Supply chain issues in Indian manufacturing SMEs: insights from six case studies

The purpose of this paper is to report insights on supply chain issues in small‐ and medium‐scale enterprises (SMEs) based on an analysis of six case organizations.

A broad range of qualitative and quantitative data was collected during interviews and field visits in a multi‐case study research design. In total, six manufacturing SME units were investigated and analyzed.

The deliverables of the paper are two‐fold. First, the paper documents six cases uncovering supply chain and operations complexities in manufacturing SMEs. Second, based on the critical analysis of the case organizations, insights developed are reported with a set of recommendations.

The field of supply chain management (SCM) is reaching a new stage. After a period dominated by enthusiasm for the newness of the idea of managing the stream of products across the whole chain, from supply through manufacturing to end‐users, it is now realized that “one size does not fit all”. SCM has been considered an effective strategy for integrating suppliers and customers with the objective of improving responsiveness and flexibility of manufacturing organizations. It seems that the supply chain issues are much explored in the context of large enterprises but less attention is paid to SMEs.

This paper draws an attention towards select supply chain issues in Indian manufacturing SMEs. The paper includes six cases highlighting their supply chain issues in the Indian environment. Subsequently, an analysis is reported to acquaint industry practitioners and contemporary researchers with the issues that influence managing supply chain in SME sectors. It maps SCM orientation of case organizations and summarizes the critical supply chain issues in Indian manufacturing SMEs.