A relational study of supply chain agility, competitiveness and business performance in the oil and gas industry

This paper assesses the link between dimensions of agile supply chain, competitive objectives and business performance in the UK North Sea upstream oil and gas industry. A questionnaire was designed and administered covering important criteria of agility identified from the literature. The questionnaire was sent to a sample of 880 supply chain managers within the UK oil and gas industry and a net response rate of 15.6% was achieved. Statistical tests for validity and reliability were carried out. Also, the KS statistical test for normality was undertaken on the data. All the tests affirm that the data came from a normal distribution. Non-response bias analysis was conducted through wave analysis using one-way ANOVA and no statistically significant difference was revealed by the t-test result. By examining the whole supply chain associated with agile practices in an important sector, the paper identifies the most important dimensions and attributes of supply chain agility and provides a deeper insight into those characteristics of agility that are most relevant within the oil and gas industry. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.