Explaining the Strategic Role of Supply Chain Management Operations in Firm Performance Improvement: A Study of Iranian Food Industry

Facing a globally competitive age, firms should focus on their own key capabilities and resources to achieve competitive advantages and enhance their market position. In fact, the competitiveness of manufacturing firms is relied on development of competencies. Supply chain management (SCM) is considered as a powerful tool for driving growth and creating competitive advantages. Supply chain management is a concept that involves different perspectives and has been the subject of numerous studies in different academic fields and empirical examinations. Among other related issues, the operations involved in supply chain management play a critical role in managerial decisions and can exert significant leverage on profitability and operational success. The aim of this research is to study how supply chain management operations affect firm performance. The compiled data for this study were analyzed by structural equations modeling using PLS-Graph software. In analytical statistics of this paper, whereas different indices of supply chain management operations have been reviewed explanatory, for identifying the latent variables, EFA was applied using SPSS software. The results indicate that procurement operation has no direct positive impact on firm performance. Also, according to the findings, production and distribution operations influence firm performance directly and positively and result to improvement in firm performance.