The Role of Supply Chain Agility in Achieving Supply Chain Fit

The main purpose of this research was to build on Fisher’s (1997) seminal article. First, it expands on the Fisher framework by empirically establishing the link between the firm’s environmental characteristics and the firm’s level of supply chain fit (SCF). The results indicate a negative relationship between environmental uncertainty and SCF indicating that, as the level of environmental uncertainty increases it becomes increasingly challenging to match a product’s supply and demand characteristics with its supply chain design characteristics. Second, the key contribution of this research is the introduction of supply chain agility as a capability that helps mitigate the negative relationship between aspects of environmental uncertainty andSCF. Finally, this research contributes to theory development and managerial practice by exploring the complex relationship between SCF, supply chain agility, and financial performance. Developing high levels of supply chain agility and SCF requires deployment of resources for the focal firm. Thismanuscript provides a better understanding of how such expenditures can generate financial benefits for organizations. [Submitted: December 27, 2013. Revised: October 16, 2014. Accepted: October 21, 2014.] Subject Areas: Supply chain agility, Supply chain fit, Environmental uncertainty, and Firm performance.