A qualitative study of innovative supply chain practices and their impacts

Factors such as technological developments and changes in needs, efficiency, flexibility, companies' efforts to introduce new products to the market, the necessity of short product delivery times to the consumer and short product life have led to the emergence of an intense competitive environment. In the face of the changes that have occurred, companies have had to produce solutions by considering product, service and information flows as a whole, from their suppliers to their customers, in order to meet the needs of consumers and increase their competitiveness. Companies need to change the market structure in which they operate formally and dimensionally, and to demonstrate their differences with a successful supply chain in order to survive. While companies carry themselves into the future, they need to keep up with the technological age and rapidly changing market conditions. With the influence of industrialization and technology, which has risen with digitalization, implementing successful innovation practices, especially in the supply chain, has become extremely important for companies in the global competitive environment. In this regard, it is important for companies to develop an innovative supply chain approach to sustain their existence, gain superiority in the market, gain competitive advantage and be successful. Innovation practices in the supply chain have a positive impact on companies, sectors and countries, and the world's leading companies do not hesitate to carry out innovative activities in this regard. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the current status of innovation in the supply chain at the company level, to determine whether companies use innovative practices in the field, and if they have implemented innovation, to determine with a qualitative research how their practices progress and what their effects are on performance. In addition, the study examined the innovations implemented by companies within the framework of sustainable and green innovations, their contributions to the company and their effects on performance. Based on the aims of the study, it is aimed to understand the relationship of the supply chain with innovation dimensions, to access the basic codes describing the field and to create common themes with the help of these codes. In this way, an innovative road map was tried to be created by contributing to the companies to increase their performance and progress faster on this path. The important aspect of the research is that the findings obtained as a result of being based on both real activities and the experiences of experienced and expert people in the sector set an example for other companies. It is thought that this study, which is also important in terms of closing the research gaps on innovation in the supply chain, will provide important information for the development of our country's industry. Within the scope of the study, the concepts of supply chain and innovation were explained in detail, and examples of innovation implemented by companies in the world and in Turkey in the supply chain were examined. In the analysis part, officials from 18 companies operating in the supply chain were interviewed, the data obtained was examined, classified and interpreted according to predetermined codes, and the places related to these codes were marked. As a result, 478 interrelated codes were reached under the main theme of Innovation in Supply Chain and these were collected under 10 sub-themes (categories). As a result of the research, it has been concluded that innovative practices implemented in the supply chain are effective on company performance.