Flexibility from a supply chain perspective: definition and review

Purpose A growing body of literature has begun to recognise that in the era of supply chain management it is important to look beyond the flexible factory to the flexible supply chain. This paper seeks to further our understanding of supply chain flexibility and provide a comprehensive review of the available literature. Design/methodology/approach Published literature on supply chain flexibility has been considered. Where appropriate, additional insights have been obtained from related streams such as manufacturing flexibility, agility and supply chain responsiveness. Findings Much of the existing research has a limited definition of supply chain flexibility and describes flexibility simply as a reactive…