Factors affecting Supply Chain Management

Abstract: Supply chain management has now become a very important factor in organizational success in todays global world. As the world has become global stage for almost all companies operating across the world, supply chains have become huge supply chain networks. These networks have different stages and phases which need to be maintained and managed efficiently in order to achieve operational excellence. There are different and numerous factors and elements which affect these stages and operations of supply chain networks. The objective of this research is to investigate about different factors that affect the supply chain network such as communication, commitment, trust, collaboration, etc. Moreover study to aims explore the relation of these few factors with overall supply chain management and would also discover its managerial implications. Key Words: Supply Chain Management Supply Chain Performance Trust Communication Commitment Buying Power Information Technology Satisfaction

Introduction
Supply chain management is a cross-functional approach that includes managing the movement of raw materials into an organization. There are different people, which are involved in supply chain process. Managing this process can increase the performance of the firms and can help the firm to form long term bonds with different suppliers. SCM has gained importance in multinational companies in recent years and it will assume significant importance in years to come. Clearly, SCM has a significant role to play in helping their organizations to achieve their objectives and prepare for the uncertainty ahead. The research focuses on the factors affecting the supply chain relation in business to business marketing. There are two types of relationships according to this article, partner like relationship and contract like relationship. A partner type relationship is beneficial for the companies to improve the supply chain performance and to avoid the uncertainties in future. Moreover supply chain performances is also affected by the country itself like massive size, inefficient information systems, poor logistics, distribution systems, lack of supply chain management expertise. Furthermore strong government control over limited resources also affects supply chain performance. This main jest of this paper deals with the relationship between immediate suppliers, suppliers suppliers or the whole of chain relationship, along with the most important factor, the country itself. Now there are different variables that affect the supply chain relation of any organization. No matter what the country is or what is the size of the country or the resources provided to the organization. Supply chain management is a process of managing the movement of raw materials into an organization. It includes different important functions of any firm including, inventory management, procurement, product delivery, etc. Globally supply chain management has gained a lot of importance as it is key element for many firms to get competitive advantage in the global market. The research signifies the importance of supply chain management in todays business, while explore and defines different factors for the managers and firms, that affect the supply chain management. Supply chain management is all about managing relations with immediate supplier, suppliers suppliers and customers. It is more important to deal with customers when it comes to business to business transaction, where the suppliers and the customer, both are individual firms. In the competitive market, there are lot of options for the firms and suppliers to shift from one

another which creates different problems regarding quality, pricing and timely delivery of the products. Effective supply chain management helps in tackling all these problems. Healthy relations of firms with its suppliers help in improved quality of products, negotiations in pricing and timely delivery of the product which avoid customers dissatisfaction. Using supply chain management as a dependent variable, different variables or factors are identified by keeping in view the tradition of normal supply chain network. For example trust is an important factor when it comes to managing relations with suppliers. Another factor would be communication that is really important factor for making supply chain management effective. The sharing of information is very important in maintaining relations with suppliers and customers. The significance of the study is two dimensional. Firstly they study would help the firm and its managers which are engaged in the transactions with other firms (suppliers and customers), while secondly it would help the supplier firms to understand the supply chain management. Findings of the study would help both, the firm and supplier, to implement all positive elements in their supply chain practice to make it effective, and to avoid all those negative factors which would weaken the supply chain relations. Managers can implement all the factors in their system to make it effective which would eventually increase organizational performance and overall efficiency of the firm, moreover would enhance the supply chain relationships. For example communication, positively affects the supply chain management. So the study aims to give direction to the business firms and suppliers to involve in effective communication where the information is available and shared of right quality. Proper information may decrease the transaction costs of both parties.

Literature Review
A detailed literature review is done by analyzing and interpreting different articles and studies on supply chain management that focuses on the following factors such as trust, commitment, communication, etc. Initially each variable would be defined generally by examining different reference articles. Moreover for each variable a hypothesis would be designed and latterly it would be tested through the analysis of present and past literature.

Trust:
Ho1: There is no positive relation between trust and supply chain management. Trust is the confidence of one partner in the other partners honesty. Trust generates relationship commitments which lead to long term relationships. When it comes to supply chain management trust is very important factors, which also helps in the proper communication of quality information. After reviewing various articles it can be said that the relation of supplier with customer in context of b2b is an analogy of marriage relation. The importance of trust in both cases is more or less the same. More would be the trust stronger would be the bonding between supplier and customer. A detailed research and analysis have done to find out the relation of trust and supply chain relation in (Collins, Are supply-chain relationships more inuenced by buyer-supplier, 2012). A comparative example of China and Australia has been explained in this article. The article concludes by showing findings and results that in Australia due to high level of trust, supply chain network was effective while in china it wasnt effective due to lack and absence of trust. This means that the relation of supplier and customer highly depends on the level of trust present between them. If there is high amount of trust between the two parties, eventually the quality of the service increases. High-trust relationships yield vital benefits for supply chain partners, including increased relationship satisfaction and enhanced firm performance (Day, 2013).So there is a significant positive relation between trust and supply chain relationships.

Commitment:
Ho2: There is no positive relation between commitment and supply chain management. Commitment can be defined as the belief of partners that their relation value the cost of struggle put in to make sure that the relation survives(Hausman, 2010). Commitment is very important factor when it comes to maintaining relations because one party has to fulfill their obligations to other party. In supply chain management commitment plays a vital role in maintaining the relations. A detailed research was conducted to find out the relation and effect of commitment in supply chain network and maintain supply chain networks.

(Collins, Are supply-chain relationships more inuenced by buyer-supplier, 2012)Focused on supply chain network of two different countries, entirely, having different culture. Australian people having more commitment in partners and intending to develop more strong relationships have high level of commitment that eventually strengthen the supply chain network. On the other hand china having low commitments with suppliers intends to have weak relationships with their suppliers and customers, which make their supply chain network ineffective. So after studying the research carried out in the referred article it can be proved that there is a significant relationship between commitment and supply chain management.

Buying power:
Ho3: There is no negative relation between buying power and supply chain management. Buying power of suppliers or organizations involved, basically deals with the level of dominance each firm/partner can create changing the level of dependency. With the availability of resources firms can change the level of dependency and can dictate the suppliers with their own terms, this is often called the resource based view and it can affect the relationship between firms and their supply chain network, which is also the

dependent variable in our research; as mentioned in(Collins, Are supply-chain relationships more inuenced by buyer-supplier, 2012) if China is dependent upon Australia for food items which are a rare commodity in China then the Australian suppliers or firms exporting can dictate their stipulations e.g. raising the prices or the transportation charges and the overall contractual agreement, hence the relationship comes at stake when the dependency level changes and the supply chain performance gets affected and proper implementation is hindered. So for a relationship to prosper both the parties need to cooperate and compromise and move together with the partnership, setting a course for effective supply chain management. (Hunt and Nevin, 1974; Lusch, 1976; Michie and Sibley, 1985)found relatively positive effects of non-coercive power on satisfaction and negative effects from coercion. It is mentioned in one of the reference article that power plays significant role in maintaining relations.(Benton, 2005) proposes that exploitation of the supply chain by the power partner may lead to dissension and under performance and makes the supply chain relation weak.

Furthermore the supply chain management process requires cooperation and collaboration at each and every stage of action. Hence the relation of supply chain management and buying power is negative. More the buying power, weaker would be the relation of supplier and customer.

Information Technology:
Ho4: there is no positive effect of IT enabled technology on supply chain management. The articles (Zhang, 2009)goes on the notion to prove that IT enabled technology has a positive effect on the supply chain network and would help to improve the internal coordination and communication within the firm and most importantly external communication with the supply network, integrating the whole supply chain to make operations management a lot easier for the business using IT enabled technology; this would not only help the business itself but all the suppliers linked to it. The article relates that with the advent of globalization and outsourcing techniques, IT enabled systems are a must have solution and needs to be adopted by all means, it further relates that in B2B transactions daily operation tasks like purchasing, production, shipment and payment needs to be recorded in a proper manner, schedules have to be made to prioritize ways to increase production efficiency and productivity and IT is a major solution for it. Firms that engage in inter-organizational collaboration incorporate a wide range of IT into their business processes and operations in order to conduct business with consumers and suppliers electronically (Teo et al., 2006). The article further elaborates two theoretical based theories which are resource based theory and institutional theory. Resource based theory basically defines the specific resources of the firm, its strength as far as resources are concerned, i.e. to implement IT enabled value creation. On the other hand institutional theory explains the firms adoption behavior agains t external forces and how it coupes up with them, i.e. IT enabled technology can be an adaptive behavior against external forces. The article concludes with the fact that adopting internal and external IT enabled systems would surely add value to the business and would allow the firm to have a competitive advantage in this globalized era; though IT system adaption could bring challenges like it has to be operated by all the partners in the supply chain network and every supplier has to communicate and coordinate accordingly and needs to train their employees

regarding this electronic use. So the article with its hypothesis and research framework proves that there is a positive impact of IT enabled technology on supplier networks, and could be a major breakthrough.

Cooperation:
Ho5: There is no positive relation of cooperation to the performance of the supply chain management Supply chain involves a number of operational activities ranging from logistics, inventory, purchasing and procurement, production planning, from inter and intra organizational relationships and performance measures. The article explains that with all these activities a supply chain network can be termed as a complex structure and i.e. it is necessary to overlay a coordination system which as pointed out in the article, should include definition of processes, responsibilities and structures aligned with the objectives of the supply chain network to come up with a complete solution in a manner which is productive and efficient, ultimately fulfilling the objectives of the company itself. The supply chain members as illustrated in the article cannot compete or rely on their own, they need to coordinate and collaborate with the suppliers in the whole chain and come up with a productive answer that fulfils the requirements of all involved; thus the article pertains that cooperation is basically a unified system of operation which can only stand out if all the members equally participate, collaborate and to top up, coordinate with each other. According to (Arshinder, 2008) Ballou et al. (2000), cooperation is a central lever of SCM. The article basically deals with the elements of coordination in supply chain management and gives an overview regarding it. The article reveals that collaboration, integration and cooperation are all terms which are linked together to form supply chain coordination (SCC). The article then relates deeper into the coordination element by presenting ways of coordination, which can be in the form of supply chain (SC) contracts, IT, Information sharing, and joint decision making and these can be further integrated to boost up the coordination plan.Furthermore the article explains that coordination is one of the most difficult parameters of supply chain management and needs to manage accordingly and the management needs to actively take part in the implementation of coordination efforts among supply chain partners. The article relates that many B2B firms fail in maintain coordination among suppliers due to lack of

knowledge and implementation practices and even if the firms do know how to coordinate, they often lag behind due to inter organizational conflicts which deter the coordination aspect.

The article highlights another major point which is dominance and it basically implies that if the main organization involved is dominant over the other supplier partners than coordination could be stressed upon by the dominant organization and implementation could be easier, but if others are more dominant, than conflicting issues could arise leading to improper and ineffective supply chain management. Thus the article concludes by giving an insight into the importance of cooperation in the supply chain network and its impact could lead to newer and effective ways of achieving success.

Communication:
Ho6: There is no positive relation between communication and supply chain management

Communication can be defined as a verbal or nonverbal process involving a monotonous rotation of originating, preserving and dismissing information (Park, 2012).(Collins, 2012)is a research based on finding out the relation of effective communication in supply chain network. Communication is a very critical process when it comes to linking two partners or firms. Any miscommunication or communication gap can create troubles for both parties.

Communication should be effective among all stakeholders who include the firm itself, suppliers, employees and customers. These all stakeholders form a complete supply chain network. Effective communication then plays a key role in avoiding all future possible problems which can take place due to poor sharing of information and poor quality of information. Effective communication also plays a vital role in reinforcing suppliers and customers to continue with receiving and giving service to each other. Effective communication can be called as a mediator or motivator factor which can cause repurchase intentions in partners in terms of business to business markets. This is because; the level of trust and commitment of any network depends on the communication channel of that network. More open and clear the communication channel, effective would be the communication. And eventually effective communication

becomes responsible for strengthening the supply chain management or firm and supplier relation. Communication is a factor which highly depends on the level of sharing and quality of information. Effective communication takes place when right amount of information is shared at the right time with the right people.

A research has been conducted in the past with lot of effort to find out the importance and relation of effective communication with reference to supply chain management. The study actually consists of two different researches which took place in Australia and China respectively. The article by (Collins, 2012) discusses two different supply chain practices in two different countries. Firstly it discussed the supply chain practices of Australia where the supply chain management was very effective. After research it was concluded that effective communication was one of the main factors which made supply chain practices effective. Effective communication between two partners decreases the transaction cost and strengthen the relationship. While second research took place in China were the supply chain practices were not very effective. And after the research it was found out the in china the partners didnt have effective communication. In fact in Chinese supply chain network there were lot of issues regarding communication gap and miscommunication mentioned in the article. So it can be stated that there is a positive relation between communication and supply chain management as it strengthens the relationships.

Opportunism:
Ho7: There is no negative relation between Opportunism and trust & commitment

Opportunism is an engagement of a person in a selfish act to fulfill self-interest without regarding the circumstances other people might face. When we talk about supply chain management there are number of firms and suppliers locally and globally who are working in the same market with the same type of business. This increases the competition and the level of dependence of one firm on the other decreases because when there are more firms, the monopolism is discouraged. In such case the firms can take advantage of opportunities because

then the negotiation level of everyone comes down due to number of options. And firms and suppliers when are more concerned about their own interest, opportunism takes birth.

The level of information sharing, and information quality also play some role in availing opportunity. If right and timely amount of information is shared between partners, so that might lead to negotiation at both ends which would discourage opportunism. Moreover, the company policies also make some difference in negotiation between partners. Another fact which should be taken into consideration is the buying power of the company. Opportunism depends on the dependence of one partner on the other. If in a contract or business both partners have equal power so the level of opportunism might be low. But in other case, when one partner is dependent on other partner, so the independent partner might take advantage of his power.

The example of sugarcane industry perfectly fits in this case. In case of sugarcane industry, the power entirely shifts on the company or firm which actually purchases the sugarcane from the supplier. In that case supplier has less power because the sugarcane starts getting rotten when it gets old. So the supplier wants to sell it as quickly as he can. At this point the purchasing firm takes advantage of the opportunity and purchases on such terms which actually are of their own interests and this discourages the level of trust between both partners and also weakens the relationship between the firm and supplier. A research has been directed in the history with lot of exertion to find out the significance and relativeness of supply chain management and opportunism. The study essentially contains two dissimilar investigations that took place in Australia and China correspondingly. The article by (Collins, 2012)discourses two different supply chain practices in two different countries. Firstly it discussed the supply chain practices of Australia where the supply chain management was very effective. After research it was established that avoidance of opportunism was one of the core elements which made supply chain practices effective. Opportunism between two partners decreases the strength of a relationship. While second research took place in China, where the supply chain practices were not very effective. And after the research it was found out the in china the partners opportunism was promoted which didnt allow firms and suppliers to build up healthy relationships. So it can be stated that there is a negative relation between opportunism and supply chain management as it strengthens the relationships.

Satisfaction:
Ho8: There is no positive relation between satisfaction and supply chain management Satisfaction refers to the pleasure obtained after the fulfillment of any desire. In context of supply chain network, satisfaction refers to the appropriate fulfillment of transaction between the firm and the suppliers. Satisfaction is very broader term but this research narrow downs the term by explaining the causes and impact of satisfaction in supply chain network mostly in case of business to business transaction. Satisfaction in supply chain network takes place after the provision of desired services. For example a firm would be satisfied if it gets right amount of raw material or right specification of the due time. Similarly the opposite side of these activities would create dissatisfaction for the firm. Looking the factors which might create satisfaction or dissatisfaction for the supplier might be delay in payment of the raw materials, shifting on other suppliers, relying on more suppliers, refunding the raw materials from suppliers and many others. Satisfaction plays an important factor in building up and then maintaining a healthy relation of different firms or partners. When partners are satisfied with each other, there is a high chance that they would indulge in future business transaction due to the satisfaction level, and due to the level of trust which builds up after getting satisfied with previous business transactions. A research by (Collins, 2012) provides the understanding of relationship of satisfaction with supply chain management by examining the supply chain network of two different countries Australia and China. By complete research and study it was found out that Australia was the country in which the level of satisfaction between the firms and suppliers was high as compared to the supply chain network in China and this was one of the reasons that the supply chain practices in Australia were very effective and in China was ineffective. Another consequence of this factor was that the high level of satisfaction made the relationships of firms and its supplier stronger while low level of satisfaction was one of the reasons of weak supply chain relationships. Hence it can be concluded that there is a positive relationship between satisfaction and supply chain management as satisfaction strengthen the relation of buyer and supplier.

Shared Values:
Ho9: There is no positive relation between shared values and supply chain management. Shared values refer to the common norms, values and culture shared by the employees and other stakeholders of the company. Shared values depict the culture and practices of any firm. Culture of any firm plays a vital role in maintaining relation and carrying out any business deal with other firms or partners. For example it becomes very easy for two firms to make any business transaction or deal when the culture of both firms in decentralized. Similarly if the culture of one firm is decentralized and other firms culture is centralized so it creates barriers for any business transaction. Same culture and same shared values and norm in two different firms or partners helps in developing and maintaining healthy relationships. Supply chain network functions globally with wide range. And there are lot of barriers due to difference in culture and norms of firms and global suppliers. Administrators appear to understand that their supply chain practices may not be at all appropriate in the other parts of the world. Nevertheless, while the existing supply chain management research confirms the intimidating challenge of managing a global supply base across cultures, most of the studies are limited to comparing the differences between countries or cultures. As supported by (Kristal, 2011) culture plays an increasingly important role in supply chain management as many manufacturing firms have linkages to suppliers and customers from various countries. An extensive research was done by (Collins, 2012) in order to understand the linkages between shared values and supply chain relationships. Through various investigations it was proven that the firms and suppliers engaged in a business contract who have same culture tend to have more strong relationships with each other as compared to the firms and suppliers who have different culture of their organization. And this fact tends to get wide when it moves from local perspective to global perspective where the culture barriers are more high. So after the deep analysis of few articles it can be rightly said that the same culture and shared values affect supply chain practices in a positive way.

Adaptation:
Ho10: There is no positive relation between adaptation and supply chain management. Adaptation in this study refers to the provision of services exclusively to one partner by another partner. This restricts partners to make transactions with other firms or suppliers. A firm purchases raw materials from one supplier and that supplier exclusively manufactures raw materials for that particular firm. (Collins, 2012). Adaptation is an element that automatically enhances the relationships between firms and suppliers. The reason of this fact is that when two firms or partners exclusively operates for each other, the interdependence of both partners increases which eventually increases the strength of the relation between both partners. When both partners (buyer and supplier) work for each other, the level of negotiation goes up because at a certain point each partner has to compromise and self-interest has to be discouraged which is another factor for strengthening the relationship of supplier and buyer. The article (Collins, 2012) explains the relationship of adaptation with supply chain management and the impact of adaptation of supply chain practices. After a wide research and studies it was concluded that the countries having adaptation factor within the buyer and supplier have effective supply chain management while the countries having low level of adaptation factors between the firms and suppliers have weak supply chain management and this also makes the supply chain practices of countries efficient and inefficient respectively. So it can be concluded as a hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between adaptation and supply chain management.

Research Hypothesis
To answer the research questions following research hypothesis were developed on the basis of previous mentioned literature. Ho1: There is no relation between trust and supply chain management. Ho2: There is no relation between commitment and supply chain management. Ho3: There is no relation between communication and supply chain management.

Ho4: There is no relation between adaptation and supply chain management. Ho5: There is no relation between cooperation and supply chain management. Ho6: There is no relation between satisfaction and supply chain management. Ho7: There is no relation between opportunism and supply chain management. Ho8: There is no relation between shared values and supply chain management. Ho9: There is no relation between buying power and supply chain management. Ho10: There is no relation between information technology and supply chain management.

Questionnaire: Development and Description

The data of the research was collected and gathered by floating questionnaire among different respondents. The questionnaire was formed by combining different instruments. Questions regarding each variable (dependent and independent) would be the part of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into several parts. Each part consists of questions regarding each variable which is the part of theoretical framework. The questions were tested on a likert scale. 5 being strong agree and 1 being strongly disagree, while, 3 being neutral. Each variable consist of more than three items which eventually includes more than 30 items in the final questionnaire which was floated.

Date Collection
The research targets the population within the territory of Lahore. A questionnaire was floated among the employees of different firms including Fatima Fertilizers, FFC, Engro, Nestle, PNG, Daewoo co, and many others based on supply chain network. Sample size of the research was around 100 respondents. These all respondents belong to the corporate sector of Lahore. The research targeted different corporate firms of Lahore. The respondents had the knowledge of supply chain management. The research targeted more than 70 firms within Lahore to get maximum quality data from the respondents in order to make a quality study.

Before the respondent filled the questionnaire, a brief overview of the research and questionnaire was provided by the researcher. The questionnaire took take average time of 12 minutes to be filled out. The questionnaire was self-administrative as it was analyzed by the researcher herself. Apart from that the information of the respondents was not revealed to avoid issues as it is confidential.

Theoretical Framework

Measurement Model:
Reliability Analysis: A reliability analysis was conducted to find out the reliability of each construct. The Chronbachs Value of most of the constructs was acceptable as the value exceeded the benchmark of 0.7. The value of trust was 0.777 which means that it has good internal consistency. Similarly commitment and communication also showed good internal consistency with the value of 0.825 and 0.711 respectively. Apart from that adaptation and satisfaction has the value of 0.755 and 0.853 which highlights that both have good internal consistency. Moreover opportunism, cooperation and buying power also showed good internal consistency with by holding the value of 0.751, 0.804 and 0.735 respectively. Three of the constructs (Shared values, SCM and IT) have the value between 0.6-0.7 which are also acceptable as quoted by shamsabadi (2005). The Values are shown in table. Chronbachs Value 0.777 0.825 0.711 0.755 0.853 0.751 0.615 0.804 0.696 0.686 0.735

Variables Trust Commitment Communication Adaptation Satisfaction Opportunism Shared Values Cooperation Supply Chain Management IT Buying Power

Correlation Analysis:

The analysis shows that the trust and SCM are positively correlated (0.293) and the relation is significant at (0.002). Commitment and SCM are positively correlated (0.348) and the relation is highly significant at (0.000). Communication and SCM are positively correlated (0.402) and the relation is highly significant at (0.000).

Adaptation and SCM are positively correlated (0.299) and the relation is highly significant at (0.000). Cooperation and SCM are positively correlated (0.169) and the relation is highly significant at (0.031). IT and SCM are positively correlated (0.528) and the relation is highly significant at (0.000). Buying Power and SCM are positively correlated (0.336) and the relation is highly significant at (0.000).

Regression Analysis: After doing the regression analysis of the variables, the test showed that the adjusted R^2= 0.536. This value indicates that 53.6% of the variability in the SCM (dependent variable) is created by all other independent variables. Apart from that, the model fit was also significant as the F-value was 12.443 and the significance level was 0.000.

Mode l 1

R .764a

Model Summary R Square Adjusted R Square .583 .536

Std. Error of the Estimate .39451

Multi co-Linearity: There was no evidence found regarding the multi-co-linearity as the Variance inflation factor (VIF) values for every variable was less than 10 and the tolerance level for every variable was greater than 0.2.

Collinearity Statistics Tolerance (Constant) Averagetrust Averagecommitment Averagecommunication Averageadaptation Averagesatisfaction Averageopportunism Averagesharedvalue Averagecooperation AverageIT Averagebuyingpower .517 .412 .418 .708 .576 .603 .507 .647 .490 .544

VIF 1.935 2.429 2.392 1.411 1.735 1.659 1.972 1.547 2.040 1.837

Regression Equation: -0.067AT + 0.106ACT + 0.063ACM + 0.170AA 0.056AS 0.092AO 0.070ASV + 0.102ACO + 0.535AIT + 0.141ABP = SCM The regression model equation shows the positive relation of each independent variable with the supply chain management, except trust, satisfaction, opportunism, and share values.

Discussion:
The study in significant as the model fit suggests that the F-value is 13.11 and the significance level was 0.000. And furthermore, co-linearity test shows that there was no evidence found about any co linearity in the independent variables. The regression model of the study is as

follow: (-0.067AT + 0.106ACT + 0.063ACM + 0.170AA 0.056AS 0.092AO 0.070ASV + 0.102ACO + 0.535AIT + 0.141ABP = SCM) The regression equation shows that the relation of trust is negative with the supply chain management. A unit change in trust would inversely affect the SCM by 0.067 units. So we would accept the Ho and reject H1. This is because the level of trust increases or decrease by the prior experience of firms. When the element of trust is greater, the options of selection of suppliers narrow down which increase the cost of supply chain, hence make it little ineffective. Ho: There is no positive relation between trust and supply chain management. H1: There is a positive relation between trust and supply chain management The regression equation shows that the relation of commitment is positive with the supply chain management. A unit change in commitment would directly affect the SCM by 0.106 units. So we would accept H2 and reject Ho. Ho: There is no positive relation between commitment and supply chain management. H2: There is a positive relation between commitment and supply chain management The regression equation shows that the relation of communication is positive with the supply chain management. A unit change in communication would directly affect the SCM by 0.063 units. So we would accept H3 and reject Ho. Ho: There is no positive relation between communication and supply chain management. H3: There is a positive relation between communication and supply chain management The regression equation shows that the relation of adaptation is positive with the supply chain management. A unit change in adaptation would directly affect the SCM by 0.170 units. So we would accept H4 and reject Ho. Ho: There is no positive relation between adaptation and supply chain management. H4: There is a positive relation between adaptation and supply chain management. The regression equation shows that the relation of satisfaction is negative with the supply chain management. A unit change in satisfaction would inversely affect the SCM by 0.056 units.

So we would accept Ho and reject H5. The hypothesis was tested within the firms in the Lahore and was limited within the area. As satisfaction is a very broad term and was measured on low scale hence the H5 was rejected. The same results are supported by the article (Guarnaschelli, 2013) that satisfaction is not positively related with supply chain practices. Ho: There is no positive relation between satisfaction and supply chain management. H5: There is a positive relation between satisfaction and supply chain management. The regression equation shows that the relation of opportunism is negative with the supply chain management. A unit change in opportunism would inversely affect the SCM by 0.092 units. So we would accept H6 and reject Ho. Ho: There is no negative relation between adaptation and supply chain management. H6: There is a negative relation between adaptation and supply chain management. The regression equation shows that the relation of shared values is negative with the supply chain management. A unit change in shared values would inversely affect the SCM by 0.070 units. So we would accept Ho and reject H7. The study (Dowty, 2010) supports the null hypothesis because shared values of each firm are different hence they dont have significant impact on any external relations of the firms with other firms or suppliers. Ho: There is no positive relation between shared values and supply chain management. H7: There is a positive relation between shared values and supply chain management. The regression equation shows that the relation of cooperation is positive with the supply chain management. A unit change in cooperation would directly affect the SCM by 0.102 units. So we would accept H8 and reject Ho. Ho: There is no positive relation between cooperation and supply chain management. H8: There is a positive relation between cooperation and supply chain management The regression equation shows that the relation of IT is positive with the supply chain management. A unit change in IT would directly affect the SCM by 0.535 units. So we would accept H9and reject Ho.

Ho: There is no positive relation between cooperation and supply chain management. H9: There is a positive relation between cooperation and supply chain management The regression equation shows that the relation of Buying Power is positive with the supply chain management. A unit change in Buying Power would directly affect the SCM by 0.141 units. So we would accept Ho and reject H10. (Miocevic, 2011) Suggests that the relation of buying power of a firm is positive with the supply chain effectiveness hence the Ho is valid. Ho: There is no negative relation between Buying Power and supply chain management. H10: There is a negative relation between Buying Power and supply chain management Descriptive Analysis: The data was collected from the employees of different companies of Lahore. The sample size of the study was 100 companies. Most of the respondents fell in the age bracket of 30-40 years having experience of 2 years in their particular companies. The respondents were almost equally distributed on the basis of gender. Majority of the respondents were qualified with Masters Degree, while only 2 of the respondents were undergraduates. The household income of 75% of the respondents was more than 40,000 rupees and the number of dependent members was evenly distributed on the sample size. Marital status didnt play any vital role in the response of each respondent. These all statistics are shown in the tables given in the appendix. Findings: A summary of the findings related to descriptive data follows: Total number of employees participated in the research were 100. The marital status of the sample size was almost even as 48% were single. Majority of the people fall in the age bracket of 20-30 years. 67% of the respondents were male while 33% were female. Majority of the respondents have income above 40,000. The value of trust was 0.777 which means that it has good internal consistency. Similarly commitment and communication also showed good internal consistency with the value of 0.825 and 0.711 respectively.

 Apart from that adaptation and satisfaction has the value of 0.755 and 0.853 which highlights that both have good internal consistency. 98% of the respondents had more education than intermediate level. The test showed that the adjusted R^2= 0.536. This value indicates that 53.6% of the variability in the SCM (dependent variable) is created by all other independent variables . Apart from that, the model fit was also significant as the F-value was 12.443 and the significance level was 0.000 which indicates that the null hypothesis can be rejected. There was no evidence found regarding the multi-co-linearity as the Variance inflation factor (VIF) values for every variable was less than 10 and the tolerance level for every variable was greater than 0.2. IT and SCM are positively correlated (0.528) and the relation is highly significant at (0.000). Buying Power and SCM are positively correlated (0.336) and the relation is highly significant at (0.000). The Chronbach alpha value of trust was 0.777 which means that it has good internal consistency. Similarly commitment and communication also showed good internal consistency with the value of 0.825 and 0.711 respectively. Apart from that adaptation and satisfaction has the value of 0.755 and 0.853 which highlights that both have good internal consistency

Conclusion:
Supply chain networks have become very popular on global stage and have attracted number of researchers. The basic objective of the study was to analyze different factors which affect the supply chain networks. There were different dimensions and elements which were tested to find their impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of supply chain management. After the research we can safely say that there are few elements which really have a great positive impact on the SCM performance. However there were few limitations of the study. Supply chain management has been very common and in practice in different countries such as USA, UK and Australia. The scope of the study presently in Pakistan is somewhat less as compared to those countries as firms and suppliers in Pakistan dont practice supply chain management commonly and formally in Pakistan. The data collected would be based on different companies and suppliers present locally in Lahore. So the research might be dependent on the demographics. The data collected would be dependent on the perceptions and feelings of the employees regarding the research. The data filled might be biased. The research includes the analysis of literature based on the supply chain practices in different countries other than Pakistan while the respondents were within Pakistan.

Appendix

AGE

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

20-30 30-40 Valid 40+ Total

44 33 23 100

44.0 33.0 23.0 100.0

44.0 33.0 23.0 100.0

44.0 77.0 100.0

GENDER Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent MALE Valid FEMALE Total 67 33 100 67.0 33.0 100.0 67.0 33.0 100.0 67.0 100.0

HOUSEHOLD INCOME Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 10,000-25,000 25,000-40,000 Valid 40000+ Total 75 100 75.0 100.0 75.0 100.0 100.0 2 23 2.0 23.0 2.0 23.0 2.0 25.0

NUMBER OF DEPENDENTS Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 3 4 Valid 5 6+ Total 29 36 25 10 100 29.0 36.0 25.0 10.0 100.0 29.0 36.0 25.0 10.0 100.0 29.0 65.0 90.0 100.0

EDUCATION Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent INTERMEDIAT E Valid BACHELORS MASTERS Total 2 32 66 100 2.0 32.0 66.0 100.0 2.0 32.0 66.0 100.0 2.0 34.0 100.0

CURRENT STATUS Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent SINGLE Valid MARRIED Total 48 52 100 48.0 52.0 100.0 48.0 52.0 100.0 48.0 100.0

EXPERIENCE Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent LESS THAN 2 YEARS 5 YERS Valid 10 YEARS MORE THAN 10 YEARS Total 41 19 25 15 100 41.0 19.0 25.0 15.0 100.0 41.0 19.0 25.0 15.0 100.0 41.0 60.0 85.0 100.0

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