way of understanding and managing change. Just as the performance characteristics of a racing car must be aligned to the requirements of the track, so the performance of a supply chain must be aligned to the requirements of its market(s) and product(s). We present a framework for graduated re-alignment of the supply chain; extending through agility, adaptability and transformation. The possibilities for aligning and re-aligning supply chains are reviewed in terms of seven operational dimensions. The approach is illustrated using examples drawn from the Mechanical Precision, Paper Distribution and Chemical market sectors. The extent to which a supply chain is agile and adaptable, together with the recognition of the need for periodic transformation is an important conclusion for supply chain designers.

We present a methodology to dynamically design supply chain networks taking into account both inventory and capacity (bullwhip) related costs. We assume i.i.d. demand and the “order-up-to” policy is used to place replenishment orders with a lead-time of one period. Our methodology is complete, analytical and exact. We illustrate its application via a “toy” numerical example that seems to suggest that a “square root law for bullwhip costs” exists. We provide a sketch of a proof that shows this is indeed the case.

“Bullwhip” describes the general tendency for small changes in end‐customer demand to be amplified within a production‐distribution system. A 10 per cent increase in sales to end‐customers can precipitate a 40 per cent upswing in production and subsequent downswing (as excess stocks are depleted) within a three‐echelon supply chain. It is shown how proven material flow control principles significantly reduce bullwhip in a global supply chain. The evidence demonstrates that a methodology, which has evolved over several decades, provides a suitable framework for effective change. Bullwhip is not a new problem; it is a new name coined to describe a very well‐known problem. Some observed barriers to change are briefly reviewed.

Drawing on results from supply chain modelling and dynamic simulation, presents four material flow principles which can be employed to reduce the bullwhip effect. A case study from the precision mechanical engineering sector is employed to illustrate the effect of rapid response manufacturing and supply chain integration. Analysis of six years of time‐series data indicates bullwhip reduction of up to 58 per cent. These results serve to validate the four material flow principles of selecting appropriate control systems, time‐compression, information transparency, and echelon elimination. They also raise interesting questions concerning the relationship between manufacturing agility and lean supply. For, by attenuating bullwhip the studied company was able to reduce their global inventory by 45 per cent. Thus, by viewing manufacturing in the context of the supply chain as a whole, it is possible to see how agile manufacturing can eliminate sources of variability induced waste; particularly inventory. In this way it is argued that agile manufacturing can subsume the paradigm of lean production.