Product variety management and supply chain performance: A capability perspective on their relationships and competitiveness implications

We study 363 manufacturing businesses to investigate the relationships between product variety management and supply chain performance. Applying the dynamic capabilities view of how businesses cope with changing environments, we develop a conceptual model that links product variety management strategies with supply chain responsiveness, and relates supply chain responsiveness to cost and customer service in high- and low-customization environments. We find that a product variety management strategy influences both supply chain cost and customer service performance only when mediated by internal and external responsiveness capabilities. In addition, a product variety management strategy has different impacts on performance depending on the level of product customization. Specifically, in a low-customization environment, both supply chain flexibility and agility acting as dynamic capabilities have a significant influence on cost efficiency while in a high-customization environment, these dynamic capabilities have a significant influence on customer service.