If the organizations have a good relationship with partners then it would be easier to

respond to the market changes. Involvement of supplier in the start of process, in designing, in
manufacturing helps to increase the responsiveness to the request put on by the customer
(Martin, 2003). When the relationship between the suppliers and organizers or management will
be good then result would be there in the form of timely deliveries, innovation, reduced time, etc.
integration of suppliers, manufacturers, customers, distributors, retailers etc is greatly
emphasized by many researchers. So, a high degree of correlation exists between supplier
partnership practices and responsiveness of the organization. Selection of potential suppliers,
their development, and relation building are critical factors to the efficient performance of the
organization. SCR could be achieved by working in collaboration with the suppliers, designers in
order to have a check and balance on the product, to solve the problems and to make the backup
plans etc (A.:, 1997).

Organizations nowadays are putting more focus on customer value and designing the
products or services that are more valuable than their competitors. Operational responsiveness
can be defined as how good a business process or IT solution can respond to the changes in
conditions and interactions of customers. If a business has the ability to respond to the changes in
business events, that business is said to be operationally responsive. For a business to become
operationally responsive, actionable insight and the sense of responding quickly to the events
that can impact the business are two major elements (Responsive Process Management). The
supply chain management (SCM) has a major impact on the competitive advantage of the
organization. It can also affect the operational performance. A study in Mauritius hotel industry
indicated that Supply chain management practices can lead to competitive advantage and
operational performance (Vencataya et al., 2015). Operational responsiveness is a progressing
quality that is why its scope is growing over time. All of the leading organizations tends to
pursue the operational responsiveness to gain competitive advantage (Pam, 2010). If a business
is responsive, it means it has the capability to react purposefully in the given time period so that
customer’s changing demands can be fulfilled and competitive advantage can be gained
(Holweg, 2005). Fischer have argued that the product characteristics and the life cycle of the
product must be connected to the functions and layout of supply chain. He gave a matrix in
which the supply chain characteristics were plotted against the product characteristics (Fischer,
1997). A business that is operationally responsive is capable of operating securely and reliably. It

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can effectively use situational awareness and it also includes monitoring and support to gain
competitive advantage (Pam, 2010).