Impact of Supply chain Management Practices on Competitive Advantage and Performance of Food and Beverages Organizations in Brunei Darussalam

Supply chain management practices contributed to supply chain Performance and activities related to supply chain management that create and enhanced level of supply chain responsiveness in competitive business marketplace. The objectives of this study were to examine the impact of supply chain management practices such as strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, information sharing on competitive advantage and performance of Food and Beverages Organizations in Brunei Darussalam. Cross-sectional survey research on 182 sampled Foods and Beverages Organizations in Brunei Darussalam were selected from a populationof 300 using simple random sampling technique of probability sampling method. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Correlation and Regression Analysis) were employed to analyze the relationship and test the hypotheses of the study. The findings of the survey revealed that strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, information sharing have related to competitive advantage and performance of Food and Beverages Organizations in Brunei Darussalam. In addition, strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, information sharing have significant and positive impact on competitive advantage and performance. Strategic KASU Journal of Supply Chain Management Website: www.journal. kasu.edu. ng; Email: kajscm@kasu.edu. ng ISSN: 2734-3820 Vol.1, Issue 1: June, 2020 22 supplier’s partnership was found to be insignificant with organizational performance. The outcome of this study provides vital information on the influence and impact of Supply chain Management Practices dimensions on competitive advantage and performance of Food and Beverages Organizations. The managerial implication of this study is for Food and Beverages Organizations. In Brunei to focus on practical customer relationship and information sharing with partners to ensure organization’s competitive advantage and performance. Keyword: Supply Chain Management Practices, Strategic Supplier Partnership, Customer Relationship, Information Sharing, Competitive Advantage, Performance, Food and Beverages Organizations, BruneiDarussalam. 1.0 INTRODUCTION In this modern world, competition between businesses is widely increasing. More businesses are now focusing their attention to providing products and services that are of value than their competitors as the marketplace in which businesses operate today is commonly recognized as being complex and turbulent (Christopher, 2000). Supply chain aims to increase customer response, improve profitability and deliver value to customers (Said, 2012). This is due to the increase in customer demands for fast delivery and higher quality products or services that vigorously rising from local to global market (Christopher, 2000). Thus, to improved performance, organization needs to get the right product, with the right price at the right time. Thus, the reason in pursuing this study is to emphasize how organization focus on their supply chain in order to deliver their products or services effectively and to support the Brunei Darussalam’s national vision, Wawasan 2035, the nation has been working toward achievement of a dynamic and sustainable economy by 2035. Currently in Brunei Darussalam, there is an increase in number of entrepreneurial enterprise (SMEs) with the expansion in food and beverages (F&B) outlets and considered e-commerce technologies as a platform to enhance their performances (Chen & Holsapple, 2012). Therefore, it has become part of organization plan for technology investment to achieveoperational KASU Journal of Supply Chain Management Website: www.journal. kasu.edu. ng; Email: kajscm@kasu.edu. ng ISSN: 2734-3820 Vol.1, Issue 1: June, 2020 23 excellence (Srinivasan & Swink, 2015). Hence, it is vital to emphasize the importance of SCM practices towards achieving competitive advantages and organizational performance. Supply chain management has dual purpose. Firstly, is to improve the performance of an individual organization and the entire supply chain and Secondly, to focus on reducing organizational cost (Li & Lin, 2006). SCM concepts combined from different theories such as Strategic Management and theory of the formation of the organization such as logistics, production, inventory management, accounting management, research and development. There are various research on supply chain management practices that include upstream and downstream side of supply chain such as outsourcing, supplier partnership, information technology sharing, cycle time compression and continuous process flow, as part of supply chain management practices (Donlon, 1996). Furthermore, Tan, Kannan & Handfield, (1998) argued that quality, purchasing, and customer relationship as the supply chain management practices. While, Li, RanguNathan and Rao (2005) argued that strategic supplier partnership, information sharing, information quality, internal lean practices, customer relationship and postponement as part of supply chain management practices. Tan, Kannan & Handfield, (1998) asserted that supply chain management practices should be in form of quality purchasing, and customer relationship. The researches on supply chain management practices were more on crossfunctional teams, long-term relationship, supplier base reduction, and supplier involvement that focused on five supply chain practices (outsourcing, strategic supplier partnerships, customer relationship, information sharing, and product modularity to create supply chain responsiveness (Lee, 2004, Li, Ragu-Nathan & Rao, 2005). The key aspects of supply chain management practices were supply chain integration, information sharing, customer service management, geographic proximity, JIT capabilities and supply chain leadership (Tan, Lyman & Wisner, 2002; Min & Menzer, 2004). The effect of supply chain in the manufacturing process includes predictability, flexibility,reduce KASU Journal of Supply Chain Management Website: www.journal. kasu.edu. ng; Email: kajscm@kasu.edu. ng ISSN: 2734-3820 Vol.1, Issue 1: June, 2020 24 inventory planning whilst in operation includes performance of resources to reduce the lead-time and reduce unnecessary cost. By utilizing supply chain assets, products and information, it leads to effective supply chain management that will maximize supply chain profitability (Sunil Chopra & Peter Meindl,2007). Therefore, in this study, the main three-dimensional for SCM practices are strategic suppliers, customer relationship management, and information sharing, that can help to improve business performance (Min, Mentzer, William & Smith, 2001). There is a need to understand the effect of the SCM Practices and Performance of Food and Beverages companies in Brunei Darussalam context in view of the scanty of the studies on the Supply chain Management Practices that tested SCM Practices factors, Competitive advantage and Organizational Performance of Food and Beverages Companies. Hence, this study seeks to investigate to what extent does supply chain management practices such as strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, information sharing impact on supply chain competitive advantage and organizational performance of Food and Beverages organizations in Brunei Darussalam? The paper is organized as follows. A review of relevant literature, analyzed and synthesized the research findings of past studies to develop a conceptual framework, methodology, presentation of data analysis results, discussions of findings, provided the managerial implications of the study, limitation and conclusion. 2.0 LITERATUREREVIEW 2.1 OrganizationPerformance Organizational performance refers to how an organization succeeding in accomplishing their goals. The short-term objectives of SCM are mostly to increase productivity and manage inventory, while in the long run, the objectives are to increase market share and overall profits. Other organizational initiative, inclusive of supply chain management and other departments will all lead to enhancing organizational performance. SCM practices will not only help to achieve organizational performance, but also KASU Journal of Supply Chain Management Website: www.journal. kasu.edu. ng; Email: kajscm@kasu.edu. ng ISSN: 2734-3820 Vol.1, Issue 1: June, 2020 25 the competitive advantage of an organization in the market. Some of the factors in assisting to achieve competitive advantages are price/cost, quality, delivery dependability, time to market, and product innovation. Previous studies have measured organizational performance on both financial and non-financial criteria (Llorens, Ruiz & Molina, 2003). 2.2 CompetitiveAdvantage Competitive advantage is a condition that allows an organization to produce goods or services at a lower price or in a more desirable outcomes. These conditions allow the organization doing relatively better than their market rivals as a result of the organizations’ unique features that differentiate them from its competitors (Tracey, Vonderembse & Lim, 1999). The competitive advantages can be from price/cost, quality, delivery, product innovation, and flexibility (Tracey, Vonderembse & Lim, 1999). When an organization able to achieve competitive advantage, it suggests that the organization is able to achieve one or more of the following capabilities such as offering lower prices, higher quality, higher dependability, and shorter delivery time. With these capabilities, it helps to enhance the organizational performance (Souza & William, 2000). Also cost, quality, dependability and speed of delivery were suggested as some of the critical competitive priorities for manufacturing organization (Wheelwright, 1978; Thatte, 2007). Competitive advantage dimensions included price/cost, quality, delivery dependability, and time to market (Stalk, 1988; Vesey, 1991; Handfield & Pannesi; 1995, Kessler & Chakrabarti, 1996; Zhang, 2001). Moreover, competitive capabilities were classified into five dimensi