The interactive effect of task business environment and supply chain relationship on manufacturing plant's operational sustainability: synergies or antagonies?

Abstract

The recent global “Great Recession” showed that many manufacturing plants that appeared to be operationally sustainable were not able to withstand the forces in their task environments and supply chains. In this study, we invoke the complex adaptive system (CAS) theory to assess the interactive effects of these two constructs on operational sustainability. We show that empirical data from 522 plants across 9 countries and 21 industries validates both the positive and negative synergistic or antagonistic interactions among the features of task business environment (dynamisms, munificence and complexity) and supply chain relationship (information exchange, supplier and customer leveraging and ..