Supply Chain Management Practices and Retail Performance: Consumer-related Economic Benefits of Retail Businesses

Project Title

Supply Chain Management Practices and Retail Performance: Consumer-related Economic Benefits of Retail Businesses

Project Area of Specialization Computer ScienceProject Summary

We are investigating the association between supply chain management practices, supply chain performance and firm performance in retail firms along with the economic benefits of retail firms as perceived by consumers. This is a research project which collects data in two phases. The first phase looks at quantitative data collected from supply chain managers in retail firms whereas the second phase looks at both quantitative and qualitative data, collected from consumers of retail firms. 

Data collected from both phases is analyzed using SPSS v22. For phase 1, regression analysis is done for hypothesis testing along with mediation regression analysis. In phase 2, frequencies and descriptive statistics are retrieved using the SPSS software. Hypotheses for phase 1 are shown in the table below. 

Information Sharing	H1a	There isn’t a significant association between IS and firm performance
	H1b	There isn’t a significant association between IS and supply chain performance
	H1c	Supply chain performance does not have a mediating effect between IS and firm performance
Supplier Relationship Management	H2a	There isn’t a significant association between SRM and firm performance
	H2b	There isn’t a significant association between SRM and supply chain performance
	H2c	Supply chain performance does not have a mediating effect between SRM and firm performance
Customer Relationship Management	H3a	There isn’t a significant association between CRM and firm performance
	H3b	There isn’t a significant association between CRM and supply chain performance
	H3c	Supply chain performance does not have a mediating effect between CRM and firm performance
Information Sharing	H4a	There isn’t a significant association between IQ and firm performance
	H4b	There isn’t a significant association between IQ and supply chain performance
	H4c	Supply chain performance does not have a mediating effect between IQ and firm performance
Goal Congruence	H5a	There isn’t a significant association between goal congruence and firm performance
	H5b	There isn’t a significant association between goal congruence and supply chain performance
	H5c	Supply chain performance does not have a mediating effect between goal congruence and firm performance
	H6	There isn’t a significant association between supply chain performance and firm performance

Information Sharing

H1b

H1c

Supplier Relationship Management

H2b

H2c

Customer Relationship Management

H3b

H3c

Information Sharing

H4b

H4c

Goal Congruence

H5b

H5c

Project Objectives

• To identify various SCM practices implemented in the retail industry
• To critically investigate the effects of SCM practices on the performance of FMCGs in the retail industry
• To analyze the economic benefits of retail businesses from consumer perspectives

Project Implementation Method

This research project adopts a quantitative, descriptive and inferential research design, using survey questionnaires for data collection. The data for this project is collected in two phases using two sets of questionnaires. The first phase involves the distribution of questionnaires to supply chain managers from well-established retail chains in Pakistan. Respondents for this phase are retrieved from LinkedIn, a platform developed for interactions between professionals from various domains. The sample size for this phase is 25 managers. Data collected from phase 1 is analyzed using inferential methods such as the use of the Statistical package of Social Sciences (SPSS). Each of the constructs of the questionnaire will be tested for reliability and validity using factor loadings and Cronbach’s Alpha. The hypotheses are tested using regression analysis.

Phase 2 involving the consumer perspectives regarding economic benefits of retail businesses will also include survey questionnaires for data collection. The questionnaires will contain close-ended questions and will be distributed using both physical distribution as well as through Google forms. Analysis of phase 2 data will be done using descriptive statistics on SPSS. With a confidence level of 95% and margin of error at ±10%, the sample size for phase 2 will be at least 200 consumers.

Benefits of the Project

With the changing business dynamics in today’s competitive world, it is important for the supply chain to be proactive rather than reactive to meet the goals of an organization. This study introduces a supply chain management model that fuses process of information sharing (IS), supplier relationship management (SRM), customer relationship management (CRM), information quality (IQ) and goal congruence (GC) into a unique model that allows any molding of supply chain at a different level of details. Through this model, businesses, FMCG retails in this context, will better understand the application of SCM practices for operational improvement in the SC activities to obtain competitive advantages in the market. The significance of this study also extends to the factor of the COVID-19 pandemic that worsened the existing challenges faced by supply chain networks in retail businesses in Pakistan.

This study also helps to highlight the importance of retail business from a consumer perspective on the economy of Pakistan. The retail sector of Pakistan is among the fastest-growing markets and the third largest sector of the country with around 2 million retailers among which 0.8 million are part of the FMCG. The large market size of FMCG businesses shows its relative importance in the retail industry and this acts as a potential motivation for their consideration in this project. With this in mind, findings obtained in this study can be used to plan for and design better strategies that strengthen the operations of retail businesses which will not only enhance customer satisfaction but also relatively contribute to the economy of the country

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

In the form of our final deliverables, we will produce quantifiable results discussing the association between supply chain management practices, supply chain performance and firm performance. Together with this, benefits of retail firms for consumers will also be identified at the end of this project. 

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry OthersOther Industries Food Core Technology Cloud InfrastructureOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Responsible Consumption and ProductionRequired Resources

Elapsed time in (days or weeks or month or quarter) since start of the project	Milestone	Deliverable
Month 1	Proposal development	Final proposal
Month 2	Learning Zotero	Literature Review with citations
Month 3	Designing methodology	Questionnaire for phase 1
Month 4	Completing first 3 chapters	Mid-year presentation
Month 5	SPSS training	Running pilot study tests