Abstract:
Supply chain is an integration of both tangible and intangible resources including material,
information and capital. The material flow is focused in supply chain practice while information
flow is focused in information sharing. The main concentration of supply chain in last decade
was on material movement. Recently information sharing is attaining the concentration of the
researchers. Majority of the research work has emphasized the individual effect of information
and knowledge sharing on supply chain (specifically buyer) performance and the individual
effect of information and knowledge sharing on buyer-supplier relationship. The combined effect
of information and knowledge sharing needs to be analyzed. This paper aims to focus on the
combined effect of information and knowledge sharing on supplier s performance through
supplier-buyer relationship. A conceptual model was formulated based on previous literature. A
questionnaire based survey was performed. The questionnaire was developed based on the
previous literature and the expert opinion. Data from 30 Bangladeshi Readymade Garments
Industry were collected through interview and mail survey. The content validity; construct
validity, and reliability are tested by the literature review and in-depth interviews conducted with
business executives and researchers, exploratory factor analysis and measuring internal
consistency with Cronbach s alpha. Structural Equation Modeling is performed for the
identification of the validity of the model. The results show that (1) effective information sharing
enhances the effective knowledge sharing and (2) effective supplier-buyer partnership type
relation improves the supplier s operational performance. The findings show that information
sharing is a prerequisite for knowledge sharing and the close supplier-buyer relationship is a vital
factor for escalating the supplier s operational performance.
