Interplant coordination, supply chain integration, and operational performance of a plant in a manufacturing network: A mediation analysis

Purpose
The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationships at the level of plant in a manufacturing network, labelled as networked plant in the paper, between (1) inter-plant coordination and operational performance, (2) supply chain integration (SCI) and operational performance, and (3) inter-plant coordination and SCI.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper is developed based on the data obtained from the sixth version of International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI). Specifically, this paper uses a subset of the IMSS VI data set from the 606 plants that identified themselves as one of the plants in a manufacturing network.

Findings
This paper finds that external integration is significantly related to operational performance of networked plant, whereas internal integration is not. As an enabler for external integration, the influence of internal integration on operational performance of networked plant is mediated by external integration. This paper also provides evidence to the purported positive impact of internal integration on inter-plant coordination, as well as the positive impact of inter-plant coordination on external integration. It further suggests inter-plant coordination can influence operational performance of networked plant through external integration and also mediate the relationship from internal integration to performance through external integration.

Originality/value
This paper contributes to the SCI literature and extends our understanding of the impact of SCI on the operational performance by selecting networked plant as a unit of analysis. Besides, this paper distinguishes inter-plant coordination from SCI and investigates the relationship between SCI and inter-plant coordination for the first time.