Rhythmicity and integration: Integration challenges in customer-order-based supply chain strategies
Supply chain integration is often assumed to enhance coordination and effectiveness, yet everyday supply chain dynamics reveal persistent tensions between independence and interdependence among actors. This study examines these tensions by analyzing how industrial, marketing, and transportation actors coordinate within an integrated customer‑order supply chain. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis, we investigate two eras of Volvo Cars’ customer‑ordered production to investigate how temporal patterns, disruptions, and shifts in dominant logics of action shape integration outcomes. Methodologically, the study applies a situational case analysis supported by rhythmanalytical concepts to identify and interpret recurring rhythms, arrhythmias, and changes in coordination energy across actors. The findings show that integration does not guarantee effectiveness; rather, coordination is an ongoing accomplishment that must be continuously renewed as actors develop along their own logics. Differences in industrial, marketing, and transportation rhythms create temporal misalignments that influence customer orientation, cost orientation, and overall supply chain performance. Theoretically, the study contributes by introducing a rhythmanalytical perspective to supply chain integration, highlighting temporal dynamics that remain underexplored in existing research. Practically, the findings offer insights into how organizations can identify and manage rhythm conflicts to sustain effective coordination over time.
- Alvesson M, Hardy C, Harley B. Reflecting on Reflexivity: Reflexive Textual Practices in Organization and Management Theory. J Manage Stud. 2008;45(3):480-501. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00765.x
- Alvesson M, Sköldberg K. Reflexive Methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative Research. London, UK: SAGE Publications; 2000.
- Andersson P. Analysing Distribution Channel Dynamics: Loose and Tight Coupling in Distribution Networks. Eur J Mark. 1992;26(2):47-68. doi: 10.1108/03090569210010031
- Boltanski L, Thévenot L. On Justification: Economies of Worth. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; 2006.
- Borgström B. Supply Chain Strategising: Integration in Practice. Doctoral Dissertation. Jönköping, Sweden: Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University; 2010.
- Borgström B. Towards a methodology for studying supply chain practice. Int J Phys Distrib Logist Manag. 2012;42(8/9):843-862. doi: 10.1108/09600031211269785
- Chen H, Daugherty PJ, Landry TD. Supply chain process integration: A theoretical framework. J Bus Logist. 2009;30(2):27-46. doi: 10.1002/j.2158-1592.2009.tb00110.x
- Chia RCH, Holt R. The silent efficacy of indirect action. In: Strategy without Design. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2001:186-208. doi: 10.1017/cbo9780511642234.009
- Czarniawska B. The Three-Dimensional Organization: A Constructionist View. Lund, Sweden: Studentlitteratur; Bromley, UK: Chartwell-Bratt; 1993.
- Elden S. Rhythmanalysis: An Introduction. In: Lefebvre H. Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life. London, UK: Continuum; 2004:vi-xv.
- Fabbe-Costes N, Jahre M. Supply chain integration improves performance: the Emperor's new suit? Int J Phys Distrib Logist Manag. 2007;37(10):835-855. doi: 10.1108/09600030710848941
- Fabbe-Costes N, Jahre M, Roussat C. Supply chain integration: the role of logistics service providers. Int J Product Perform Manag. 2008;58(1):71-91. doi: 10.1108/17410400910921092
- Fawcett SE, Magnan GM. The rhetoric and reality of supply chain integration. Int J Phys Distrib Logist Manag. 2002;32(5):339-361. doi: 10.1108/09600030210436222
- Frohlich MT, Westbrook R. Arcs of integration: an international study of supply chain strategies. J Oper Manag. 2001;19(2):185-200. doi: 10.1016/s0272-6963(00)00055-3
- Fugate B, Sahin F, Mentzer JT. Supply chain management coordination mechanisms. J Bus Logist. 2006;27(2):129-161. doi: 10.1002/j.2158-1592.2006.tb00220.x
- Gammelgaard B. Schools in logistics research? Int J Phys Distrib Logist Manag. 2004;34(6):479-491. doi: 10.1108/09600030410548541
- Gilmore JH, Pine BJ. The Four Faces of Mass Customization. Harv Bus Rev. 1997;75(1):91-101.
- Godsell J, Harrison A, Emberson C, Storey J. Customer responsive supply chain strategy: An unnatural act? Int J Logist Res Appl. 2006;9(1):47-56. doi: 10.1080/13675560500534664
- Godsell J, van Hoek R. Fudging the supply chain to hit the number: five common practices that sacrifice the supply chain and what financial analysts should ask about them. Supply Chain Manag. 2009;14(3):171-176. doi: 10.1108/13598540910954511
- Hertz S. Strategic Change Processes in Purchasing, Distribution and Transportation and Their Effects on the Supply Chain. HSFR Report. Stockholm, Sweden: HSFR; 1999.
- Hertz S, Johansson JK, de Jager F. Customer-oriented cost cutting: process management at Volvo. Supply Chain Manag. 2001;6(3):128-142. doi: 10.1108/13598540110399174
- Jahre M, Fabbe-Costes N. Adaptation and adaptability in logistics networks. Int J Logist Res Appl. 2005;8(2):143-157. doi: 10.1080/13675560500110903
- Kull TJ, Ellis SC, Narasimhan R. Reducing Behavioral Constraints to Supplier Integration: A Socio-Technical Systems Perspective. J Supply Chain Manag. 2013;49(1):64-86. doi: 10.1111/jscm.12002
- Jackson AY, Mazzei LA. Thinking with Theory in Qualitative Research. 2nd ed. Abingdon, UK: Routledge; 2022. doi: 10.4324/9781315667768
- MacLure M. The Wonder of Data. Cult Stud Crit Methodol. 2013;13(4):228-232. doi: 10.1177/1532708613487863
- St. Pierre EA. Post Qualitative Inquiry in an Ontology of Immanence. Qual Inq. 2018;25(1):3-16. doi: 10.1177/1077800418772634
- St Pierre EA. Post qualitative research: The critique and the coming after. In: Denzin NK, Lincoln YS, eds. The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications; 2011:611-626.
- Lefebvre H. Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life. London, UK: Continuum; 2004.
- Lincoln YS, Guba EG. Naturalistic Inquiry. London, UK: SAGE Publications; 1985.
- Mentzer JT. Rigor versus relevance: Why would we choose only one? J Supply Chain Manag. 2008;44(2):72-77. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-493x.2008.00058.x
- Mol A, Law J. Complexities: An Introduction. In: Law J, Mol A, eds. Complexities: Social Studies of Knowledge Practices. Durham, NC: Duke University Press; 2020:1-23.
- Mouritsen J. Marginalizing the customer: Customer orientation, quality and accounting performance. Scand J Manag. 1997;13(1):5-18. doi: 10.1016/s0956-5221(96)00026-7
- Nilsson F, Gammelgaard B. Moving beyond the systems approach in SCM and logistics research. Int J Phys Distrib Logist Manag. 2012;42(8/9):764-783. doi: 10.1108/09600031211269749
- Thrift N. Non-Representational Theory. Abingdon, UK: Routledge; 2008. doi: 10.4324/9780203946565
- Verduyn K. Rhythmanalyzing the Emergence of the Republic of Tea. In: Gartner WB, ed. ENTER: Entrepreneurial Narrative Theory Ethnomethodology and Reflexivity: An Issue about The Republic of Tea. Clemson, SC: Clemson University Digital Press; 2010:153-167.
- Orlikowski WJ, Yates J. It's About Time: Temporal Structuring in Organizations. Organ Sci. 2002;13(6):684-700. doi: 10.1287/orsc.13.6.684.501
- Orton JD, Weick KE. Loosely Coupled Systems: A Reconceptualization. Acad Manag Rev. 1990;15(2):203. doi: 10.2307/258154
- Thornton PH, Ocasio W. Institutional Logics. In: Greenwood R, Oliver C, Sahlin K, Suddaby R, eds. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications; 2008:99-129. doi: 10.4135/9781849200387.n4
- Weick KE. Educational Organizations as Loosely Coupled Systems. Adm Sci Q. 1976;21(1):1. doi: 10.2307/2391875
