Measuring Internal Supply Chain Integration

Internal supply chain refers to the chain of activities within a company that concludes with providing a product to the customer. This process involves multiple functions within companies – sales, production, and distribution. It is obvious that these functions need to be integrated in order to provide good customer service. However, there is no consensus yet on how integration is to be defined and measured. This paper presents research that was conducted with the goal of developing an instrument for the measurement of internal supply chain integration. Scale items were identified from current literature and the resulting survey instrument was sent out to a sample of New Zealand manufacturers. Statistical analysis was conducted to validate the instrument. We also identified three dimensions of integration labelled coordination, communication, and affective relationship. This paper makes a contribution towards developing a consensus in the understanding and measurement of the integration construct.