The relationships between postponement strategies and manufacturing performance in supply chains. An industrial perspective

The postponement strategy is one of the most popular concepts, widely implemented in contemporary supply chains. Generally, the postponement strategy means delaying supply chain activities purposefully, until the customers' order is received. There is a diverse degree of a delay which is mostly determined by appropriate locations of material decoupling points in a flow of products among parties in a supply chain. Although the in-depth empirical studies have been conducted on postponement strategy, there is still a dearth of research concerning effects of different types of postponement on supply chain performance. The paper investigates the relationships between postponement strategies and different measures of manufacturing performance in supply chains operating in several industries worldwide. In order to realize an empirical goal of the research the statistical analyses have been carried out. The conclusions of the study and directions of future research have been formulated on the basis of the obtained results.