Importance of Supply Chain Management and Its Impact on Organizational Performance: A Case Study on Sainsbury

The current research was conducted to identify the importance of supply chain management and its impact on organizational performance with a case study on Sainsbury. The research used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods such as semi-structured interviews and surveys to gather information from respondents.

Business Research Methods

Table of Contents
SECTION 1: COMPARING TWO RESEARCH METHODS.......................................................3
1.1 Research problem.............................................................................................................3
1.2 Literature Review.............................................................................................................4
1.3 Appropriate research methods..........................................................................................5
SECTION 2: INSTRUMENT AND CONCLUSIONS...................................................................9
2.1 Instrument.........................................................................................................................9
2.2 Conclusion......................................................................................................................10
2.3 Bibliography...................................................................................................................11
SECTION 3: RESEARCH DISSEMINATION............................................................................12
3.1 Relevance and audience.................................................................................................12
3.2 Communication of research............................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
Appendix.......................................................................................................................................15
a) Mind Map.........................................................................................................................15

SECTION 1: COMPARING TWO RESEARCH METHODS
1.1 Research problem
Consumer satisfaction plays important role for any organization irrespective of its size and
scope. Increase in satisfaction level of consumers can be attained with the help of strong and
effective supply chain management which is defined as the proper management of flow of
services and goods between business and location (Bhattacharya and Fayezi, 2021). In supply
chain management there are different type of goals that are fulfillment efficiency, consumer
value creation, increase in flexibility, recognising true competitors, monitor financial success
and make supply chain resilience necessary for company to have strong and efficient supply
chain management in order to have cost control and have efficient allocation of resources
business.
Organisations can attain, success with the help of strong supply chain management as it
helps in reducing risk and resource management and further benefit in effective gathering of
information for business decision. The present research is conducted on Sainsbury which is
operating its roles and responsibilities as the second largest chain of supermarket in the
provinces of the United Kingdom. organization offers wide range of products and services
worldwide and operates in the retail sector. This research identifies the importance of supply
chain management and its impact on practices of Sainsbury performance along with impact of
supply chain management that can be used by the selected company to improve organizational
performance is also being discussed in the present research.
Research Questions
 What is the knowledge and importance of supply chain management in retail sector?
 What are the impacts of supply chain management practices on Sainsbury's performance?
 What is the different supply chain management practices can be used by Sainsbury to
improve organizational performance?
Research aim
To identify the need of supply chain management and its impact on organizational
performance. A case study on Sainsbury.
Research objectives

 To determine the knowledge and importance of supply chain management in retail
sector.
 To Identify the impacts of supply chain management practices on Sainsbury's
performance. To examine different supply chain management practices can be used by Sainsbury to
improve organizational performance.
1.2 Literature Review
According to the viewpoint of Cole, Stevenson and Aitken, (2019) it has been evaluated
that supply chain management is needed for organization in order to have a strong network that
will help them to meet consumer needs and demands. Supply chain management plays important
role in retail sector in terms of utilizing the production services in efficient manner and further
provide final products to customers in efficient way. Along with this with the help of supply
chain management company can obtain raw material and can manage production and inbound
materials effectively. In addition to their supply chain management is also needed as it helps
company to save unnecessary expenses and also allow retailers and manufacturer to produce as
well as transport goods and services in efficient way. It not only helps in eliminating
unnecessary expenses associated with ensuring producing and shipping inventory but also allow
organization to undertake years of various supply chain management strategies to enhance
consumer satisfaction level.
In order to analyse knowledge and importance of supply chain management present
research emphasise on taking viewpoint of scholars work on the concept and importance of
supply chain management in context with retail industry along with this initial study has been
conducted, with the help of emphasising on papers on journal principles of supply chain
management in order to identify the knowledge and importance of supply chain management in
the retail industry (Yang and Liu, 2021). Along with this their impact on practices on
Sainsbury’s performance is also being evaluated.
The next step include researcher to conduct proper review of the particular studies with the
help of web model in which with the help of the agile model to determine the impact of supply
chain management importance and knowledge, along with their impact on practices on
Sainsbury performance is being evaluated.

As per the view point of Gokarn and Kuthambalayan, (2019) It is important for a company to
handle the entire production of flow of services and goods in an effective manner as to deliver
the final product to the consumers. This will help organization to overcome many challenges
such as decrease in consumer satisfaction, increase in expenses, wastage etc. With the help of
efficient supply chain management organization can not only reduce operating course but can
also improve cash flow while having better management of inventory and improving cash flow
in efficient manner.
Finally, it has been stated that supply chain management is an important and crucial
aspect for organization as it allows them to manage their resources and expenses in efficient
way. In this paper or the article published by Hofmann, Pflaum and Prockl, 2019, put some light
on the reasons and the need of supply chain management that Sainsbury can implement in order
to satisfy customers’ needs and demands in effective manner.
In this present designation will not only focus on journal studies of supply chain
management and their importance but will also evaluate the need of this and the impact of
supply chain management on practices used by Sainsbury to make improvement in their
operational and organizational performance.
1.3 Appropriate research methods
a) Qualitative data analysis of data obtained through semi-structured interview
In order to fulfil present research aims and objective the review of recent works by some
scary authors has been implicated by investigator which allowed to identify that, primary
research method gives to for similar research on the same topic. This is essential and emphasise
on the information gathered by investigators. Furthermore previous caller work helps in
determining first hand information about the importance knowledge and impact of supply chain
management in order to execute this research properly. In order to conduct this scholars mainly
emphasise on taking use of semi structured interview or survey to fulfil present research
objectives.

It has been analysed that to fulfill present research aims and objective semi structured interview
seems to be highly efficient as with the help of this investigator can undertake discussion with
participants which helps in analysing be collected data in information, which further helps in
enhancing viability and efficiency of present research. Furthermore it has been analysed that the
approach of semi interview is qualitative and the method in this that investigator aim is to
understand perception and viewpoint of respondents by evaluating their behaviour.
The another most important characteristics of qualitative approach is that it helps in having small
number of participants that further help investigator to analyse their risk in generalized way.
However low number of sample can somehow not provide accurate findings.
In terms with questions in the semi structured interview investigator undertake use of interview
on five different themes that are external factors influencing supply chain management,
participants background information, Sainsbury ability to handle supply chain, satisfaction
number level of customers and their buying behaviour (Remko, 2020). From the above to
conduct this research in future among five themes three of them are relevant.
After the accomplishment of interview the investigator emphasis on proper analyzation of
collected information and data obtained through qualitative content analysis which helps in
evaluating the collected data and information and translate and interpret them in understandable
language. While conducting the analyzation investigator emphasise on determining viewpoint of
respondents in order to have a sufficient dataset.
However it has been analysed that the data information collected with this method helps in
analysing viewpoint of respondents but the answers are very limited and small in size which
would not represent their experience and opinions.
The final critique of undertaking use of this approach is that in this investigator emphasise on
conducting interview in which detailed analysis of respondent viewpoint has been conducted,
but this method fails to prove the thesis in question and does not offer conclusive answer

associated to the need of supply chain management and its impact on organization performance
on Sainsbury.
Semi- structured interview is a research instrument that allow researcher to study and
discussion with respondents that improve the overall quality of gathered information. The semi-
interview approach is qualitative and help in gaining the overall results of study. In addition to
this, qualitative approach is effective as it includes small number of respondents. As per the
article analysed, the number of respondents is two that is senior manager which help researcher
to gain information about impact given topic.
b) Quantitative analysis of data obtained through a survey
In context with second study evaluation of this has been done on the importance and the
strategies hello with supply chain management strategies being implemented by Sainsbury in
order to make improvement in their organization performance. In this comparison between
respondents different educational background is being conducted and scholar best method is
being implemented.
Furthermore another essential element associated with the importance of supply chain
management is being conducted by present investigator in which respondent as well as
previously articles has been conducted on the study of importance of supply chain management
on Sainsbury. However in this the scholar does not include participation of white number of
respondents.
In addition to this another important note of researcher is that they determine the strategies that
Sainsbury has implemented and further evaluated the respondence view points in the same
language and further evaluated them in effective manner (Sodhi and Tang, 2021). In this cross
sectional time horizon is being undertaken in order to evaluate their viewpoint.
Furthermore with the help of taking views of research questions with the help of web service
provided research and advantage to have quantitative analysis, with the help of questionnaire in
which number of questions has been asked from respondents. In addition to this research is
limited in scope as it is conducted only on the supply chain management importance in context

with retail sector in which Sainsbury study is being analysed the scope is similar to the further
and future designation, as it helps other organization determine the importance of supply chain
management.
It has been analysed that the two important lessons that has been learned from this research
method is that in this with the help of respondent viewpoint information has been collected with
the help of appropriate method further with the help of participants data analysis respondents
gain advantage in terms of conducting research in appropriate manner. This states that supply
chain management is crucial for organization growth and offer wide ranges of advantage.
Further, Sampling can be defined as the process of selecting sample size by the
investigator in order to collect the primary information about the current area of study on behalf
of whole population. The sampling is of two type such as probabilistic and non-probabilistic.
Among these two probabilistic sampling methods will be used as it help in avoiding the chances
of bias behavior from researcher in selecting the respondents by providing equal chance to the
people of being selected as a respondents where they are being chosen on the bases of random
sampling method under probabilistic approach.
c) Brief conclusion/ Justification of section
It has been analysed that by evaluating experience of peers while undertaking these
researchers, it has been stated analyse that with the help of quantitative research there is more
scope of having wide range of data and evaluating respondents viewpoint as it helps them to
have larger set of information that will help in conducting.
In terms of conducting my research it is important for me to emphasise on implementing
instrument and properly conducting research with the help of taking use of appropriate
methodology. However it has been analysed by me that this helps in contributing an efficient
success in my research and will help me to implement various methods such as agile method and
use of quantitative data to obtain information and data in an effective manner. This will help in
collecting data from respondents irrespective of their nationality.

SECTION 2: INSTRUMENT AND CONCLUSIONS
2.1 Instrument
In the current research the researcher have used questionnaire as instrument so that to
manage the outcomes and to attain overall results. Questionnaire is helpful in acquiring fast and
efficient information related with research questions so that researcher will be able to align their
research with their reason of conducting the same (Wa-Mbaleka, 2019). In the current research I
have used survey as research strategy so that accurate results can be taken out and at the same
time larger audience can be assimilated within research. I have analysed that using such
appropriate methods direct information can be managed within the research. I have designed the
questionnaire by keeping in mind all the research questions so that in multi-dimensions results
can be taken out (Schulte and et. al., 2018). The current research was based on supply chain
management and its impact over organisational performance so that the topic is deep in nature so
that it was possible for me to only use secondary collection methods and reach out to
conclusions. So that I have decided to use primary methods and secondary methods as well. In
order to develop questionnaire firstly I decided the needed information within the research and
then I decided target respondents (Hsieh and Wu, 2019). In the research I have taken ample
number of respondents those are employees within Sainsbury's. Using their responses I was able
to manage the whole research in the path to align my efforts in attaining research objectives
(Aldahdouh, 2018). The research is based on supply chain management in which I was willing to
gather appropriate information related with the research topic (Wa-Mbaleka, 2019). At the time
of collecting information related with the research questions I have considered questionnaire as
the most specific source as this will understand all the requirement within the research. There are
various steps which are added by me while developing questionnaire so that using such steps I
completed the research and making of my questionnaire (Bolinger and et. al., 2022). In the
questionnaire I was needed to make sure that I cover all the research objectives. At the same
time length of the questionnaire was needed to be precise so that reader find them interactive and
may provide their responses (Dreher and Langlotz, 2020). I have also taken approval from all
the participants in terms of giving informed consent so that they can withdraw their consent at
any point of time. This was one of the logical way that was followed by me at the time of
managing the research and framing questionnaire (Cargill and O'Connor, 2021). I avoided

unnecessary branching within the research so that conflicts and confusion within research can be
avoided. I prepared close ended questions so that respondents may get to know regarding the
options so that this was easier for me to manage overall conclusions within research (Oliva,
2019).
2.2 Conclusion
In this present research there are three questions are used and they are explained with the
help of questionnaire because it results in deriving better results from the selected respondents.
The research questions are defined as under:
What is the knowledge and importance of supply chain management in retail sector.
This question is addressed by using questionnaire as that will help in gathering and
analysing authentic information from the particular respondents so that effective information can
be gained within the whole research (Luu, N.N and et. al., 2021). This helps in saving the time
of researchers because information about the importance of the supply chain can be derived from
the respondents in a more easy manner (Aldahdouh, 2018).
What is the impacts of supply chain management practices on Sainsbury's performance.
To derive information about this particular objective, it is important for the researcher to
derive data from the secondary sources because by using this detailed information can be
gathered about the particular topic (Ramadhan and et. al., 2019). Secondary sources helps in
collecting more accurate and authentic information about the selected topic in the following
research (Béland, Howlett and Mukherjee, 2018). This is less time consuming and is more cost
effective as information is gathered from following selected respondents and this do not requires
more efforts (Luu and et. al., 2021).
To examine different supply chain management practices can be used by Sainsbury to
improve organizational performance.
For answering this question the researcher has used both questionnaire and secondary
methods because this helps the researcher in gathering and analysing information on the selected
topic. This helps in gaining high value so that reliability and validity can be maintained about the
particular research topic. Secondary methods helps in collecting information from various
different sources such as magazines, articles, books, journals and many more so that high quality
data can be maintained within the research (Lindsey, Rademacher and Ajo‐Franklin, 2020). With
the help of questionnaire the researcher can gain valuable and authentic information abort the

given topic from the different number of respondents that are selected randomly by using
random sampling method (Kim, and et. al., 2020). It is important for the researcher to choose the
right method so that high quality data can be maintained and gathered in an effective time period
(Dreher and Langlotz, 2020).
2.3 Bibliography
Wa-Mbaleka, S., 2019, October. The researcher as an instrument. In World Conference on
Qualitative Research (pp. 33-41). Springer, Cham.
Aldahdouh, A.A., 2018. Visual inspection of sequential data: A research instrument for
qualitative data analysis. The Qualitative Report, 23(7), pp.1631-1649.
Dreher, A. and Langlotz, S., 2020. Aid and growth: New evidence using an excludable
instrument. Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, 53(3),
pp.1162-1198.
Luu, N.N and et. al., 2021. Clinical practice guidelines in idiopathic facial paralysis: systematic
review using the appraisal of guidelines for research and evaluation (AGREE II)
instrument. Journal of Neurology, 268(5), pp.1847-1856.
Ramadhan and et. al., 2019. The development of an instrument to measure the higher order
thinking skill in physics. European Journal of Educational Research, 8(3), pp.743-
751.\
Lindsey, N.J., Rademacher, H. and Ajo‐Franklin, J.B., 2020. On the broadband instrument
response of fiber‐optic DAS arrays. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid
Earth, 125(2), p.e2019JB018145.
Kim, and et. al., 2020. Global assessment instrument for quality of nursing doctoral education
with a research focus: Validity and reliability study. Nurse Education Today, 91,
p.104475.
Béland, D., Howlett, M. and Mukherjee, I., 2018. Instrument constituencies and public policy-
making: An introduction. Policy and Society, 37(1), pp.1-13.
Oliva, R., 2019. Intervention as a research strategy. Journal of Operations Management, 65(7),
pp.710-724.
Schulte and et. al., 2018. Components of an occupational safety and health communication
research strategy for small-and medium-sized enterprises. Annals of work exposures
and health, 62(Supplement_1), pp.S12-S24.

Bolinger, M.T., Josefy, M.A., Stevenson, R. and Hitt, M.A., 2022. Experiments in strategy
research: A critical review and future research opportunities. Journal of
Management, 48(1), pp.77-113.
Cargill, M. and O'Connor, P., 2021. Writing scientific research articles: Strategy and steps. John
Wiley & Sons.
Hsieh, Y.J. and Wu, Y.J., 2019. Entrepreneurship through the platform strategy in the digital era:
Insights and research opportunities. Computers in Human Behavior, 95, pp.315-323.
SECTION 3: RESEARCH DISSEMINATION
3.1 Relevance and audience
The right audience will be the group of various people which comprise of working
population, millennial, men and women as they all are known for sharing their views, opinions
and several ideas. In the above mentioned questionnaire, it will highlight the insights with the
aim of attracting the various groups of the population. Moreover, the millennials are the first
global generation which have the knowledge of technology and internet. It is known that they
are well aware in relation to the new technology for example new gadgets, mobile, and social
media that is why they are called as digital natives. It can also be seen that the world is changing
and the people are becoming well aware and educated (Ramadhan and et. al., 2019). That is why
it led to enhance the economic growth. And they are mainly categorised between the year of
1981 and 1996 along with it, it is one of the most settled age group in the population. Working
population, millennial, men and women are the individuals which helped in the completion of
the research. As the respondents can be of any age and must agree with the consent to participate
in the research. All the above mentioned people act as main people in the research. Further, it
has been also seen and reviewed that the alternative set of the methodology which is taken
within given research will be interview method because it has been also seen this will be helpful
in taking interview from the respondents personally and this will be helpful in achievement of
research aims and objectives successfully. This alternative method will help the researcher in
developing true and valid information as compared to the questionnaire survey. As it does not
include graphs and charts to collect accurate data and information. Further, it is said that
questionnaire is having some of the disadvantages is that the study sometimes lacks in getting
valid information and responses. Further, it has been and analysed that the audience for current

investigation the rationale and suitable audience is the managers and other set of the employees
who are associated with the management of the supply chain.
3.2 Communication of research
Communicating research is defined as one of the vital step in the approach because it is
served as the guide to the targeted audience that is working population, millennial, men and
women. The main mission is to select the journal with the aim of publishing the research so that
the respondents will be able to examine and direct the whole process. It can also be defined as
the way which is directly related to joining all the concepts with better understanding.
Additionally, it also supports in analysing and interpreting the complete data or evidence. It
directly transforms the raw findings into meaningful insights and the finding from the research
and questionnaire would evaluate the results from it to find meaning as it relates to the
communication phenomena of interest (Kim, and et. al., 2020). There are numerous to
communicate the research for example NGOs, media outcomes, industries, association, internet
and many others. The communication lets the readers to stay modernised about the complete and
important data related to the chosen topic and due to development in the e-commerce and also
the many platforms of digitalisation that is social media, these allows various companies to raise
at decent pace (Oliva, 2019).

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bhattacharya, A. and Fayezi, S., 2021. Ameliorating food loss and waste in the supply chain
through multi-stakeholder collaboration. Industrial Marketing Management, 93,
pp.328-343.
Cole, R., Stevenson, M. and Aitken, J., 2019. Blockchain technology: implications for
operations and supply chain management. Supply Chain Management: An International
Journal.
Gokarn, S. and Kuthambalayan, T.S., 2019. Creating sustainable fresh produce supply chains by
managing uncertainties. Journal of Cleaner Production, 207, pp.908-919.
Hofmann, E., Sternberg, H., Chen, H., Pflaum, A. and Prockl, G., 2019. Supply chain
management and Industry 4.0: conducting research in the digital age. International
Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management.
Remko, V.H., 2020. Research opportunities for a more resilient post-COVID-19 supply chain–
closing the gap between research findings and industry practice. International Journal
of Operations & Production Management, 40(4), pp.341-355.
Sodhi, M.S. and Tang, C.S., 2021. Supply chain management for extreme conditions: research
opportunities. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 57(1), pp.7-16.
Yang, J., Xie, H., Yu, G. and Liu, M., 2021. Antecedents and consequences of supply chain risk
management capabilities: An investigation in the post-coronavirus crisis. International
Journal of Production Research, 59(5), pp.1573-1585.

Appendix
a) Mind Map
b)
Questionnaire
Q1) What is your name and age?

Q2) What is your educational background?
Q3) Gender
Q4) Are you aware with the concept of supply chain management?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Neutral
Q5) As per your opinion do you think, supply chain management is important for
organisations in the retail sector?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Neutral
Q6) According to your view point, does strong supply chain management increase
organisation profitability and performance?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Neutral
Q7) What is the impact of supply chain management practices on Sainsbury growth?
a) Positive
b) Negative
c) Neutral
Q8) According to you, what benefit of supply chain management on retailers?
a) Increase in performance
b) Better management of resources
c) Increase in profitability
d) Higher competitive edge

e) Increase in revenue
Q9) According to your view point, what is the impacts of supply chain management
practices on Sainsbury's performance?
a) Better collaboration with suppliers
b) Better quality control
c) Stronger cash flow
d) Better visibility
Q10) What are the different supply chain management practices can be used by Sainsbury
to improve organizational performance?
a) Recruit & Develop Supply Chain Professionals
b) Align the Supply Chain Team
c) Purchase Supplies in Volume to Reduce Costs
d) Establish Alliances with Suppliers
e) Inventory Management