IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/oabmxx/v11y2024i1p2411008.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investment ability: a catalyst for omni-channel supply chain integration

Author

Listed:
  • Alicia Neva Weber
  • Jacoba Orpha Cilliers

Abstract

Digital devices have revolutionized customer shopping behavior, giving rise to omni-channel retailing. Omni-channel retailing seamlessly integrates physical and digital channels, touchpoints, and supply chain operations. Owing to the rapidly evolving technology landscape, retailers struggle to discern the right investment approach to digitally transform their supply chains. Despite the widespread assumption that investment in supply chain integration (SCI) is vital for omni-channel retailing, empirical studies investigating the underlying mechanisms behind this process are limited. This research seeks to understand how and why investment ability catalyzes omni-channel SCI. Utilizing a two-phase abductive qualitative research design, Phase 1 involved 17 semi-structured interviews with senior managers from nine large South African omni-channel retailers. In Phase 2, content analysis of 40 integrated annual reports (IARs) from omni-channel retailers was conducted. This study identifies two crucial investment trade-off decisions that drive omni-channel SCI: financial and human resources. This demonstrates that strategically aligned investment ability fosters scalability and agility, playing a catalytic role in omni-channel SCI. The findings contribute valuable insights into omni-channel retailing and supply chain literature, providing practical guidance for managers navigating the complexities of investing in omni-channel SCI initiatives. These investment guidelines could accelerate the digital transformation and SCI processes for omni-channel retailers.

Suggested Citation

  • Alicia Neva Weber & Jacoba Orpha Cilliers, 2024. "Investment ability: a catalyst for omni-channel supply chain integration," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 2411008-241, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oabmxx:v:11:y:2024:i:1:p:2411008
    DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2411008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/23311975.2024.2411008
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/23311975.2024.2411008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:oabmxx:v:11:y:2024:i:1:p:2411008. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://cogentoa.tandfonline.com/OABM20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.