1) Turbulent market conditions are driving manufacturers to emphasize flexibility, agility, and responsiveness through supply chain integration.
2) The paper analyzes survey data from 600 UK companies to identify patterns of supply chain practices and their relationship to competitive objectives.
3) Three patterns were identified - traditional, lean, and agile. Lean and agile patterns that emphasized integration with suppliers and customers had a significant positive impact on competitive objectives, while the traditional pattern focused more on cost attribution and did not.