ABSTRACT
This case study highlights the fact that a strong market position is not always enough for a firm to achieve its business objectives. An additional factor is the strength of the firm’s position in its primary supply chain. The case also acts as a critique of lean thinking, or at least the way in which the philosophy is portrayed by many of its proponents, i.e. as appropriate to all circumstances. It will be shown in this chapter that, despite the existence of an industry-wide initiative to promote supply chain cooperation, certain firms within the supply chain do not perceive the chain to be of sufficient importance to their goals to contribute to efforts to make it more efficient and effective.
