Purpose

In this paper company context –related factors like supply chain collaboration, information systems support and monitoring of logistics performance are studied against company characteristics. The aim is to describe which characteristics define how advanced the manufacturing and trading companies are in company context –related factors. Supply chain performance is analysed through cost efficiency in form of logistics costs as well as operational performance metrics such as delivery accuracy.

Design/methodology/approach

The unit of analysis in this paper is the focal firm. The context and performance –related factors are studied against a set of background variables including the main industry, company size, level of internationalisation and the value added of the company. The analysis methods include descriptive statistics and ANOVA.

Findings

Results indicate that in addition to more traditional main industry and company size, also the level of internationalisation and industry orientation are connected to company context and operational performance. Engaging into international markets seems to highlight the significance of logistics. Companies operating also abroad would seem to fare worse on operational performance than companies operating only domestically.  

Research limitations/implications

The data is limited to a single country, but results can partly be generalized to similar economies. Further research is needed in order to analyse the role of context on company performance.

Originality/value

The results expand the view on which company characteristics are connected to the level of companies’ operations from the company context point of view, and how the same characteristics are connected to intra-firm supply chain performance.