| Abstract: | Flexibility can be defined as the ability to respond effectively to the ever‐changing and increasing needs of the customer. For this demand to be satisfied, flexibility should be built into the total chain of acquisition, processing, and distribution stages. As a result, there is an increasing interest in flexibility and flexibility enabling mechanisms/parameters to achieve the best strategy for obtaining the right and desired output. Although quite a number of flexibility definitions and mechanisms can be found in the literature, flexibility remains poorly understood and utilized in practice. That is due to the lack of standardization in the terminology about the flexibility definitions and mechanisms. This article presents the finding of an extensive literature survey to determine the Intra flexibility mechanisms/parameters. These mechanisms/parameters are then classified, according to their contribution to the supply chain stages and their interaction with Inter Flexibility mechanisms (e.g., Organizational structure flexibility, Technology flexibility, Information system flexibility, and Human resource flexibility). In addition, the crucial role of human factors and its relationship with flexibility mechanisms are investigated, and related flexibility mechanisms are identified. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
