Total JIT (T-JIT) and its impact on supply chain competency and organizational performance

Total JIT (T-JIT) is defined as an integrated supply chain strategy incorporating previously defined elements of JIT-production, JIT-purchasing, JIT-selling, with the addition of an important new element, JIT-information. It would be interesting and informative to discover the extended concept's effect on supply chain competency and organizational performance. Here we examine the impact of a T-JIT strategy within a supply chain context, and analyze a model incorporating T-JIT as the focal construct with supply chain management strategy (SCMS) as an antecedent and supply chain competency (SCC) and organizational performance as consequences. Data from manufacturing managers were collected and the model assessed using a structural equation modeling methodology. Study results indicate significant, positive relationships between a supply chain management strategy and T-JIT, T-JIT and supply chain competency, and supply chain competency and organizational performance. The hypothesized relationship between T-JIT and organizational performance was not supported; however. This research is among the first to examine the impact of a T-JIT strategy within a supply chain context. The results of this study support T-JIT as a viable supply chain strategy that influences overall supply chain competency, contributing to organizational performance. In addition the definition of total system JIT and a scale for its measure is developed. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.