Revisiting the arcs of integration: Cross‐validations and extensions

Abstract This paper revisits Frohlich and Westbrook's arcs of integration concept [Arcs of integration: an international study of supply chain strategies. Journal of Operations Management 2001, 19 (2) pp. 185–200]. Using survey responses from 403 supply chain professionals, we compare the arcs of integration group memberships generated with our sample to the original study, rationalize the classification scheme, and assess the impact of supply chain integration strategies on quality, delivery, flexibility and cost performance. In doing so we cross‐validate Frohlich and Westbrook's framework with a more recent and broader sample of data utilizing multi‐dimensional performance measures collected from supply…