Abstract
Today’s ever-changing business environment is often described to be highly competitive, dynamic and complex. Customers are demanding more variability, better quality, higher reliability and faster delivery. Organizations are being faced with more uncertainties from its task environment than before. In order to respond to the uncertainties, organizations are internalizing fewer resources and capabilities, while increasing their integration with partners in the supply chain. Drawing on the resource-dependence theory, this study aims to examine the impact of environmental uncertainty on supply chain integration initiatives. Environmental uncertainty is considered in terms of three types, namely, supply uncertainty, demand or customer uncertainty, and technology uncertainty, based on its sources. Supply chain integration is comprised of internal integration, customer integration, and supplier integration. Based on the empirical study with 108 Japanese manufacturing firms, this study makes significant contributions to the knowledge base and provides theoretical and practical implications.
