Developing a Configuration for Classifying Supply Chains Based on RBV in Automotive Industry

In recent years, there has been a great concern about strategic supply chain management. The supply chain configuration approach is related to strategic management of material and information flows. Most of suggested configurations in the part of strategic direction are based on environmental factors and structure-conduct-performance approach. Exploring supply chain configuration with emphasis on supply chain resources and capabilities could be appropriate complement for past configurations. In this paper, with using a qualitative research method and automotive industry experts views attempt to suggest a new configuration for classifying supply chains based on supply chain resources and capabilities. In this research, we use expert's views in three Iranian automotive companies. We then specify three types of supply chains based on supply chain capabilities and environmental factors: Lean supply chains, customer-focused supply chains and innovative supply chains.