STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT IN THE BRAZILIAN AUTOMOTIVE SUPPLY CHAIN

Abstract

This study evaluates the degree of strategic alignment in the supply strategies adopted by the Brazilian automotive supply chains. The concept of alignment followed was that proposed by Vachon et al. (2009), that alignment is related to the intensity of the gaps between the requirements of a client and an emphasis on first-tier supplier in these same requirements when dealing with suppliers second tier. The unit of analysis are companies located in Brazil, first-tier suppliers to automobile manufacturers. The sample of twenty-eight companies were selected by criteria of accessibility, provided by SINDIPEÇAS. The units of observation were their supply managers. The results pointed that, the stronger the bonds between the automaker and its suppliers are, higher is the degree of alignment in the adopted supply strategies. Furthermore, European automakers supply chains have higher levels of strategic alignment compared to North-American automakers ones. However, the supply chains characterized by lower levels of strategic alignment are the ones where collaborative practices prevail in the relations.