Innovative supply chain practices: the state of French companies

Purpose - This research aims to explore innovation in supply chain management. Innovation has often been studied in supply chain relationships and specifically from a product point of view. The authors aim to observe innovation by focusing on the different practices and collaborations suppliers and customers are developing to improve their competitiveness and the performance of the whole supply chain. Design/methodology/approach - A review of previous literature on innovation in supply chain management is presented and the authors design an interview guide for their data collection that is developed from their previous literature review on innovation in supply chain management. Data are collected from 68 innovations in French companies and subsequently analyzed to identify the major elements of innovations in supply chain management. Findings - The key findings of the paper identify the major components affecting innovative supply chain practices and SC performance. The results suggest that innovation is essential in supply chain management and can be characterized according to its degree of novelty and rupture, its distribution throughout the SC and the level at which it occurs. In addition, a typology of innovative supply chain practices is proposed. Originality/value - The authors' study is exploratory and examines the state of practices concerning innovation in supply chain management. The authors identify the major elements of innovations and propose a typology of these innovative supply chain practices.